Revising the Historiography of Russian Church Music, or Myths and How to Debunk Them

The paper addresses certain issues of the “established” historiography of Eastern Slavic church music that appear as illogical, and for that reason, suspicious. A matter that has been greatly neglected in the “classical” research is the creative role of the practising church musician, not as the composer but as the performer. By a closer inspection of primary sources and an approach more versatile than what has been traditional, revised interpretations are proposed.