Makar Yekmalian (1856-1905) Les Chants de La Liturgie Armenienne 

Certainly. By the way, the catholic Armenians have exactly the same chants.

Amen! God bless you.

Amen! May the Lord be with you

H K Իմ Հայ ազգի, հարուստ մշակույթի չքնաղ ու Աստվածային ժառանգության մի ոսկյա մասը: ԱՄՆ ԱՄՆ ԱՄՆ

on ne peut pas mieux dire!

ASTVAC QRISTSIN PARQ tanq dra hamar AMEN

Lila Jarandeh god

You are always welcome!

@Me Myself there is a distinct connection between this, the liturgy of Komitas, and Russian liturgical styles. This does not represent a pure preserved ancient form of Armenian music, and that's not an insult. This is what was at the time a modern Armenian musical style. It is greatly influenced by the Russian style, as as the time saint Petersburg exerted a tremendous influence on the Christian east much like Constantine had done centuries earlier, and like Antioch had done before that. The Russians had as early as the 15th century taken the Byzantine liturgical styles and changed them. After the fall of Constantine they looked West, especially to Germany, for influence. Orthodox music this began to take on a more Western style. The harmonies present in this and in the Armenian music of the video are essentially an imposition of baroque musical theory over an older Byzantine structure. The Russians went far more toward the west in this regard, however what we have in this recording is largely an example of the Russian school extending its influence. The Armenians preserved far more of the ancient tonality than the Russians, however the structure of the polyphony and harmony is tied very strongly to Germany and Italy. Polyphony has not been around for nearly as long as you might think, and harmony is even more recent. Even in somewhere like Armenia, the folk polyphony is merely centuries old, not millennia. Being proud of your culture is good. But do not believe that your culture is an island, or that it has preserved the ancient things unchanged. These are impossibilities unknown in all the world.

@Me Myself First of all, no one is claiming Armenian culture is Russian, and no one is being "pro-Russia". We're talking about liturgical music here, and if you want to deny the influence of a professional Slavic musical school that had the backing of one of the world's most powerful empires behind it, then you are a fool. If you want examples of ancient liturgical traditions that escaped slavic influence, look at Lebanon and Egypt. Not even Mount Athos is entirely free from Russian influence. The Russian Empire was a patron of the Christian Communities within the Ottoman Empire for centuries, and exerted a powerful influence over them. This is not pro-Russian propaganda. I'm not a Russia supporter by any stretch. However it's objective fact. It is a matter of fact that priests and musicians in the Ottoman Empire who wanted to study tended to go to Russia. They brought with them some more modern ideas of musical theory and then applied them to their old traditions. You see this at work even comparatively between this liturgy and that of Komitas. They both use several of the same chant melodies (which you will also find in Greece and Lebanon, by the way) but cast them in different ways (I don't know what sort of rules the Armenian Church had, but the Russian Orthodox Church required that any setting of the liturgy use at least a certain number of ancient chant melodies in order to preserve the connection to the old ways). These are both the works of trained musicians. The ancient basis of Russian liturgical music was mostly Greek. This is because, during the formative stages of the Slavic kingdoms and Slavic Christianity they were under the influence of Constantinople. The earliest Russian kings (who were Swedes) adopted orthodoxy in order to strengthen ties to the eastern Empire, and after the fall of the East took upon themselves the mantle of protector of Orthodoxy and seat of the Empire (even adopting the Byzantine double-headed eagle as their own crest). However, Znamenny style chant replaced the Byzantine style and developed as a more Russian style, and still forms the basis of the (increasingly westernized) Russian liturgical music. From about the 15th century on, Ukrainian composers began to adopt Italian styles of composition and harmonization. They did this in order to stem the progression of Catholicism in the east, which had the force of the great Renaissance composers behind them. After the rise of the Muscovite kingdom, the center of influence shifted away from Kiev, and Moscow become the new center, with important cultural centers in Saint Petersburg and Novgorod. From the 18th century on, these composers looked to Germany as the center of musical development (because it was) and Russian priests and composers went west to Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, and other German centers to study. They brought back the German compositional theories and began to compose new liturgies. This caused the old tradition of congregational singing to fall away in the Russian churches, as the new compositions after the German style required trained choirs to perform them. The Russians did this with a specific purpose in mind, They wanted to elevate the status of their Empire. They didn't want to be looked down on as a backwater wilderness kingdom. They were establishing themselves as a superpower and major player in world affairs, and culture was a huge part of this effort. So they borrowed from the West, establishing a distinctive Russian school which, while it had clear German influences, was still unique. By the way, there are phrases found in Komitas' liturgy which are direct borrowings from German Lutheran compositions... This liturgy is the product of a man who studied under Russian composers. He took the lessons he learned from them and sought to apply them to his own traditions. What he composed was something new -it was clearly in the tradition that had preceded it, but extremely innovative as well. He is taking very complex musical theory that he learned from Russian composers, who had themselves studied in Germany (or their teachers had). So what this represents is something that is uniquely Armenian, but developed under the influence of the Russian liturgical traditions which were at their own height at the time. Komitas studied under Yekmalian in Tbilisi, which at the time was a Russian city. Keep that in mind -Yekmalian himself lived in the Russian Empire, in modern Georgia, and not in Armenia. He was born in Armenia, went to Saint Petersburg to study under the Russian masters, and lived the rest of his life within the Russian Empire. Komitas himself then studied in Berlin under the German Romantics. They both composed liturgical and other works that held on to a strong Armenian character, but also applied German and Russian practices of polyphony and harmonization. So the assertion that this has a lot in common with the liturgical music of the Russian Orthodox Church is not at all incorrect. In fact, it was the intention of the composers themselves. That does not mean it does not also have a distinct Armenian flavor, nor does it mean that some of the Russian tradition originally comes from Armenia. I mean, western Liturgical music all originated with Greek music, diverged in the Milan school in about the 4th century, and developed into something unique, then merged back in with Byzantine music in Russia as something entirely different.

