Prostopinije

History#

By the end of the 18th century, the first attempt to systematize and write down the body of Prostopinije melodies was undertaken by cantor John Juhasevich (1741–1814). In 1793, a Preparatory School for Cantors and Teachers was established in Uzhhorod by Bishop Andrew Bachinskyj. After some of the Rusyn parishes converted from Byzantine Catholicism to the Russian Orthodox Church in America, inspired by Father Alexis Toth, the use of Prostopinije was discriminated against by Russian leaders, who replaced it with the Obikhod. Since the early 21st century, however, a gradual revival of this traditional singing has taken place, just as ancient chants have been reintroduced in other churches and denominations.

Notation#

Unlike the practices of some other chanting traditions, Prostopinije remained a primarily aural, unwritten tradition for the major part of its history. Neither of these systems became widespread, however.

Local variations#

Due to the predominantly oral nature of the Prostopinije tradition, the majority of melodies exist in various local variants, and are sometimes different in even relatively close villages. The two largest branches of the tradition originate from the cathedral towns of Mukachevo and Prešov. Due to the geography of the region, the Mukachevo tradition became the main tradition of the Byzantine Rite Catholic Churches (through the Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh), while the latter has been relatively more common in the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese. The Prostopinije chant was traditionally performed either in Church Slavonic, or in Hungarian (Hungarian-language parishes musically followed the tradition of Mukachevo). In the modern practice in the United States, this chant is performed in English as well. In Slovakia it is also performed in Slovak.

Bibliography#

• Prostopinije (Wilkes-Barre, 1925)
• Церковное простопѣніе (Pittsburgh, 1980)
• Prostopinije: The Liturgical Chant according to the Carpatho-Ruthenian Tradition (Pittsburgh: Byzantine Seminary Press, 1981)
• Joan L. Roccasalvo, The Plainchant Tradition of Southwestern Rusʹ (Boulder, Colorado: East European Monographs; Distributed by Columbia University Press, 1986)

External links and further reading#

• Metropolitan Cantor Institute – Archeparchy of Pittsburgh library of chant recordings and sheet music.
• Prostopinije – a page dedicated to the tradition, with a library of scores (in a Western staff notation), and sound examples.
• The Standard Teaching Text for Rusyn Chant, by Steve Puluka