Znamennīy Raspev

(Rus. "chanting by signs")

   Chant of the Russian Orthodox church. The term coincides with chant books of the late 15th century accompanied by azbuki ("alphabets") listing neume types with Slavonic names. The earliest Russian sources date from the late 11th century but are written in notation derived from the earliest Byzantine type that has not been deciphered, and political turmoil in the 13th century may have prevented the importation of Byzantine innovations. Even the numerous alphabetic tables in the 16th century do not solve the notation problem entirely because they do not agree. A reform associated with Ivan Shaydur about 1600 assigned fixed pitches to the neumes, thus severing all relations with the Byzantine tradition of notating intervals.

   When Patriarch Nikon (ruled 1652–1656) promoted the polyphonic singing of the chant, groups opposed to it splintered in schism from the Russian Orthodox Church. These "Old Believers" saw polyphony as a threat from Roman Catholicism. The importation of Western staff notation during the reign of Peter the Great (1689– 1725) bolstered the new polyphonic chant and marginalized the traditional monophony.