Cântarea monodică bizantină din spaţiul românesc versus cântarea religioasă multivocală: divergenţe şi convergenţe
Byzantine monodic singing from the Romanian space versus polyphonic religious singing: divergences and convergences

Summary/Abstract: Among the agents of the infi ltration of polyphony in native religious singing are the reforming current, coming from the West through Transylvania, as well as the act of uniting with Rome a part of Transylvanian Romanians (1701). Catholic choral pieces are insinuated in Psalter manuscripts, including the curious phenomenon of the transposition of polyphonic religious singing into the Byzantine semiographic system. Th e two components — monodic and polyphonic — are also meet in Moldova. In 1782 during the abbotship of Paisie Velicikovski, a choir of Russian monks was established, who practiced harmonic singing (along with native monks who, traditionally, sang monodically) at Neamts Monastery. In the fi rst half of the 19th century, the contacts of psalter music with polyphonic religious music intensifi ed. Th e presence of choral singing was signaled in several cultural centers in the researched area (Arad, Bucharest, Iasi). As time goes on, psalter singing is competing more and more dangerously with harmonic singing, things being pushed to a fi erce confrontation between the two currents. Th e saving solution for keeping the balance between continuity and renewal is seen by the bishop Melchizedek of Roman.

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