Byzantine, Music

BYZANTINE, MUSIC. - This is the name generally given to the musical system of the Churches of the Byzantine rite, which had Byzantium as their principal center.

FIRST PERIOD

With the Gospel the Apostles brought their traditions also among the gentiles. Hymns and psalms resounded in the first Christian assemblies as in the synagogue, perhaps to the same Hebrew melodies. Gradually, however, as the Hellenic masses were won to the faith, those melodies no longer satisfied them, since the sense of art was too great in the Greek people. It is easy therefore to think that, after the Constantinian peace, the new grandiose temples of Greek Christendom must have resounded with hymns and psalms performed in the ancient Dorian, Lydian, Phrygian melodies, etc. Throughout the entire period running between the 1st and 8th centuries, however, we are far from having a single system of chant. Clement of Alexandria, in the Paedagogus (PG 8, 445), recommends abandoning the chromatic mode, because it is a stimulus to passion. And at Alexandria the chant was nothing but a more or less modulated recitation. At Caesarea of Cappadocia, St. Basil, who more than anyone else sought to reconcile the classical spirit with the new faith, according to what Michael Psellos tells us, formed strong choirs for his church, as among the ancient Greeks; he composed new hymns and new melodies and entrusted certain parts in the chant even to female elements. This was to combat the Arians, who with their theatrical music attracted many simple folk into their churches. Several Fathers tolerated, for the same reason, even the introduction of instruments (Nicephorus, Historia, IX, 16), the use of which, however, once the cause had ceased, was forbidden, or rather the abuse of them. The Council of Laodicea (can. 55) prohibited in churches the chanting by individuals who had not received ordination to the cantorate, and furthermore forbade the performance of non-canonical psalms (can. 49). In time, however, many new hymns and new melodies were officially accepted; Sophronius of Jerusalem, Romanus the Melodist and many others have left deep traces in hymnology and in the music which, from its driving center, can by now be called Byzantine.

Throughout this period the musical writing or semiography is the alphabetic one, already used by the classics.

BYZANTINE MUSICAL SYSTEM

Ascending and descending notes

KEYS

BYZANTINE, MUSIC - Byzantine musical system.
Ascending and descending notes.

(propr. Enc. Catt.)

The documents are extremely rare and everything reduces to a few papyri of great value, whose interpretation presents insurmountable difficulties.

In the second half of this period a new semiography arises, called econetic, that is, declamatory. To judge from the documents that have come down to us, it was used only for the declamation of the prophetic, apostolic and Gospel readings. The signs number 14. The manuscripts known to date (about twenty) belong to the 8th-13th centuries; afterwards they disappear. Their interpretation is difficult, because the keys are lacking and the exact value of the individual signs is not known.

II PERIOD (8th-13th centuries). — This is the golden age of hymnography and of Byzantine music. The liturgy is enriched with poetic-musical compositions of the highest artistic and literary value. The composers of the Greek churches of southern Italy themselves are not inferior to the Easterners; among the many Italo-Greeks one should remember Mark of Otranto, Joseph of Syracuse, Nilus of Rossano, founder of the famous monastery of Grottaferrata, and his disciple Bartholomew. Above them all, however, stand the two supreme figures, Cosmas of Maiuma and John Damascene. To these two, and especially to the latter, tradition attributes the musical reform that begins in the 8th century.

The musical system is divided into eight modes: 4 proper and 4 plagal. These retain the old names: Dorian, Lydian, Phrygian, Mixolydian, but they are also simply called first, second, plagal of the first, etc. New diastematic signs are created, to indicate the various intervals or groups of notes. It should be noted at once, however, that these signs do not indicate a single precise interval of a 2nd, 5th, etc., but rather a group of successive notes according to established rules, yet also with a different movement, depending on whether the same sign is found in one "mode" or another, in one position or another. These signs were therefore, more than anything else, mnemonic aids for the cantor, who, in order to perform his office worthily, had to have a strong musical memory. To make the task still easier, however, other signs were created, called signs of χειρουμία (law of the movement of the hands), which, placed below or above the diastematic signs, indicated to the cantor more clearly the various movements of the musical phrase contained in that sign. Expert masters, with the movement of their hands (whence the name χειρουμία), made the task of the choir even easier. The diastematic signs number 14, of which 11 are still in use today. The cheironomic signs are also 14, later increased in number. At the beginning of each melody the "mode" to which it belongs is marked, along with the μαρτυρία or key. The manuscripts of this period known to date number a little more than 50, a good number of them in the abbey of Grottaferrata. Taking into account the still living tradition and the manuscripts of the following period, although the task is always arduous, it is nevertheless possible to reconstruct these ancient melodies.

III PERIOD (13th-19th centuries). — With the 8th-11th centuries Byzantine hymnography reaches its apogee. Poetic-musical compositions now abound throughout the entire liturgical cycle. The great masters from the 11th century onward set themselves, as their principal task, to teach, by means of the laws of "cheironomy," how to interpret faithfully the compositions of the great hymnographers. The system invented by them was not easy: the stenographic meaning, not only of the cheironomic signs but also of many diastematic signs, gave rise to no small number of divergences. A new reform was envisaged, and this took place in the 13th century. It is attributed to John Kukusélia, master of the imperial chapel first and later a monk in the Great Lavra of Athos. Probably, however, he was only the expo-

major proponent of a system that had begun well before him, and did not end until the last reform.

