Wellesz Byzantine Music and Hymnography

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A HISTORY OF

BYZANTINE MUSIC

AND

HYMNOGRAPHY

•

BY

EGON WELLESZ

FELLOW OF LINCOLN COLLEGE

OXfORD

SECOND ED IT ION

REV ISED AND ENLA RGED

OXFORD

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS



O :\,jo rd U"it;ersity Pr es s, Ely HOTu e, Londo." IV, IGLASOOW NIIW yom: TORO:-''TO MELBOURNI! \ \ELl.INGTOS

SA IROBI DAR t:s SALAA \I LUSAKA ADDIS ABABACAPE TOWS MU SBl"RV IBADA-"

BOMBAY CALCl , TTA MADRA.'i KARACIII LAIIORE DACCA

KUALA LU;o.IPUR SINGAPORE HOSG KONG TOK\'O

t l l l ~ l t n i T l O , 11,1-19

\1 (,0'0 t l l l 1LO ' ( l I t \ I \ l 1 l .1. '0 .'L ~ 1 I ( ; 1 1 ) ) 1<)11 1

I IU ' IU 'T ln I I T I U ) ( , I I ~ " I I I ( ~ I I \ I' ( , I I L ~ T IIMIlAL ...

11\ \1\1.1. ' K I LlI I M

I 'KI '" I I II TO nil \ -"'1\ I I ~ LLI)(U , ' 97 '

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

ST UDIE S in By zantine music have made rema rkable progress

SIn ce th e pu bhcah on of th e fir st edition of thi s book in 19-f9. The

field of research has been widened by the inclusion of melismatic

chant and oth er form s of liturgical chant which we had hithertonot a t tempt ed to deciph er. On the other hand , th e number of

schol a rs working o n Byzant ine music has increased an d there are

m ore mu sicologist s in terest ed in Byzantine music as an important

branch of Chri s tian Chant in general.

F or th ese reasons it was not suffi cient to reprint thi s book;

co ns id era ble enlargem ent and rev ision hav e proved necessary.

Th e sec ti ons which n eeded most expansion were th ose on 'Byzan

t ine Liturgy ' (pp . 130- -f5), on the ' Poetical ForIIls' I (pp . 191-'7).

an d 'Byzan t ine Musical Nota tion' (pp . 246-60, 271-84, 305-8).

A new sec ti on on 'Melisma tic Chant and Psalmody', a new field

in our s tudies had to be added (pp . 329- 48, Appendix pp . -fOI

lS). I t was, necessa ry to bring the 'Introduction'

up to da te (pp . 20-28). Minor ~ d i t i wer; pu t together In an

a pp ende d section under th e ht le Ex cursuses, to which reference

is m ade in th e text by an as t ensk ' . . . .As m ent ioned in t he preface of th e fi rst edition Byzantme

mu sical m a nu scri pts have ne ith er a standardized system of

accen ts nor of p un ctua tion . Th ey ha ve, however, dots, care

full y at th e end of the lines of the poe ms.. When e x a m p ~arc ta ken from manu scripts, the t ranscnp t IOn follows t e

orig ina l as closely as poss ible. k !ld La tin form s of namesIn conslstencICs bet ween Gree Sa th ors for example

ld t be aVO ided orn e au , . ,an d te rm s cou no t d efer 'th e Lat in fo rm Hirm oiog i1l1ll ,whose a li lcles a re q uo e , pro . Hinnolo io"ot hers t he Greek spe lling Hem ll olo

p15lO

f" or A '1 F5n'en'd Jr off I t t I la te ro essor . " . , . ,

[ a m deeply gra te u 0 le .·t d me to go in the SummerU · t who lln- I e

Prince ton nI\'ersl Y',. Scholar to the Dumbarton Oaks Re -semester 195-1 as a \ ISltmfon (Harvard Univ ersity), in Washmgsearch Libra ry a nd Co llect, m osium on Byzantine Liturgy and

ton, and to ta ke pa rt 111 Pe in the Winter semester 1956-7Music' . This s tay and ano on tl e Dumbarton Oaks Library,ena bled me to pursue my ';.or ~ n d i My thanks ar e due to Johnwhich specializes 1I1 Byzan me!:i U '



•

V1PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION

Tl h Directar .of t he D umbartan Oa ks Research Library andlac er, 1 . d P f

Callectian , t a Professar Sirarpi e Der NerseSS lan , an ta ro essar

E. Ki tz inger, Directar .of St udi es, wha wark mevery canceivable way. 1I11ss Patn cla h ean , F ella\\ .o f Lady

a r g a Hall, Oxfard, h as agam been \'c ry kmd m helpm g me

ta prepare the manuscn pt f01' th e p ress . .The last ward .of gratitude IS due ta my dear fn end s and col

leagues, P rafe sar Carsten Hoeg and Professor H . J. W . TIlIyard ,\I'ith wham I have had the pn nlege of ca-opera tm g for m ore th an

a qua r ter .of a century an t he Jl olltlmcllla .II usicae Byzal1lillae.

Uxford

May I958

Nole 011 the Fro ntispiece

E. ] W.

THE plate given as frontl!:)piece is t a k e ~ from, the T ) ~ p i k o n ~ , the for}he

Convent of Our Lady of Good Hope (riis v1TEpayws OEOTOKOV TTlS BE{lalas Ei\.mSo»

at Constantinople. The Typikol1 was bought by George \ \ 'heeler, a Fellow of

Lincoln College, at .\theI1S during his journey to the East in 1675- 6 and gi\'cn to

the College together with other manuscripts. The first part of the Typikon l was

compost>d Th('odora, the daughter of the Sebastokrator Constantine Coo1-

nco us Palaeologus, and niece of the Emperor i c h a c l " I II Palueo logus (1259-82), the first Emptror of the Palat'ologian dynasty.

Theodora and her husband, the Great Stratopl'darchcs John Comnenus

Doukas Synadcnos, wcre the founders of the Con\'enl of Our Lad y o f Good

Hope, and Theodora, under the name of Theodoul<" becamc the first abbess.

The second part of the Typikon was written by her youngest daughter, th e nun

Eudokia, who enlarged the monastery. The last pages were added by later

members of family in 1397, 13<}8, and 1402.

On folios one to mne we find a unique series of miniatu res , rcpresentlllg thefamily of the founders, on the tenth the Blessed Virgin of Good Hope, on the

eleventh Theodora-Theodoute as Abbess and on the last the Abb<:ss together

with the nuns. The plate here reproduced r<:prescnts the Protoseuastos Con

stantin<: Comnel1us Raoul Palaco\ogus, a son-in-law of the foundress and his

wife Euphrosyne Doukas a e o l o ~ i n a , one of the daughters of the foundress.

The m t n i a t u ~ e is an extremely fine example of Byzantine craftsmanship of thepenod 111 which Byzantine music had reached its zemth.

, tu t ~ f l ~ ~ R u l ~ . follo\\ed by the h i ~ t o r } ' of the luundation of the Convent, i, giHn h)'

H. U e l e h a ~ ' ~ m 1m ' t ~ ~ r 'Ueux Typica byz:mtinl de I'epoque des Paleologue., in A/(mo/fI 'J,

Dtllx./mtSnlt, tome X",, of the Academic Royall,: de Belgique ('921), pp. 18-1 05 and 14 1-72.

,

,

FR OM THE

PREFA C E T O THE FI R ST EDITION

HE idea .of th is baok goes back to a caurse of lec tures whichI delivered tJ1!.rty years aga in the University .of Vienna.

At tha t tlme st udies m Byzantlne musIc we re .only begi nning

and ve ry few meladles had bee n transcribed. The subjec t , haweve r, seemed t a me sa absarbing t hat I decided ta continuem y in ves tiga tians and ta study the whole camplex .of EasternChn stl an mUSIc m .order to get the right approach ta its most

impa rt ant b ranch , t he mu sic, in ce remonies and liturgy, .of theByzant ine Em pire. In the introductary chapter the reader will

fmd a det ailed repart .of these studies and their co nnexion witht hase .of oth er schalars .

There is a g rea t diffe rence between the scheme of this baak asit was .o riginally planned and its prese nt form. A great deal ofwhat I had to say was worked out in books and articles published since I9

17, ta which reference is made in the bibliography.

The mast impart ant dec isian was to deal wi th the origins ofChristian m usic in a separate work, in which it was shown that

ba th Byzantine and Western Chant uitin1ately derived from acamma n sa ur ce the music .of the Synagogue, and that a closerelat ianship e x i ~ t e d between a number of Wes tern melodies and

the pa rallel Eastern versions. . This relationship be tween Eastand West , we ll knawn ta liturglOlog1sts, had to be made clearto

students .of t he histary .of music by an analysIs of the m ~f Lat in h mns with Greek pratatypes. I must the!efore er

a y. bl . t t l '· boo k Easlem E/e-readers interested 111 these pra em. 0 liS: fments ill VI'"steYll Challt, published in I947 as the hrst "olum e 0

th e American Se ries .of the lvIoll"" , ."ta J11t1SlCae B y z ~ " t ..Thi s separate treatment .of the origins made It p o s ~ ;,0 ~ ~

a hist ary .of t he develapment of B y z a n t l l 1 musIc t fn ly tography and it is hoped that this may be 0 servlce nOd Byzan-

, al t t dents .of Eastern thea ogy anmusicalagi sts but so 0 s u . to .outline the back-tine civiliza tian. I alsa found It ~ < ; . e ~ s ~ antine hymn ographyground, Gree k and Hebrew, fram w 1C

th/ ,: hile both words and

devela ped . I came ta au dged by Patristic andmusic were of Oriental on g1n th,e

yand Neopjatonic

Byzantine writers 111 the lig t 0



viii PREFACE TO FIRST EIlITlON

thought, and that as hymnography developed the spiri t of t heGreek language transformed the expression of the me lodies , sothat this originally foreign material was naturalized by a con-

tinuous process of assimilation. .For a long time the student of hymnography was dIscouraged

from an investigation of Byzantine poetry, partly by the bulk

of the material to be found in the service books, partly by t he

quality of much of it, verbose and lacking in inspiration in comparison with classical Greek poetry. I t is true that in the great

mass of Byzantine liturgical poetry a large proportion is artisti

cally worthless, bu t it is also true that much inspired poetry can

be found if the whole material is investigated . I t is well known

that the same is true of Latin hymns, and, further, if a comparison is made, it will be found that many Byzantine hymns equal,

when they do not surpass, the best Latin poems in imaginative

power and technical achievement . I t is from these hymns,

appreciated for what they are without reference to the standards ofclassical poetry, that Byzantine hymnology must be approached .

I t is impossible, however, to consider the texts apart from themusic. The fusion of words and music is complete: th e texts

cannot be judged apart from the melodies nor th e melodies apart

from the words to which they were sung. The Eastern melodiesshow less variety in construction and detail than their Western

parallels, the Gregorian melodies. But once we are accustomed

to the fact that they are built up on a certain number of formulas

whIch are characteristic of the mode of the hymn we can seehow 1 I 1 ~ e m o u s l y the musicians shaped an d varied the patterns

transnutted to them from one generation to the next, embellish-1I1g them shghtlr, untIl 111 the period of the Maistores, or Mclurgi,the ornamentatIon became more fiorid and the music of greater

Importance than the words. This new development, which is apurely mUSIcal one, has been dealt with in a number of detailed

studIes, above .al11l1 ].-B. Rebours's Traite de psaltique. I have

~ l e r e f o r e restncted the present history to the period in which

ymnography was productive from the point of view of both textand musIc. I hope one d t 1 bl .

f th M I· ay 0 )e a e to supplement It by a study

o e e urgt.

P Mr. Sisam, Secretary to the Delegates of the Universityress, lrst suggested, 111 19+1, that I should wrile a book for

PREFACE TO FIRST EIl[T IO:--: .

the Clarendon Press which would "t di d I . h sum up the results ofs u e s , an WIS to express my gratitude f h myencouragement that he and the Dele ates t e Support andstarted the work as soon as the mag . atvefgtven me. IEl

. W nuscnp 0 my Easterements ti l estern Chant was com ltd i . . n

August I946. That it took me so long t!,!nete : ~ o O k mshed 111

with which I had been acquainted since th I °dn

a sU

f

Ject

t d' bI'

eeary ayso mys u les may e exp amed by the fact that I have not relied inany sectIOn on reproducmg quotations of sources at second handbu t have always gone back to the oriPinal texts Thi d '

d. 0- - ' . s proce lire

prove exactmg bu t often led to unexpected and valuabl It-1'1 . . e resu s.11S was partIcularly the case in the chapters which dealt with

Greek musical theory, the pagan background,' the alchemicaltreatIses, and musIc in ceremonies.

Since the g r o ~ n d covered by these sections was not part ofmy former studies, I dIscussed many of them "ith my friends,and asked them to read parts of the manuscript before I gaveIt to the pnnter. I was fortunate in having the advice of P. Kahle

on Hebrew and Syriac poetry, of Rudolf Pfeiffer and Mrs. IsobelHenderson on Greek musical theory, of P. Maas and G. Zuntzon Byzantine poetry. I have also to thank the Rev. A. A. Farrer,who rC"ised tile translations of the In-mns....

A word must be said about the Greek quotations given in thefootnotes, and about the text, accentuation, and punctuation ofGreek hymns. There are few critical editions of Byzantineecclesiastical writers. Most of the quotations therefore had to betaken from editions which are far from faultless. An attempt totrace the texts back to the manuscripts would have made itimpossible to carry out the main purpose of the book. Thetext

of Ps.-Dionysius the Areopagite in i\ligne's Patrolog1a Graeca IS, as

everybody knows, in a very corrupt state; the text of NIcolasMesarites in Heisenberg's edition has an unusual accentuatIOn.But since the present book is not intended for phIlologIcalRur-

d t t dardize the texts. 1hISposes, no attempt has been ma e 0 s an . . .'

would, in any case, have been t? create an artificlalulllformlty 111texts spread over many centunes. t

. . I scripts have no accen s,The texts of hymns In muslca m a ~ u . . .' d b d t. .. . r d half-hnes IS mdlcate Y a 0

and the dlv1sIOn 1I1to mes an f I full-clause, or shortabove the line. The clot means a hal -c aust, t the sense Thepause in the melody, and does not punc ua e .



