Strategic Intertextuality in a Coptic Description of the Octoechos

Strategic Intertextuality in a Coptic Description of the Octoechos George Ghaly There has been much discussion on the origin of music and the octoechos system of chant found in both Eastern and Latin rite churches. In The Origin of Byzantine Music, Egon Wellesz argued in favor of an Oriental hypothesis for the origin of Byzantine music. He postulated that Byzantine civilization and music were a composite byproduct of “[s]emitic and even Iranian civilization on the Hellenized countries in the Near East which formed the most important part of the Byzantine Empire.” 1 This Oriental influence on Byzantine art was in turn influenced by Jewish hymnography. 2 In response, Peter Jeffery, a proponent for a Byzantine origin for the octoechos system, argued: “theories that the oktōēchos was ultimately of Syrian or Semitic origin, therefore, cannot be sustained. The few Coptic sources that show an awareness of the oktōēchos are easily explained as reflecting Greek influence.” 3 This poses the question: Do Coptic sources for an octoechos system reflect a Greek influence or are they a reflection of other influences? This article has two main focuses that merit attention. The first focus defines the octoechos system as it is found in antiquity and within the contemporary Byzantine and Syriac traditions. Rather than substantiating the origin of one tradition over another and the direction of influence in a diachronic pattern, this examination of the octoechos shows a synchronic system of interdependence of music theory and practice. The second focus searches for possible explanation of an obscure fourteenth century Coptic reference to the octoechos system. The Octoechos system According to Syrian, Byzantine and Gregorian theories, the octoechos system first developed in Palestine around the 8th-9th century. There are certain elements that characterize the octoechos system. These 1 Egon Wellesz, A History of Byzantine Music and Hymnography (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961), p. 29. 2 Wellesz, ibid., p. 35. 3 Peter Jeffery, “Oktōēchos,” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), accessed online April 1, 2012. Coptica 12 (2013), 57 – 76. 58 George Ghaly include a “musical mode assigned to an eight-week liturgical cycle, a non-musical repetitive cycle of eight weeks, a lectionary of double quadrupled (4x2) or eightfold series of scriptural readings and responsorial chants, [and] a hymnal or hymnographic collection organized into eight groups called “modes.” 4 The ancient Greeks had a rich musical tradition that they articulated into a music theory based on a relationship of music with mathematics and grammar. Music was a discipline in harmonics: “this was the discipline that provided the system of nomenclature, principles, and procedures where the abstract concept of ἁρμονία (harmony) – the “well-fittedness” of things, the “divine order of the universe” – could be discussed. As a harmonic discipline, music was grouped among the mathematical arts.” 5 The octoechos system developed from a mathematical system of harmonics. The modes are defined by musical notation that in turn are a mathematical expression of “quantity in motion.” The common shape of the octoechos is an eight numbered classification system arranged in two groups, labeled “authentic” and “plagal” of four tones each. Where did medieval theorists obtain this double fourfold system? Peter Jeffery states: “the eight modes of Gregorian chant theory bear little resemblance….to the modulation schemes….which classical Greek theorists variously called ἁρμονία (harmonia).” Jeffery concludes his observations of this double fourfold system with important questions: “If the octoechos is not a direct theory inherited from Ancient Greece, why is an artificial fourby-two arrangement of modal classification imposed? And why was this approach to classifying the melodies so appealing that it was adopted so zealously on an alien repertory, with centuries of effort expended to make the classification fit?” 6 I believe the answer is alluded to in our Coptic source. 4 Stig Simeon R. Froyshov, “The Early Development of the Liturgical Eight-mode System in Jerusalem,” St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 51.2-3 (2007), p. 141. 5 Charles M. Atkinson, The Critical Nexus: Tone-System, Mode, and Notation in Early Medieval Music, AMS Studies in Music (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 8. 6 Peter Jeffery, “The Earliest Oktoechoi: The Role of Jerusalem and Palestine in the Beginnings of Modal Ordering.”, In The Study of Medieval Chant: Paths and Bridges, East and West, 147-210, Edited by Peter Jeffery. (Rochester, NY: Boydell Press) 2001, p. 150. Coptic Description of the Octoechos 59 Coptic Source Among the works of the fourteenth-century Coptic writer and scholar Shams al-Riyasah Abū ‘l-Barakāt, also known as Ibn Kabar, is the Lamp of Darkness and the Illumination of the Service, which has been described as “a complete theological encyclopedia for both clergy and laypeople.” 