Springs of the Church Music: A “Russian Axion Estin (It Is Truly Meet)” from the Psaltic Manuscripts of Neamţ Monastery

Abstract

The 19th century brought in the Romanian ecclesiastical environment a new type of music: the harmonies of choral music. Although psaltic music, with roots before the Middle Ages, but subjected to the evolutions and regressions of the Middle Ages, had a solid tradition in the Moldavian monasteries, and especially in Neamţ Monastery, the presence of a consistent group of Russian monks determined here several creations with obvious Russian influence. Such is the case of the Axion estin from the Romanian manuscript no. 14 from the library of Neamţ Monastery. We will briefly analyze this creation and underline its characteristics and the differences it presents from psaltic music. Such creations constitute the germs of choral creation in our country.

Keywords

• Middle Ages
• choral
• melisma
• psaltic music
• Neamţ Monastery
• manuscript