The
Journal of Byelorussian Studies
Vol. I, No. 2
THE ORIGIN OF RENAISSANCE POLYPHONY IN BYELORUSSIAN
GREEK-RITE LITURGICAL
CHANTS
by Gabriel Pichura
... The growth of secular and religious music in the Grand
Duchy in
the latter part of the 16th century tended to centre round the courts
of the magnates... their private chapels became centres of development
for Renaissance polyphony. The Grand Ducal city of Vilna itself exerted
an ever increasing westernising influence on Church music, particularly
after the political union with Poland in Lublin...
... The implementation of the Tridentine reforms brought the
rules of
the Latin church in Lithuania into harmony with those decreed in Moscow
at the Council of Stoglav in 1551, and thereby may have facilitated the
reception of Western polyphony into Orthodox churches...
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