The Path to New Authenticity

Seven Hymns in Honour of St. Sava (2006) for a cappella Mixed Choir by Ivan Moody

Abstract

By composing his longest piece based on Traditional Serbian Church Chant Seven Hymns in Honour of St. Sava (2006), Ivan Moody haven’t just arranged six sticheras on ‘Lord, I have cried’ from the festal Vespers (using three Modes IV, VI, II from the Serbian Octoich melographed by Stevan St. Mokranjac /1856-1914), nor harmonised it in a modern compositional manner, but he creatively ‘deconstructed’ the deepest symbols and elements of the saints life and the importance he still has among Serbian people and culture. Moody created a kind of creative dialogue between the parts with used chant melodies and his “responds” with the original music. By his own words, the final music outlook “falls somewhere between the liturgy and the concert” very close to composer’s general idea that Orthodox spirituality should manifest itself outside the Church as well. Through very distinctive way through tone-painting Moody illuminated the different psychologic profiles of the main character, St. Sava (XIII century), since his historical, church-historical, religious and national-religious role for the Serbs had many different and almost eaquily important faces.