The views of the founder of the Eastern Armenian literary language Khachatur Abovyan about music are based on the ideas of Armenian national identity. Two of his articles, "Armenian Church and Folk Music", as well as an article addressed to the Imperial Russian Academy that has not been preserved to this day, pursued a specific and cognitive goal to identify the characteristic features of the identity of the Armenian people and introduce them to the outside world. In the history of Armenian music, these articles marked the beginning of the formation of a national worldview, the ideological foundations of which were formed under the influence of German Romanticism, and the culmination of which was the formation of the Armenian national school of composers.

KeywordsKhachatur Abovyan Johann Benjamin Gross German Romanticism sacred song traditional musical and poetic art art of ashughs national school of composers khaz Sharakan.

Nerses Shnorhali (1100-1173) is a major figure in Armenian medieval literature of the 12th century, one of the holy fathers of the Armenian Church, and during his lifetime he had international recognition throughout the Christian world. Shnorhali was fluent in the languages of the civilized countries of his time and he was in business relations with prominent spiritual figures, the nobility and the court of both Greater Armenia and Cilician Armenia. He was a many-sided person, endowed with many abilities, for which he was nicknamed Shnorhali (Beneficial). He was a poet, musician, writer, translator, theologian, cosmologist and teacher.

Keywords Nerses Shnorali 12th century theologian riddle sharakan innovator medieval literature “Lament for Edessa” (Elegy for the Capture of Edessa) “Jesus the Son”.

One of the primary and most important objectives in the study of Armenian sacred chant is the comprehensive study of the Ut‘jayn system (the Armenian Eight-mode), including a detailed analysis of the modal structures of sharakans, their scales, functional degrees, characteristic melodic patterns, and the features of intonational development. A comprehensive study of this issue implies its examination within the framework of each chant tradition of Armenian sacred music, followed by comparative analysis. Such large-scale studies in the field of modal analysis may have considerable significance for the interpretation of khaz notation and are directed toward the development of methodological principles for the modal system of Ut‘jayn in Armenian sacred chant, based on the established theoretical tradition of Armenian musicology.

KeywordsArmenian Eight-mode system (Ut‘jayn) mode scale system functional degrees characteristic melodic patterns musical style sharakan comparative analysis research methodology