Byzantine Church Music in Finland: Exploring the Past, Envisaging the Future
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Proceedings of the 1st International Conference of the ASBMH page 555 BYZANTINE CHURCH MUSIC IN FINLAND: EXPLORING THE PAST, ENVISAGING THE FUTURE by Maria Takala-Roszczenko & Jaakko Olkinuora University of Joensuu, Finland PART I: The Past by Maria Takala-Roszczenko Introduction In the past few decades, several Orthodox churches have experienced a need for renewal in their musical tradition. This has become particularly evident in the small, often nationally-based churches, such as the Orthodox church of Finland. A need for renewal is not, however, understood as the creation of something entirely new but, in a very Orthodox sense, as going back “to the sources”347 – to an older tradition, in order to build the future on the basis of the past. The idea of a return is also reflected in the promotion of the Byzantine chant in Finland. From a cultural and historical point of view, it can hardly be called a “return”, since Finnish Orthodox church music has never belonged to the Byzantine musical legacy as such. From a wider perspective, however, the Finnish Orthodox church can be considered a descendant of the Byzantine tradition as a descendant of the Byzantine- Slavonic tradition and as sharing some of the basic elements of the Byzantine Orthodox church music – the Octoechos principle, for instance. For this reason, it is justified to view the Byzantine chant tradition as a potential source for the Finnish Orthodox church music to return to. The roots of Finnish Orthodoxy In order to understand the current situation in Finnish church music, it is necessary to take a look at its earlier stages. Christianity came to Finland both from the east and from the west. The eastern part of modern Finland, Karelia, belonged to the Orthodox cultural sphere of Novgorod, later Russia, while the rest of the country belonged to the Roman Catholic and, later, Lutheran Sweden. For most of its history, Karelia has been a frontier land between two powerful states. This has led to numerous wars348 which, understandably, have disrupted the social and cultural development of the region. This is an aspect which cannot be ignored in the research of church music, either: we can only guess at the number of manuscripts and other sources that have been destroyed in the course of these wars. 347 The idea of the return to the sources, ad fontes, has inspired Orthodox thinking since the early 20th century, particularly with the development of the “neopatristic” movement of Georges Florovsky. 348 The Russo-Swedish wars over Finland resulted in partitions of the country in 1323, 1595, 1617, 1721, 1743 and 1809. Minor warfare continued in the borderlands throughout the centuries. Proceedings of the 1st International Conference of the ASBMH page 556 The Christianization of Karelia may have begun in the 12th century, as some have suggested,349 but the organization of the ecclesiastical and lay jurisdiction dates back to the 14th century – as does the founding of certain monasteries, such as the Valaam monastery on Lake Ladoga,350 the most famous of the Karelian monasteries. The ecclesiastical organization was based on a few small towns with a church and some minor chapels; however, most of Karelia was still wilderness and majority of the inhabitants most likely associated Christianity only with the authorities and taxation351. The indigenous cults prevailed – there were reports of pagan rites being performed still in the 16th century,352 and several pagan customs, having merged into the Orthodox customs, continue to exist in the Karelian folk culture even today.353 The Karelian church singing tradition These were the conditions in which the Karelian church music began to develop, probably from the 13th – 14th centuries onward. So far, there is very little adequate research on the origins of the Karelian singing tradition or on the actual practice in the first parishes or monasteries. (However, we must admit that much of the research that has been conducted in Russia is still unknown to us.354) In any case, it can be assumed that 349 For most of the 20th century, the Finnish historians seem to have agreed on the early Christianization of Karelia, basing their arguments on chronicle and hagiography sources. Professor Heikki Kirkinen dates the founding of the first Karelian monastery, the Valaam monastery, to the second half of the 12th century on the basis of hagiographical information about lives of the founding fathers, Sergei and Herman. He argues that eastern Christianity had been adopted in Karelia already earlier in the 12th century and points to the archaeological evidence of Christian origin found in the area. Kirkinen, Nevalainen, Sihvo, Karjalan kansan historia. WSOY 1994, 63-4. 