@@DLBBAM Thanks you for these erudite and interesting comments. I know very little about the Armenian musical heritage, alas. But this recording very much reminds me of SERBIAN Orthodox Chant, much moreso than its cousin, Russian Orthodox music (the latter about which I know more than a thing or two). If you listen to a recording of a Serbian Orthodox choir (their most well known composer is Stevan Stojanovic Mokrajnac) it will be reminiscent of this Armenian sound.

@@elizabethledkovsky7722 yes that is a good observation. I should like to point out that Ukrainian composers and liturgical traditions are particularly important to the "Russian" style, and the Kyiv chant and pecherska lavra is very important to all of these styles. Kyiv is of course the cradle of slavic orthodoxy and continued to be something of it's spiritual and artistic center maybe until the 19th century, though I'm not so certain of the time frames. The patriarchate was moved to Moscow long before this, this is true, and Kyiv suffered greatly at the hands of the mongols. Either way, is true that the Armenian composers were educated in the Russian empire, and it's also certain that the polyphonies of Georgia and Armenia owe an awful lot to medieval Kyiv, with a strong link to the origins of polyphony in the medieval West running through Kyiv and influencing much of the non ottoman controlled Orthodox traditions from there. (Compare Georgian folk polyphony for example to Corsican polyphony, which preserves fairly accurately a musical theory and structure from the late Middle ages). I make the statement about the ottomans but an uncertain of its validity. I know that current lines of division in orthodoxy align somewhat with ottoman borders, and that the ottomans put all Orthodox Christians in their empire under the singular authority of Constantinople, and perhaps this explains the prevalence of the byzantine liturgical styles in these regions to this day, compared to the note westernized styles in the slavic spheres of influence.

Yes it would. He harmonised in Russian style the traditional monophonic very beautiful chants that I actually prefer as our Greek Byzantine chant

I can send it to you by wetransfer if you want

I cannot find the CD, you might download it or contact the State Choir of Armenia. It was recorded in 2001 for the 1700 years of the conversion of the kingdom of Armenia to christianity. State Choir of Armenia Conductor Ohannes Tchekidjian Makar Yekmalian Sourp Badarak (Holy Mass). Good luck and please let us know Blessings to you from France !

+eskone94 "sourp sourp" :D indor chess kider ?

Սուրբ, սուրբ, սուրբ, Տէր զօրութեանց, լի են երկինք եւ երկիր փառօք քո. օրհնութիւն ի բարձունս: Օրհնեալ որ եկիր եւ գալոցդ ես անուամբ Տեառն. ովսաննա ի բարձունս: Surp, surp, surp, Der zorutiánts, li ién ierguínk iév ierguír parók ko, orhnutiún i partzúnës. Orhniál vor ieguír iév kalóts iés anvámp Diárën; ovsanná i partzúns.

Հապա ուրիշ տեղ իուդուպիով մարդիք կը գրեն ԿՈՄԻՏԱՍը գրեր է Arteok?

15.35-ic hnchum e “Surb Surb”-@