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Jim Offline OP
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Over the past few years I have found a couple of works by Dmytri Bortniansky (Ukrainian, but enjoyed by most all Slavs, east and west) that work well when sung in unison, specifically the Cherubic Hymn No. 5, and a Trisagion. They are quite accessible and melodic. I am looking for more such works by him. If there are other pieces by Bortniansky that any of you have tried successfully in unison singing, please tell the Forum about them, and where you found them.(The Trisagion was in the recent Ukrainian Anthology.)

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Ooh! smile I'm looking forward to some positive replies.

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Jim, his Polychronion is the one we usually use (as adapted in English by Fr. Roman Galadza). I too love his stuff - his Blessed be the Name is another gem. But I would never do these works of Bornytansky in unison - it was never written nor intended for anything but polyphony.
FDD

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Cherubic Hymn #5 works well in unison. I occasionally chant in a parish that uses this as their default melody, but they don't know the standard Galician melody! If I try to sing the latter it's usually me singing solo. I have learned my lesson (and how to sing #5 wink ).

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I'll certainly take your word for it - I have sung that just myself sort of "trying it out", and have heard it sung in a couple of places polyphonic. Do you think it is easier sung in unison like that than the "default" Galician melody?

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Diak, is the Polychronion you mention also in the Anthology? If not, where do you find it in English? KO63AP, where do you find his "Blessed be the Name"? I have both Finale and Mozart music software programs, as well as Adobe Reader in case one of those can be use to send or view either of them electronically.

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Originally Posted by Diak
I'll certainly take your word for it - I have sung that just myself sort of "trying it out", and have heard it sung in a couple of places polyphonic. Do you think it is easier sung in unison like that than the "default" Galician melody?
Father Deacon,

Honeslty, I prefer the default Galician melody - it's the one I grew up with and it's also easier for the average parishioner to harmonise. OTOH, there is no point trying to 'fight' a whole parish. In this case I'd rather let them take over and hear 99% of people sing then do what I know and have maybe 1% half-heartedly sing along.

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Originally Posted by Jim
Diak, is the Polychronion you mention also in the Anthology? If not, where do you find it in English? KO63AP, where do you find his "Blessed be the Name"? I have both Finale and Mozart music software programs, as well as Adobe Reader in case one of those can be use to send or view either of them electronically.
Jim,

It was Diak who mentioned "Blessed be the Name", but I think I *might* have the music in question. I'll dig around and see what I can find.

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Jim, both of those melodies (the Polychronion and Blessed be the Name) of Bortnyansky are included, I believe, in the "Supplemental Music and Texts" section of the Anthology. The Bortnyansky "Blessed be the Name" is probably in the Hierarchal Divine Liturgy part of that same section, since that seems to be when it is most used.

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I don't have a personal copy of the Ukrainian anthology, but will ask one of my parishioners who does to lend me theirs. I hope both pieces turn out to be useful for unison congregational singing as everyone loves the 2 pieces we have introduced already.

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I borrowed an anthology from a Ukrainian parishioner. The Polychronion is the one I would prefer to use personally, but the congregation does another one which I doubt I could add to. It is used at the local OCA parish, however.

As for Blessed is the Name, it really does require a choir, because of the independent voicings used. I lead unison congregational singing from a Kliros down front on the right sort of facing the congregation, and our priest does not want to develop a choir, especially since previous bishops discouraged their use and encouraged eliminating them. There are choirs in our eparchy, however, just not in the Phoenix area.

It's nice to know that Bortniansky is widely admired. One of our parishioners who grew up in a Croatian parish in Cleveland remembers the Cherubic Hymn #5 from her childhood. She wishes I would use it on Sunday instead of just weeknights. Maybe after the holidays. Folks don't cotton to changes at Christmas much.

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www.kliros.org [kliros.org] used to have a liturgy attributed to Bortniansky for two voices, but their site is down due to corrupt ValueHost. Check back in a few days and it might still be there.

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Unfortunately, for some time now when I try to access www.kliros.org [kliros.org] , I get the following:

Уважаемые посетители! Наш сайт вновь был взломан (в третий раз за этот год, всего через месяц после очередной смены пароля). Причина -- безобразное качество "сервиса" хостинг-провайдера, компании ValueHost, которая не только не способна обеспечить сохранность собственной базы клиентов, но еще и требует денег за отказ от ее услуг.

Сайт будет восстановлен в течение двух дней. С благодарностью рассмотрю предложения по смене хостинга.

С уважением, Константин Гущин

Hopefully, they will have their site fixed soon.


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