7 In Chapter 24 of that work, titled “Chapters, Histories and Other Things,” there is an exegetical commentary of various objects and theories like statues, icons, and musical tones. Abū ‘l-Barakāt writes: Chapter on the Rite of the Eight Tones. The first [tone] is added to it the fifth. The first and the fifth excite joy. That is why it is used for the greatest of feasts and weddings, because it was composed for the two pompous, holy feasts: The Nativity Feast (the birth) of our Master Jesus Christ when the angels announced the salvation of mankind, and the feast of the resurrection of God when He said that He killed death and sin. There is no joy comparable with the joy of these feasts, and no happiness equals the happiness of these two stations. The fifth tone resembles it and that is why it was composed for the day of Ascension of the Savior into heaven and the return of mankind to its elevated state. Their mood is hot and humid. The second tone is attached to it the sixth (tone). Both are humiliating and submitting. That is why they were composed for the time of humiliation and subjection. I meant the week when Jesus the Savior and mediator of mankind suffered. Their mood is cold and humid. The third and seventh are both sorrowful. That is why they are mainly used for funerals, or better, for burying the dead, condolences and commemorations. Their mood is hot and dry. The fourth and eighth tones both encourage the coward and kindle affection. They are used mainly for the trials of the martyrs and the commemoration of their different kinds of persecutions so that listeners would be encouraged by what 7 Georg Graf, Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur, vols. 1 and 2 (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1944, 1947). 60 George Ghaly they hear, and fear would not cause them to falter. 8 In this way, the order and organization of the tones for the hymns, the melodies and the psalms are measured. For the origin of musical composition goes back to these eight tones and [all composition] is derived from them by the gentleness of man’s talent. The tones are really but four in number and the other four are derived and composed out of them. The Greeks use imaginary implanting (al-taswir wa al-tashkhir wa al-tamthil) so that the composer does not make faults or deviate from the previously mentioned rules and categories. If (the music) is free from mixing, and is composed faultlessly, then it surely would draw the senses and move the energies. It would incline the human being to accept what was being rendered to him more quickly. That is why it was adopted by the believing Nasara adopted it and the Christians accepted it [because] what is in the holy books of the psalms of David affect the minds and souls and the traditional tones influence the power of what is felt. This is because meaning affects the spirits and the mode affects the feelings. 9 The passage from Abū ‘l-Barakāt describes many classical concepts and characteristics of the octoechos. First, it describes the classical grouping of four authentic modes to their corresponding plagal modes (i.e., the first with the fifth, the second with the sixth, the third with the seventh and the fourth with the eighth). Second, the Greek names of the modes were supplied in the margin of the manuscript. These 8 Villecourt’s French translation ends here. Borsai re-published Villecourt’s translation and Kuhn offered a German translation based on Villecourt. Louis Villecourt, (1923-1925) "Les observances liturgiques et la discipline du jeüne dans l' eglise copte," Museon 36 (1923), 249-292; 37 (1924), 201-280; 38 (1925), 261-320. (1923), 262-263. Magdelena Kuhn, Die Struktur der Koptischen liturgischen melodien, Die Relation zwischen Text und Musik an Belspieln einiger Melodien der Koptischen Psalmodia (The structure of the Coptic liturgical melodies, The relation between text and music at some examples of the Coptic melodies from the Psalmody), PhD thesis, University of Leiden, 2009, p. 30. Ilona Borsai, “Y a-t-il un “Octoéchos” dans le système du chant copte?” Studia Aegyptiaca I: receuil d’études dédiées à Vilmos Wessetzky, ed. L. Kákosy and E.Gaál (Budapest, 1974), p. 39-40. 9 The translation is my own and based on Bibliothèque Nationale Manuscript P.Arab.203; and Ṣamū’īl al-Suryānī, Misbah al-Zulmah fi Idah al-Khidmah. (The Lamp of Darkness in the Illumination of the Service), vol. 2, (Cairo: Privately published, 1992), pp. 292-293; and Nabila Melekia Erian, “Coptic Music – An Egyptian Tradition” (PhD dissertation, University of Maryland, 1986), p. 210-211. Coptic Description of the Octoechos 61 are: the First (ⲡⲣⲱⲧⲟⲥ / πρώτος); the Second (ⲧⲉⲩⲧⲉⲣⲟⲥ / δεύτερος); the Third (ⲧⲣⲓⲧⲟⲥ / τρίτος); the Fourth (ⲧⲉⲧⲁⲣⲧⲟⲥ / τέταρτος); the First Plagal (ⲡⲗⲁⲛⲏⲣⲟⲑⲟⲩ / πλὰ<γιος> [ⲛ]πρώτος); the Second Plagal (ⲡⲗⲁⲛⲧⲉⲩⲧⲉⲣⲟⲥ / πλὰ<γιος> [ⲛ]δεύτερος); the Third Plagal—Barys or heavy tone, (ⲃⲁⲣⲓⲥ / βαρὺς); the Fourth Plagal (ⲡⲗⲁⲛⲧⲉⲧⲣⲁⲧⲟⲩ / πλὰ<γιος> [ⲛ]τέταρτος). 10 Third, his description corroborates Byzantine musical theory that all music is categorized into eight modes. Finally, Abū ‘l-Barakāt’s phrase “Greek imaginary implanting” alludes to a Greek theoretical framework to restrict musical composition of liturgical chant to “normal” or acceptable Orthodox standards. In Abū ‘l-Barakāt’s passage, he described a component of musical theory not found among contemporary Byzantine studies of the octoechos system. He correlates each mode with a particular degree of temperature and psychrometrics (hot, cold, dry and humid). How temperature and humidity correlate with music is not described in Abū ‘l-Barakāt’s encyclopedia and many scholars have ignored this part of Abū ‘l-Barakāt’s octoechos description. Interpretations of Abū ‘l-Barakāt’s passage The first attempt to describe Abū ‘l-Barakāt’s passage was by Johann Michael Wansleben, commonly known as Vansleb, 11 who gave us what he believed were the Arabic names of Abū ‘l-Barakāt’s eight modes. Vansleb writes, “They are called in Arabic: the first Adam, the second Bathos or Vatos tone, the third tone Sengiari, the fourth tone Kiihak [Kyahk: the Coptic month roughly equivalent to December], the fifth is the Idribi tone, the tone of the six is the Great Lent, the seventh is the tone for the Dead, and the eight tone is the Eistasimon tone.” 12 Ilona Borsai correctly noted the inconsistency of Vansleb’s understanding of tonality. She noted that Vansleb’s use of “tone” or alḥān in Arabic is “referring to very heterogeneous elements. For example, expressions of tones like Singarī, Idribī, and for the Dead, still mark types that are melodic singing of the psalm verses preceding the Gospel. The first are for holidays in general, the second for the Holy Week, and the third for the Rite of the Funeral. 