Sources, including chronicle vaults, contain interesting data on the history of ancient Russian music. Even at the earliest stage of development, instrumental music making was not only sharply distinguished from liturgical singing, but even opposed to it. In the "Life of Theodosius of the Caves" there is such a story: "Once I came to the prince... And when Theodosius entered the chambers where the prince was sitting, he saw a multitude of musicians playing before him: some strumming the harp, others rattling the organs, and others whistling the orchestras, and so they all played and made merry, as is the custom among princes." Theodosius, who opposed this kind of fun, made a suggestion to the prince, and he " ordered to stop the music. And since then, if he invited musicians to his house and found out about the arrival of the blessed one, he ordered them to stop playing. " 1The events described in the "Life" took place during the struggle of Christianity with pagan cults. The persecution of folk music by the church is what later gave rise to the persecution of buffoons. After all, their playing on musical instruments in ancient authors was often associated with all sorts of" devilry " and evil forces. The liturgical chanting was, as it were, a means against them, as indicated by the source just mentioned, where the singing of psalms by Theodosius is depicted as an effective means against demons, who, among other things, "beat tambourines... and blew snuffles" 2 . This was a time when pagan and Christian rites, warring, coexisted. It is interesting that in St. Sophia in Kiev, one of the frescoes in the society of saints depicts musicians playing various instruments. What did professional liturgical music singing look like then? In the literature, it was assigned the name "znamennoye" (banners - signs that served to record sounds). These banners did not indicate the exact pitch of the sounds. Therefore, the manuscripts with the znamenny chants recorded up to the XVI c ... Read more