" PREFACE TO H R ~ T EDITlO);

printed service books of the Greek Church keep th e do t , bu t ad d

a quite arbitrary punctuation by commas and full stops, an d

so do the various modern editions. Here too no attempt atstandardization has been made. In th e manuscripts iota mb-

scriptum is used rarely and irregularly. I t has usually been sup-

plied, in conformity with the modern method of printing classicalGreek.

Byzantine accentuation was not the same as that of classicalGreek; the system of pitch had been abandoned, and a stress

accent substituted . The music proves that, as far as poetry isconcerned, the line contains only three or four main accents. The

best method, therefore, of printing it would be to mark only

these, with acutes, as P . Maas proposed. This question, however,is fully discussed in the chapter on words and music.

The present book was not merely written in Oxford. I t owesits shape and outline to the spirit of Oxford. I have already

mentioned some of my friends who were always ready to help

when the subject matter took me beyond the range of my own

studies. Miss Patricia Kean helped me to prepare the manu-

scnpt for the press and read th e proofs. She also compiled the

Index, as she did for my Eastern Elements in Western Chant.I wlsh to express to her my gratitude for her support.

The book could never have been written without the help

which I received from the University and the haven whichLmcoln College gave me by electing me a Fellow in 1939. Itherefore Wish to dedicate it to the Rector and Fellows as an

expressIOn of my gratitude and friendship, and I have chosen asfrontispiece a mlmature from a manuscript in the possession ofLincoln College, now deposited in the Bodleian Library....

Lincoln Collcg/!

Oxford '94K

•

E.J

W.

CONTENTS

ABBREVIATlONS•

XIV

INTRODUCTIO". A SU RVEY Of STCDIESAND HH!NOGRAPHY

I. BYZAXTI:\E MUSIC

IX BYZA:-ITIl\E MUSIC

II . EAHLY WonK ON BYZAXTIXE ~ f r S I C AX'D HYM:-':OGRAPHY

I I I . }. -8. PITRA AXD W. CHR IST

IV. LATER STUDIES IX BYZAXTIXE IIYMNOGRAPHY

V. LATER STUD IE S IX' BYZAX'TINE :'oIUSIC

VI. THE DECIPIIERI:-;C OF THE )tL'SIC

\'11. THE PRESE!'T STATE OF STUDIES IN BYZAXTlNE CHANT

l. TH E ORIGINS OF BYZANTINE MUSIC

1. TilE OHIENTAL HYPOTHESIS

II. THE CO :'oIPOSITE CHARACTER OF BYZANTINE CI \'ILlZATJOX

Ill. THE VOCAL CHARACTER OF BYZAXTIXE

IV. TilE LEGACY OF TIlE SYSAGOGL"E

(a) Psalmody(b) Hymn s(e) Spiritual songs

v, CONCLUSION

II. TH E SURVII'AL OF GREEK ML'SICAL THEORY

l. THE PRISCIPLES OF GREEK ~ I L " S I C A L THEORY

II. THE DOCTRI!'I.'E Of." 'ETHOS' GREEK ~ I V S I C A L THEORY

I I I . XEOPLATOXIC I X F L U E ~ C E S 0: \ Ml'SICAL TIIEORY

IV. THE BYZANTIXE (OXCEPTIOX OF ML'SIC

V. MUSIC IX TREATISES OF GREEK GXOSTICS AXD A L C H E M I S T ~(n) Gnostic Formulae of Incantation(6) Greek ;\lchemists on i\lu sic

III. TH E PAGAN BACKGROL'XD1. ABSE!'I.'CE OF MUSICAL DOCUMENTS

II. THE ATIITUDE OF THE CHl'RCH TO l lt 'SIC IS Pl'BLIC LIFE

III. ECCLESIASTICAL EDICTS AGAIXST PAGAl\' MUS IC

1\'. TilE TIIEATRE

V. TH E PANTOMDIE

VI. PAGAS FEAST!)

VI I .

(a) Olympic Games(b) Maioumas(c) Th e Calendae

J N S T l W l l I ~ N T A L MU SIC. IDEAL

MUS ICA PERNICIOSA ASD THE CHRISTI."!' .\' I I I .

1

2

•J

7II15

lJ

29

31

32

35

3540

4'

4'

46

52

55

60

64

64

72

78

79

83

85

87

&)

89

9"9"

9'94



••

X ll CONTENTS

1\'. ~ I l ' S I C 11\ CEREMO:-l IE S

I OIUGI).; U E \ ' E L O P ~ I E S T UF TH E ACCLAMATIOXS

11. THE P E R F O R ~ I A : - : C E OF "IL'SIC IX THE CEREMO:" IE S

Ill. THE onCAl'\'

I\", l"SE OF TH E AC(LAMATTOXS

\', FV:\,CTlON OF THE ACCLM.IATIOXS

n. THE :\I[SIC OF THE A(CLA:\IATIOSS

I'. BYZA)';TI:-IE LITURGYl. THE UTrRCIES OF ST. BASIL ASD OF ST. ('HRYSoSTOM AN D THE

LITl'RGY OF THE PRESA:-\CTIFIED

II. THE C O M ~ t L ' ! , \ I T Y AND TH E SERVICE

III. THE OFFICE

1\', THE LlTL RCIL AL BOOKS

I"l. EARLY CHRIST IA),; HYMNS

I. THE PAGAl'\' AS O JEWISH B A C K G H O U ~ I >II. SY:\ESIUS

Ill. THE CHRISTlA)'; HY:\I!\ \\ ITH :\IUSIC

1"11 ORTHODOX THEOLOGY A:-.IV BYZA)';TI)';I': HYM:-.IOGRAPHY

l. TH E CHARACTER OF BYZAXTlNE HY:\INS

II. TIlE OR THODOX C HL'RC H

VlII. THE POETICAL FORMS: (I) TROPARI01\ AN D KONTAKION

I. TROPARlO:>;

11. KO!'\TAKIO:\

IX. THE POETICAL FORMS: (Ill KANON

1. ORIGl! ' AXIJ UE\'ELOPMEXT

II. T in 5T1H.:CTCHE OF TH E KANO:\

(II) The Hcsurrection Kanan

(6) Canticle an d Od e

Ill . TIlE L A T i ~ H I J I ~ \ ' E L O P ) I E X T OF IIYM:'\-WRITI:-.IC

IV ~ 1 l : ' \ O R RYZASTiXE H Y ~ I S ( ) ( ; H A P H YX. BYZA:\TI:\E ML:SIlAL XOTATIO:-; 1

XI.

I. THE TWO SYSTUIS: ECPIIOSETIC S f ( ~ : o . . : s .-\':\1) ~ E l ' ) I E S11. E C P H O ~ E T l C :$)TATlO:\

IlYZ.$';T1:\E \IUSlrAL NOTATION II . TilE ).;"L'MES

I. TH E TiIREE PHA SES OF SEt:MATIC :\OTArtO!\

II . EARLY BYZA:\TIS"E :o..:OTATION

Ill. TH E SYSTEM OJ, )IIDDLE AS"I) 1. ,\ I F llYZt\:\I ISE ."'."."." ,<S"OTATIOK . "

IV, THE I:\TER\'AL SIG:o..:S

98

10 2

10510911 2

II 4

123

12 4

12 5

129

157

15 9

17 1

17 9

198

20 6

20 6

22 2

22 9

23 9

261

271

CON TENT

V. TH E 'GREAT HYPOSTASES'

\'1. TilE MODES

VII. TH E ISTOSATiON F O R ~ I l : L A r :VIII . TH E MODULATIOX SIGSS

XII. "H E TRA:-.JSCRIPTlO:\ OF BYZA:\TI).;E MELODIES

XIl!. THE STRt.:CTL:RE OF BYZA1\TI:\E MELODIES

I. HlIDt! STICHERA

II, MELISMATI C CI-IAS"TI l l . PSALMODY

XIV. IVORDS AND MUS IC

EXCURSUSES

ApPENDIX I. HYMNS FROM THE HIRMOLOGION

ApPE"OIX II . HYMNS FROM TH E STI CHERARION

A P I ' E ~ D l X Ill . MELISMATlC CHANT

",Ppgll l" II'. TABLE OF I)';TO:-iATION FORML"LAE A:\D I).; ·

CI PITS OF APPE:-iDED STIC HERA

ApI'E'' ' 'X \' . TABLES OF FORML:LAE OF HIRm I:-J THE FIRST

MODE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

LIST OF HYM)';OGRAPHERS FRO)l THE FIFTH TO THE

FIFTEE)';TI-I CEN Tt.:RIES

LIST OF HYMNS. TROPAHIA , HIH)II, KONT.IKI.I

CI-IRO, OLOG ICAL SURI 'EY

I:-lDEX

PLATES

FrouliSpu((

~ 1 ~ ,Lincoln College D. 35, FoL (), Latl' :\ I I Ith Ct'ntury

A nu l

1. List of Ecphonetic Signs

EC}lhonetic ),'otation .II .

Earl,' B)'zanulll ~ o t < l t l O l 1Jll.

1\ ', Earl;' Byzantine i\otalio ll

\', 'fiddle Byzantine Notation .

"

1. ' \I 'ddle I-hzant ine :--;otatto nLa te . I .

\ ' I I . La te Byzantine ~ o t a t i o n

• ••

Xil l

294

300

303

30g

312

326

330340

348

362

370

384

442

445

447

449



ABBREVIATIONS

NOTE. The jollowing abbreviations are used in the bibliographyand il l the jootllotes to the text:

AM.B.A.

A .B.S..U f.

B.

B.Z.

C.A .H.C . f.H.

C.S.H.B.

D.A.CL

E.O.

].H.S.

J.L.].R.S.

J.T.S.L.O.C.JUf.B.

P.G.

P.L.

Rass.G.R.t.G.R.G.

R.O.C.Sb.B.A.

5.1 11.T.S.G.Z.'\f.W.

Abhandlungen der bayrischen Akademic der Wissenschaften,philos.-philol. Cia sse .

Annual of the British School at Athens.Acta Musicologica .Byzantion.

Byzantinische Zeitschrift.The Cambridge Ancient Hi story.The Cambridge Medieval History.Corpus Scriptorum Historiac Byzantinorum.

Dictionnaire d'Archeologie chrCtienne et de Liturgie.

f:chos d'Orient.The Journal of Hellenic Studies .Jahrbuch rur Liturgiewissenschaft.The Journal of Roman Studies.The Journal of Theological Studies.Laudate: Quarterly Review of the Benedictines of Nashdom.Oriens Christian us.

Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae.

J. P. ~ l i g n e , Patrologiae cursus complctus, series Gracea.

J. P. Migne, Patrologiae cursus completus, series Lalina.Rassegna Gregoriana.Revue des etudes grecgues.Revue Gregorienne.

Revue de "Orient chretien.S i t z u ! l g s b e r i ~ h t e der bayrischcn Akademie cler \Vissenschaften .

philos.-ph.lol. und hislor. Classe.

Sammelbande clef Intemationalcn ?\f usikwissenschaft.Tribune de Saint Gervais.

Zeitschrift fUr :\fusikwissenschaft.

A SURVEY

INTRODUCTION

OF STUDIES IN BYZANTINE MUS ICAND HYMNOG RAPHY

l. BYZANTINE 11USIC

HE term 'Byzantine mu sic' has been a I' d bI I t E t ' . pp Ie y modern

Isc 10 lards 0 < as em ecclesiastical chant, sung in Greek and

to t le me 0 les of a certain group of ceremon' I . h 'f I E h

· la poems m onouro t le mperor, t e Im pen al family an d hlgh di ' t ' f h' gm anes 0 t eOrthodox Church .. Th e rest riction of th e term to these two

groups of chants IS not ql1lte accurate, for it excludes secular

mUSIC, to which Chnsttan authors an d Byzantine historiographers

frequently refer. No trace, however, of this secular music has

co m e down to u s, and the only knowledge we have of it is derived

from th e Fathers of th e Church an d th e Byzant ine ch roniclers

wh o contrast th e ev il influence of theatrical music with the

purifying spirit of sac red music. Remnants of Byzantine popular

songs may st ill live in Greek popular music of the present day, butno attempt has ye t been ma de to analyse the melodic structure

of these songs and to separa te the different layers by stylistic

analysis, a procedure which would enable us to compare the

corpus of secul ar melodies with ecclesiastical, and to determme

whether an y relationship ca n be observed between them. We

must, therefore, use the term 'Byzantine music' here m the same

restricted sense as ou r predecessors; bu t we shall try to add some

information from li terary sources so as to gwe a more complete

account of th e pos ition which both ecclesiastical and secular

music occup ied in th e Eastern Empire. kn I d of

Tf

,hl'ch our ow e gehe re a re three groups 0 sources on \\

th e subject is based: . f ecclesiastical(I) Manuscripts, containing (a) c o I l e ~ ~ I ~ ; L ~ and other

hymns, chants from th e Ordinary 0 and Pol c";ljllia, sungliturgical melodies;. (b) acclamatIOns

theEm {ror, the Em

by alternating chOirs JJ1 honour of dPof the Church.. d' 't . of the State an

press and high Ignl anes .