350 Professor Jukka Korpela has criticized the traditional Finnish Karelian historiography for the over- interpretation of single details and the lack of adequate criticism in the source analysis. He views the first Christian contacts of Karelia as a natural consequence of the Viking trade route going through Karelia but does not interpret archaeological evidence (Christian symbols, crosses etc.) as indications of the adoption of Christianity but rather as evidence of the exchange of goods – also Christian amulets. To his view, the first Christian parishes in Karelia can be dated to the 13th century; however, the first unquestionable written evidence of parochial organization in Karelia dates back to 1396. He dates the founding of monasteries also to the late 14th century. Korpela, “Kristillisyys Karjalassa ja Itä-Suomessa keskiajalla”, Suomen kirkkohistoriallisen seuran vuosikirja 95 (2005), Helsinki 2005, 56-7. 351 Korpela sees the “Christianization” of the Karelian people mainly as an indication of the organization of taxation in the area: the population was listed in official documents (by Christian clerks) as Christian tax payers, although their personal faith and culture had experienced no change. Korpela 2005, 59. 352 Archbishop Makary of Novgorod described the pagan customs of Karelians in his letter to the Prince in 1534: animistic worship, sacrifices, witchcraft. Kirkinen, Bysantin perinne ja Suomi, OKJ 1987, 126-131. 353 Many of the traditional burial rituals among the Orthodox Karelians point to both pagan and Christian origins, for instance, bringing food to the dead in the cemetery. Jetsu, Kahden maailman välillä. Etnografinen tutkimus venäjänkarjalaisista hautausrituaaleista 1990-luvulla. SKS 2001. 354 Notable research on northern Russian Znamenny singing has been conducted by Professor Albina Kruchinina at the Conservatory of St Petersburg. The Russian National Library of St Petersburg has valuable collections of MSS from Karelia, providing material for generations of scholars. However, the high level of research and its notable results rarely cross the national borders – the publications are difficult to obtain and the language barrier prevails. It can only be hoped that in the future, the exchange of information and the much needed cooperation with the Russian scholars can be developed. The research on the Karelian singing tradition also brings forward a question as ancient as the Karelian land itself: whose is it? The Finnish-Karelian ties are based on the common Finno-Ugric linguistic and ethnic origins and the Finns tend to consider Karelia as a region that has traditionally belonged to the Finnish cultural sphere. However, the Orthodox church culture of Karelia was unquestionably Slavic and it is thus Proceedings of the 1st International Conference of the ASBMH page 557 the earliest singing tradition in Karelia belonged to the general Slavic Stolp or Znamenny tradition355 which, in its turn, had developed from the adaptations of Byzantine chant material and hymnography into the Old Slavonic language and practice.356 In this way, it is possible to see the Karelian church singing as a descendant of the Byzantine tradition. The Znamenny tradition continued the Byzantine practice in many ways. Firstly, it was monodic: one neumatic line corresponded to one text line. The Slavic neumatic notation (the Znamenny notation) developed its own graphic forms which in time became nearly independent of the original Byzantine signs, but their function remained the same: they indicated the direction of the melody and the expression of the singing. The singing was constructed from melodic patterns, based on the Octoechos system. All these elements continued the Byzantine chant tradition in the Slavic practice; they were only adapted to the Slavonic language and modified to suit the local culture. The neumatic manuscripts found in Karelia point to the Znamenny tradition as the heritage of Karelian church singing. The number of the manuscripts that are preserved in Finland357 is very small: about ten neumatic collections have been preserved in the Church Museum of Kuopio358 and the Helsinki University Library359. So far, none of understandable that the Russian researchers hardly recognize the “Karelianism” of monasteries such as Valaam or Solovetsky. 355 The name “Stolp” (столп) points at the Tone structure of the singing tradition: one stolp, pillar, consisted of one cycle of 8 Tones (Octoechos). The name “Znamenny” (знаменное пение) indicates the use of znamya (“sign”, “neume”) in the notation. 356 The translation process of Byzantine singing manuscripts into Slavonic in the first centuries of Slavic Christianity included also the modification of the Paleobyzantine notation which, nevertheless, remained as the core of Znamenny notation. Бражников, Русская певческая палеография. Санкт‑Петербург 2002, 24. 357 The MSS preserved in Russian museums and libraries lie beyond the scope of this article. To take into account all the MSS that have been preserved from the tradition of monasteries that may be defined as “Karelian” (such as the Solovetsky monastery, although this monastery is usually regarded as northern Russian rather than Karelian, whereas Valaam and Konevets on Lake Ladoga can at least geographically be defined as Karelian), we would need to explore the Russian fonds and scholarship more thoroughly. 358 The library of the Orthodox Church Museum of Kuopio (OKM) contains five neumatic MSS.