GEORGIAN HUMNOGRAPHY AND THE OLD NOTATION SYSTEM OF CHRISTIAN CHANT

Abstract

In Byzantium, from the 7th-8th centuries, the nevm, or notational system, was introduced, the founder of which was St. John of Damascus. The Georgian nevm system had its own essential character and principle - the placement of nevms on the lines above and below the line in a way that essentially differs from the Byzantine one. The oldest examples of the hymnal nevm system are preserved in the hymnographic-liturgical collections of the 10th century: in the two Sinai Yadgars Sin. 1, Sin. 14, in “the Annual Yadgari” compiled by Michael Modrekili in Shatberdi in 978-988, S-425, and in the so-called 11th-century collection of the Jordanes of the Mighty Ones and the Mother of God - A-603.

As soon as Christianity was declared the state religion in Georgia, the Georgianization of everything Christian began, including chanting, and polyphony was introduced into Georgian church chanting, just as the centuries-old forms of Georgian secular verse, namely, the sixteen-gram shair, the pistikauri, and others, were introduced into the original Georgian hymnography; as well as the elements of ancient architecture into Christian architecture. The process of polyphonization in Georgian church chanting should have completed in the 8th century, when the chant reform in Byzantine hymnography was completed.  

The Chant reform was implemented in Georgia in stages. The canonization of polyphony is associated with the name of St. Grigol Khandzteli. The reform he carried out in liturgy and hymnography was of a national nature. He created the legislation of the Georgian Church, prepared the ideological basis for the unity of the country, carried out the final reform of Georgian church chant and canonized its polyphony, thereby bringing a turning point in the spiritual life of the Georgian nation, when at the turn of the 20s-30s of the 9th century he created the “Annual Hymn”. This was preceded by the hymnal reform carried out by St. John of Damascus at the beginning of the 8th century, as a result of which the neuminated recording of hymns began in Greek for the purpose of better memorization; following in his footsteps, Georgian chanter-hymnographers soon mastered the principle of neumination. Mekhuri (to be performed by voice) the Annual Yadgars were created, decorated with musical signs, or neums. Does “mekhuri” mean polyphony? The data of Michael’s Yadgari should indicate this, which is what we are talking about in the report. The novelty of our research is that the term “mekhuri” used for the neumirized hymns, along with other meanings, should denote the polyphony of Georgian chanting. In Georgia, neumirization, the use of musical notation, determined the difference between Georgian chanting and other, namely, Byzantine, Syrian, and Armenian chanting.

Chanting terminology was also created, which was generalized from a theological and philosophical point of view in the 12th century by Ioane Petritsi, when he expressed the triphonic nature of Georgian chanting with the terms “mzakhr, zhir, bam”.

In the second half of the 19th century, it became necessary to record hymns on notes so as not to lose knowledge of the melody of the hymns, to which Filimon Koridze, Ekvtime Kereselidze, brothers Karbelashvili, and Razhden Khundadze made a great contribution.

Keywords: St. Grigol of Khantsta; Michael Modrekili; Polyphony; Notice; Chant.