SERBIAN CHURCH MUSIC IN BANAT - HISTORICAL ASPECTS
SERBIAN CHURCH MUSIC IN BANAT - HISTORICAL ASPECTS

Serbian church music in Banat - historical aspects

Summary/Abstract: Serbian church music includes, in addition to the church compositions of Serbian composers, the folk song of the church. The song of the Serbian church represents, according to its characteristics, acquired during the historical development, an original work, created with the help of the influence of the church and the people. How fast the Serbian church folk song developed towards independence, from the adoption of Christianity until the middle of the 13th century and how much it could separate from its model in that short time, cannot be determined, because there are no data about that and there are no records. In the Serbian autocephalous archdiocese (since 1219) and later the Patriarchate of Peci (since 1346), the care of Serbian church leaders, which is reflected in numerous donations, has created favorable opportunities for the full expansion of church life. With the transfer of the people and national and church leaders to the Habsburg Empire, many of them in the region of Banat, the singing of the church, in the more favorable circumstances of the civilized state, developed freely, but increasingly independent of the distant model. Church authorities have taken steps to preserve, renew and develop the song. With the founding of the seminary in Sremski Karlovci in 1794 and the appointment of the first teacher of church singing in 1797, an important center was created for maintaining a certain unity in church singing. The most difficult and important, however, is the problem of the structure and essence of Serbian folk church singing.

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