Studies of the Dark Continent in European Music History

2018

This lecture aims simply an introduction into “Byzantine music” following a kind of archaeological approach. The first unit starts with the living tradition defined by the Neo-Byzantine reform of 1814 and the establishment of Chrysanthos’ New Method, when monodic church music and its oktoechos system was redefined by the distinction of four chant genres (troparic, heirmologic, sticheraric, and papadic), their tempo, and their mele. This lecture introduces to the common print editions of chant books (anthologies for Orthros and of the Divine Liturgies, the doxastaria, the two parts of the heirmologion, and the anastasimatarion or voskresnik). The notation reform will be less regarded as a simplification of the Middle Byzantine notation than as a creation of universal notation which was based on an oral tradition of the different performance styles (oktoechos, makamlar, traditional music of 2 different regions of the Mediterranean). It will also treat the printed anthologies of makam music (mismagia, a Greek corruption of the Ottoman divan called “mecmua”) and the New Method to transcribe makamlar as aspects of the oktoechos. The oral tradition of oktoechos performance will be presented by historical field recordings, including own fieldwork.

2020

The preparation of a critical edition of the elementary musical educational material (‘Protheoria’) of the Akolouthiai-manuscripts (‘Papadikai’) for the Corpus Scriptorum de Re Musica of the Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae has brought to light information relevant to the notion of mode and modality; more specifically, it offers valuable insights on the Byzantine and post-Byzantine system of eight modes ( oktoechos-oktaehia ). This paper presents the theoretical elements, lists of intonation formulas, diagrams and didactic poems concerning modality, which were devised as didactic material by various anonymous and eponymous teachers from the end of the 12 th up to the beginning of the 19 th century. The heart of this discussion does not only involve the key concept echos (mode), but also adjacent notions such as parallage (solmisation system), phthora (modulation signs), kanonia (diagrams showing the relations between the modes), thesis (melodic formula, as defining element of a mode), e...

San Francisco Early Music News (April 1991), pp. 3–5., 1991

In Gerda Wolfram (ed.), Paleobyzantine Notations III: Acta of the Congress Held at Hernen Castle, The Netherlands, in March 2001 (Eastern Christian Studies 4; Leuven, Paris and Dudley, MA: Peeters), 147-55., 2004

Lithuanian Academy of Music and Treatre-Lithuanian Composers’ Union, 12th International Music Theory Conference; Vilnius, October 16-19, 2012; Principles of Music Composing: Links between Music and Visual Arts, Vilnius 2012, pp. 54-61

It is known –from Chrysanthos’ Great Theory of Music– that “ethe in melopoeia were three, the diastaltic, the systaltic and the hesychastic. They were called ethe, because by them the state of the soul was observed and corrected. Diastaltic ethos is the one by which majesty and virile disposition of the soul, heroic deeds and related passions are expressed. Tragedy uses this ethos most and among the others, the ones that preserve this character. This ethos is idiosyncratic of our first and third echos. Systaltic is the ethos by which the soul is driven to humility and to cowardly disposition. This state of soul fits to erotic passions, laments, compassions and the like. This ethos is idiosyncratic of our second echos and all the plagals except the barys. Hesychastic is the one which is followed by serenity of the soul and a state of freedom and peacefulness. It suits to hymns, paeans, songs of praise and the like. This ethos is idiosyncratic of our echos barys and our first echos”. According to the above observations it is obvious that an internal (and strong) connection between any specific “Ethos” of Byzantine Melopoeia and some of Byzantine Music Modes exists. So, in the present paper we would like to explore the functionality of Byzantine Music Modes through a spectral analysis in the PRAAT environment (open source), connecting the visual and sound aspects of those modes which represent different moods (“ethe”). The analysis will be focused on the common energy of each mode as well as on the composing structure of any individual melodies, while taking into account the particular intervallic variety and expressive analysis, obtained when performing and decoding the Byzantine notation. We believe that visualizing Byzantine Music Modes through Acoustic Analysis, having as a main source the performer’s voice, we would create an excellent media, helping any potential student to understand better the functionality of Byzantine Music Modes and their aesthetical relationship with the sense of the so-called “Ethos” of the Byzantine Melopoeia.

The studies in this volume were written over the course of a decade, and have been presented at various musicology symposiums and workshops in Romania and internationally; some are the fruit of research projects undertaken at institutes of advanced learning. As for article content, it should be said that in spite of an apparent lack of thematic unity, the common denominator is interculturality and the musical blend. The book examines the sacred and west-European secular influences, which formed in the Byzantine territories that from an early date came under Latin administration (for example Crete) or in what is today Romania. In other words, the mutual musical influences of East and West that were manifest in the Mediterranean during the Venetocracy and in the north-Danubian provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia, under Byzantine hegemony, the Church music practices of the Eastern Roman Empire, and the subtle insinuations of communist ideology found in Byzantine musicology and the military music of totalitarian Romania. These are just a few of the topics explored in this book, topics which I hope will awaken an interest in these little known areas of Byzantine and Romanian musical culture, whatever the reader's level of specialisation. Over the years I have accrued a number of debts of gratitude, which should be acknowledged. I must first mention my mentor, Archdeacon Professor Sebastian Barbu– Bucur († 2015), who helped launch my academic career. For more than twenty-five years, I had the honour, privilege and joy of being his student and apprentice (mathitis). It is to him this book is dedicated. I also thank those friends who supported and encouraged me during the writing of these studies. Their rigorous reading, critical comments and encouragement vastly contributed to the final version: Costin Moisil, for the competent grace and participative intelligence of his comments; Daniel Suceava for his all-seeing scholarly eye; Maria Takala–Roszczenko for her transcription of the Slavonic sticheron dedicated to St Paissy Velichkovsky; Professor Dan Buciu and Professor Speranţa Rădulescu for their profound, judicious and at the same time friendly reading of my studies of Western music in Venetian Crete; and Professor Valentina Sandu–Dediu for her excellent competence and subtle guidance of my research in the highly complex and obscure area of music in communist Romania. Not least, I give thanks for the kindness of the nuns of the Stavropoleos Church for the design of the cover and many other pieces of advice, and I thank Lucian Florentin-Mâță for preparing the book to go to press.

Claire Nesbitt and Mark Jackson, eds, Experiencing Byzantium: Papers from the 44th Spring Symposium of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies, Newcastle and Durham, April 2011 (Farnham: Ashgate), pp. 311–58., 2013

2014

This paper has its focus on the character of Byzantine musical notation, its development, varieties, and specialisation for various chant genres of the monastic and cathedral rites. Special attention is given to the complementarity of memory, notated chant books, and liturgical books without notation (including text-only hymnals and liturgical orders, the so-called typiká). Further, mechanics of oral-aural transmission of Byzantine chant are discussed. Finally, the impact of location and architectural space on the aural side of the chant transmission is addressed. 1 Introductory remarks Byzantine chant might be defined as the music used for the celebration of the Byzantine Rite, and at the same time having historical links to musical traditions of the Byzantine Empire. Such a definition is neither exclusive with regard to language, nor to geographical area and ecclesiastical affiliation, and it focuses on the functional nature of ritual music. In addition, a close relation between m...