Concert “A Garland of Songs to the Most Pure Virgin”

On 8 December at 15:00, the Znamensky Cathedral (Ilyina St., 26) will host the concert “A Garland of Songs to the Most Pure Virgin”, performed by the In Rospev ensemble of the M. V. Brazhnikov Research Laboratory of Russian Musical Medieval Studies, St. Petersburg. The concert is the final event in a series of five educational lecture-concerts, “The Crown of the Year of the Lord”, with immersive elements. The ensemble performs Russian sacred chants of the 16th — early 18th centuries, transcribed from period musical manuscripts by researchers of the M. V. Brazhnikov Laboratory at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory. Each programme follows the church calendar. The theme of this concert is “The Most Holy Mother of God in Church Singing Tradition and Folk Musical Culture”. The lecturer will discuss the image of the Mother of God in medieval painting, music and literature, explain Marian symbols and their expression in different chant styles, and introduce liturgical and para-liturgical texts dedicated to the Mother of God. The programme includes ancient Russian chants for the Nativity of the Mother of God and the Presentation of the Mother of God in the Temple, as well as liturgical hymns such as “All of Creation Rejoices in You”, “It Is Truly Meet” and others, representing styles from monody to partes polyphony. The first concert in the series took place in January of the current year and focused on the Nativity of Christ in church and folk traditions. The second covered Great Lent, repentance, the Passion of Christ and the joy of the Annunciation as a foretaste of Easter; the third featured Easter chants; the fourth presented ancient Russian chants in honour of Novgorod saints and the Protection of the Mother of God over the Novgorod lands.