10 As one can see, Abū ‘l-Barakāt’s names for the fifth to eighth do not correspond to the Greek names. 11 J.M. Vansleb, Historie de l’Eglise Alexandrie fondee par S. Marc que nous appelons celle des Jacobites Coptes d’Egypte, ecrit au Caire meme en 1672 & 1673 (Paris: chez la veuve Clousier, 1677), pp. 336-337. 12 Vansleb, p. 58. 62 George Ghaly Conversely, the tone Eistasimon – called Anastasimon by Abū ‘lBarakāt – is given this name due to the Alleluia melody sung on Easter night.” 13 In addition, it should be noted that Abū ‘l-Barakāt described the third tone as “sad, used for funerals.” Vansleb, however, enumerates the third tone as Sengiari which, as Borsai accurately described, is merely the melodic singing of the psalm for festive gospels, not a sad tone for funerals. In his monumental work, “L’Observances Liturgique,” Louis Villecourt translated and described chapters 16-18 of Abū ‘lBarakāt’s dictionary Lamp of Darkness. Villecourt comments on the musical terminology in the Lamp of Darnkess: “[Abū ‘l-Barakāt] explains the most important traditions and rituals of the Coptic Church, including the arrangements of hymns and prayers in the Coptic Church, the Antiphonarium, the doxologies, the Horologion, the Psalmody, and various church festivals like Epiphany and Easter.” As Villecourt observed, Abū ‘l-Barakāt used common names for Coptic chant including the common tones known as “Adam”, “Batos”, “joyous”, “annual or year-round”. Then Villecourt enumerates the lesser-known, partially lost or extinct musical terminology. These include “canon”, “cross”, “Sundays of the year”, “doxology tone”, “Idribī”, “Isaie”, “Kyahk”, “Ntr”, “Easter”, “Praxis tone”, “Prologon”, “Psalmody tone”, “Psalm for funerals”, “Sangarī”, “Sir”, “Thomas” and “Trisagion tone.” In addition to these tones enumerated by Villecourt, Abū ‘l-Barakāt mentions specific hymns as “common melody”, “melody of sadness”, and “anastasimon”. The most important observation to note is that there were more than eight tones described by Abū ‘l-Barakāt throughout the “Lamp of Darnkess”. The goal of Abū ‘l-Barakāt’s Lamp of Darkness was not exclusively to enumerate, list and describe the liturgical practices of the Coptic Church of the fourteenth century, as early researchers assumed. As a priest, he was entrusted to correct inappropriate practices he observed personally. In describing the Psalmody rite, Abū ‘l-Barakāt advised “to read the old Psalis that are composed with grace and wisdom, which are the most known by the faithful and the majority of the clergy, for fear that if only a single person would sing alone, people would be excluded from the songs and suffer from misery, boredom and sleep because of the long duration.” 14 In another passage, Abū ‘l-Barakāt warned against the use of wrong 13 14 Borsai, p. 40. Kuhn, p. 29 and Villecourt (1924), 229-230. Coptic Description of the Octoechos 63 terminology for describing Coptic chant. He disapproved the term “seasonal” for the hymn ⲧⲉⲛⲟⲩⲱⲉϩ ̀ⲛⲥⲱⲕ of the Midnight Psalmody. He writes, “And the praise that comes after the [Third] Hoos, is called Batos in all shades at all times.” In another passage concerning the Batos Lobsh, he writes, “It is, as the conclusion of the Saturday Theotokia, the psali ⲭⲉⲣⲉ ⲑⲏ ⲉⲑⲙⲉϩ ̀ⲛϩⲙⲟⲧ to the end. And its tones, [follow] the rules [which] are rules for the Batos tone, [which] are happy, happy and sad, sad. It is the Nativity, Kiahk, and the Pentecost known tones.” 15 Abū ‘l-Barakāt disapproved of using terminology such as the “Joyous ⲧⲉⲛⲟⲩⲱⲉϩ ̀ⲛⲥⲱⲕ” or the “Kiahk ⲧⲉⲛⲟⲩⲱⲉϩ ̀ⲛⲥⲱⲕ” instead of the appropriate “Batos ⲧⲉⲛⲟⲩⲱⲉϩ ̀ⲛⲥⲱⲕ.” 16 Borsai questioned Abū ‘l-Barakāt’s understanding of the octoechos. She writes, “We have every right to ask, ‘Was Abu ‘lBarakat intimately familiar with the traditions and tones of Coptic liturgical chant ... as he wanted to express by this famous passage on ‘eight tones’?” 17 She concluded Abū ‘l-Barakāt’s octoechos passage was merely a theoretical description, not an accurate description of fourteenth century Coptic practice. She writes, “These men of great culture [like Abū ‘l-Barakāt] infused the musical theory of their era and tried to apply [these theories] to the melodies of their liturgy, even if the facts do not point to a consistent [application].” 18 Magdelene Kuhn disagrees with Borsai’s conclusion. She writes, “Borsai suspected that Abu ‘l-Barakat was so influenced by the Byzantine and Syrian octoechos that she accepted, as a matter of course, that Coptic music should know an octoechos. It is hardly conceivable that a scholar such as Abū ‘l-Barakāt would be influenced in such a way. The use of eight melody types [among the Coptic Church] could have other reasons.” 