Znamenny Chants are not written with notes (the so-called 'linear notation'), but with special signs, called (Russian for "marks", "banners") or ("hooks"), as some shapes of these signs resemble hooks. Each sign may include the following components: a large black hook or a black stroke, several smaller black 'points' and 'commas' and lines near the hook or crossing the hook. Some signs may mean only one note, some 2 to 4 notes, and some a whole melody of more than 10 notes with a complicated rhythmic structure. The most notable feature of this notation system is that it records transitions of the melody, rather than
notes. The signs also represent a mood and a gradation of how this part of melody is to be sung (tempo, strength, devotion, meekness, etc.) Every sign has its own name and also features as a spiritual symbol. For example, there is a specific sign, called "little dove" (, ), which represents two rising sounds and is also a symbol of the
Holy Ghost.
Development The notation was developed in
Kievan Rus' as an
East Slavic refinement of the
Byzantine neumatic musical notation. After 13th century, the Znamenny Chant and notation continued to develop to the North (particularly in
Novgorod), where it flourished and was adopted throughout the
Grand Duchy of Moscow. Gradually the system became more and more complicated. This system was also ambiguous, so that almost no one, except the most trained and educated singers, could sing an unknown melody at sight. The signs only helped to reproduce the melody, not coding it in an unambiguous way. Because of the complexity of the system, a simplification was developed by Ivan Shaidurov around 1600, called "
cinnabar marks" (, ), which consisted of small letters in red and which were placed before each Znamenny sign. These indicate the highest note of the sign it stands before. This is generally regarded as the first step towards a certain simplification of the system. The use and evolution of the system stopped in the middle of the 17th century after the
church reforms by
Patriarch Nikon. From that time Western music started to penetrate into Russian culture, and the Russian-Orthodox Church introduced a "Latin", polyphonic way of singing, based on Polish, German and Italian harmonies. The term "Latin" however was considered derogatory, since it also referred to "heretical Latin faith". Znamenny Chant, however, has been preserved to a certain degree in the chanting traditions that are directly descended from it.
Traditions Currently, notation (Znamenny signs) continues to be used by Russian
Old Believers, mostly in combination with the above-mentioned "red marks", as shown in the
first illustration. In the 19th century
Edinovertsy, particularly outside Russia, have tried to move to the modern neumatic form of notation that tries to capture exact relations between
pitches; and they currently use a standard
linear notation. Chanting traditions that preserve and/or are descended from the Znammeny chant include the following: • Chanting traditions of the Russian
Old Believers • Znamenny chant proper () • Stolpovoy chant •
Demesvenny chant or () •
Pomorsky chant •
Kievan chant •
Ukrainian Chants • The chanting tradition of
Galicia (known as
Samoilka chant) •
Prostopinije (or Plain Chant) of the
Carpatho-Rusyns •
Valaam chant • Doukhobor Psalm chant may also be derivative or at least related The
Strochnoy chant (early Russian
polyphony) was also based on Znamenny chants, although it is not widely used in church practice now, it can occasionally be performed by some choirs. Many Russian composers (
Sergei Rachmaninov,
Alexander Grechaninov,
Maximilian Steinberg, and
Vladimir Martynov) studied Znamenny chants and used them in their compositions. There are also many adaptations of Znamenny melodies for four-part choir, popular in both Russia and abroad.
Unicode Znamenny notation was added to the
Unicode Standard in September, 2021 with the release of version 14.0. The Unicode block for Znamenny Musical Notation is U+1CF00–U+1CFCF: ==Performing practice==