( ) l' '. . aI tl or v an d notatIOn. d

2 rea li ses on mUSIC, 1e J • f al ceremonies an(3) Descriptions of secular an d ecclesla5 /

c'and instrumental

feasts accompanied by hymns, chan s,•

11111S1C.B

Ii II" "

•



2A SURVEY OF STUDIES IN

As in all other studies connected with th e history of medieval

. ogress is dependent on two factors: (I) th e eX Ist enc emusIC, an y pr . . ' . . alof a sufficiently large number of manuscnpts conta1l1mg mU SIC

t t · s from different succeSS Ive peno ds to cove r mo st of th eno a Ion 'b T f dground un der consideration; (2) the POSSI I i ty 0 r ~ con-

clusions as to the deciphering of th e earh er sta ges of notatlOn by

comparison with the final stage, the readmg of wlllch offers no

difficulties.We shall have to prove explicit ly la ter on that both these con-

siderations impose further rest rictions on th e scope of ou r 111-

quiries. Many of the early ~ n u s i c a l manuscnpts ha ve pe nshed,

probably because they were Illummated an d were for that reason

destroyed during the I conoclastic contro ve rsy . But ma.ny manu

scripts containing hymns with superp osed mu sIca l SIgn s ha ve

been preserved from the 'Second Golden Age' of Byzantme art,

from the n inth to the beginning of the thIrteenth century, an d

even more from the third period between th e conq ues t of Con

stantinople by the Crusaders in 1204 an d the end of th e Empire•

m 1453·From the beginning of Byzantine studies in the W es t th ese

manuscripts aroused th e interest of students invest igatin g th e

liturgy of the Eastern Church. The list of schol a rly works begins

as early as the middle of the seventeenth century with two

publications, from both of wh ich valuab le inform ation can even

now be obtained about th e part played by music in th e service of

the Greek Church: Leo Allatius's De libris ecclesiasticis Graeco-

rum dissertationes duae (Paris, 1646), and J. Goar's Evxo>'6ywv

sive Rituale Graecomm (Paris, 1647). a commentary on the 'Great

Euchologium'. A. Kircher, on the other hand, a very unreliable

compiler , dealt only superficially with Byzantine music in his

l\Jusurgia ,miversalis sive arS magna consotli et dissoni, vol. i. 7,pp . 7 2 ~ 9 (Rome, 1650).

II . EARLY WORK ON BYZANTINE MUSIC AND H Y ~ l N O G R A P I I YThe first scholar to draw attention to the musical signs was

Mont faucon, the originator of Greek palaeography . He gives a

lIst of them 1I l hIS Palaeographia Graeca (Paris, 1708). pp . 23 1

sqq., WIthout trymg to transcribe them into Western musicalnotation. An attempt to do this seems to have been made some

seventy years later by M. Gerbert , Abbot of St . Blasien, who dealt

I

. BYZANTINE MUSIC AND HYMNOGRAPHY 3

extensIvely WIth the mu sic of the Easte Ch h ' thvolume of his stud D . rn urc m e second

y e cantu et mustca sacra, a prima ecelesiae~ e t ~ : ~ ad praesens tempus (St . Blasien, 1774). Gerbert even claimedm work to have succeeded in transcribing some of the melodIes , bu t as he gave no examples of his accomplishments his assertion cannot be proved. Another treatise of this period, based on

Late Byzantme mUSIcal theorists, can be found in the Geschichle

des transalptnen Dactens (VIenna, 1781- .r1. vol. ii, pp. fo,30-547, byF. J. Sulzer, an assessor m the Austrian army. One would not

expect to find a learned dissertation on music in a book of thi s

km d , ye t Sulzer's work must be considered a careful attempt tosolve the p r o b l e ~ of the last phase of Byzantine notation.

Whilst Sulzer s study remamed almost unnoticed, another at temp t , made some years la ter, met with greate r success. This was

an essay 'D e l' eta t de l'art de musique en Egypte' by G. A. Villot eau, published together with other studies on Oriental music in

th e fourth volume of the Description de I'Egypte (Paris, 1799).

Villoteau 's work was th e first comprehensive study on Greekecclesiastical mu sic and of its notation and theo ry. I t was written

by a mu sician of wide knowledge, and retained a prominent place

in mu sical literature up to the middle of the nineteenth century.Villoteau's essay is the last of the first group of studies on Byzantine mu sic. Further progress, espec ially in co llecting infolmation

about the ea rlier phases of Greek ecclesiastical music, could not bemad e at that time, since the difficulty of deciphering the musicalsigns seemed insurmountable. This fact also explains, in part,th e disinclination of student s, writing on the hIstory of mUSIC, toca rry ou t inves tigations in to a remote subject whi ch, like aU

branches of Byzantine ar t during the . greater part of the Illneteenth century, lay outside the general mterests of the penod, and

seemed th erefore doomed to failure. .A new impulse was needed to revive the study of ByzantmeChan t. I t came from the inves tiga tlOns mto B y z a n t l l l ~ hymno-

. I f C 'd' I Pitra particularly from the publIcatIOn of hISgiaplyo al lila , . h ' h h e 'HYlnlloaraphie de l' fglise grecque (Rome, 1867). 1Il W IC e x-pounded his discovery that the hymns of the Greek Church welecomposed in strophes of equal metre. The dIscovery rna, e

by chance. During a stay in 5t. P ~ t e r b u r g 1Il 1 8 5 ~ h e 1

studying a manuscript whi ch con tamed da :);,n h not onlyVirgin. His curiosity was roused by re 0 s, w c

r •

, I.....



4A SURVEY OF STUDIES IN

divided the different sections, bu t also mark ed off ph rases of

varyinl\' length. These red dots were to be foun d at t he sa m e

intervals in e\-ery strophe, and always followed t he sam e numb er

of syllables. After further innstigations a second more sp lendid

copy of the same hymn was found with goldendots at t he exact

places where the plain copy h,ad dots. The Importance of,th e

discovery was ob\·ious. 'L e pelerm etalt en p o s ~ e s s l O n du system e

syllabique des hymnographes.'I Aftere x a m m m ~

more than20 0

manuscripts Pitra was able to state that B y z ~ t m e hy mn s we re

composed in metres, no longer basedon quantIty, as was th e case

in classical poetry, bu t on the prIncIple of th e stress accen t .

Pitra's disco\'ery marked the begInnIng of systematIc research

into Byzantine hymnography; nearly every study written before

it s publication is to-day on ly of hi storic interest ' This fact

becomes evident when we consider that only four years before

the publication of Pitra's H)'1/1l1ograPhie a great authority on th e

Eastern liturgy, J. M. Neale, wrote in th e preface to his transla

tions of Byzantine hymns: 'But in attempting a Greek Kanan,

from the fact of its being in prose (metrical Hymns, as th ereader will learn, are unknown) ,one is all at sea. ';Yhat

measure shall we employ? Wh y this more than that? Might we

attempt the rhythmical prose of th e original, an d design it to be

chanted?"

Once Pitra's discovery became known, it seemed strange that

the metrical structure of the hymns could have remained so long

obscure. Goar, at least, had a clear idea of th e structure of th e

hymns when he wrote in the Commentary of hi s Euchologillm

(16+7), p. +34:

. L i b r o ~ notis musicis exaratos inter canlandum rarissime conspiciunt vel

~ h a m . hab,ent Gracci: communesquc ideo ct verbis ct cantu I11 cmoriaeenaclter lllfigunt hymnos, ad quorum normam alios pari syllabarum

I l f y m " l ) g , a p h i ~ l p. I r.

2. P i l r a ' claim LO have b I fi d' .b I II db ' cen I Ie fSl (0 l ~ c o \ ' e r the mt'lrlca! structure "Of Bp.:anlinc hymns has

cen c 13 engc )' \\ \lcyer (Sp .,)' 'p ' \ I 'k 'inSh. B.A. ',8 6) . . . . r In a paper I!ra,. lone und die byzantinische Strop.u ·

p. f ' 9 ,pp. 4 9 - 6 ~ , 10 "'}lIch he! prove!d that 1·. J. ~ I o l l e ha d come to th e ~ a m e co nclUSIonsat lIra, O U r t ~ e ! n y ~ a r l e!arher \V .niJcbtlJ)· " / 1 / .( . . c ) c r . q u o l c s a p a s s a ~ c f r o m t h c f i r A t v o I L L m e o f l \ l o l l c ' I L ( s r t '

mntn at l I/It a IU J IlIS3) p " f h· I . dthe! rh)·tI . I ' . , rom W Ie I It appcan that ~ l o n c in facl di!eovcre

Irnlca Itruelure both of Fa Ie d \\ . h "be!fore Pitra R d : ' n an CHe!rn ymns independently an d some yean

unconlciousiy i : ~ u : ~ c e ~ ~ o . t .agree! With \ l e : . , . c r ' ; u ~ u m p l i o n thaI Pitra knew 1\101lc'. book and was, J . } It w l \ ( ~ n he m;&de hi, dl"coverv.

. I L Neale, HymnJ of th t Hamrn Ch . h II d '8 6 ' ...in th e lumptuoual)' print dr' h d .' Ut e . on, I 3i, p. XIII. llath erlcy made no change

c o u r t e i l IOn oj 1882 h· .1· I ' I I I . I I ."already a wdl.eltablished fact. I Y .... lie I tnne IIC r Iy l limen t lea r), \\

BYZANTINE MUSIC AND HYMNOGRAPHY

numero constantes cantando inflect t ". 5a1iis inscribunt, ut ad eorum regulam

un, quorum Ideo pnmordla canticis

Hi vocantur Elpp.oi sive tractus ~ e q u e n t e s mdlcent esse decantandos .musicam inflexionem trahant. ,u qUi sequentes modulos ad Suam

This account covers the whole ground of p' t ' d'. . I ra s Iscovery' and

on some pomts It goes even farther. In a review of Pitra's bookwhich assumed the sIze of an independent work I H " St '

t. d t th· , . l lL. evenson

rIe a answer e questIOn As he explam' ' t ' b' f. . S, I IS a VIOUS rompassages In both Eastern and Western commentaries that thhymns were thought to be written in a kind of 'cade ced ,eS h I th . I I n prose.

uc a r 1y mIca sc 1eme was not considered as a sufficient b .f t · If ' aSlsor a poe Ica arm, smce no traces could be found either of classi-

cal metres or of the popular Byzantine Stichos politikos, with theexceptIOn of three Kanons of St. John Damascene for Epiphany,Easter, and Pentecost, composed in iambic verses . I t was the

general view of ecclesiastical writers that these chants were

called hymns only because they were sung to melodies, the repeti

tion of which made it necessary to divide the whole hymn into

sections, i.e . strophes. Apart from this arrangement, made necessary by the repeti tion of the melody, they were regarded as

prose compositions. This is made clear by a passage in a com

mentary by Theodoru s Prodromos, dating from the twelfth cen

tury, on hymns of Kosmas of Jerusalem and John Damascene.

He speaks of the Kanons of Kosmas as \\Titten in prose (8 ixaP.£TpOU). The same view is pu t forward five centuries later by a

\Vestern scholar, S. Wangnereck, commenting on the Odes of

the .Vellaia.'

Il l . J.-B. PITRA AND I\", CHRIST

Before Byzantinists had time to realize the implications of

Pitra's discovery, another work on the same subject was published This was the A IIti/O/oo ia Graeca carJl l l l l l i l l l elms/lallo""",edited' by \\ '. Christ and ;\C. Paranikas (Leipzig, 1871), up to the

present the most comprehensive collectIOn of Greek e c c 1 e s l a s t J ~ a 1poetry from Early Christian times to the great perIod of ByzantIne

h' d n· J"St recque' Rrr'l,u tit! U t s l l ~ ~ J bislonqutJ (Pam,I II . 1\1. StC\'Cn50n, 'L ' l Iymnograp e g I ]F B p ' • rbtoJon P,oJrOrU commmlarioJ in

IS76) pp. 48z ·-HJ. See also II . 1\1. Ste!\cnson- .. . Itra, (R SSS). , J[ . tt I"",,ms Di1mrJJc. CIC. orne, I .

carmina Siler" mtlodorum Cosma t un)l.. d I in luis amnibul .traphis ex mera. 'Non proindc :lmhig:ml i \ f e n : l c ~ r u m m n f u m c ~ 5 r l o . .. . , "peated in H •Maracci's J /ariaie

. /, . I l/Ilnana l , r Jc : : 11$ \ lew IornnlllO prOIJ COllsla re : It us I , . ' : DC·· ( , 600-5), BOef (,'tn

66 ) .f Ol (.rcut'( t Turt, II, p.•S. Joupbr hymn0x.raP?J (Rom!=·, .! I,,P , r·h .lI1no hi rolun!:u.'fartlier, byasaunung lex POlluullum IJ(.ictU'> 8 r

I



6 A SURVEY OF STUDIES IN

hymnography. The collaboration of a student brought up in the

tradition of the Orthodox Church with a Western scholar who

ha d specialized in classical prosody ~ r o v e d fortunate . FromParanikas, W. Christ learned the me lod Ies of th e Greek Chu rch.

When he tried to sing them himself, he became aware of theco incidence of the mu sical and verbal phrases.! Thus he made

the same discovery as Pitra, that of the Isosyllablc structure of

the phrases of each st rophe of the Odes . Bu t he wen t a step

farther and at tributed to th e verbal accent il l the Ime of a Byzan-

tine hymn the function of the met rical. accent il l classIcal poetry.

The basic principle of the hypot hesIs IS conect, an d ~ e r e Clm st

ought to have stopped, but, influenced by his studies il l c 1 a s s l ~ a 1prosody, he attempted to exp lain th e rhythm of Byzantme

hymns by an elaborate system of met rI cal feet , as though·he were

dealing with classical poetry! ThIS view was erroneous on the

score of both text and music, because the poetry was no longer

based on quantity, and, before it came under the influence ofthe Turks, the measured rhythm of Neo-Greek melodies was

unknown to Byzantine music. I t is difficul t to reconcile th istheory with his other conject ure that the abandonment of quanti-

tative accentuation might be due to the influence of Hebrew

poetry, particularly the Psalms.3 In deed, it seems that Chr ist,influenced by Pitra, was approachin g a solution of th e metr ical

rules of Byzantine hymns, bu t was led astray by th e modern

rhythmical version of the melodies. We are confirmed in this

opinion when we read the chapters on th e mu sic an d th e mu sicalnotation. The music that Ch rist and Paranikas describe there isNeo-Greek music after the reform of Chrysanthu s in I 82 !. 4

While Christ's anthology succeeded in raising the in terest ofclassIcal scholars 111 the ar t of hymn-writing, another collection ofhymns published only a few years later by J .-B. Pitra brought

htur?lOloglsts 111tO this new field of research. Pitra' s anthology,

pubhshedas the first volume of his Al1alecta Sa cra sp icilegio

Solesmenst p a ~ a t a (Paris, 1876), cont ains works of only twenty-

five hymn-wnters besIdes a number of anonymous poems, bu t

the most famous of them, particularly Romanus, are repr esentedby a great number of theIr poems. I t is, in fact, one of Pitra'sgreat

I AI1/hoI. Cr., pruf. p v ,,' I I ..., I b'd I ' I" 2 I v l( " pp. XXIII sqq.

