Compilation of Bulgarian Orthodox Polyphony

 

There are two sacred singing traditions in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church – eastern (monodic) and choral (polyphonic). The eastern monodic singing goes after the Greek and the Byzantine’s laws characterized by the eight voices canon rules.The coral tradition becomes from the second half of ХІХ century when Bulgarian music is influenced by the Russian choral music.Many Bulgarian composers from the end of XIXth and the beginning of XXth century, including Dobri Hrístov and Pétar Dínev creates their works in the Russian choral singing style. The Orthodox Liturgical chants are characterized by an immense cohesion between the voices and an extraordinary choral sonority with big resonances.

These chants are thought to be interpreted in a church.

The language used in the Easter Orthodox Chants is called ecclesiastic and has its origin in the antic Bulgarian language. There are many music investigators thinking that the ecclesiastic and the antic Bulgarian languages are the same thing.