Anybody have any good comparisons on the different types of chants?

This was a few years ago.

The Kentucky State Legislature passed a State Law granting tuition-free classes to seniors to help us keep our minds and bodies active after retirement. The program was called Donovan Scholars.

Donovan Scholars.

There are a few restrictions. One being you can only attend and participate in state universities in the state where you currently live.

Some of the Donovan Scholars attended classes on campus. Others choose to enroll in "distance learning" options.

There is really no extra cost for the state universities for us to attend. After all, state taxes actually pay university classes. And the classes rarely fill all the chairs.

However, if the class is popular with tuition students, then you may have difficulty getting a chair in the classroom.

But that was the pre-covid world.

Who knows what our state will do with facilities, faculty, and campus locations after the universities open back up in a few weeks.



As I tell my dog when we go walking in our subdivision.

"Chevy, let's take this hill: one paw at a time."​

 

It is my understanding that other states in the U.S. also offer similar tuition-free college classes for retirees.

Find the classes.
Find the state university offering the classes.
Move as close to the university as you can.

One Paw at a time.

 

Thanks for that info, Cooper!

 

I am majorly into Gregorian Chant. But I also enjoy Dvina’s Eastern Chant.

 

Actually regarding “Russian Chant” there is no single form of chant in the Russian/Ukrainian/Eastern Slavic tradition. You have ancient Byzantine chant, then Znamenny Chant, of the Old Rite, then various newer forms of chant like Kievan Chant and “Greek Chant” (not to be confused with Byzantine Chant) which are usually tonal as well as modal and reflect the influence of Italian emigre composers who trained the Baroque composers of the Ukraine and Russia during the era of Peter the Great; one finds this reflected in the work of the earliest contemporary church composers like Bortniansky and Chesnokov.

Now, regarding the basso profundo aspect, this is popular among some Russian Orthodox Christians for the deacon, but only the deacon; having the deacon sing in basso profundo and the priest sing in a higher pitch helps differentiate the two. The basso profundo of Russian deacons is not in any way like Buddhist throat singing (which I believe is of Tibetan rather than Japanese origin, but its probably a thing in Japan; however, I am not an expert in Buddhist music); basso profundo is normal singing for people who can do it (think of the Mikado in Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas, or for that matter any of the parts originally composed for Richard Temple). I myself can sing well into the basso range, although the basso profundo of some Russian deacons is slightly uncomfortable for me.

It should be stressed however that the majority of Russian deacons are baritones or tenors, and of course, many Russian parishes do not even have a deacon, so the litany is intoned by the priest. Which takes us to a classic Russian joke “If a man has a good voice, you make him a deacon. When his voice goes, you make him a priest. When his mind goes, you make him a bishop.”

~

I would also note that the Russian Orthodox music, like Russian music in general, does favor the minor key, and the Imperial March in Star Wars is famously written in the minor key, however, the minor key is not musical notation for evil. Also, to me, Russian Orthodox music sounds nothing like the nightmarishly dissonant Emperor’s Theme from the Star Wars films (which also only uses throat singing techniques in the Opera House scene from Revenge of the Sith; the rest of the time, its mainly a baritone chorus with some basso voices; most men could sing along to that theme in its original orchestration in Return of the Jedi, and if you did that, you would probably have something that sounds like some of the less successful attempts of liturgical music by contemporary composers).

I am at present listening to a recording of Choral Evensong from 1974 at Christ Church College, with the canticles composed by Tippett, which is quite a dissonant but beautiful service; in its atonal dissonance, it exceeds any traditional Russian church music; indeed, it is much more dissonant than Herbert Howells, but it is nonetheless exquisite. There is a spectacularly good collection of recordings of Choral Evensong as broadcast on the BBC on YouTube, as well as an entire channel of recorded Anglican church music.

Also, one of my favorite London parishes, All Saints Margaret Street, has a recording of Rachmaninoff’s celebrated liturgical music translated into English and adapted for Anglican use (Choral Evensong set to his setting of the somewhat equivalent Russian service of All Night Vigils, although the latter is longer, being more of what you would get if you combined Evensong and Mattins into a single service, and his setting of the Divine Liturgy adapted for the Anglican Holy Communion service). It is quite nice. There are also of course English language recordings of Russian Orthodox services, and this is also what one would here in the US at a typical Orthodox Church in America or many ROCOR parishes; the All Saints Margaret Street recording is more interesting however in that it takes the beautiful melodies of Rachmaninoff and adopts them for the Anglican liturgical rite.

 

Divna is a great singer, but there are a number of better recordings than that. You should look up the Kyiv Chamber Choir.

As far as Gregorian Chant is concerned, I think my personal favorite recordings are by the boys at Westminster Abbey. They recently jointly performed Palestrina’s Missae Papa Marcelli with the boys choir from the Vatican; I really feel like the work sounds quite a bit better when the boys from Westminster Abbey sing it on their own.

I should hasten to add that the choirs of St. Paul’s, Gloucester Cathedral, Chichester Cathedral, York Minster, and certain colleges at Oxford and Cambridge are very good, and the choir of Canterbury has of late very frequently done Gregorian chant, but in general when it comes to Gregorian chant, I particularly like the sound of Westminster Abbey.

In Portland, Oregon, which historically is well known for the excellence of its musical institutions, there is a superb Roman Catholic choir called Cantores in Ecclesia Dei, which is probably, on a technical level, the best choir overall when it comes to Gregorian chant and the Catholic music of the Renaissance, or perhaps, one might joke, the sort of church music strongly preferred by Pope Pius X.

 

Or, in the USA, when his mind goes you run him for high government office.