Hymns of Lent as a Call to Repentance

Before the Great Lent, in a few weeks, preparatory worship services begin in the temples. On Sundays, before the post, special chants are heard, for example, "On the Rivers of Babylon" and "Open the doors of repentance", which set up parishioners for a special prayer and penitence. During the fast, during the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, another chant of a similar mood sounds: "May my prayer be corrected." And on this service there will be no "Cherubic song", but instead we will hear "Now Heavenly Powers", and other songs change in the service. The songs of Lent are different from those that are heard on services on ordinary days, and there will be a conversation in this article.

The emotional power of Orthodox hymns

The musical language of worship services responds to the content of prayers. His task is to convey the meaning, to reach the heart and awaken the penitent mood in the soul. The imaginative and emotional sphere of the musical style of the hymns, which was formed in the 17th - 19th centuries, is transmitted by two fretful colors - major and minor. These scales are rooted in the depths of the centuries, when there was a large number of frets, each of which corresponded to their emotional state. These frets were widely used not only in temple hymns, but also in folk art, so they were named after the modes of folk music. When a major-minor musical system appeared, other frets in ordinary music began to be forgotten. It so happened that the major was associated with joy and glee, light and inspiration, and the minor with sadness, sadness and sorrow. Composers of the romantic era have already ceased to arrange this system, which seemed primitive, and they began to draw inspiration in the modes of folk music, finding there an incredible and endless source of new colors and melodism. The musical language in all epochs was a reflection of the spiritual state of a man of his time. It was harmonious and complex, atonal and practically destroyed. Experiments on the music language have been going on for a very long time, but it was impossible to supersede definitively the major-minor (Western European) music. Nevertheless, the Western European musical language was alien to the Orthodox worldview and worship.

Ways of Orthodox Chants

In the Church Slavonic language there is a wonderful word - "joyfulness", accurately conveying the state of a believer. There is no sorrow without joy and hope in the mercy of God and joy without sorrow for our sins. This is well heard when the chants of Lent and Holy Week are played, and also when the funeral ringing ends in a festive peal. In liturgical musical compositions, there was also a search for ways to clarify and deepen the musical and linguistic means. The convergence of the major and minor with a decrease in their contrast was necessary. Over time, there were two ways - one simple, when in ordinary chants within the scale, tonics are often shifted, which causes some kind of fuzzy uncertainty and emotional non-expression. This mode has its roots from folk songs, and in the liturgical chants, it has become a wonderful way and has become a permanent attribute. It is especially noticeable if you listen to the songs of the Great Lent with a variable fret, for example, "Repentance" of the laurel tune and V. Krupitsky "On the Rivers of Babylon".

The second, harmonically more complex, is the way to increase one fret due to the chords of the neighbors. This direction was determined for itself by the Moscow School with composers A.Kastalskiy, A.Nikolsky, P.Chesnokov, etc. Their works are harmonically more colorful and diverse, with a greatly understated dominant function of one fret. But the incredible ability of the creativity of these composers consists in the ability to follow the word all the means of a musical language. This is clearly expressed, for example, in Chesnokov's Repentance.

Return to the famous singing

Another version of the way - back to the people's origins, when there was an opportunity to go beyond the tonality of the series. This is an option of returning to the famous singing, and there are opinions that the songs of Lent should be a sign of the chant, as more appropriate to the worship service. Significant singing is simplistic, ascetic, restrained, without the content of polar fret colors, it is more conducive to self-absorption and thoughtful contemplation, rather than emotional outbursts. But there are technical difficulties in the transition to banners during the fast. It's like starting to sing in another language freely, sincerely, wholeheartedly. This mode has slight differences from the usual minor, but the new color introduced by it slightly reduces the emotional-imagery state imposed by the minor notes. This is clearly expressed in the hymns of the contemporary author I. Denisova, who organically fit into the Lenten worship.

When you listen to the selected chants of Lent and Holy Week, you can hear almost all the variations of the musical language. The language of worship is as symbolic as the change of clothes in vestments. The condensed minor accords well with the time of fasting, a period of intense repentance and contrition. Apparently, that's why it's so easy to accept when singing is replaced by reading in fasting days, naturally the desire to listen to banners.

Notes of the Great Lent

The beautiful harmony of chorus singing is perceived better than monotonous reading, adjusts to a certain prayerful mood. Church singing has its own specifics, although it obeys the general rules of musical harmony. The notes of the Lent of the Lent reveal the spiritual truths of the Gospel, are a melodic sermon, an audible way of worship. Nowadays there are a lot of wonderful works, so the regents of the church need to select the chants of different authors so that they fit the same style and manner of performance. The hymns of Lent are filled with a special mood of light sadness. When they are sung with the soul, they turn out to be very beautiful, calm, restrained. This is especially evident in the chants with the Valaam chant.
One of the most striking works in the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is the hymn "May my prayer be fixed." A fairly well-known melody, shifted to the notes of the Lent of the Lent, fills the heart not only with a penitent feeling, but also with harmonious beauty.

Lent is a special time in the life of an Orthodox Christian. Those who at least once came to the temple and listened to fasting services, in their hearts will preserve the beauty and bright sorrow of penitential chants. Perhaps, through them will come a deep understanding of the joy of the Bright Christ Resurrection.