THE ETHOS OF CHURCH MUSIC BEYOND TECHNICAL SYSTEMS
THE ETHOS OF CHURCH MUSIC BEYOND TECHNICAL SYSTEMS

Summary/Abstract: This article aims to question the increasingly influential idea, present in certain Orthodox circles, according to which only psaltic monody and Byzantine notation authentically express the ethos of the Church. Starting from the real diversity of Orthodox musical traditions, Georgian, Syriac, Coptic, Slavic, Romanian, Greek, the study shows that Orthodoxy has been lived from the very beginning through multiple legitimate sonic idioms, and that the Constantinopolitan model represents only one of these expressions, not an exclusive norm. Drawing on historical examples from both East and West, the article argues that polyphony is not, in itself, a late product of Westernization, but a natural stage in the internal development of ecclesial musical language, linked to the discovery of harmonic relationships and to the natural dynamics of voice superposition. The traditional tensions regarding multi-voiced singing, in the Orthodox as well as in the Catholic and Protestant worlds, are shown to concern primarily the infiltration of theatrical, operatic and concert aesthetics into worship, against the background of the modern process of desacralization, rather than the harmonic technique as such. The analyses devoted to Russia and especially to Georgia, where an ancient polyphonic tradition is organically integrated into liturgical life, demonstrate that polyphony can be profoundly compatible with the Orthodox ethos. The article concludes that the central issue is not polyphony, but discernment: the true criterion of authenticity remains the capacity of a given musical language to serve prayer, sobriety and liturgical beauty, while respecting the legitimate plurality of tradition.

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