I " p. XXIX.

" Chrys.anthus of Mlidyto l Eioa '" 0 ' " _(C . I 8 ) I y w y ~ TV (WI"ITlI(OI' Kal npUKT! ..-ov (I(KAf/CHuoTudjr; 110IJU'K1jf

onstanllnop e, I 21 .

BYZANTINE MUSIC AND HYMNOGRAPHY

h· 7ac levement s that he assigned to Romanus th t .'. e mos prommentplace m th e collection, and drew the attention of Western scholarsto the poet, whom the day of his feast (I OctOber) tbe Eastern

C h u r c ~ l praises as the first origin of the beautiful chants', 'thefather of hymnographers, the composer of 'angelic' hymnody'.!After th eexample of Pltra e s e a ~ c h into ~ e e k hymnography hadas Its mam object for some conSIderable time the reconstruction

of th e texts and metre of the Kontakia of Romanus.

IV. LATER STUDIES IN BYZANTINE HYMNOGRAPHY

The discovery of the poetical structure was only one, thoughperhaps the most Important, of Pitra's contributions to the studyof Byzantine hymnography. Having succeeded in reconstructingthe metrical scheme, indicated in the manusc ripts by the dots at

the end of cola and periods, he tu rned his attention to the originof the genre, approaching the problem as a liturgiologist, whosaw the hymns as part of the service and as subordinated to itsrequirements. Though he came to no definite conclusions, his

various remarks in the Hym1!ographie and the Analecla gavevaluable hints to his successors, above all, his sugges tion that itwas in the hymnography of the Syrian and the other EasternChurches and even in the J ew ish hymns, canticles, and psalmsthat the ;rigins of Byzantine hymn-writing might be found .' .

Pitl-a's hypothesis was confi rm ed by J. W. ~ I c k e l l m .hISRegulae melrices Biblicae (Innsbruck, 1879), p. 3: rectamodas Graecorum ecclesiasticas metns constare et a madrasc s

Syrorum derivatas esse probabat, has ipsas e Heb(;eorujpoesi ortum habere coniectavit'; but It was W. eyer p e ~ e rwho first carried out detailed research mto Synac y m n o ~ a ~ ly.He showed that the hymns of Ephraem must be regar :e t as

models for Greek !{ontakia, the early fonlllof Byzantu;ef f. , Ch ' f s' thIS IS tI e mam pom

' I t waS-from SemItic n s Ian - rce of Christianity than theessay 'who were nearel to the so ua! try came to Greek andGreeks and Romans, t h a t . r h ~ t h n l l C t / i P ~ e met with some opposi-Lat in Ch ristians." Meyer s V 1 ~ I ' S d \ rSf the Alla/eeta Hy","ica,tion. G. AI. Dreves, the leame e1l.o

r0 eview n the Gottillgisch.

attacked them particularly strong y mar ."

2 cr. Hymtlogrl1pbU, pp. Jr+'S . " . h O'chtung B.A,

I cr ..inal. acra, I, p. XX\!. . . I 8 r i e c h i s c h ~ n rhythml!c en I IJ 'r\ nf:mg und Ursprung def ]:atellllSC l C ~ n II .

x\'ii. z (l\lunich, 188+), p. l OS.




gelehrte Allzeigel/ (1886). Bu t soon o ~ i n i o n changed. H. Grimme

in his Del' Stropltenball, t1 I den G e d 1 c h t ~ n Epltraems des Sy r.ers(Freiburg i. B, 1893) supported W . JlIeyer s theory by comparati ve

studies in Syriac an d Byzantme ~ e t n c s . A f t e ~ t Ins th e con

nexion between Syriac and Byzantme ecclesiastical poetry was

no longer disputed. Studies in. Byzanti?e hymnography were

rescued from their isolated pOSItIon an d lm ked up WIth work on

Semi ic poetry. .Pitra's other suggestion, that JewIsh hymnograI;>hy should be

investigated, was followed up by D. H , MUller i l l hiS stlmulatll1g

book Die Prapltelen in iltrer l I r s p Y 1 ~ n g h c h e n Form (V Ienna, 1896) .

Though some parts of the book are now ou t of date, it s leading

ideas have proved to be right. D. H. MUller showed that th e

speeches of the Prophets were composed in a definite poetical

form, consisting of strophes and antistrophes which could be of

either equal or unequal length. ' Th e unit of th e strophe is th e

sentence, co\'ering one or two lines . Th e combination of two or

more sentences of similar but not identical character is effected

by the poetical means of parailelis1II1Is lIlembrarum, e.g. Amos•

IX. 3 :

Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them;tbough they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down .

Strophe and antistrophe are related by th e respoJlsia, a similar

poetical device which connects a group of sentences of either

similar or contrasting character, e.g. Amos i:

3· Thus saith the Lord; 6. Thus saith the Lord;for three transgressions of for three transg ression s of

Damascus, Gaza,

and for four, I will not turn and for four, I will not turnaway the punishment thereof; away the punishment thereof;

because they have threshed because they carried awayGilead captive the whole captivity

with threshing instruments of to deliver them up to Edam.lron.

I t was shown by Muller that the poetical structure of the speeches

of the Prophets, fundamentally strophic in form and using the

r e s p ~ n s t O , could be traced back to Babylonian texts, thus confirmmg another hypothesis of Pitra.'

: p. H. Mil,lieT, DiePropbttc11, pp. 190-1.

1 I I m p o r t ~ r : l . i t t:nfin de St rcndre compte de \'hymnographic bibliquc, deB chants de l'antique

. , BYZANTINE MUSIC AND HYMNOGRAPHY 9

Muller s theory IS the basis of two essa b TI W'U t I a1t h ' , ys Y 1. ehofer '

n ersuc 1Ungen zur c nstlichen Epistologr h' ' l d 'U .L

· ap le an nter-suchungen zum led des Romanos auf die W· d k ft dH "Th I Ii I Ie er un es

erm . oug 1 t t e known, Wehofer's studies' E I Chr'. dB' Ii m ar y IS-

tlan an yzantme terature are among the best on the subject,an d we shall have to refer to them when dealing with the origin

of Byzantme hymnography. He succeeded in demonstrating the

dependence of Romanus on Ephraem, not only in style andliterary form, bu t also 111 doctnne.', These detailed inquiries,

however, were made pOSSible by prevIOus research into the textsof some of th e Kontakia of Romanus by K. Krumbacher.

In his 'History of Byzantine Literature', first published in

1890, K. Krumbacher gave an excellent survey of ecclesiastical

poetry, which was enlarged in the second edition of the work in

1897.' Though less extensive than E. Bouvy's5 treatment of the

subject, it can still be regarded as the best introduction to the

works of the leading hymn-wri ters. This historical outline wasfollowed by a series of studies on Early Byzantine poetry, mostof them dealing with the reconstruction of the texts and the

metrical structure of the Kontakia of Romanus6 Here , for thefirst time, th e principles of textual criticism applied to the editingof Greek an d Latin classical texts were applied to the works ofByzantine hymnographers. In the preface toStudienZil Ramal/OS'Krumbacher points ou t the difficulties he encountered m pre

paring texts which could be considered philolOgically correct.

Arbitrary omissions and alterations by scnbes makea sahsfactoryedition of these hymns a much more difficult task than the edltmg

N'. . . I des :lUront f:lit plus d'un emprunt. . est-cebrad, :luquel nos prcmu'rs [= Early ChrIStian m. 1 I "Iph abctiquec les refnins, les

. . 1 t lei acrostiC Ie! es stance ...,pomt de J:I. que nennent, non seu emen I d' lIabique dont oous avons

. . 1 5 sccrtt! de cette prow It sy I I 'alternane!!!, les parallellSmes, ma n tOUS e . ' I d ' , j d" psaumes et des hymnes.

. d P "'"qu,")' Ivan-I p3S cparle l . . . Et ann l Ie! c:tnuques 1I en a ,

) .- n. Pitra, y m n o g r Q p b i ~ p. H· . . .. b ib I X I exliii (Viennl, 19"1), Zjo.• k d d II" n /I un p 1. - IJ . " •

I SuzungJbu. J. IwlS. A /J . • us'.' f '\\" d th by A. Ehrhard and P. :\f:l:u, p. 19)·

l Ibid. cliv, paft 5 ( \ ' ienn:l , 1907), edlted:l [ e ~ o ; ' . Die geinige Abhjngigkeit des Romano.J cr. Un/us. ::. LuJ. J. Romanos, eh. 3, pp. qq

\'on Aphrcm dem Syrcr'" . eratur \'on Justinian bis %um Inde. ostrom... Karl Krumbachcr •Gesehlehte d. b>:z. L ' ~ t h II db cb d It/au. A/Ullumswm. lX. I.. ' . h 8 ubluhed In t e aH U " (by , ~ ' p b , e de

ReIchel (P7' I·H3)', l\lumc , I 97) P / fin du ,ytbrne tOfl'!jU( dans. '!'no ·• G IS E. Botlvy, POtltS (I JlU /oJts. E!udts IU: r Dyunrine hymn-writen is gl\'en ID ••

J'tg/Ul "IH"Ul (N imes, 1886). A b,ograph,ca, 0, \ "ova,"";$" (Athens, 189")' R 'b 1 ••• , -rr0jl l1P, . t"'{/\·'- _., 'S d' %U omano,

Papadopoulos, £opf3o>.a, ns TTj" ,aTOpICl' . . , Sb B.A. (Munich, 1897)j len, ('b'd 9"1)'/) Th e m:lin enay' of Krumbaehcr 3re: K ~ S I ~ , . ',8 ). , Rom:ln05 und Kyfl3kos I I . 's ' '

(ibid. di98) , • Um:trbeitungen bei ROIll:lIl.OS (IbId .. ?9('b'd Inn.I) , 'j\liu:tllen tt l Rom:tnO ,

" ' . . . . I· 1 Klrdu:npoesle I I . . , - . ,

O,e Akrostlclm m cler grtee lISe um 7 pp. 6!j-71..

Abb. lJ,.-1. (!\Iunich, '9 °7),




of a classical text. This wearisome preparatory ,:"ork was so grea t

that it was impossible for Krumbacher to fimsh th e complet e

edition of the Kontakia of Romanus, on which he was w o r k at

the end of his life. The task has been completed by P. Maas . I n

the meantime selections from the Kontak la of Romanus were

bl ' h d by Italian scholars in two cntIcal editions: eight hymnspu IS e E M' '3 '

by G. Cammelli2 in 1928, and ten hymns by . \Om II I 1937· .While these studies were proceedmg, progress was also made III

the investigation of the Semitic origin of Early Byzimtme poetry.

In an essay, Das Kontakion, P. Maas< pu t forward fresh eVidence

for the relation hip of th e KontaklOn WIth the mam forms of

Syriac poetry, viz . Memra, MadnlsM, an d SO&"ltM . Th e u e s ~ l O nwas further investigated by C. £mereau 111 hiS thesIs Samt Eph-

relllie Syrien (Paris, 1919), and in numerous articles by A. B a U l ~ -stark, a summary of which is given 111 hiS Ltturgle . comparee(A may, 1939) . Through these investigations th e relatIonship ofthe hymns of Ephraem and Romanus, for a long tIme the subject

of controversy, has been finally established . ,The dependence of Romanus on Synac poetry, however, IS only

a detail, though an important one, in the problem of th e develop

ment of Byzantine homiletic poetry from Syrian sources, New

light has recently been thrown on the problem by the discovery ,

by C. Bonner, of the Homily on the Passion of Melito, Bishop ofSardis.' The publication of this document, which dates from the

second half of the second century, made it clear that the origins

of the poetical h omily, Greek an d Syrian, can be traced back tothe early days of Christian literature, It s use of hymnodic pas

sages derived from the Psalms and th e Wisdom books of the

Septuagint,6 and of other passages which seem to belong to aChristian redaction of a Jewish hymn,' suggests that Melito's

homily must be considered as a link in a chain of poetical homiliesleading back to Jewish homiletics, This fact completely changes

our attitude to the quest ion of the Syrian origin of the Kontakion,

I P. Maas', MS. of Kontakia of Romanu$ i. at Athens and w:u 10 be published by the GreekAcademy.

: R o ~ a . n o Aft/ode. Inni , a cura di G. C.ammelli,. e s ~ i C r i s t i a ~ i , v,o!. ii ( Flof('l\cc, 1918)" .E . hom, Romano II M ~ f o d ~ . Sauro trltICD t dun Innl rntd'll (runn 1937). From the biblio

graphy at the end of Mioni', book the number of recent studies on R o m ~ n u s can be seen.• B.Z. xix (1910),185-306.

: S I ~ d i e J and Documents, edited by Ki nopp l.ake and Silva Lake, vol. xii (N.Y. and Lond. , 19-1-0).Ibid., p. 13.

