OCTOECHOS: OLD RUSSIAN NEUMES

MS 1857
MS Short Title OCTOECHOS: OLD RUSSIAN NEUMES
Text OCTOECHOS: THEOTOKIA, HEIRMOI, PRAYER SERVICE, TRIOD, AND MENAION, AND VARIOUS PRAYERS INCLUDING THE MAGNIFICAT OF ST. ALEXEI AND PENITENTIAL STICHERA
Description MS in Russian Church Slavonic on paper, Russia, early 17th c., 169 ff. (complete), 15x9 cm, single column, (10x5 cm), 13 lines in Cyrillic half-uncial, staffless diastematic (heightened) Old Russian neumes, with occasional pomety in red, headings in red, first few words in gold, 4-line initial in floral design, illuminated opening page with headpiece in Neo-Byzantine style, containing lush foliage with decoration extending along the lower and outer margins all highlighted with gold, a full-page miniature of the Crucifixion in muted colours, haloes in gold, in very fine iconographic style, border in gold with a scrolling pattern.
Binding Russia, 17th c., blindstamped calf over wooden boards, sewn on 3 cords, gauffered edges.
Context
Provenance 1. The Paul M. Fekula Collection, New York, MS 603 and F-XIV (until 1990); 2. Sotheby's 29.11.1990:75; 3. Sam Fogg Rare Books Ltd., London.
Commentary The present MS exemplifies the archaic style of singing, known as khomoniya or razdel'norechie, retaining the reduced vowels of Church Slavonic. This style of singing was shortly to be abolished in the Orthodox Church in the latter part of the 17th c., but is retained by some Old Believer communities to this day. The pomety is marks indicating the pitch.
Published
Exhibited
Mentioned
Boxing
Colophon
See also
Place of origin Russia
Dates early 17c AD