Original scientific paper
THE GLAGOLITIC PSALMODY
Izak Špralja
; Institut za crkvenu glazbu "Albe Vidaković" pri Katoličkom bogoslovnom fakultetu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
Gregorian and Glagolitic chant was based on the liturgical text of the Roman rite: the
Gregorian chant in the first millennium, and the Glagolitic in the second. The Gregorian
chant was noted down at the end of the first millennium, while the Glagolitic is still being
written down. Gregorian psalmody is performed according to the instructions formulated
during the first millenium; while this article, to the extent allowed by research to date,
hopes to explicate what can be explicated about Glagolitic psalmody — which represents a
part of Glagolitic singing.
A factor common to both Gregorian and Glagolitic psalmody is that they came into
being and developed within the textual patterns and content of the Roman rite. Since the
expressiveness in both psalmodies was oriented to identical content within the same
textual patterns, similar expressive forms developed in regard to both the style and form of
the tunes. This allows Glagolitic psalmody to be divided in an identical way to Gregorian
i.e. to the simple, the solemn (the Breviary) and the ornamental (the Mass). There is also a
fourth type of Glagolitic psalmody: the more solemn/most solemn psalm singing which
takes place in extraliturgical religious observances during Lent and Holy Week. The tune in
both Glagolitic and Gregorian psalmody can be divided according to the verse of the psalm
— the initium, tenor, flexa, mediatio, terminatio — while comparison of the tunes from
various Glagolitic centres makes possible the identification of the tones/modes of
Glagolitic psalm singing.
Keywords
glagolitic psalmody; glagolitic singing; Croatia
Hrčak ID:
33487
URI
Publication date:
15.12.1999.
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