The Profane Tendency in Choral Church Singing

I. D. Petrescu's brief approach to an important subject in the Orthodox musical culture, although published before the last war, preserves in its main message the importance and urgency of over 60 years ago by providing an authoritative overview of the peculiarities of choral church singing in Roumania:

Choral music was brought into the Roumanian Orthodox Church in the 1st half of the 19th century through translations of foreign choral works or adaptations of works by indigenous composers: both channels were in their musical spirit very far from the genuine liturgical tradition;

The deep reason why this was so was because composers, in "trying to keep up with the times", modelled their creations on those musical tastes of the public, that were pervading the mundane life of the times;

In contrast to developments in the West, where church choral music was influenced to a considerable extent by the music of the Renaissance and the ancillary use of musical instruments, Eastern church music came under the influence of the operatic styles prevailing in 18th century Europe. Characteristic to both East and West was however the fact that this new music was meant to be worldly, to please, and not to open up to quiet and prayer.

Ioan D. Petrescu