19 Kuhn offers an alternative explanation of Abū ‘l-Barakāt’s octoechos passage, based on the German school of tenth century Sahidic poetry championed by Junker, Erman and Möller: “[Junker] states that he has in addition to the instructions found in the Sahidic [poetry] models, [musical] notes similar to the Byzantine Church plagal 1, 3, or 4 [are] found in poetic melodies. Most individual songs are not prefixed to the text. We must regard as associated words that we, as Erman suspected and Möller has proven, [these associated words are] likely melody notes.” 15 Villecourt, (1925) p. 231-233. Borsai, p. 43. 17 Borsai, p. 43. 18 Borsai, p. 45-46. 19 Kuhn, p. 34. 16 64 George Ghaly Melody notes in Coptic music are often the first words of a familiar song or hymn whose melody and rhythmic accents are used in other songs. Junker compares the melody notes with the later melody information he encountered in “Adam” and “Batos” Bohairic Coptic hymns, especially in the publication of the Psalmodia by Raphael Tukhi (1764). Sahidic songs, thus, coexisted with various melodic mnemonic melodies with details from the Greek or Byzantine Church modes. This could mean that in the Middle Ages at the time of Abū ‘l-Barakāt not only was there “no octoechos in the Coptic Music” as Borsai noted, but that several systems were used side by side in the fourteenth century Coptic hymns. This is confirmed by the already mentioned melodic terminology recorded in Abū ‘l-Barakāt’s The Lamp of Darkness. 20 While Kuhn’s alternative theory has scant manuscript evidence, it is unlikely that melodic and mnemonic information documented in tenth century Sahidic poetry would find its way into Coptic Bohairic hymnography centuries later. It is also unlikely that Byzantine musical notes would find their way into Coptic hymnography. Coptic music was never transcribed into musical notation until the 20th century. 21 There is, however, some additional manuscript evidence of ekphonetic musical notation noted by Crum which supports Kuhn’s theory. 22 Crum’s collection has texts which indicate which tone is to be used, but the Coptic tone terminology is used, not the Byzantine. In addition, modal instructions following Kuhn’s mnemonic theory were also found in Crum’s collection: “For example, one manuscript instructs that the music is ‘to be sung to the melody ‘Tell Me the Secret’, and other manuscripts mention ‘Consolation’, ‘See my Fate’, ‘Praise Him’ and ‘The Garden’.” 23 It remains to be seen if a mnemonic system for Coptic terminology existed side by side with a 20 Kuhn, p. 35. Marian Robertson, The Challenges of Notating Music in General and Coptic Music in Particular, 2009, Retrieved from the Library of Congress’ The Ragheb Moftah Collection of Coptic Orthodox Liturgical Chants and Hymns, 1926-1997 <www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200156229> June 24, 2013. 22 John Gillespie, Coptic Chant, A Survey of Past Research and a Projection for the Future in The Future of Coptic Studies, Wilson, 1976. P. 233. Gillespie writes, “We have, in fact, few documents to indicate that any type of systematic Coptic notation ever existed. In his Catalogue of the Coptic Manuscripts in the Collection of the John Rylands Library (2009), Walter E. Crum reproduced a few tenth and eleventh century fragments that seemingly contain signs of a primitive notation. Some words contain from four to six acute accents set to the syllable with the tonic accent…These incomplete manuscripts clearly show some form of grammatical, phonetic, or musical indication. It may be a system similar to Byzantine ekphonetic notation,” p. 233. 23 Gillespie, p. 233. 21 Coptic Description of the Octoechos 65 primitive Byzantine musical notation system on a large scale, or if the manuscript evidence only shows a local, short-lived tenth or eleventh century phenomena that Abū ‘l-Barakāt implied in his octoechos passage. Intertextuality, Philosophy and Music A third possible explanation for Abū ‘l-Barakāt’s famous description of the octoechos describes a philosophical framework that is supported by a large corpus of intertextual manuscript evidence. In its most basic definition, “Intertextuality is the shaping of a text meaning by another text.” 24 The complexity of shaping a meaning from a text involves examination of allusions from related texts: “The frontiers of a book are never clear-cut: beyond the title, the first lines, and the last full stop, beyond its internal configuration and its autonomous form, it is caught up in a system of references to other books, other texts, other sentences: it is a node within a network … Its unity is variable and relative.” 25 One can conceive of Abū ‘l-Barakāt’s passage as one node in a philosophical and ethical network called the octoechos, which in turn is one node in the larger network called music. The philosophical network we can call the octoechos is built on a synchronic framework of philosophical fundamentals. At the core of this framework are two ancient theories: the theory of humorism and the theory of classic elements. Humorism is an ancient theory that posits an excess or deficiency in any of the four distinct bodily fluids, or humors, in a person directly affects their health. It gained popularity in ancient Greek medicine from the Hippocratic school. The four humors of Hippocratic medicine are black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. Robert Sanno Fåhræus (1921), a Swedish pathologist who described the erythrocyte sedimentation rate, suggested that the four humors were based upon the observation of blood clotting in a transparent container. When blood is drawn in a glass container and left undisturbed for about an hour, four different layers can be seen. A dark clot forms at the bottom (the “black bile”). Above the clot is a layer of red blood cells (the “blood”). Above this is a whitish layer of white blood cells (the “phlegm,” now called the buffy coat). The top layer is clear yellow serum (the “yellow bile,” now called serum or 24 Anonymous, “Intertextuality,” Wikipedia article. Accessed online <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intertextuality> on June 24, 2013. 