Romanian Contributions to the Transcription of Byzantine Psaltic Music into Western Staff Notation
Romanian Contributions to the Transcription of Byzantine Psaltic Music into Western Staff Notation

Summary/Abstract: The transcription of church chants from Byzantine psaltic notation into Western staff notation represents one of the fundamental processes in the evolution of modern Romanian ecclesiastical music. This study analyzes the contribution of the principal Romanian authors involved in this endeavour, highlighting the historical context, theoretical difficulties, and cultural implications of musical transcription. The principles of psaltic notation and staff notation are examined, as well as the problems of rendering micro intervals, orality, and modal ethos, and the impact of choral harmonization on the Romanian liturgical repertoire. A historical-comparative and musicological methodology was employed, drawing on Romanian psaltic sources from the 19th and 20th centuries, theoretical treatises, and modern research in Byzantinology. The research highlights the difficulties and cultural implications of adapting the Byzantine tradition to the Western musical system without major alteration of the specific liturgical and spiritual identity.

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