Output details

The Divine Liturgy of our Father among the Saints John Chrysostom in English

This submission consists of 1) a set of two CDs packaged with a 40-page booklet of essays and texts; and 2) musical scores of the repertoire recorded available in Byzantine neumes and staff notation that are available for free download at http://www.cappellaromana.org/index.php?page=scores. Produced by a team headed by Alexander Lingas acting in his role as Artistic Director of the vocal ensemble Cappella Romana, these materials represent an effort to convey the received traditions of Byzantine liturgy and chanting across linguistic (Greek to English) and notational (Byzantine neumes to staff notation) boundaries that was undertaken in cooperation with Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain. The precedents within Orthodox Christianity for such efforts reach back a millennium to the foundational work of Saints Cyril and Methodios, but the closest historical models are adaptations of more recent layers of Byzantine chant over the past two centuries to the Arabic, Romanian, Church Slavonic, Serbian and Bulgarian languages. Given these historical, pastoral and musical parameters, the research imperatives of this project included: the creation of musical settings in English that were consonant with the stylistic norms of the most authoritative received traditions of Byzantine chanting; the establishment of principles of transcription from Byzantine neumes into staff notation that would adequately convey the complexities of Byzantine notation and performance practice; the creation of an order of service (including rubrics) reflecting the best textual traditions of the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom; and the application of traditional conventions of performance practice by singers in the recording. Further particulars regarding the research imperatives and a detailed account of the research process of this project are provided in the booklet essays.