25 Michael Leslie Klein, Intertextuality In Western Art Music, Musical Meaning and Interpretation (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005), p. 2. 66 George Ghaly plasma). 26 Each humor corresponds to a temperament. The corresponding temperaments are cold, dry, hot, and wet. When one humor increases, the person’s temperament shifts causing a physical illness. Ancient physicians theorized that if the offending humor was removed from the body, the temperaments would shift back to a holistic equilibrium. If, for example, a person were suffering from a fever, which corresponds to an imbalance between the “hot” and “wet” temperaments, physicians would remove blood and water to increase phlegm that increases dryness and black bile that increases coldness. The second ancient theory, the classical elements which were originally four in number – “earth, water, air and fire”, correlate these physical elements to abstract elements of the metaphysical universe. The theory is attributed to Empedocles (ca. 450 BC). Plato followed and Aristotle added a fifth element “aether”: “According to Aristotle in his On Generation and Corruption, ‘Air is primarily wet and secondarily hot. Fire is primarily hot and secondarily dry. Earth is primarily dry and secondarily cold. Water is primarily cold and secondarily wet.’ Aristotle added aether as the quintessence, reasoning that whereas fire, earth, air, and water were earthly and corruptible, since no changes had been perceived in the heavenly regions, the stars cannot be made out of any of the four elements but must be made of a different, unchangeable, heavenly substance.’” 27 Islamic Sources on Music Theory While Ancient Egyptians or Mesopotamians may have first described a primitive humorism theory, Hippocrates (460-370 BC) is credited with applying humorism to medicine. It gained popularity by the Roman physician and philosopher Galen (131-201 AD), who set the basis for medial theory well into the Middle Ages. Humorism found its way into Islamic medicine and philosopy. Abu ʿAli al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Sina, known as Ibn Sina or Avicenna, (980-1037 AD) expanded the theory of humorism in his Canons of Medicine (1025 AD). “From the mixture of the four [humors] in different weights, [God the most high] created different organs; one with more blood 26 Michael T. Murray, “Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate” in Textbook of Natural Medicine, ed. Joseph E. Pizzorno, Jr., and Michael T. Murray, 4th ed. (St. Louis: Churchill Livingstone, 2012), p. 117-20. 27 For an introduction on Aristotle's description of the elements, see G.E.R Lloyd, Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of His Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968), pp.133-36 and pp. 164-170. Coptic Description of the Octoechos 67 like muscle, one with more black bile like bone, one with more phlegm like brain, and one with more yellow bile like lung.” 28 Abu Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn Isḥāq al-Ṣabbāḥ al-Kindī (801–873 AD), “the Philosopher of the Arabs,” was a Muslim Arab philosopher, mathematician, physician, and musician. As a philosopher, al-Kindī was interested in the broader questions of music. He wrote on music as a science, its theoretical and practical aspects and on the place of music in connection with the whole world. Al-Kindī introduced the Islamic intellectual world to the Greek Pythagorean and NeoPythagorean understanding of the relationship between music and philosophy. Al-Kindī connected music, specifically the instrument of the ‘ūd, to non-musical knowledge (such as astrology, cosmology and metaphysics) to form a theoretical knowledge of the universe for the philosopher. Based on the Pythagorean Principle of Affinity, alKindī’s connection of music to the metaphysical world gives us an ‘illā, or causal explanation for the physical world: “There are four strings on the ‘ūd and there are four elements, but without the cosmology and the metaphysical assumptions, such similarity between strings and elements by itself has no explanatory force. And it is the specifics of the affinities in a particular view … that decides which particular connection shall surface as causal principles.” 29 AlKindī found causal relationships in the thickness of the ‘ūd strings and the musical pitch it produced. “[P]itch was thought to be a direct function of thickness rather than the rate of vibration. Thus the Astring, being the thickest, corresponds to earth which is densest of the elements. The D-string is next in thickness and so corresponds to water. The G-string is the third away from the thickest, and is like air. The high pitch C-string is the thinnest of all four. Thinness is akin to lightness which one would associate with the evanescent movements of flames and is like fire.” 30 Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’ (10th century AD), the Brethren of Purity, following similar principles of intertextuality, reexamined and repeated al-Kindi, Pythagorean and Stoic music theory. The Brethren of Purity were an anonymous fraternity of educated urbanites that were based in the Southern Iraqi city of Basra. This intellectual society occupied a prominent place in scientific and philosophical Islam due to the intellectual reception and dissemination of their 28 Peter L. Lutz, The Rise of Experimental Biology: An Illustrated History (New Jersey: Humana Press. 