7 Ibid., p. 'lS.

BYZANTINE MUSIC AND HYMNOGRAPHYII

I t is easy to understand that at an early stage I'n ' t' t'mves Iga Ions

into the problem scholars were only attracted by the hymns of

Ephraem an d Romanus because they were the most conspicuousproducts of both Synac and Greek ecclesiastical poetry , F

t h t t h' , or us,

however, now a e ImmedIate problem of their relationsh'I d 't ' , Ip

has been so ve ,I IS more Important to prove that an uninter-rupted liturgical r a d i t i ~ n existed from the days of the Synagogueto the Byzantme

melodies ofthe

mid-seventh century, accordingto which the reading of the Scriptures was followed by the recitation or chanting of a poetical homily,'

We shall also have to explain the reason for the abandonmentof this usage, leading virtually to the end of the Kontakion, andto th e rise of a new genre, the Kanon, differing from the Kontakion both musically and poetically.

v, LATER STUDIES IN BYZANTINE MUSIC

We have now to return to the study of Byzantine music, andto give a survey of its development after the publication of

Villoteau's book of which we spoke earlier m thiS chapter. Investigations into the music did not seem to have any prospect ofsuccess at the beginning of the nineteenth century, as It was

recognized that the problem of Byzantine notation had first tobe solved before any attempt could be made to approach themusic itself. At that time the study of musIc palaeography,of the most important branches of studies m the histor

hy °t

. ' .' Tl problem of the Plamc anmusic, was only II I ItS begmnmg; Ie olars had not yet beennotations more important for \\ estern sch .'

, 'f ' al SignS the neumes,tackled as the significatIOn 0 t e muslC 'nil "ty m' all the

, H a certam Sll ancould no t be defined, owe\'e:, both Eastern and Western,

notatIOns m liturgical m a n u s ~ n p t s : pMlosophique de I'histoire dewas soon observed, In hiS R e s l l ~ / 2 ' ted out the similarityI . (P ' 8 -) F J FdiS pom da mus/que ans, 1 3) " ' d Etl 'opian notations, an

between ' Byzantine, Arn1eman, r ~ i n of ~ I h e neumes, which hededuced from it the OrIental 0 g d bout way through the

R 'n a roun a ,thought had come to ome I Th Oriental hypothesiS wasnorthern regions of Europe, e

. . h Sources of By an-. n An Invtstigllllon mtO c. e, '/. on the

I cr. my anicle: ';'\Idito's Homily on the P:USIO 'd P Kahle : 'Was Mehco _ 1-I onll}

tine lIymnography ', J.T.S. x l i ~ ('9·Q)' .p -p , ..Pau ion originally written in Synad " I b l ~ . : pp . ' o. _qq.

1 Life in Blographlt ulufJtrstlle del mUSlCfrns, I. 5 :I




opposed by R. Ki esewetter, who maintained that th e neum es

originated in Rome. Ki esewet ter' s arguments m ~ d e : etr acthis former views. In th e fourth volume of Iu s H1 stOt re ge llerale dela musiqlle (Paris, 1877) we find a new th eory developed , v iz. th atthe neum es were of Germanic origin , as t he oldest docum ents

gave neumes of 'Lombardic'. charac ter ! A third th eory , increasing still more th e a lready eXlst mg confU SIOn , was pu t forward by

Th. Nisard. ' who conside red the neum es to be a km d of t ach y

graphy already used by the Rom ans. Wh ile t hese hypot heseswe re being discussed, E . de Co ussema ker, a fa mous sc h?lar il l t hefield of medieval music, had already shown the way whIch finally

led to t he deciphe ring of Western neumes . H e found out that

the main ty pes of neumes derived from the accen ts : acut e, grave,

and circumflex.' Thus the often complicated form s of t he lat er

stages of notation could be traced back to t heir simple, primitive

forms.Coussemaker 's hypothesis on th e origin of t he n eum es was

generallyaccepted 5 as the solution of the prob lem, and gave rise

to detailed investigat ions into the mus ical notat ion of Western

ecclesiastical manuscripts . In th is pa rt icular field of studiesBenedictine monk s of the abbey of Solesm es in F rance pl ayed animportant part from the midd le of th e nineteenth cen t ury . The

aim of the School of Solesmes was the restoration of th e Gregorian melodies to their original fo rm, as t he study of the old ant iphonaries and graduals had shown that t he ve rsions in t he officialliturgical books, based on the Edilio M ed ieaea did not conform

to those preserved in medieval ma nuscr ipts . Do m Andre Mocque reau (1849 - 1930), founder and editor of th e P a i i o g a P h i ~

I R. Kiesewetter" ()brr dre MUSlk d. nrurrrn Grrechen, nebst ~ I n e r Abhandlung ubcr du Ent

d r ~ k ~ f drs lIerrn F e t l ~ an T o n ~ c h n J t d. h e u ~ i g e ~ G r i e c ~ e ~ ( Leipzig, 1838), p. '7.

• Ie Lame fantastic h)pothesis oc.cun ag:lIn In O. )'le,sche r, Die germotllScht'lI Neumm als

S c b l ' U J ~ l i a/tcbr.lStllCbtn und grtgorwnlScbtn Gtsang ( Frankfort, 1923). Cf. P. Wagner's rev iew

o f t l ' . l I c h ' . ~ . b o o ~ Z.M.II', v (1922-3), S60-S.1 h. r;;1Sard, Etudes sur les anciennes notations m u ~ i c a l e de l'Eu rope' RnJue Arche%g.

1 ~ - + ~ 5 ' s t e n o ~ r a p h i c ' theory reappeared recently in K. A. P aOlc ho , ' , " /-I n a p a C T T J l - ' a V T ' I { ~"'1' h(avru"1S' ~ U O U ( " 7 ) S ' (Athens, 1917), to which we will have to refer later on. For a short t imetI e t cory caused some confusion f . f d dl . I

I or It oun a Icrents among people wh o believed t hat t iepresent state of Neo·Greck mclod' 'd ' I . I . .'M SS. lei wa s I cntlca Wit I that of the melodies prese rved III medlCva

" HiJtoirr de rHarmonie au mmle n age ,8"2 p ," . " c ' . -J, ; : . , . ;: '"f '

Cit .. une \ ' ~ n t ! cro)'ons·nou_ dUi . . . I . .I I " ' .... n!tl\'cment acqu!!e 3 a sCience bien qu e ccux qUi on te p UI \'Ictoneusement IOUtenu cette tI ' C , . ' .

, , lest, comme ouuemalier pa r exemplI.' n'en a H ~ n [ pa ltOuJoun t J r ~ toutes les com!quenc "1' • ' ..n' : : I . ea, el qu I S :lIent mcmc, par la manierc dont ils on t em ulLeI .erpro;:to;: es neumes paru en aVOll oubl': I " bl .. •

88' II: a \'I: rlla C o rlgme. Dom Pothier ft / (/od ll'sg,igoru ""rs ,

I o,P '3 1. ,

. BYZANTINE MUSIC AND HYMNOGRAPHY

1It1tsteale, demonstrated this in numerous art lcl th d 13

t f t " es on e evelop-men . 0 neum a ICnotation and on th e rhythm of PlainchantI t IS well kn own th at th e main goal of the S h I f S I .

h · d' c 0 0 0 0 esmeswas ac leve m 190 3 when Pius X in his Mot . I

I · , n ; " u propno titerpastora tS 0.u.ett ord ered the restoration of the Grego ' I d '. . . nan me 0 lesa ~ c o to th e prmclples expounded by Dom Mocquereau andhiS collabo ra tors. The effect of this important decision was an increased effort to suppo rt th e new Editio Vaticana of Plainchant

by mves tIga tions m to the development of Western n eum es, andthese stu dies gave an ew Impul se to investigations into the Eas ternecclesiasti ca l not ations, parti cularly into th e notations of Byzan tine liturgica l manu scripts.

J -B. Th iba ut, a French student of Early Christian liturgy, had

already publishe d two studies on Byzantine notation in the

Review oj the Russiatl Arehaeo logieal Institute' Both he and J. -B.Rebour s had ed ited several treat ises on Byzantinemu sical theo ry, '

bu t were unab le to decipher the notation. O. Fleischer was abl eto achieve an almost complete reconstruction of the melodic lineof melodies t ransmi tted in Late Byzantine notation. In his book,

Die spatgrieehisehe Tonse/mlt (Berlin, 1904). Fleischer publishedin facsimil e a n elemen ta ry t reat ise, a kind of grammar of mu sic,together with a critical edition of the Greek text , a translatIon,and a commentary . He was apparently un aware that V. r d t hausen had already investigated a Papadtke In .hi: essayNotenschrift der gr iechischen Kirche' In hiS Beltrage zltr gYl e-

ehisehen Paiaeographie, vi (1880),' whe re a list of seven ty-sevenmusical signs is given. Gardthausen, however, did not attempt

. . ' ll f the signs as In his vIewto explam the musICal Sign cance 0 ,

the re was no sa t isfactory solution to the ~ r o b . ' all be-The. manuscrip t Fleischer chose for hiS study ongln YM

f S Salvatore near j es-longed to t he Basilian monas tery 0 anU " 't Library ofsina from which it was brought to the nn ersl y,

. .. . ae cb<Jnt Tigoritn, a",brouinl f'/ozaTaht! goll/itan,I Pa/tograpbll' MUSlcait-: L I'S p"""PI.1lI.\ ,1lss: dOg A drt \ (ocqutreau (TournaI, 188')-).

puhflh CI' jac-sllfllih pbolotypiqul'S, s ~ u s la d i r e c t l o ~ S l m s m ~ has' published, since '910, a s ~ r i ~ sIn addition to thi s monumental series, the Schoo? ,0 e tt udts dt chant socr; 1'/ de Ilfurglt,.' Cf I Rl1'ue Grrgorunne, 'of J1tonogrupbll'S GrrgoTJrnnrs. . a so ...

puhlidled gince '9 11. . H ' olite ' I ~ r s t russk, a r c b ~ / . /nJi. III .: 'L a Notation de Saint Jeall Damascene. ou d a ~ l o P k o u r . t j e s ' ibid. \·i (t900), 360-90,

(Co nstilntinople, 1898), 138 sqq.; NOI:I,on. e, ; , ~ . C . {ICJO'r}, "j. sCJ6 sqq. j ].-8, RebouN,

, J ).-13. ThibauI, ' T r ~ i t c l ~ de m U ~ l q u , e , b ~ z : l n t l n e - .Qut'lques l\lss. de muslque bYl.3ntllle I l ~ l I d . 904 5

4 ! : h t ~ b e T . d. Jiicbs, Ak. J, II"JS. ,880.




Messina together with other musical manuscripts written in By

zantine musical notation. The treatise which Fleischer edited

was intended for the use of the priests; hence th e name Papadike,by which it is known among Byzantine and Greek ecclesiasticalscholars. The Papadike has been transmitted in numerous copies,some ofthem more comprehensive than others. Fleischer believedthat the Papadike of lIIessina contained the oldest an d best ver

sion; but now that other texts of the treatise have been examined

this view can no longer be maintained.' The importance of th e

Papadike, however, as the best source of information about th e

Late Byzantine, or Kukuzelean, notat ion is unquestionable, sin ce

no other treatise contains so many tables clearly showing the

interval-value of the various musical signs. But the Papadikemust be used in conjunction with the other treatises which deal

more extensively with the rhythmical sign ificance of Byzantine

musical signs.Fleischer's efforts to develop the method by which the melodic

framework of the Byzantine melodies could be transcribed into

our modem staff notation, mark the first step towards a solution

of the problem of Byzantinemusical notation. I t was soon recogI11zed that the pnnclples, which proved to be valid for daciphering

the last phase of Byzantine neumes, from the fifteenth to the

eighteenth century, could also be applied to that of the middleperiod of notation , from the twelfth to the fifteenth century .Only a year after the publication of Fleischer's book, Dom H.

~ a l s s e r of the Coll:gium, Graecum in Rome published his essayLes Helrmol de Paques m Orlens Christianus in 1905, without

knowmg Fleischer's work. Dom Gaisser's article on the Heirmoithe model-s trophes of the Easter Hymn, is the first detailed study

of Byzantme hymnography by a scholar equally capab le of ap

proachIng.the proble'!ls of the mu sic and of the poetry. He alsomade a skilful transcnptron of the melodic structure of the chants

but did not succeed in finding a solution to the modal andrhythmical problems.

A contribution to Byzantine musical palaeography was madeI cr. my 'ludr Rh)'thmik der b· .. I N

Here thePapadikt of Cod graec Pet } z l ~ n t L n U C l e n eumen', Z.M.IV. ii (1919-Z0),6zgsqq.

to hi, M onUmtnlS dt to o ~ a l · . f. boro,po It. 7 11 ) r e p r o d u c ~ d by ].-13. Thibaul in the a p p ~ n d i xas basi. for my i n v ~ l t i g a t i o ' ~ : ~ S r n c "t';,qut'I b a g l O p o l . l / ~ dt' NgIiJt' gruque (19 13), was c h O ! ~ nwithout h:I\'ing been'oblig,d ,. h ellen ~ a v e e x a m l n e d m o r e r - . l S S . c o n l a i n i n g t h e P u p ( l d l k ( !

. 0 c ange my VIe.W It \:11 I· bvernonl of the Papadikt as t·, I d b I .- \I , \0 ... ever, e necessary to collate all

, p anne. )' I Ie edlton of tl . \f ..rder to utablish which MS. contain . lC 1I O"UIll t' lIto I IIJIC(l(! /J)'ZlI fltIHoe, In

a the most rehable and complete text of thc treatise.

BYZANTINE MUSIC AND HY"'". . u ~ O G R A P H Yby A. Gastoue m th e mtroduction to h · C I 15

de musique byzantine, published by t h ~ S o ~ ; ~ t ~ g H e des m.anuscrils

musique (Paris, 1907). He pointed out as D e mtemahonale dethe close relationship of the different stages Galsser had done,

from the eleventh century to the modem eh yzantmeneumes,

A t bl t.. h· rysantme notatIOn

a e con ammg t e musical notation of th T· ., , r f e ropanon B'I9>'d<",alp.a,au, rom seven manuscripts demonstrates the p.,of his theory.' correctness

Hugo Riemann's Die byzantinische Nolel,sc',r':'t . b·I I d (

. . ,. l ' "" , IO. .s I5 ·

Ja ir IIIn ert Leipzig, 1909) marked a definite step backwards inthe progress hitherto achieved. Riemann lacked an d t.. . B . a equa etraInIng II I yzantIne palaeography,Z and was hampered by hispreconceived Ideas on rhythm, which made him adapt all melo

dies a four-bar system. With the discussion caused by Riemann s book t.he deCISive phase of investigations into ByzantinemUSical notatIOn began. I t was opened by an article on thehymns of the nun Kasia, in which H. J. \\T. Tillyard

'refuted

Riemann's theories of the interpretation of both the inten·als andkeys . Bu t the problem of rhythm, indeed the crucial problem,

still remained unsolved.

