{"id":1651,"date":"2026-06-25T19:28:55","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T23:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/blog\/?p=1651"},"modified":"2026-06-25T19:28:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T23:28:55","slug":"chant-works-tone-3-kontakion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/blog\/chant-works-tone-3-kontakion\/","title":{"rendered":"Chant Works: Tone 3 Kontakion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome to Chant Works, a series <\/a>on the inner workings of the prostopinije <\/em>or Carpathian chant tradition. This week, we’re looking at the basic melodies in Tone 3 that are used at the Divine Liturgy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Tones 1 and 2, I mentioned that the troparion melody is also used for singing the short hymns called kontakia. With Tone 3, the plot thickens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Troparia, kontakia, and how to sing them<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the Byzantine liturgical tradition, every day has its own troparion, a short hymn that encapsulates the theme of the day. This hymn is sung at the end of Vespers, repeated at the beginning of Matins, and sung once more at the Gospel entrance (Little Entrance) of the Divine Liturgy, or Eucharist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The kontakion is another “hymn for the day.” It is the remaining stub of a long liturgical poem, also called “kontakion,” from the kontax<\/em> or around which a scroll with the poem was originally wound. Today, the first stanza of the original kontakion, along with the second stanza called an ikos<\/em> (“house” or “foundation”), is sung in the middle of the canon at Matins, and then sung again at the Little Entrance of the Divine Liturgy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the troparion and kontakion together serve as a thread that winds through the liturgical services of any given day; they are also sung at the lesser services such as the Hours. If several saints are celebrated on a given day, there will usually be a troparion and kontakion for each; and there are series of troparia and kontakion in honor of the Resurrection, in all eight tones, forming an 8-week cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, in the Slavic Byzantine liturgical tradition, the melodies used for singing troparia and kontakia arrived rather late on the scene (for reasons we may delve into later). Some of these seem to be associated in particular with the southern Slavs, and may come via Serbia or Bulgaria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the prostopinije tradition today we have a complete set of eight troparion melodies, one in each tone, and easily adapted to various texts. These same melodies are also used for singing “sessional hymns” (hymns sung at Matins while sitting, after sections of psalmody); there are also special melodies for sessional hymns, identified by their tone and the first words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And THAT is where our story gets interesting. At some point, special melodies for particular feasts seem to have become SO popular that they ended up being used not just for the feast-day kontakia they were written for, but for ALL kontakia in the same tone. And the first of these happens to be Tone 3:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kontakion of the Nativity, Tone 3. <\/strong>Today, the Virgin gives birth to the Transcendent One, * and the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable. * The angels sing his glory with the shepherds; * the wise <\/strong>men journey with the star. * The eternal God is born for us as an infant child. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tone 3 kontakion melody in the 1906 Prostopinije<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the Tserkovnoje Prostopinije <\/em><\/a>or \u201cChurch Plain Chant\u201d of Bok\u0161ai and Malini\u010d, the Tone 3 kontakion melody occurs in the Eight Tones section, with the text of the kontakion of the Resurrection in Tone 3:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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\"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Notice that it begins and ends on the same note, and in fact the ending is just the beginning but in reverse. It has three notable accents:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. An initial accent, on do,<\/em> which marks the middle of the opening section, the <\/em>intonation<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. An accent at the start of the reciting tone, <\/em><\/strong>the note on which any amount of text can be sung.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. An accent at the start of the cadence<\/strong> (concluding formula). Notice that the reciting tone is separated from the cadence by a preparatory note <\/strong> which signals that we are about to go into the cadence. Since the cadence begins with an accent, the preparatory note is almost always “weak”, or UNaccented.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Here is the same phrase, with the parts marked:<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

    And the last time through, the cadence has TWO accents, and a slight turn in the melody that says, NOW we are done:<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

    Why am I making such a big deal about parts, and accents, and such? I’m glad you asked, because it’s all about the genius of our particular tradition of plain chant: it can be used to sing practically ANY hymn, without (much) need for written music. Here’s how it works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Chanting from a pure text<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    One of the ways old-school cantors were taught to chant was by being required to sing any text – for example, a psalm, or the Gettysburg Address* – in any tone, and using any special melody. This is because our liturgical books in the 19th century provided the people with JUST the texts of the hymns, and the name of the melody to be used. The rest was up to the cantor, who had to know the melodies and be able to sing them “cold” – and yet, the people could sing right along, as long as they had learned the basics of the melody and could hear the cantor well enough to follow him or her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    (* One of my cantor students recalls that in her childhood, her mother and her aunt, both of whom knew the chant, would have her and her sisters sing paragraphs from the day’s evening newspaper, after calling out the tone to use.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It turns out that the Tone 3 kontakion melody is an excellent guide to see how this works. Recall what the repeating phrase looks like:<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

    Suppose we want to sing the Sunday kontakion in Tone 3 to this melody:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Today you arose from the grave, O merciful Lord; you led us out of the gates of death. Today, Adam exults and Eve rejoices. With them, the prophets and patriarchs ever praise the might of your divine power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We start by dividing the texts into pieces – not too short, not too long – with each part having some internal connection; that is, don’t separate related words. By tradition, we mark the divisions with asterisks (*). Here is how this hymn might have looked in the old Velikij Sbornik <\/em>or Great Anthology (though there it would have been, or course, in Church Slavonic.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Today you arose from the grave, O merciful Lord; * you led us out of the gates of death. * Today, Adam exults and Eve rejoices. * With them, the prophets and patriarchs ever praise the might of your divine power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    (There ARE different ways you could divide the hymn up; start with one that looks right, and adjust later if you need to.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let’s look at just the first phrase, and mark the accents:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Tod\u00e1y, you ar\u00f3se from the gr\u00e1ve, O m\u00e9rciful L\u00f3rd <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Notice that the last syllable (“Lord”) is accented. But in prostopinije, the last syllable almost always lands on the last note, so we usually don’t pay much attention to whether it’s accented or not. Instead, we look for the last internal <\/em>accent – that is, the last accent that is NOT the final syllable. And rather than always saying “last internal accent”, I am going to just call it the lia<\/strong>. (You’ll see why in a minute, I promise!) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Similarly, many (not all) prostopinije phrases have an intonation that leads into the reciting tone, and the reciting tone starts on an accent. So we are also going to look for the FIRST internal accent – that is, the first accented syllable that is NOT the first syllable. Let’s call it the fia.<\/strong> (Sometimes that is all we need; but for other melodies, we will look for the second and third internal accents, which we will call sia <\/strong>and tia<\/strong>, though this sounds like we are in a roomful of aunts.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Rule for Slavic chan<\/strong>t (from Vlad Morosan, Choral Performance in Pre-Revolutionary Russia<\/em>): Each chant phrase moves from the beginning, to the first internal accent (the fia), to the final internal accent (the lia), and then to the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And miracle of miracles, this is exactly how MOST prostopinije phrases actually work:<\/p>\n\n\n\n