2002), 60. 29 Fadlou Shehadi, Philosophies of Music in Medieval Islam, Brill’s Studies in Intellectual History 67 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1995), p. 21. 30 Shehadi, p. 23. 68 George Ghaly philosophical work, the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity (Rasā’il Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’). In Epistle 5, On Music, they combined the theories of humorism, classical elements and temperaments: 31 We may say that the musician sages restricted the number of lute strings to four, no more, no less, so that what they produced should correspond to the natural phenomena in the sublunary world, thereby following the model of the wise Creator, exalted be He, as we have explained in the epistle on arithmetic (Epistle 1): 1. The highest string [zīr] resembles the element of fire and its note corresponds to its heat and fierceness (ḥidda); 32 2. The second string [mathna] resembles the elements of air, and its note corresponds to the wetness and softness of air; 3. The third string [mathlath] resembles the element of water, and its note corresponds to the wetness and cold of water; 4. The fourth string [bamm] resembles the element of earth, and its note corresponds to the heaviness and thickness of earth. The note of the highest string strengthens the humor of yellow bile, increasing its power and effect and opposes the humor of phlegm, attenuating it; the note of the second string strengthens the humor of blood, increasing its power and effect and opposes the humor of black bile, softening it; the note of the third string strengthens the humor of phlegm, increasing its power and effect and opposes the humor of yellow bile, reducing its intensity; the note of the fourth string strengthens the humor of black bile, increasing its 31 Owen Right, On Music: An Arabic Critical Edition and English Translation of Epistle 5 (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), p. 128. 32 Right adds a note here: “The word ḥidda also has the musical sense of “[sharpness of] pitch.” This particular set of relationships between the strings of the lute and the elements will reappear within the more complex set of interconnections laid out in Chapter 14, below on the tetrads.” Coptic Description of the Octoechos 69 power and effect and opposes the humor of blood, calming its passion. 33 In addition to crystallizing the philosophical framework of these three Stoic and Islamic philosophies to music, the Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’ explained the importance of the number of modes. The Risāla continues: "concerning the superiority of [the number] eight. The Risāla gives mathematical and astronomical evidence of a perfect number which is defined as a number equal to the sum of its divisors [excluding the number itself] i.e., 6=1+2+3. The next perfect number is 28=1+2+4+7+14…A further noble property [faḍīla] of eight, dear brother, may God aid you and us, is that when you consider and peruse the things that exist, you will find that many of them are eightfold, like the natures of the four elements [which, with their combinations] hot and dry, hot and wet, cold and dry, cold and wet, make eight. These are the bases of whatever exists in nature and the origin of living things subject to corruption. 34 Many Islamic musical theorists have similar descriptions of the relationship of music with medicine, theology and philosophy. Theorists include Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Fārābī (872950 AD), or al-Fārābī, who wrote Kitāb al-mūsīqī al-kabīr (The Great Compendium of Music), Taqī ad-Dīn Abu ‘l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd as-Salām Ibn Taymiya al-Ḥarrānī (1263-1328 AD), or Ibn Taymiyya, noted for having sought the return of Islam to what he believed as earlier interpretations of the Quran and Sunnah and Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazālī (1058-1111 AD), or al-Ghazali, who wrote Iḥyā’ ʿulūm al-dīn (The Revival of Religious Sciences). The defining features of the foundation established by these philosophical thinkers include describing the affinity of music in the physical world to the metaphysical world, the importance of the number eight in the as it relates to the metaphysical world and the place of the ancient theories of humorism, classical elements and 33 Right adds a note here: “The positive relationships of the zir string to yellow bile, the mathna to blood, the mathlath to phlegm and the bamm to black bile, are already found in al-Kindi (Mu'allafat al-Kindi al-musiqiyya, pp. 86-88. He does not, however, mention the negative counterparts.” 34 Right, p. 139. 