VI. TH E DECIPHERING OF THE MUSIC

I t was at this point that my own investigations started, thefirst results of which had taken shape in two essays, published mOriells Christfal/us 'Die Kirchenmusik im byzantinischen Reich'(19 l6 ), and 'Die ~ t z i f f e r u n g der byzantinischen Notation' (l9 lS).

In studying the treatises on Byzantine musical theoryI succeededin fmding the clue to the deciphering of Byzantme musical

notation. p p d"kFrom the theoretical treatises, particularly from the a a '. e,

we learn that the interval-signs of the middle period o f , B y z a n ~ ~notation are divided into two groups, VIZ. Somata (uw!'aTa)

. . . aff notation on pp ... 6-7 is not 53tisflclOry,I pp..n' 5; GaSI011C!'S transcnplloll IOl0 mo?ern It.. etenee ::u a palacogr:apher. The

It is su/licient to gi\'(.· one example of Riemann I I l c o ~ I P , 12' y' 6' since the Greek.. . . . d · h MSS b\' the Greco.: cotters (J , 1' , , '. b .u.n:antllle modes 1-" IIldlc;lle ill I e I '. d I :lIld not ciphers. Riemann. ong

J • II . . h m::nicians use etter-'.t - - h h .,1;In , 10 OWII\<, them the B\,Z;lilllne mat e _ " ,h,)' did not ave t e us. c . .... - - h h letters mtant. f'\ h "Ignorant of t h i ~ fact tried to find out W ;II t e.. . I dered by the t ....o apoSlrop C'S ,

.h"pt', and the third 'letter y was wrinen eirher f , or "";p Yrl,n\.. .nd 6' for $Wpwr. CorlSe-I . " , ~ ; \ O & ' IOf,.u o.w<or, f hIe Iliterpreted (1' 51anding for ¢ p u y t ~ r , fJ or o . r b e ~ b' Riemann in the second, t ~ o J e 0 t e

quentl), melodies of the fir$! mode (0: ) art (raMCfI h> d those of the fourth (51 mlhe first.lecond (/1') in the third, tho se of the third (y') in the ~ o u r t / ~ a l i a I B.Z. xx (1911h .f--20-8j.

.I Ii. J. \Y. Tillrard , 'A l\ l usical Study of the 11}nlllJ 0 I



A SURVEY OF STUDIES IN

Pneumata (7Tv€VfLara). Th e Somata (bodies) can only move bysteps upwards and downwards. Th e Pneumata (spmts) ca n leap

over two, three, and four in tervals. In addition there ar e some

signs which are neither Somata nor Pneumata, such as th e

Aporrhoe ( d . 7 T O p p O ~ ) . a sign standmg for a gltdmg movement oftwo consecutive descending seconds, an d the Ison ([erov), mdicat

ing the repetition of a tone at the same pitch . Th e latter sign is

neither Soma nor Pneuma, for It stands neIther for a movement

by steps nor by leaps. . . .The system of Byzantine notatIOn shows a certam economy m

the use of interval-signs. Th e composer ha d only three signs at

his disposal for indicating the melodic movement of a second, athird, or a fifth upwards, and three others for the same movement

downwards. He had to use a combination of two or three signswhen he wanted to indicate a fourth, a sixth, or an octave . This

was done by superimposing a Pneuma or where th e interval of

an octave was wanted two Pneumata on a Soma. There is,however, another combination of Somata an d Pneumata to be

found in manuscripts of Byzantine music which the singe r ha d to

interpret in a different way. \Ye learn from the Papadike that ifa Pneuma is preceded by a Soma, the intervals should no t be

added as is the case when the signs are written one above the

other. The significance of a Soma followed by a Pneuma is that

it is only the interval represented by the Pneuma that is taken

into account, while, according to the theorists, the Soma is made

'voiceless' (a.cpwvov). The Papadihe is no t very clear about the

slgmficance of the transformation of the Soma from its originaluse as a Second into an additional sign. None of the scholars whotried to decipher Byzantine musical manuscripts was able to givea sattsfactory explanation of what the t e rm' voiceless' meant.

Gaisser, Gastoue, and Fleischer did not pay any attention to theremarkable fact that the Byzantine system of musical notation

contallled no less than six signs for the ascending second, whileonly one can be found for the Ison, and for the third and fifthupwards and downwards. Riemann did no t overlook the fact,but, lllfluenced by his rhythmical theories, he failed to see the

essent.lal pomt. But it seemed to me that the clue to the problem

Byzantme mUSical notatIOn was to be found in just these two

acts. that there were SIX different signs for the ascend ing second,and that these Somata lost their interval-value in a certain com-

. . . BYZANTiNE MUSIC AND HYMNOGRAPHY

blllatlOn WIth Pneumata. I shall t t . "7main points of my discovery.! ry 0 give a short account of the

A collection of treatises on Byzantin .by J -B. Thibaut and J -B. Rebours r o e v ~ ~ : I ~ a theol)' publishedabout the SIX SignS which are used to . d' t etahiled mformahon

di d mica e t e interval fascen ng secon . These signs do not 0 I . di 0 andirection, bu t also the manner in w h i c ~ ft ~ ~ o ~ ~ \ t h e melodiCFIve of these signs combine with the inte aI I e executed.

dynamic or rhythmical nuance' one sign rtvh -vOaliue a parhcular, ,e gon, stands forthe movement of the m e ~ o d y a second upwards without anparticular nuance. For wfltmg down other intervals tl Y

dth B . ,e.g. a 11ror J1 1, e yzantme composer had at his disposal I'n h

. I I " ' . ' eac case,a Slllg e neutra SIgn, I.e. a Sign Without any dynamic or rh th-mlcal nuance. I f he wanted to give this melodic step a partiZularnuance, as Implted by one of the five sign s for the seco nd, he setthiS Sign before th e Pneuma indicating a third or fifth. In thiscombination of the. two signs the Soma lost its interval-value,it became' voiceless', but it retained its dynamic or rhythmicalsignificance, which it lent to the neutral sign . I f the composer

wanted a fourth or sixth to be sung, he set one of the Pneumataindicating a third or a fifth abo\'e a Soma. In this grouping theSoma maintained its interval-value (thi rd +second = fourth;fifth , second sixth), and the combination was executed ac

cording to the nuance contained in the Soma. Thus the ~ I i d d J eByzantine notation provided a most ingenious s ~ s t e m whichendeavoured to transmit a great variety of rhythmica l and dy

namic nuances, using only a very limited number of SgnS. Insteadof using six different neumes °for each interval to. I n d i c a t ~ themost frequently occurring nuances, the Byzantine mubs.lclan

needed only six signs for the ascendillg second. By com l m ~ gthese signs with those for other inten·aJs he was able to1 n

tIca

. . d d micall)' how eac I s ep 0preCisely, both rhythmically an yna f ' dynamic signs

I d b f d Only a ew morea me 0 y was to e per orme . f and at a laterwere required to complete the n u m b e ~ 0 ~ u a n : ~ r y ~ i g n s were

stage of notation, a large number 0 7haufiorid style of thesuperposed to regulate the executIOn 0 m ~ e m e n t a r y red signs,so-called Koukouzelian penod. These CO P

. , :-.,',5. vii (lqIS). 9 ~ I I S ,. • db' ~ o t e n 5 c h n f t , O.C., .. , ) ~ 1 _ ' 6 and

I cr. E. \\'elle ' 1 'Zur Entzlfl'erung er ) z . . ~ ' 6 1 ~ .)8 and III (19:0-1 " • )''D ' , . Z 1111" II ( '9'9--°" 'Ie Rlwthmik der byz N ('limen .J .. ,.. )-66'0 1 ' . I 'I I d'en' B.Z. U'XIII. J .

ler RhYlhl1lus u. Vonrng de r bYl:· j\ eo I Ch""I '




the 'Great Signs' (,.,.<yaAa. a.",.,.6.iha.), were obviously introduced to

facilitate the phrasing of the now very extended cantilenas.

I came to the conclusion that other scholars who ha d ap-

proached the problem of Byzantine notation ha d seen in these

complementary signs the essential rhythmIcal mdIcatlOns, an d

were too ready to assume that the neumes indicated th e steps of

the cantilenas . I t was clear, however, from th e study of manu-

scripts of th e earliest phase of Byzantine notation that even as

early as the tenth century the neum es were used to direct th e

singers how to execut e the nu ances of th e melody. Beanng thIsin mind it is possible to reach a better un ders tandmg of Byzantme

musical notation and of it s ingenious development from scanty

indications for the singer, in it s first phase, to an elaborate system

at its acme.Th e views developed here were confirmed by H. J. W. Till

yard's st udies on the same subject, which came into my hands in

1922 . A Greek scholar , Tillyard ha d started his investigations

und er the guidance of Dom H. Gaisser. Very soon, however, hi s

careful palaeographical studies made him oppose th e views held

by Gaisser and Riemann , and he came to virtually th e conclu-

sions outlined above l A difficult problem, to which Riemann'

had first drawn attention, still remained to be solved : th e significance of the signatures (,.,.apTup[a,), indica ting th e st arting-note ofthe melody, and the mode (.ryxoS") in which it ha d to be sun g. Thisproblem, particularly perplexing in the case of th e second mode,

was so lved through ;h.e minute investigations of Tillya rd, pub-

lIshed In hIS study, SIgnatures and Cadences of th e ByzantineModes'.J .

Once the problem of Byzantine neumes had been solved th etranscription of Byzantinehymns from manuscripts of th e l f t hand thIrteenth centunes could be carried ou t more extensively.The close collaboration between Tillyard and my self , beginning

In 1927, l ed to the foundation in 193T of the J[olll/lII eHla .1f1lsicaeB y ~ a ntwaeafter a conference at Copenhagen , lo wh ich C.Hb eg ha d

Invited us In the name of the Rask-Oersled Foundation. I t wasdeCided at the conference to use a uniform method for th e tran-

scnptIons of Byzantine melodies and lo inlrod uce, with slightI cr. II. J. \Y. Tillp.rd 'Rhvllun in n· . 1\1 . • • I

'T he Probl, f II - . I . T ,p . :mt IT \C UMC I A.I1.S. , no. xxi (19J(i) 125 - 41, : lll(1" m o . }1.3nllne l l m e s , . 7 . I / . S . xli (11)2 1), 29-49. I

Die MOpTVpiO.l. d. byz. llturg. !\'ot;llio n ' Sb IJ 1 00

'ADS' ( )" .. . to02. . " no. XXVI 1925),78-87. .

BYZANTINE MUSIC AND HYMNOGRAPHYd'fi . 19

mo l catIons, th e rhythmical signs already used ' t .tIons 1 Th R al D . m my ranscnp-t d ' e oy . amsh Academy agreed to the plans for the

s u y and p u b h c a t ~ o n of Byzantme music pu t forward at theconference, and deCIded to publish the MOllumenta Musicae By-zanttnae under the patronage of the U ' A d' .. mon ca cmIque Inter-n a t I In order to gat her the material for our studies andpublIcatIons, C. Hiieg was sent to Greece and the Near East to

take photographs of the mos t important manuscripts. After afew years of preparatory work a facs imile-edition of the Sticheranon, Codex theo!. gr. 181 Vindob., was published jointly by theedItors as the first volume of the main se ries of the !vIonumentaMus/cae Byzantwae (M.M.B. ) in 1935. In the same year the firstand second v o l ~ m e s of th e Subsidia, Tillyard's Handbook of the

MIddle ,Byzantine ~ c a l Notation, and Hiieg's La NotatiollEkphonettque, were pubhshed. The series of the Transcripta wasbegun With Die Hymnen des Shcherarill lll /iir September (Wellesz)In 1936, and The Hymns of the Sticherariltlll for November (Tillyard) In 1938. A second volume of theFacsimilia, the H irmoiogilllllAtholtlll, Codex +70 of th e Iberon Monastery of Mount Athos , was

also published in 1938. Plans for further publications were discussed at a conference of the Union Academique Internationalein London in May of that year, and at a mee ting of the editors in

Oxford in May 1939. The outbreak of the war interrupted thecont act of Tillyard and myself with Hiieg, who has neverthelesspublished in 19+1, Part I of Tillyard's The Hy ll/ll sof lheOctoec/Ll/s.

Thanks to th e initiative of Mr. Th. Whittemore, Director of theByzantine In stitute, Boston, and the support given by theAmeri-can Council of Learned Societies and the British Academy, anAmerican Seri es of the ;1101l1tIl/ellt([ ,11usicae Byzallti"ae was

started in 19+1 which undert ook to p u ~ l i s h my Easlem Elementsin IVestem Chall l and H. J. W. TIIlyard s tranSCrIptIOn of Twenty

Canolls from the Trillity ,11S., Call/bridge. In October '9+5, afterth e end of the war, C. H6cg came to England agaIn, and at ameeting of th e ed itors in Oxford, plans for the future were diS-cussed espec ially the edition of the transcrIptIons from theHirmoiogillll/ Athol/m whi ch had bee n transcnbed by my fonnerpupils and collaborators Dr. .\glaia AYOlitantl, Dr. Mana Stoh r,

I ' rt of ehe conference in Z.M .II' . xiv (193 1- 1), 61 lind Tillynd'i 'Conferenc,e

•Sec . '" ,1,_ beginning of his ,wdy 'The Morning Hymn. of the Emperor L('o ,

on yzantlllc I' Uti' ...

Part 1, A .B.S.} no. xxxi, pp. 115 - 16.




d If TIle publication of the 1,724 hymns in t his manu-an myse . . d' . f t l H ' ..' . ogress' it began with the e ItIOn 0 le Irmlscnpt IS now 111 pr, ...I fi t '1 de b, , C Hoeg who ga\'ea detaIled mtroductIO n t o

111 t le rs 11 0 J" . ' ! blh t d , f th e Hirnlologion and comparatIve notatIOn t a es

t e s u ) 0 .. f th fi t Cf . anuscripts to the transcnptIOns 0 e rs an onsrom \ 'anous mof the first authentic and first plaga! modes.

