What is a voice? Meaning of the word. Eight church voices

Everyone who happened to attend an Orthodox service often heard the deacon announcing the name of the chant, which will be performed by the choir, and indicates the number of the voice. If the first is mostly understandable and does not raise questions, then what is a voice is not known to everyone. We will try to understand this and understand how it affects the character of the performed work.

Singularity of church singing

Church singing and reading are the most important components of worship, and the difference between them is only in melodic latitude. This is quite obvious, since Orthodox singing is nothing more than reading - extended and laid on a certain musical basis. At the same time, reading itself is singing - melodically shortened in accordance with its content and the requirements of the Charter of the Church.

In church singing, the task of melody is not an aesthetic adornment of the text, but a more in-depth transmission of its inner content and the disclosure of many features that can not be expressed in words. In itself, it is the fruit of the inspired works of the holy fathers, for whom the hymns were not exercises in art, but a sincere expression of their spiritual state. They are the creators of the Charter of Chants, regulating not only the sequence of performance, but also the nature of certain melodies.

The meaning of the word "voice" as applied to church singing

In the Russian Orthodox Church liturgical singing is based on the principle of "osmoglossy", the author of which is the Monk John of Damascus. According to this rule, all the chants are divided into eight voices in accordance with their content and the semantic load contained in them. For each of them is characterized by a strictly defined melody and emotional color.

The Law of the Eight-Mind came to the Russian Orthodox Church from Greece and received some creative processing from us. This was expressed in the fact that, unlike the Greek original, where the church voices are used to designate only the mode and tonality, in Rus they denote mainly a certain melody fixed to them and not subject to change. As already mentioned, there are only eight voices. Of these, the first four are basic (atentic), and the subsequent ones are auxiliary (plagal), the task of which is to complete and deepen the basic ones. Let us analyze them in more detail.

The Voice of the Bright Resurrection and the Great Sabbath

At the Easter services, where all the hymns have a radiant, majestic color, the service is built in the first voice and parallel to it the auxiliary heel. This gives the general sound character of the appeal to Heaven and allows you to adjust the soul to a sublime harmony. Being a reflection of heavenly beauty, these hymns inspire spiritual joy in us. This example clearly shows what a voice is, giving a sense of celebration.

On the Great Saturday before Easter, when everything in the world was frozen in anticipation of the miracle of the Resurrection of Christ, and the souls of people are filled with emotion and love, tender and touching tunes that reflect the subtlest nuances of the inner state of the prayers are heard in the temples of God. On this day the church service is built entirely on the second voice and complementing it with the sixth. What is the voice of the second, also illustrate the funeral services, where on its emotional color all the chants are built. It is like a reflection of the transitional state of the soul from the mortal world to eternal life.

Two voices, very different in frequency performance

The relative third voice should be noted that very few hymns have been built on its basis. By the frequency of its use in worship, it occupies the penultimate place. Powerful, but at the same time hard, full of manly sounding, he seems to introduce listeners into reflections on the secrets of the Upper World and on the impermanence of earthly existence. The best example is the well-known Sunday kontakion "Resurrection of Christ".

Very characteristic is the sound of chants built on the fourth voice. They are distinguished by solemnity and speed, which leads to fun and joy. They are filled with the content of the melody and stresses the meaning of the word. Voice Four is one of the most popular in Orthodox services. The shade of penitence implanted in him invariably reminds us of the sins committed.

The fifth and sixth plagal (auxiliary) voices

The fifth is a placard voice. Its meaning is very great: it serves to give greater depth and completeness to the songs performed on the basis of the first voice. His intonations are filled with a call to worship. To see this, it is enough to listen to the Sunday Troparion to the Resurrection of Christ or the greeting "Rejoice." Both of these works carry simultaneously shades of sadness and joy.

The sixth voice is auxiliary to the second and emphasizes the sadness that has to repent of the committed sins and at the same time overwhelming the soul with tenderness and hope for the Lord's forgiveness. It is sorrow, dissolved by consolation. As already mentioned, the second voice gives a sense of transition to another world, and therefore full of light, the sixth is more associated with burial. For this reason the hymns of the second half of the Great Week are performed on its basis.

Completion of the list of octograms

Less often in Orthodox churches you can hear the hymns laid on the seventh voice. The Greeks - the authors of the law of the axis - called it "heavy." The character of the hymns played on its basis is important and courageous, which explains the name given to it. Behind the external simplicity of these melodies lies a whole world - deep, great and incomprehensible. This is a kind of narrative about the Heavenly Jerusalem and the Future Century.

Having listened to such high samples of church singing as "O You rejoice ..." and "Oh glorious miracle ...", you can easily compose an idea of what a voice is. The eighth voice is the last, it completes the list of elements that make up the axis of mogul. He is full of royal heights, of perfection and calls to the hope of the Fatherless Father, who created the visible and invisible world. At the same time, listening to him, it is impossible not to notice a shade of sadness caused by the thought of one's own sinfulness.