The Liturgical Recitative as a Bridge Between Byzantine and Gregorian Music

Within the entire liturgical music, the recitative conveys the strongest unifying and preservation capacities, and forms the bridge between the old psalm music of the synagogues and Christian music. Within he latter, the same liturgical recitative is the most easily recognizable element common to both Byzantine music and the Gregorian one, and represents the musical emblem of the European Christian Church.

The basic features of the liturgical recitative and those of the Christian chant in general have been preserved unaltered so far within the Orthodox church, thus ensuring the continuity of the basic characteristics of Christian religious music, that of simply and piously addressing Our Lord through "a sung prayer".

Finally, comparing the three forms of recitative will lead to the conclusion that the Byzantine recitative, having preserved its simpler initial form of vocal monody, enjoys greater melodic and rhythmic diversity, and consequently richer expressivity of the liturgical text.

Gabriela Ocneanu