Our method of transcription has been adopted by o t h e ~ stu

dents who are working on Byzant1l1e mUSIC, e.g. by 0: Tlby 111 hisb k La ?nllsica bizaulina (1938) an d 0 . Strunk m his artIcle on

Tonal System of Byzantine Music' in The ill/mcal Quarterly,

sqq Dom Lorenzo Tardo's transcnptIOl1s 111 his1942, pp. 190 ' . . hL' A ntica melurgia bizall/ma (1938) vary rhythmically from t ose

of th e ,)[ollllmcnia J1Izmcae Byzallt!1lac, but the sub-tItle of

Tardo' book nell' iuterpretaziollc della Swola illollasitca

Grotlct/errala- justifies his method .of. transcnptlOn,.?-s he IS

reproducing th e loca! tradition of smgmg 111 th e Basihan mon-

astery. ... .In practice, howe\'er, hardly any dlfterence 111 th e executIOn of

the melodies can be noticed, as one ca n find ou t for oneself bylistening to records made at Grottaferrata under the superv isionof Dom Tardo and those made under my own supervIsIOn for the

History 0/ .1l1lsic il l Sound, vol. ii (H.M.V.).This similarity in outlook, as far as the most important prob

lems are concerned, led finally to a close co-operation between

the editors of th e ,l l01l1l111ellta an d the scholars at the Badia

Greca of Grottaferrata . I t was officially confirmed in 1950 by the

co-optation of the Very Rev. Archimandrite I sidoro Croce to

the Editorial Board. At that time already, Do m Bartolomeo dialvo had joined Dom Tardo in working on the early phases of

the musical notation and has since produced a number of valuable studies.'

The general acceptance of our method of transcribing facilitated the spread of studies in Byzantine music. Th e growing

interest in Byzantine Chant became e\'ident at the Bicentennial

. I 1\: Sal\'o, notal.ione palcobilantina c b t r a ~ c r i l . i o n c ' ; 'La tr;.dizion!! orale dci c:mti

hturgici delle colOniC Italch\lbancsi di SiciiiJ COmpaLlta con ~ I u d l a dci r.:odio.:i antichi bi'lJ.ntini',

Alii dtf C ~ I ~ ; : ' C ' J ! D IlIIunazlDna l . d, MU11W 1,l(ru, 195' ; ' La not;lzione palcobil.antin:l. e lalua lr3.5Crmone, /1011t/ /11I0 drlla Badia d, C:10llfJjrrrl1lll, !\i.S. iv ( 1 ( ) ~ O ) 1 11+ "30 ;Lnd \' (195 1),

92. I' 0, 22.0-- 3S; 'Qualchc apP\lnto 'lIIIJ chironomia ndla In I ,ic a hi/;uu' ll:!', () , t'll/alia C )rIS(I(III(1I'fflOJIC,/, \ '01. x,iii ( '957).

BYZANTINE MUSIC AND H Y ~ I N O G R A P H Y2I

of Princeton University in 19{6, and at the first Congress of SacredMUSIC m Rome m 1950, where the present writer was in charge of

a section on Eastern Chant. The same interest was noticeable at

the second Congress in Vienna in 1954 and the third in Paris in1957· 'I'Ve may ascribe the changed attitude towards our st udiespartly to the growing appreciation of Byzantine Chant with whichwide circles became acquainted through records and radio partly

to the recognition of the importance of the knowledge of EasternChant for the development of Western Chant, particularly of

those bilingual melodies in Western Graduals and Antiphonariesof the Beneventan an d H.avennati c rites, which are remnants,one could say 'incrustations', of the early layer of chants in therepertory of melodies which are now considered to be the chant'vieux romain', th e Roman Chant before the reshaping of themelodies in the Carolingian era.'

Thus the im 'estigation into the bilingual melodyOte to Stavro-

o quando in cruce of the Beneventan rite, which I had analysedin my Eas/em Eit'lllellis in Weslern Challt (19{7) and comparedwith the \'ersion of the Greek Troparion as it was su ng in Con

stantinople, on Mount A hos and in Grottaferrata, was of fargreater importance to studies in early \\ 'estern Chant than Iwould ha"e dared to expect.

In his two studies on 'Les Chants en langue grecque dans lesliturgies latines' in Sam's ErCldiri, \·ols. i (19{8) and iv (1952),

Dam Louis Brou gi"es a list of forty-five bdmgual chants; butthese are only the melodies of which the texts have come dow ntous in both Latin and Greek; they do not include those melodies

which are obviously of Greek origin but have come down to us

only in the Latin \'ersion. _ ",

o 168 of the Eastern Elemellts Charlemagne s act 1\ e m-t e r e ~ ~ the Chant of the E a ~ t e r n ChurCh, is mentioned ~ n d t h epassage from De gestis Beati ( aroft Jlag"" quoted, 111 \I hlch It IS

. .' Chonh' '; w J,l CongrtJJO I"urn. d,, Cf R Stablein, 'Zur Friihgc$c!lIchtt d. l'lomul' ,Dom 'I ' ,'lu"lo 'U n importilnt tcmain

. . - b' Dom J. OUrler e • . . ..\JUUflJ S<l(T"oJ, KOnJe, .195-·", I de Sainte C ~ c i l c du T r : l n . l t ~ \ ~ r c · . Rn-u( C ' ~ g ( J r l n l l u , X ~ . x ldu challt vicu,\-romam. Ie (,radu,d t "\'icux-romain", li.tc des milnUJcrltJ ct. t ~ . m o m l1 9 5 ~ ) , 26-r i Dom !l uglo,. Lc C h : ~ . II. lIude, 'Die E i n f i i h r u , ~ g de"gr.egOrl3mSehcn

indirect" StJCns EruJITI, \"I ( 19,4), 90- 4"'b .' , vlix ( '9" ) I- l -S-; 'Crcgonanuchc r Gcgng, ' I' R (btQuartas. ,.... ,r " ( .)C f ! ~ a n g f ! ' im Frankf!nr('lc '. ' 0111:. I' r ',""chit: ru, 1 1 I U J I / « t . ' 1 J ~ f l J ( N J I , XII 19 b , T .,

, d r k cher Lber 1f!If!rung, • J ' ' 1 '1 __ ) I- - . . .on

in ahronlUcher un r , IO . IS . . Chant' ' T h , \ I / l J l C o 1 I Q U I l ' / ( ' ' ) · , x ~ I q ~ } . ' ".7-, PLI';. \ \ " ~ ' I l C ' 7 , 'Rec!!nt S t U t . l I C ~ In \\f!,(C'rn. SCT: f<) l t l ii. 75 1} ':"57, r e r r l ~ t e ~ In \hgnf!.i . '

1 In .11onumrnll1 Gamo1l1"U /luID",Il, "P,b,n 't1/rluJun', \'01. j (LC'lpzl8o 1911), dumUlC1. ' •. ,j 'b J " g""g.;rIlJnp, ' J l o : n ~ ' III hn EmJu TUl Ig In

the report as.l '(;Iiry-ta)c',

-



22 A SURVEY OF STUDIES I

report ed that Charlemagne ordered th e translation into Latin of

some Greek hymns to which he ha d listened in concealment,

wh en members of a Byzantine legation san g chants of their

Chu rch during th eir sta y a t th e Franconian court. In an article

'Sur quelques tropaires grecs tr aduits en latin' in A 1males lvIusieologiqlles, vol. ii (1954) th e la te J. Handschin went further into th e

matter.In anoth er ed i i on of th e Gesta he foun d a more detailed descrip-

tion of t he chants th e Byz antines sang ; th ese were th e Antiphons

of th e Morning Offices on th e Octa ve of Epiphany Veterent

1I0lllillelll el f l l l sequentibus.' With th e help of Dom B. di Salvo an d

O. Strunk he was now abl e to show that the Greek chants which

were sun g were closely rela ted to t he group of La tin chants which

ha \'e sur\,i \'ed in several Antiphona ls, e.g. th a t of Wo rcester ,

l'a!eograpllie .1fusicale, \ -0 1. xi i, pI. 58 sq.

Th e essen t ial fac t for us li es not so mu ch in t he in ves tigat ion

as to which of t he West ern manuscri pts cont ain th e bes t version

fo r compa rison , but in th e confirma tion of th e co rr ec tn ess of th e

assum ption which I held fro m th e beg inning, i. e. th a t Byzantine

mu sic was diatonic before th e E mpire ca me un der th e overwhelming influence of Arab ic, an d . eve n more, of Turkish mu sic .

Byzantine mu sic cannot have soun ded s tr ange t o \Vest ern ears.

Would Charl emagn e ha \'e to ld his clergy to tr ansla te th e Gr eek

texts in to Lat in, wo uld he have ordered th em t o in clud e a set of

Greek an tiphons in th e La tin Service if th e melodies ha d on

account o[ their in terva ls, sounded different from th e liturgical

Chant he was used to? Ce rt ainly not . Byzantine Chant mu sthave been as diatonic as th at of th e La tin Chu rch.

. The few de ta ils ment ioned above are su ffic ient to show th eImportant role which chant in Greek played in th e crea tion an d

developmen t of Lati n Chan t, i. e. bo th, in th e ea rly day s ofChn stJamty , when It was introduced from th e Sy ro-P a les tinean

Church and, at a late r date, when some chant s \\'ere t aken o\'er

the Eastern Church.' :lIusicolog ist s like A. Gastoue, W .I' rere, and, above all , P. W ag-ner , who were liturg iologists as well ,

I e. ,\teyer voo Knonau '\ 100 h ' S II . (. .lhtuil ' f d '6 ' ac . anga cnm :'\:OtLcnll Balbulus) Dc Carolo I\ iagno,- ungn' %ur 1:aUr an 1U" tn Gt'ub' ht 1/xxxvi ( '9 ' 0) )8 ' 11" . . e t. allusgt'g.1.'01/l lilS(lJr. VUI' l" d a K antotls St. CIII/etl,

I • liS text IS a repTlnt fro J ff " d" . I . ,tom. iv pp 6) , . '11 f II I m a '6 C 'l lon 111 /Jwlwtbaa raum GefIlU11I,,:ar tll1l ,

,. 700 . Ie u text been us··d b I) I' I' . - .in R- ' d 6 . ' .. y om 01 lIer In hh t u d ) on the ~ a m e subject~ " u t : u c a1ll g"gonen, x. 81- 3.

l. Cf. E. Wdlesz, 'Cregory the Great ' L I \11 I . ..

(Pa ri I . ) 6 I ctter on I H' t t' lila', Ali I/ales i\lllu CQ/oglqw:s lo m e II

I 9 ) ~ , pp. 7':!. . '

----------BYZANTINE MU SIC AND HYMNOGRAPHY

. d 23were convlIlce o[ th e ex istence o[ th O . fl b .

. [ I II I uence ut were not In

possessIOn 0 th e materi al which would have proved their theor .I t was only after a great number o[ Byza ntine melodies had be{ntran scnb ed tha t It was possible to con fi rm what until then h d

to be regarded as a hypothesis, though a very suggestive o n /

\ ' 11 TH E PRESEx T STATE OF STl:D I ES 1:-1 BYZAXTl :-lE CHANT

Down to about 195 0 the t ranscriptions of the edi tors of the~ I . M . B were t aken [rom the Hirmologion and Sticherarion, thehrst cont a lIllIlg melodies in a more or less sy llabic style, the secondone melodI es partly II I a s ltghtIy ornamented style. The dec ipherIng of th e. mU SIcal nota tIon of th e thirteenth and fourteenth

centunes dId not offer any di ffic ulties in principle as long as onehad a clea r, ca refull y wn t ten manusc ri pt to transc ri be, since then ddle of the notation had been so lved thirt y years ago. The

dIfficultIes consIsted II I mI stakes of the sc ri bes, illeg ible musicalSIgnS, and oth er faults whi ch could be elimina ted by comparisonWIth oth er manuscnp ts of the same mo nastic tradition. Theta sk of tr anscribing the melodies fro m the two co llec tions and

th e work on t he ea rlier phases of t he notation was so substantialt ha t the editors had not been ab le to direc t their att ention to thechant s in t he melismatic s ty le.

At th e Congress in Rome P . A. Lail ), presented us with hisDocto ra te th esis on a manuscript in the Vatican library, Cod.Borgia gr. 19. ' Here some of th e ric hly ornament ed melodi es aretr anscribed and co mment ed upon by Laily. Loo king back wemay say th a t he came very near to a satisfactory so lution.

At the same time C. Hiieg and r \' isited the Badia di Grott aferra ta near m wh ere th e famous Codex Ashburnham. 6+from th e Laurenziana in Florence was on loan, and was shown tous by th e kindness of the \ 'cry Hc\". Arc hi mandri te and Dom

Ba rtolomeo di Sall·o . Codex ,\shbu rn ham. 6+ IS a Psaltlkon, abook [or th e soloist . ft con ta ins in the main a co llection of Konta ki a, but also liturgical chants proper. aU in the melismaticsty le of th e thirteenth century, that means 111 a \'ery Hond style,th ough not yet in the ra ther supcrhelal coloraillra style of the

fourteen th and fi ft eenth centurIes.

