HARVARD UKRAINIAN STUDIES - See also - Harvard University

Reviews 261Mykytiuk's comparison of the above sixteen categories (with the exceptionof the preparation for St. Andrew's day) with other calendar customs and withrites of passage indicates that solstice rituals can be regarded as pivotal, insofaras other calendar customs and transition rites are concerned.It seems that no publication can be impervious to typographical errors. Forexample, "Nachbarfester" (p. 170) should read "Nachbarfenster," "Soff'(p. 180) should read "Stoff," "Bermann" (p. 193) should read "Bergmann,"and "hnieten" (p. 268) should be "knieten."This monograph is a worthwhile contribution to the study of Ukrainian folkcustoms which will be appreciated by the growing number of young people ofUkrainian origin looking for their roots. It can also serve as an example ofresearch for students of Ukrainian folklore, a discipline in which precious littleis being done in the West, with the exception, perhaps, of Robert Klymasz'swork among Ukrainian Canadians.BOHDAN MEDWIDSKYUnivesity of AlbertaRUSSIAN CHURCH SINGING. Vol. 1: ORTHODOX WORSHIP ANDHYMNOGRAPHY. By Johann von Gardner. Translated by VladimirMorosan. Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press,1980. 146 pp., 4 plates. $5.95, paper.Russian scholarship in the field of Russian church singing, established on ascientific basis by Odoevskij and Razumovskij in the 1860s, flourisheduntil theBolshevik seizure of power. Thereafter, it was kept alive by a handful ofdedicated individuals, notably the late M. V. Braznikov in the USSR andJohann von Gardner (Ivan Aleksëevic Gardner) in the West. Gardner'snumerous publications are well known to serious students of Slavic churchsinging traditions. The existence in manuscript of a comprehensive booklengthsurvey, rumored for some time, was confirmed by the publication ofsome chapters from it in German translation several years ago. 1 An Englishlanguageversion commences publication with the volume here under review.Neither the number of volumes contemplated nor their scope has beenannounced. The contents of the first volume are essentially the same as thoseof the German publication, omitting the annotated bibliography, which will beincluded in the final volume; one hopes that an index will appear there, too.The translation reads well and seems quite satisfactory, insofar as one canjudge without access to the original (it is said that another publisher plans to1Johann von Gardner, System und Wesen des russischen Kirchengesanges,Schriften zur Geistesgeschichte des östlichen Europa, 12 (Wiesbaden, 1976).