70 George Ghaly temperaments. This signifies the interconnectedness of musical theory texts seen through intertextuality. Christian Sources of Music Theory Al-Ghazali’s Iḥyā’ and subsequent works from Christian music theorists clearly exemplifies intertextuality. Iḥyā’ covers all fields of Islamic sciences: jurisprudence, theology and Sufism. It contains four major sections: Acts of Worship (Rub‘ al-‘ibadāt), Norms of Daily Life (Rub‘ al-‘ādat), Ways to Perdition (Rub‘ al-muhlikāt), and Ways to Salvation (Rub‘ al-munjiyāt). One of the earliest medieval Christian philosophers and theorists is Abū ‘l-Faraj bin Hārūn alMalaṭī (1226-1286 AD), also known as Gregory Bar Habraeus. Bar Habraeus’ work Ethicon has four memra (quarters): Memra I (worship, religious practices, fasting, vigil, prayer), Memra II (customs wordly usages, rules for eating, marriage), Memra III, (destructive matters, pride, anger, boast), and Memra IV (saving matters, awe, repentance, love, hope). One can easily see that Bar Habraeus’ Ethicon division mimics al-Ghazali’s Iḥyā’. One “can even juxtapose the titles and number of chapters and sections as they are found in the Ethicon and the Ihya.” 35 Gregory Bar Habraeus’ complete octoechos description found in the Ethicon gives us much insight into musical intertextuality. The Ancients, who were inventors of the art of music, constructed it upon the four elements according to the number of the four qualities, namely heat, cold, humidity and drought. And as it is impossible to find any of them in a simple state without being combined with another, as it can be seen in <the case of> elements and humors – for what is hot is either humid, as air and blood, or dry, as red bile; what is cold is either humid, as water and mucus or dry, as earth and black bile – <therefore> the kinds of music are necessarily limited to twelve. For music akin to heat and humidity either increases both of them equally, or heat in a moderate way and humidity abundantly, or vice versa. And <music> which is very close to heat and drought, either develops both of them equally, or heat in a moderate way and drought abundantly, or vice versa. Furthermore, <music>, which increases cold and humidity, is either akin 35 Gregory Bar Habraeus, Ethicon (Memra I) Syr. 219, trans., H.G.B. Teule, CSCO 535/ scr. Syri. 219 (Louvain: Peeters, 1993), p. 31. Coptic Description of the Octoechos to both of them equally, or to cold moderately and to humidity abundantly, or vice versa. Furthermore, <music>, which produces cold and drought, either strengthens both of them equally, or cold in a moderate way and drought abundantly, or vice versa. In this way, the Persian musicians invented twelve modes of music. It is, however, not fit to mention and to enumerate them with their designations in this place. As Churchmen, Greeks, Syrians and others, abhorred and rejected the mode <that contains> both qualities without the strength of <of one of them> being moderate, as an unrespectful and voluptuous inclination, they only produced eight modes of signing. They called them ekadias as they ascertained themselves by experience that the first and the fifth develop heat and humidity, but in the first, being very pleasant and joyful, there is found more soft and weak humidity. Therefore the Canon of Nativity is composed in it, because it is a joyful feast of abundant gladness and exuberant exultation, on which joy befalling the whole world was proclaimed. Likewise, also the Canon of the Resurrection, because on that <feast> the women with great joy, proclaimed the good new to the Disciples (Mt 28:8) And as stinging heat occupies a strong place in the fifth <mode> the Canon of Ascension is composed in it. For when, on that <day>, the Lord was separated from his Disciples and taken up into heaven (Luke 24:51), they burned with the fire of longing after Him, blazed with desire for Him and glowed with love for him. But for the burden of <their> body they would have ascended into the air with Him. The second and sixth <mode> increase cold and humidity. But cold giving humbleness in a moderate way is found to a larger degree in the second. Therefore the Canon of Baptism (Epiphany) is composed in it, for though on that <occasion> the Lord condescended to be baptized by a servant, still his exalted greatness was proclaimed by the Spirit of God coming over Him and <by> the voice which was heard <saying> This is my beloved Son (Mt 3:17). And as humidity, being more inclined towards passibility, rather weak and inciting to weeping, is abundant in the sixth, the 71 72 George Ghaly Canon of Thursday of the Mysteries (Maundy Thursday) is composed in it and likewise that of <Good> Friday and the Saturday of Proclamation, because these are days of grief. The third and the seventh develop heat and drought extensively. But harsh and vehement drought is strong in the third. Therefore, the Canon of our Lord's entrance into the temple is composed in it, because on that <occasion> old Simeon spoke to the Virgin very harsh words, such as A sword shall pierce through your own soul (Lk 2:35) And as fierce, strongly urging heat is strong in the seventh, the Canon of Pentecost is set in it, for then the Holy Spirit manifested himself to the Disciples in the likeness of tongues of fire and overshadowed them (Acts 2:3) The fourth and the eight eighth intensify cold and drought. But cold akin to fear is more abundant in the fourth. Therefore the Canon of Annunciation is composed in it, for then the Virgin, who had not experienced marriage, was frightened when she heard about the pregnancy and birth, <fearing> that the Serpent would seduce her too, as it had seduced her mother. And she said to the Messenger: as the Serpent cast down my mother between the trees, so I fear that you speak deceitful words to me. Likewise, the Canon of Hosanna (Palm Sunday), for then the King riding pompously on Cherubs (Ps 18:10) rode in His humility on a miserable colt (Mt 21:2) And as oppressing and harsh drought in is abundant in the eighth, the Canons of the Martyrs, who despised tortures and showed heroism of soul, are composed in it. These are the foundations upon which the prudent Ancient built the <different modes of> music. But as those who came after them did not come up to the height of their knowledge, but desired to be great and prolific in this art, they composed at random a canon on any mode <of music>, even if it did not harmonize. 