Aspects of the Paternity of Metropolitan Iosif Naniescu’s Liturgical Chant (1818-1902)

Abstract

The Romanian Orthodox Church in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century had a valuable generation of hierarchs protopsalts, composers, translators and promoters of the psaltic music of the Byzantine tradition. From this exceptional generation, Iosif Naniescu is the most valuable composer and interpreter of the 19th century psaltic music. By his rich musical work, Metropolitan Iosif stands out as a reference point for the composition and translation of Greek psaltic chanting. Thanks to the original compositions and translations from the old music notation system, Iosif Naniescu may be included among the promoters of the Christian music notation system in our country alongside Macarie the Monk (with whom he would collaborate), Anton Pann (with whom he bound a close friendship between 1839-1854), and Dimitrie Suceveanu (whom he promoted as a protopsalter of Moldavia). The quality of his performance is highlighted by the countless written testimonies over time. Iosif Naniescu shows a special talent and zeal in his widespread work of over 100 musical manuscripts (stored in our country and in the Holy Mountain of Athos); he is also acknowledged for the Psalms of Time, which he copied in anthologies besides his own chants. Therefore, the present article comes to assert the origins of his chants and pays tribute to classical music of Byzantine tradition.