HARVARD UKRAINIAN STUDIES - See also - Harvard University

Reviews 263The third chapter, on Russian church singing, considers the relations amongthe several cycles of canonical chant and the non-canonical choral compositions(summarized in a useful table on p. 112); the kinds of notation used atvarious times in Russia; and the kinds of manuscript and printed books thatserve as sources. Gardner's retrogressive alphabetical nomenclature for thestages of development of the stolp notation is presented; a recently proposedextension of it 3 is ignored. The last chapter discusses the periodization of thehistory of Russian church singing.The discussion would have benefited at several points, especially in the lasttwo chapters, from greater recognition of the role of the Ruthenian (Belorussianand Ukrainian) chant tradition, which developed along distinctive linesbeginning probably in the late fifteenth century and served as the main sourceof innovations in the Russian tradition proper (the Novgorod-Muscovitetradition). Gardner is well aware of this factor, but mentions it only in passingbecause it "has not yet been satisfactorily researched" (p. 142). This is quitetrue, but enough is known to justify regarding it as a third major category ofEast Slavic church singing in addition to the two (the singing of the Muscovitestate church and of the Old Believers) recognized by Gardner (p. 101). Thiswould involve expanding the discussion beyond the Russian sphere, but, asGardner acknowledges, much of the history of the latter remains incomprehensibleapart from Ukrainian-Belorussian influence. In this respect, Gardner'sdiscussion seems a bit old-fashioned and over-cautious. So does some ofthe terminology (e.g., "the western and southwestern parts of the Russianmetropolitanate," p. 105).In general, however, the book deserves high praise, as the only competentintroduction in English to much of the material it covers. Beginning studentsneed no longer be frustrated and discouraged by the lack of a competentintroduction. And students of Ukrainian church singing will find here, in spiteof Gardner's reluctance to deal with Ruthenian materials directly, a usefulconceptual framework for their own investigations.STEPHEN REYNOLDSUniversity of OregonMargarete Ditterich, Untersuchungen zum altrussischen Akzent anhand vonKirchengesangshandschriften, Slavistische Beiträge, 86 (Munich, 1975), p. 138.