SOURCES OF TRADITIONAL
OBIKHOD TONES (1914 OBIKHOD)

by Stephen Reynolds

TONE LORD I CALL TROPARIA PROKIMENON CANON
1 Kievan Abbr.Gk Ch. Abbr. Znamenny Abbr Gk. Chant
2 Abbr Znam (?) Kievan Abbr. Znamenny Abbr Gk. Chant
3 Kievan Abbr. Gk. Ch Abbr. Znamenny Gk Ch, more intricate
4

Kievan

Abbr. Gk. Ch Abbr. Znamenny Abbr. Gk Chant
5 Abbr. Kievan Abbr. Gk. Ch Abbr. Znamenny Abbr. Gk Chant
6 Kievan Abbr. Bulg Ch Abbr. Znamenny Abbr. Znamenny
7 Kievan Greek Chant Abbr. Znamenny Kievan
8 Kievan Abbr. Gk Ch Abbr. Znamenny Greek Chant

Abbr - abbreviated
Gk Ch - Greek Chant
Bulg - Bulgarian
Znam - Znamenny Chant


FOUR CLASSIFICATIONS OF TONES
USED AS FOLLOWS IN OBIKHOD

LORD I CALL TROPARION PROKIMENON CANON
Apostikha Kontakion Alleluia Matins Antiphon
Praises God is the Lord
(Matins Antiphon) Holy is the Lord our God

This list was probably drawn from the designations used in standard sources such as the Synodal Obikhod notnago peniia and Sputnik psalomshchika; I don't think that these are entirely reliable. The troparion melody of tone 4, for example: Myroslaw Antonowycz has grouped this with the Bulgarian chant as sung in Ukraine, and in fact, as his table shows, it is quite similar in particular to the Galician variant of the "Bulgarian" troparion melody. The same is true of tone 8; it may well be derived from the "Bulgarian" Chant, for it clearly resembles in this case the melody published by A. Nikolov. The stichera in general are simplified versions of the Kievan Chant or once or twice of the Lesser Znamennyi (which resemble each other); the prokimena of the Znamennyi Chant; and the troparia (except for Tone 5) of either the Greek Chant or the Bulgarian--it is not always easy to determine which. The Russian Greek Chant is often said to have come by way of Ukraine, like the Bulgarian, but I doubt this. So far, the melodies in old Ukrainian and Bielarussian irmologia that I have seen are not found in the Russian "Greek Chant".