36 Like Islamic music theories before him, Bar Habraeus describes the common characteristics of the octoechos. These are (1) the number of tones is eight, (2) references to ancient philosophers, 36 Teule, Ethicon, p.65 Coptic Description of the Octoechos 73 (3) the affinity of temperature and psychometrics to respective musical tones, (4) the use of a double quadruple pattern of tone categorization, and (5) a warning against composing music outside the harmony of nature. Unlike Islamic theorists, Bar Habraeus additionally associates each musical tone with a liturgical season or a calendric system. Bar Habraeus’ exact list of liturgical season follows the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox eight-part cycle of the Feasts of the Lord and Virgin Mary. In the Syrian Orthodox Church, each feast has a respective musical tone. Hence, Bar Habraeus’ gave a philosophical and theological reason or justification for following the Syrian Orthodox musical system (see Appendix I). A comparative analysis of Bar Habraeus’ octoechos with Abu ‘l-Barakāt’s octeochos reveals numerous similarities. The similarities of Bar Habraeus’ description with Islamic music theories with the inclusion of the calendric eight-part cycle of the Feasts of the Lord and the Virgin Mary are found in Abū ‘lBarakāt’s description, though it differs in three ways. First, Abū ‘lBarakāt did not reference ancient philosophies and, second, he refrained from copying the exact specific feasts Bar Habraeus mentioned. Likely, Abū ‘l-Barakāt assumed the readers of his Lamp of Darkness would recognize the reference to Bar Habraeus and ancient philosophers and the reference to the Syrian Octoechos calendric system. Moreover, Abū ‘l-Barakāt did not include all the feasts because the Coptic Church does not associate the Syriac theological and philosophical theory to these specific feasts, but it recognizes the same liturgical occasions in general. For example, the Syriac description of modes three and seven apply to the feasts of the Lord’s entrance to the Temple and the Pentecost feasts because the temperament is hot and dry with feelings of harsh suffering and strong fire. However, the Coptic description of the same modes applies to funerals, condolences and commemoration of the dead. The temperament is the same but it does not follow the Syriac liturgical calendar. Finally, Abū ‘lBarakāt differed from Bar Habraeus concerning the temperaments of tones 2 and 6. Abū ‘l-Barakāt also did not explicitly describe the temperaments of tones 4 and 8. These minor differences show that Abū ‘l-Barakāt was not heavily influenced by foreign philosophies as Borsai believed. Rather intertextuality shows Abū ‘l-Barakāt connected to the concepts of ancient musical theories in his description of the octoechos, like 74 George Ghaly Bar Habraeus and other Islamic musical theorists (see Appendix II). Intertextuality also shows that Abū ‘l-Barakāt octoechos passage was not merely a description of fourteenth century liturgical practice, but an ethical and philosophical interpretation. In Chapters 16-18 of the Lamp of Darkness, as noted by Villecourt, Abū ‘l-Barakāt gives a detailed description of Coptic liturgical practice. If the octoechos was merely a musical practice of the Coptic Church in the fourteenth century, Abū ‘l-Barakāt would likely have placed his octoechos description in these chapters. Instead, he chose to place the octoechos passage as part of his ethical discourses in Chapter 24 of The Lamp of Darkness. The position and location of musical theory in these texts were important for Abū ‘l-Barakāt, Bar Habraeus and Islamic theorists, reflecting the importance of musical theory as an ethical discourse, though not always a practical one. Conclusion Abū ‘l-Barakāt’s octoechos has aroused the interest of Coptologist and musicologists. Some musicologists have assumed that this Coptic musical description provides evidence for a Byzantine origin of the octoechos system. This claim cannot be justified. Abū ‘l-Barakāt’s description was an ethical reflection of Syriac music theory with some variation. It follows common characteristics of Islamic and Christian Middle Eastern musical theory. There is no evidence of a formal musical octoechos system in the Coptic Church. The Coptic Church did not see music as a mathematical system of sound, like Pythagoreans and modern musicians; rather music was a metaphysical means to communicate with God. There is no evidence of a formal liturgical octoechos system of calendric cycles. Although the Coptic church has a similar eight-week liturgical cycle in the Lent, Pentecost and occasionally the Apostles Fast periods, the Coptic church did not structure her entire liturgical calendar in a repeating framework of eight-part cycles, like the Byzantine and Syrian churches. There is no musical or liturgical octoechos system in the Coptic Church. The Coptic Church no longer views liturgical music through the octoechos as Abū ‘l-Barakāt described, but the basic principles of music theory still apply. Coptic Description of the Octoechos 75 Appendix I Date Feast Syriac Transliteration Mode Dec 25 Christmas ‫ܝܠܕܐ‬ Yaldo 1 Jan 6 Epiphany ‫ܕܢܚܐ‬ Denḥo 2 Feb 2 Entrance to the Temple ‫ܡܥܠܬܐ‬ Ma‘altho 3 Mar 25 Annunciation ‫ܣܘܒܪܐ‬ Suboro 4 -- Ascension Suloqo 5 Aug 6 Feat of Booths (Transfiguration) ‫ܣܘܠܩܐ‬ �‫̈ܡܛܠ‬ Mṭale 6 Aug 15 Assumption ‫ܫܘܢܝܐ‬ Shunoyo 7 Sept 14 The Cross ‫ܨܠܝܒܐ‬ ṣlibo 8 76 George Ghaly Appendix II