Russian orthodox church music composers biography

Russian Liturgical Music is the musical tradition of the Russian Orthodox Church. This tradition began with the importation of the Byzantine Empire's religious music when the Kievan Rus' converted to Orthodoxy in 988.^[1]

Origins

When Prince Vladimir of Kiev converted to Orthodoxy, Mount Athos was the musical center of the Orthodox world.

Russian orthodox church music composers biography

Monks from all over Eastern Europe and Byzantium traveled to Mount Athos for musical training and to learn the ways of Orthodox chant.^[2] At Mount Athos, Russian monks learned the Byzantine neumatic notation for chant, which they readily adopted and brought back with them to Russia.

This Byzantine chant quickly changed to a distinct Russian style, the Znamenny Chant.^[3] The chant flourished and spread to the north (Novgorod principally) and southwest.

From the sack of Kiev in 1240 and subsequent occupation of the Rus’ by the Mongols until their expulsion in 1480, few resources regard