Author: PhD. Ionuț-Daniel Barbu (Moscow Theological Academy)
Keywords: Bishop Nifon, church music book, Byzantine chant, singers, Iorgu Dumitrescu, Galați, culture, philanthropy
Abstract:
Bishop Nifon Niculescu (1860-1923) was an important Protopsaltis, composer, and missionary, who studied the bibliography of his day on Eastern music and church singers from the first Christian centuries, and published valuable ideas and studies for his contemporaries, that are still appreciated today. He is numbered among the Romanian hierarchs from the Holy Synod who have advocated for the upkeep of Byzantine chant within the cult, as well as for the consolidation and promotion of the statute of the singers within the Church. This situation represents a problem today as well, when there are fewer and fewer Church singers who can solely dedicate themselves to this service. He also undertook a pioneer’s work by proposing the study of Byzantine chant and Choral religious music in the academic world through the establishment of university chairs. A defining aspect for the involvement of bishop Nifon Niculescu in the study of Byzantine chant was the edition of Carte de Muzică Bisericescă pe psaltichie și pe note liniare pentru trei voci/Church Music Book with Byzantine and Linear Scores for Three Voices (Bucharest, 1902), a practical and highly necessary work for the time, printed in 10.000 copies, with the financial support of the founder and philanthropist Iorgu Dumitrescu-Răcari (1845/1851-1934). He undoubtedly invested a large amount of money, that very few other persons were willing to offer. The whole edition was distributed for free all-around Wallachia, Moldavia, and – possibly – Transylvania. Within this book, bishop Nifon included, aside from the works of famous Byzantine and Classical music composers, such as Macarie the Hieromonk and Anton Pann, or Alexandru Podoleanu and D.G. Kiriac, also those of some contemporary and less well-known Byzantine music composers. Aside from being a necessary solution, the project of editing and provided a synthesis of the Liturgy, culture, and philanthropy, because it was a well-written book of liturgical hymns of prayer and – thus – a genuine cultural and cultic product. Music was not the sole preoccupation of bishop Nifon Niculescu; alongside Iorgu Dumitrescu-Răcari, he was also involved in the restoration of several worship places and, most of all, in the printing and distribution of Christian literature within towns and villages, thus greatly contributing to the education and enlightenment of many believers and even to the early formation of several cultural, theological and spiritual Romanian personalities.
Pages: 25-45