In this article, I discuss the persistence of Byzantium as a cultural model in the arts, and in music in particular, in the countries of the Balkans after the fall of Constantinople. By examining ...ways in which the idea of Byzantium persisted in Balkan artistic cultures (and especially in music) after the fall of Byzantium, and the way in which this relates to the advent of modernism during the later construction of the Balkan nation-states, I illustrate not only the pervasiveness but also the strength of Byzantinism as a pan-Balkan characteristic.
Some outstanding contributions notwithstanding, much recent scholarship in Western European languages concerning art and the sacred has been quite prolific but has generally avoided discussion of ...specifically liturgical music, a particular problem when dealing with the sacred music of the Orthodox Church. The present discussion aims at establishing some bases for furthering this discussion, drawing not only on recent commentators but especially commentary on the question of liturgical singing by the Fathers of the Church.
Orthodox church music is as much a part of the quest for Serbian identity as art music. This article seeks to discuss the establishment of this quest in the period between the activity of the first ...melographers (notably Kornelije Stanković and Stevan Mokranjac) and composers working in the period leading up to the Second World War. Particular attention is paid to the parallels between the gradually developing aims of these composers, built on the collections of chants made (and harmonized) by the melographers, and the movement in architecture known as Serbo-Byzantinism. It examines the technical developments espoused by Serbian composers who went to study in Western countries and endeavoured to find a meeting point between their newly acquired knowledge and their desire to maintain links with, if not necessarily Byzantine culture, then Byzantinism as filtered through Serbian traditions of sacred music.
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