In this system almost all the diastematic signs are given a precise value (leap of 2, 3, etc.). The melody, however, is still not written out in full. To indicate the development of the melody (which, as they expressed it, is contained in the diastematic sign as the ear of grain is contained in the grain of wheat), the cheironomic signs are still used, their rules more clearly determined, and the number of these signs greatly increased. Note also that the same sign changed value according to its position and even according to whether it was written in red or black. The μαρτυραι or keys are indicated not only at the beginning of the melody, but also after each musical period, indicating the last note sung. The great benefit of this introduction escapes no one. The φθοραί or accidentals, proper to each "mode," are generally marked, whereas previously this too was entrusted to the singer's memory. Many grammars are also written, some of which have come down to us (v. L. Tardo, L'antica melurgia bizantina, Grottaferrata 1938, pp. 145-260). These too, however, need the master's interpretation, being neither clear nor complete.

In time the cheironomic signs kept increasing, seeking thereby to entrust to writing ever more exactly what tradition had handed down. Famous masters of this period, among the many, are John Kladas, Manuel the Elder (15th cent.), Manuel the Younger and Balasios (16th cent.). The latter especially begins to pose the problem of writing the melodies more exactly with the diastematic signs, without too many implications. He initiates this system of his by interpreting many of the cheironomic signs. Other masters follow him, down to Peter of the Peloponnese, lambadharios (leader of the left choir) of the Great Church (18th cent.). The latter, having left the ancient synthetic semiography to a few phrases of each "mode," which were easy to remember, and these still written with the old cheironomic signs, analyzes almost all the rest. It was the method of Balasios but carried much further. He teaches his method to a host of disciples. This done, he undertakes a work that must immortalize him in the annals of Byzantine music: the transcription of all the sacred melodies handed down by tradition down to him, including those of the andante type, never written down before, but only handed down orally. No one could do this work better than he, endowed as he was with an incomparable musical memory, so as to be able to transcribe any melody after hearing it only once. The intelligent lambadharios had thus paved the way toward a radical reform. By now, with printing, the stenographic semiography no longer had any reason to exist.

IV PERIOD (19th cent.). — In the footsteps of Peter, at the end of the 1700s, three learned and courageous masters: Chrysanthos, bishop of Prussa, Gregory lambadharios and Chourmouzios the chartophylax, set about dealing the final blows to the old system. In 1815 they present the fruits of their work to the ecumenical patriarch, who, after long tergiversation, ends by approving it. Blind attachment to tradition caused this system to be opposed by many; among these the protopsaltis (first cantor) of the Great Church himself, Constantine; indeed it is interesting to know (as a demonstration of the accuracy of the transcription of the melodies) that while the latter sang from books with the old system, the lambadharios Gregory, at the same time, sang from books with the new system.

Thus reformed, the Byzantine musical system took its definitive shape, and is still today the official system in the Byzantine Church.

The reform consisted in this: 1) Abolition of every remnant of stenography. 2) All the diastematic signs are given a precise value (interval of 2, 5, etc.). 3) Certain signs, which in the old system had a stenographic value (e.g., ὀξέα, πελαστόν, etc.) are simply abolished.

4) Almost all the chironomic signs, by then become useless, were likewise abolished. To some of them that remained, only an expressive value is given. 5) The solfeggio that was taught by the ancient masters with the monosyllables: Na, Ne, Te, To, Ru, Rem, etc. is now taught with the musical notes, seven in number, taken from the alphabet: πΑ (re) — Βω (mi) — Γα (fa) — Δι (sol) — πΕ (la) — Ζω (si) — νΗ (do). In almost everything else, fidelity to tradition is maintained. The modes are likewise 8 and follow the old denominations and the old scales. So too the μαρτυραι or keys and the φθοραί or accidentals. Note, finally, that the three reformers transcribed, in the new system, all the ancient melodies of the liturgical year.

CONCLUSION

After what has been said, a question naturally arises: are the melodies today in use in the Byzantine Church the same as those that came from the pen of the ancient hymnographers? One must answer that many of them bear the names of composers, especially from the 14th century onward; they are therefore not the melodies of the hymnographers. Others are original melodies, but embellished by later authors, whose names the manuscripts record. There are then all the other traditional melodies, transcribed, as was said above, by Peter lambadharios; these should go back to the original authors. Sound criticism, however, opposes this. After so many centuries one cannot speak of identity between the melodies of today and those of that time. Nevertheless, considering that the tradition has always been alive, and not only that, but handed down by true schools directed by excellent masters, under the direct supervision of the high clergy of the Church of Constantinople, one must conclude that, even granting a necessary evolution, these melodies have much that is original, and that the reconstruction of the ancient melodies is not possible except on the basis of these.

Many European musicologists, for various years, have been studying the ancient Byzantine musical system. But some of them do not consider tradition at all. Given this, they have reached the most disparate conclusions. Some even deny the scales and the value of the diastematic signs. In compensation they invent their own. Others again deny the existence of any shorthand, and interpret the chironomic signs as signs of expression, forgetting that expression is called by the Greeks ἔχωρας and not χειρονημία.

In Italy, great impetus to the study of Byzantine music was given by Fr. Lorenzo Tardo of the monastery of Grottaferrata, who offered everyone the possibility of deepening studies in this field.

Giuseppe Ferrari