ZNAMENNY NOTATION

ZNAMENNY NOTATION – (Stolp Notation, Neumatic Notation)  One of the basic chant notations used in the Russian Orthodox Church from the time of its origins. While in its initial form it was borrowed from Byzantium, Znamenny Notation underwent an evolutionary process in Ancient Rus’, and towards the 15th-16th centuries lost its connection with Byzantine notations. Znamenny Notation is ideographic in nature, i. e., it expresses the movement of the melody in terms of symbolic signs (znamyona, kriuki — neumes) the meaning of which must be known to the singer in advance. In the course of the 17th c., Znamenny Notation was gradually displaced by square notation in the official Russian Orthodox Church, but continued to be used by the Old Ritualists.