STOCHNY SINGING

STOCHNY SINGING? – A type of polyphonic singing that developed in the Russian Orthodox Church in the 16th and 17th centuries. The polyphonic texture in Strochny Singing is formed by the addition of a vocal line either above the basic chant, or below it, but most frequently, both above and below, forming a 3-voiced texture; the basic melody is termed the put’, the melody above it — the verkh, and the melody below — the niz. There are also examples of 4-part Strochny Singing , in which the fourth voice is called the demestvo. In the history of Russian church singing, two basic types of Strochny Singing developed: (1) znamenny polyphony, in which the movement of the voices basically follows the put’, and (2) demestvenny polyphony, in which the voices have greater independence and variety of movement than in znamenny polyphony.