Рукописна та книжкова спадщина України (Jan 2022)
Semitic-Syrian-Greek kontakion and Kyivan Rus kondakarion singing in Western European and American Byzantine and Paleoslavic studies
Abstract
The aim of the work is to systematize the fundamental achievements of Western European and American Byzantine and Paleoslavic scholars for one and a half hundred years within interdisciplinary studies of Semitic-Syrian-Greek kontakion and Kyivan Rus kondakarion singing. Methodology. In the scientific article is used a set of methods and techniques peculiar to the humanities, the main of which are historiographical, bibliographical ones and method of systematic analysis of sources. Scientific novelty. For the first time in Ukrainian medieval studies has been made a comprehensive review of the works of famous foreign theologians, liturgists, historians, codicologists, paleographers, philologists and musicologists on polystrophic and monostrophic kontakion and phenomena related to the singing culture: such books as Kondakar, kondakarion notation, kondakarion style. Conclusions. During the lapse of a hundred years of researches on Semitic-Syrian-Greek kontakion and Kyivan Rus kondakarion singing, the isolation of a significant number of scholars by specialization had been considered. Over the last few decades, a multidisciplinary (intersectoral) approach has been crystallized, it has manifested itself both in the collaboration of medievalists of different specializations and in the combination of different competencies in one individual - in the one scientist. Among the significant achievements in the study of kontakion are the following ones: outlining its Semitic-Syrian genesis, its further modification, theological-liturgical, poetic-homiletic and musical peculiarities, inter-genre diffusion with other songs of the troparion group, clarification, supplementation of the life of the Reverend Romanos Melodos and his talented apprentices. Among the main achievements in kondakarion musicology are the following ones: publication of Kondakars and their Byzantine prototypes in printed editions and on Internet resources, codicological and palaeographic description of manuscripts, conducting a research of typology and content of these liturgical collections, comparative analysis of Chartres, Kastorian and kondakarion neumes, attempts of decryption of Middle Byzantine and kondakarion notations. The publication on the Internet of a large number of Greek-Byzantine and Slavic-Russian manuscripts, as well as scientific research on them, will increase the interest of Western European and American medievalists and stimulate the appearance of innovative interdisciplinary studies of Semitic-Syrian-Greek kontakion and Kyivan Rus kondakarion singing.
