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PSALTIC MUSIC IN ROMANIA IN THE MID-20TH CENTURY: BETWEEN TRADITION AND STANDARDIZATION. THE CASE OF GHERONTIE NICOLAU’S LITURGICAL GUIDE (1939)
Abstract
The reign of Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1859–1866) marked the onset of profound political, social, and ecclesiastical transformations within the Romanian Principalities, characterized by accelerated modernization and Westernization, as well as a deliberate transfer of power from Church to state. These measures will have a direct impact on Church culture, including musical culture. The early decades of the 20th century continued this process of Westernization in Romanian church music, amidst a gradual erosion of the oral psaltic tradition and an increasing tendency toward simplification, standardization, and harmonization of the liturgical repertoire. After the establishment of the communist regime in 1948, the national standardization of the Church repertoire in 1951, even if it officially intended to unify all regions of the country, represented an unfortunate change and a forced imposition of new, simplistic compositions that continue to dominate most Romanian chanters to this day. The Liturgical Guide published in 1939 by Bishop Gherontie Nicolau of Constan?a provides compelling evidence that, on the eve of these changes, centuries-old traditional psaltic compositions were still preserved at an official level. Many of these works would vanish entirely with the implementation of the 1951 reforms. In the post-1989 context of a renewed interest in Psaltic Art, Nicolau’s work serves as both a musical and liturgical testimony, offering a vital link to some authentic works that were still practiced, prior to the imposition of a pseudo-psaltic repertoire under the communist regime.
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References27
Vasile Ciureanu-Bode?ti, Liturghier, Chi?inau, 1928, p. 624.
?bid., p. 623: “Ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza, motivated on the one hand by the profound aversion he bore toward the Greek monastics, and on the other by his aspiration for Romania to assume, to the fullest extent, the vesture of Western civilization, enacted a decree mandating the gradual displacement of psaltic chant and its substitution with harmonic choral music”.
Gheorghe Ionescu, Manual de cantari biserice?ti trebuincioase peste tot anul (Manual of Church Hymns Required Throughout the Year), Buzau, 1878.
Melchisedec ?tefanescu, Episcopul Romanului, Memoriu catre Sfantul Sinod al Bisericii Ortodoxe Romane (Memorandum to the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church) (Bucharest, Official Gazette of Romania, 49, no. 205, 12 December 1881). Notably, prominent names such as Anton Pann (in the Heruvicarul-Kinonikar), Macarie Ieromonahul (in his Antologie), Ghelasie Basarabeanul (in the Liturghier), and many others published kratimata alongside koinonika, thus refuting the unfounded claim made by certain musicologists that the process of Romanianizing the chants implied, among other things, their abbreviation through the removal of kratimata. Also, Ioan Zmeu edited in 1895 in Buzau o collection in which he includes koinonika together with kratimata.
On the manner in which the repertoire of the Divine Liturgy was altered through the publications of Ioan Popescu-Pasarea, see also Costin Moisil, Românirea cântarilor: un me?te?ug ?i multe controverse. Studii de muzicologie bizantina (The Romanianization of Chants: A Craft and Many Controversies. Studies in Byzantine Musicology) (Bucharest, Editura Muzicala), pp. 181–185.
Regarding the Axion hymns, eight variants are published in the plagal of Mode I, compared to only two in the Mode II and two in its plagal, one variant in the Varys mode, and one in the plagal of Mode IV.
Anton V. Uncu, Anthologhion, Bucharest, 1946.
In the plagals of the First and Fourth Modes, as well as in the Third Mode.
Nicolae Lungu, Cantarile Sfintei Liturghii (The Hymns of the Divine Liturgy), 1999, p. 255.
Ioan Popescu-Pasarea, Cantarile biserice?ti (Church Hymns), Bucharest, p. 1.
Prof. Nicolae Lungu, Protodeacon Anton Uncu, Rev. Prof. Grigore Costea, Prof. Ion Croitoru, and Rev. Prof. Dr. Ene Brani?te, Prof. Chiril Popescu.
Prof. Nicolae Lungu, Rev. Prof. Grigore Costea, Prof. Ion Croitoru, Gramatica muzicii psaltice (Grammar of Byzantine Music), Publishing House of the Biblical and Orthodox Mission Institute, Bucharest, 1951 (2nd ed., 1969); Prof. Nicolae Lungu, Protodeacon Anton Uncu, Cantarile Sfintei Liturghii ?i cantari pentru cateheza (The Hymns of the Divine Liturgy and Hymns for Catechesis), Publishing House of the Biblical and Orthodox Mission Institute, Bucharest, 1951; Prof. Nicolae Lungu, Rev. Prof. Grigore Costea, Prof. Ion Croitoru, Anastasimatarul uniformizat: cartea Vecerniei (The Standardized Anastasimatarion: The Vespers Book), Publishing House of the Biblical and Orthodox Mission Institute, Bucharest, 1953 (2nd ed., 1974); idem, Cantarile Sfintei Liturghii ?i melodiile-model ale celor opt glasuri (The Hymns of the Divine Liturgy and the Model Melodies of the Eight Modes), Publishing House of the Biblical and Orthodox Mission Institute, Bucharest, 1960 (with subsequent editions; 3rd ed., 1969); Prof. Nicolae Lungu, Rev. Prof. Dr. Ene Brani?te, Prof. Chiril Popescu, Cantarile Penticostarului (The Hymns of the Pentecostarion), Publishing House of the Biblical and Orthodox Mission Institute, Bucharest, 1980.
For this research, the 1999 edition was used.
Today, in Romania, with the exception of certain choirs, the weekly antiphons are no longer sung, having been replaced by the two troparia Binecuvinteaza suflete al meu (Bless the Lord, O My Soul) and Unule-Nascut (Only-Begotten Son).
These variants have become established, alongside Aparatoare Doamna (O Champion Leader). The Troparia at the Beatitudes are sung (most often read) only in monasteries.
Nicolae Lungu, Cantarile Sfintei Liturghii (The Hymns of the Divine Liturgy), 1999, pp. 25 and 68.
Gherontie Nicolau, ГЋndrumator liturgic (Liturgical Guide) (Bucharest, Church Books Printing House, 1939).
Ibid., p. 5.
Ibid., p. 21.
Ibid., pp. 9–10. See more on this Axion in Adrian Sîrbu, Introductory Study to the Axionar, Cell of St. George, Kapsala, Holy Mountain Athos, forthcoming.
Ibid., p. 39.
Ibid., p. 50.
Ibid., p. 42. On Gherontie Nicolau, see also Pr. Antonel Marius Dumitru, Arhiereul Gherontie Nicolau al Constantei (1866-1948). Viata si Opera, Bucure?ti, Editura Muzicala; Timotei Prahoveanul, Finis coronat opus: trei ipostaze de ierarhi iubitori de muzica bisericeasca (Finis coronat opus: Three Images of Hierarchs Who Loved Church Music), 2023, at https://shorturl.at/25OCU.
Ibid., p. 70.
Ibid., p. 42.
Ibid., p. 154.
Ibid., pp. 211–212.
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