I P. A. LnTly, Ilnaly u du Codl'x de mus ique grerque So. 19, BihholMqut ralira nt (Fonds Borgia ),•

JcruJ:dcll1, 19.f1}·



24 A SU RVEY OF ST UD IE S I N

Codex Ashburnham . 6+ is of pa r t icular va lue to t he stu dent of

Byzantine Chant because it contains in a \'ery legible not a tion

script all the twenty-four stanzas of th e 'Akathistos ' hymn ,

the most famous Kontakion of the Greek Orthodox Church. I t

was arranged that H oeg should prepare a facsimile edition of

Codex Ashburnham . 6+ an d th e present writer a tr anscrip ti on of

the 'Akathistos'.We shall have to deal with the ambiguities of th e notation in

a chapter on the melismatic chant which is added to this ed it ion.Here, hO\ 'e\-er, it may be said that I worked for three years on

th e deciph ering of th e notation, because the scribe had obv iously

copied it from a manuscript in which th e interva ls were no t fixed

and the sign of a descending third could mean either t hi rd or a

fourth, and so on. Th e work on th e transcription of the ' Akathis

tos' con fi rmed the view which I expressed repeatedly, that Byzan

tine musical nota tion was merely an aide-lIIt!moire to th e singer,

not only in the earlier stages of musical notation when th e range

of in ten 'als was not fixed, bu t also in the notation of th e thir

teenth century, th e so-ca lled ' ~ I i d d l e Byzantine' notation, with

th eo retically fixed intervals. Th e singer who used th e hymnbook knew the melodies by heart . He therefore ra rely co rrected

mist akes of the scrib e, resulting from carelessly copying an old

manuscript and leav ing some ambiguous intervals written in the

old way . The notation , indica ting th e a pproximate interv al , was

enough help to sing the right notes. I t would be wrong to decide

on notational grounds alone what to do in a case where no clear

decision can immed ia tely be taken, we mu st find ou t what inter

val the old scribe wanted to write down. That procedure made it

necessary to compare th e melodic lines of all the twenty-four

stanzas to see what th e scrib e wrote in the co rresponding stanzas,

all whIch vaned at least sligh tly from the model s tanza, and

to hn d out that solution which fitted best th e p a l a e o ~ r a p h i c a leV Id ence and the run of the melody in th e o th er s tanzas. ;-..row

that tIllS work IS done, the transcription of other Kontakia fromthIrteenth-century manuscripts offers no difficulties pro\'ided

that th e o n a t l O n - s are correct ; glancing over the pages ofthe fa CS ImIle edltlon we find certain traditional clauses an d formu lae, the recurrence of a certain number of ornamcnts whi ch ap-

I E. We lle., Tb( AJlUlhWf)$ J-l \I AI LJ'T' ..f hb b l. , ym l l " . . . rmU(lIp'u, vol. LX (19S7)i l' . lI u('g, elm/oranum

. I ur" Qllltnu, AI .,\} 11. ra cJ lflJl llQ, vol. i (L95(,).

- - - - - -BYZANTI NE MU SIC AND H YM:-iOGRAPH Y 2-

pear to be characteristicof th egenre, not only of a single Kontakion'or DOXOlogy, or Alleluia. '

The transcription of the melodies and the investigation intothe early stages of Byzantine musical notation has prepared the

ground for the work whI ch must now be done: the study of the

techl1lque of Byzantme mUSIca l composition, its characteristicfeatures , and Its place in th e entirety of Christian Chant. Th is

IS a ta sk to which everyone who has worked in this field has paidattentIOn, but whIch must be even further developed. I t becomesmcreasmgly Important as we see more and more that the study

of Byzantme Chan t cannot be restn cted to the treasury of me lodiessung m the churches of the Empire, but that our stud ies mustinclud e it s ramifica tions towards the Latin We st , and also towards thc Sla \'onic ]\orth and East.

A beginning been made in both direc ti ons. \\"e have alreadymentIOned th e Ea stern elements 111 the \\ 'es t and their influenceupon a re-appraisa l of plain chant. Im'es tigation into the OldSla \'onic notation has co nfirmed what Russ ian mu sicologists l

stated at the beginning of our century, i.e. that Byzantine Kanons ,

Kontakia, and Stiche ra were taken O\'er by the Sla\ 'onic neighbours in th e 1\orth, most probably the BII/gllrs, and transmittedto th e Ru ssians in Old Sla\'onic, a translation in which the stressesof the text correspond admirably to the high points of the melodic

line '

I t wou ld surpass the scope of the prese nt book to discuss theproblems of Old Sla\'onic notation and melody co nstruction inrelation to th ose of Byzantine music. We must lea\ 'e such adiscuss ion to scholars wh o ha\'e specialized in these subjects.Th e qu estion of notation has recent ly been deal t \I'i th by MadamePalikarova \ 'erdeil in her Doctorat e theSIS, La A.flls/qlle byzalltme

I ' r h ~ lit er . t ure gi"rn In O. R i C ' ~ C ' m : l n n , .Die :\OIJI ionl'n dC's Alt-rusmchen K.ir chengeungts·,

P"bflkallo,ulI J. lilt, ,\l U I. Ca., B e i h C ' f t e ~ . Folg(' l r p q ) . .l Prof. Roman J a k o h ~ o n . lIan"lTd C n i H ~ r , i [ . ~ · , srent ~ c \ ' c r l l ~ J . I " ' In Jan. , Q : ; : ~ . : I t the l ) u m ~ J ~ t o n

O a k ~ libr;IT\' in \ \ ' a ~ h i n g t o n and compJrcd with ni t ' the. ' tIl ing 01 tile: \\ord$ 10 the mUSIC,. R.

J kc' I . r " fOld Sl:nonic metrlCs, I from that of Greek :lccentu.:lltlon.

a Ol'son Irom ti e pomt 0 \ I ~ \ \ . 0 . f a- a f-iUI-ard doctorate\\ ' c hot h IlorLed on the t r : l I l , C n p t l o n ~ made' from the Chdandar rbagm,'L"u\'I' . .", ' I 'h -10'

L" I ,I " Clo.m! ( I Q " 6 ~ ' r I m l r O \ l ~ . r1 t · ~ i ' l 'fl." !J\,z.,n/In.· F!cmt"nlS 'n l ~ c J ' ) " . n · O ~ h , 'b " d'· d r E Koschmirdtr·t.' Old 51 . d II IIIl1nt t hanl (an t It rom .d ~ l i o n , l l I p b c ~ w t c n 3vonIC : .\!: '-lhlo.mJI, d, Hoi 'f , ."RuJ. d_ /I'm . Phllosoph.

' 1) 1(' J l l t ' ~ [ c n :\ ovgorodcr r ~ ~ o l o g l c n " r J ! : I l 1 ~ n [ c ", I I Slavonic Ilirmologia and the

b , ./ \ 'F . .(" , ··\"II(HI"") whopnnuonrlt ef l t l t ( .1ft. : " ', ' I . : > ' : I ; ~ . 1 ~ ) 1 . " '.' hI aralleh from a Ru"ian · t l 1 [ t t n [ h · t c n l u i\IS. In

By/.mtme COlI. COlsllll ::::0, and on t t' ,Ig P

Krjuki nOlat ion,

------------------------



26 A SURVEY OF ST UDI ES I N

chez les B1dgarcs d i es Ru ssi's,' a nd th e p ro blems of m elod y con

struction have been expounded in a ve ry co m pre hensive s tu dy by

M. Velimirovic.z Th ere is , howen' r , one po in t to be m ent ion ed

which seems to me of para moun t im por ta nce , i.e . th e im pera ti ve

need of con necting ou r stu d ies with t hose of Com pa ra ti ve L itur -

giology.On ,·arious occasions I pointed out that it was indispensab le

to place By zantine hymnog raphy in it s li tu rgica l en vironm ent.

This becam e even more urgent wh en ou r stu d ies we re ex te nded

to th e various forms of melismatic c hant. The first opportuni ty

of demonstrat ing th e importan ce of bring ing t he chant in to close

relation with it s liturgical function offered itself a t t he 'S ym

posium on Byzantin e Liturgy an d Music ' at th e D um bar to n

Oak s Research Library and Coll ect ion in W ash in gto n in J954, at

which I read tw o pa pers on th e subj ect: a gen er al surve y of

' Byz antine i\'[u sic a nd its place in th e Liturgy' an d a spe cial o ne

on 'Th e Akathi stos H ymn ' ;3 Oli,·er Strunk read a pap er on 'T he

Byzantine Office in Hagia So ph ia' in which he ex ami ned t he

'Chanted Office of th e Great Church ' an d th e d ifferences b e t ween

monasti c and non-monas ti c practice .' r the same wa y C. Hoeg's

Ta bleau allaZytiquc in th e pr eface to th e fa csim il e ed it ion of t he

CO Il/acari llm AshbuYllhallleJISC5 gi'-es a clea r an d succ inc t guide to

th e liturgica l functi on of th e hymn , it s conn exi on with th e feast

of a Saint or an Apos tl e.

The days ha ve gone by when th e text of a hy mn was conside red

Without bearing in mind th a t it wa s sun g , no t read; a nd when,

on th e o th er h and , a rtificial rh yt hmical sc hem es were in t roduced,

with out t a king noti ce of th e rh y thmica l sign s with wh ich Byzan

tm e mU Sical not atIOn a bounds. Th ere is genera l agree m ent , at

leas t among mU Sico logist s, th at word s and mu sic ar e in se pa rably

hnked togeth er and that th e t ext should not be a ltered to b ringIt mto confonnrty With that of ot h er manusc ripts on purely

plulologlcal grounds. In my stu dy of th e text o f th e Allathistos 6

I ventured to sa y th a t th e so-called sout h Ita lian manuscrip t

tr adi t IO n did not on gmate in th e Ba s ilean monasteries of Sicily an d

I M .A/ .B. Sub udw vol. iii (' 9-3) , cr b' ;) . . not e 1 a ove.

l Cf. E. Wellell 'T he Akath , ' S' .I, . "i (" ' . 1> 0' , . tuuy III Bl1.:l.ntlOC } ' I n n o ~ r ' l , h y ' Dum barl otl Dll b< l P t f ~ 1 1" am " 1955/6), I. p - .f , 1

: ? ,f.,O· 'IS',r,unk" 'The " l . ~ n l i n c Othce at Il agi:1 Sophia' ibid. pp. 1-- 2;,2.

" ,.• , '11($111111111, \'01. , \. ' , ,

6 Cf. J/ ,M, I1. 7" rl1l l1("pl <l \'01 i, I', ., ' .XXXY.

. BYZANTINE MU SIC AND HY)[NOGRAPHY 27

Ca labria, bu t can be tr aced back to th e St. Cat herine's mo ti\1 L . . nas ery

on J ount .• mal a nd originated on Syro-Palestin ean soil. '

As far as we can see at present the differences in text and

melody can be redu ced to two main groups of manuscripts: to

t hose den\"lng from th e monas tic cent re of Jerusa lem and to those

U1 use m th e n orthern sphere of th e Empire, rcpresenting then te of th e episcopal ch,urches, above all th at of Hag ia Sophia,th

e Im pen a lCh

urch of (onstantm

ople; but as

in Westernlitur

gyth e da ta .,dllch we ga ther from th e manuscrip ts do not show aclear di\,lslOn . Th e s truggle be tween the monas teri es and the

episcopal chu rches wen t on for many centuries, in th e course ofwhi ch both rites acquired element s from th e opposite camp . I t

\\'Ill be a most rcwa rdll1g task to follow up th e trend of thought

developed by A. Baumstark in his two out st and ing essays,' when

th e b ulk of Byzantine Chant is a va ilab le in p rint and to comparet he resui t with tha t ga ined from parallelstudics in Wes tern Chant.

Th is b rings us to the end of o ur sun-ey . I t can be seen from it

th at th e hard work of genera tions of scholars was fi na lly crownedwith success. Th e main hindrances to a precise and reliable

in terpret a tion of t he signs of t he Byza ntine musical notationfrom t hc end of t he twclfth century ha, -e definitely been remo' -ed.,\ t the same ti me grea t progress has been achie,-ed in clarifyingt he ch aracte r of the early phases of Byzantine musical notation.\York recently done in the field of our st udies res ts on a secure

bas is a nd neeel no longer be set out in th is sun· cy; it will be referred to a t th e ap propr iate place in this book and rcglstered In

th e Bib liograp hy.H ere I should like to emphasize once more that th e study of the

mu sic of the Eas tern Church is of fa r-reaching importance for

th e history of m usic in genera l. A great wealth,unknown n1tlsic is be ing made acceSS Ible SlI1ce the \\ ork o.C t rans

cription of Byzan ti ne ne umcs int o modem staff notatwn has

IP f' r \ Lowe' to whom I told Illy lin( of thought in 1956, fully

, I :lIn glad to <.1.1' I I:lt ro e"or . t. .' 1..' I . hi· c,d "ud\' on 't\n unknownd ' I nl(' with Ill! r ('c(nt \ pu 1111 •

apPTon:d of m.r t h t ' o r ~ ' ;,11 . p r ~ , c I H n ., ' _ ___ ' in which ht'com('s to (h(Slm(eon-Latin Psaltcr on \ Iount Sm:u, " i c r l p t " r . I / l " ' · I " I \ I Q ~ ' ) ' I . qq,," \I ,unt Sinai it bt'eom('s ( " idenl. , I f K t ~ b n a Wile, wt'rt' wntten " .c1u,lOns. I rom anum 'l'T 0 o n , · . L I." ,d ,. ,,·pical of §QUlh Italian ;\1 55.

d. d 1 wluen were 3 W3}' rt'g u. . -

h;1l features of c c o r a . ( l ~ n an \ ss Th ( J;1me c:m be 5!lid about (('((u31 "an :l n( ", wl( haTe actually eharaett'rhlle of ~ m a l l l e - L •. Iwhich we shall ha \'e to (lcalll1orc c x t e n , i " t I ~ · al tht' prop(r pace . . . I (' .r ( _

. . .6 ( d dIe :\llkon.t311IlnOpoI113IU,e Ie2 ' l ) a ~ T Vl'ikon der J t l l l o , ; - ; U 1 d , < h n r ~ r - I,U(" ) S-II , ' 'DcnkmJler clcr I : : n c h u n

. . hb bf ' Lr t1"wrnJ(hJ;' \1 19 2 ) , 9 - ,ordnung , . l t l I II( I urgl • , 0 C S(r, II "01. ii (19 ::;-)' pp. 1-) ': ,

gcschic h tc du bYlanllluse hcn Ri tUll. . ,. , I

























































































































































































































































































































































































































































