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Byzantine music is the music of the Byzantine Empireand by extension the

music of its culture(s) as they continued in the Orthodox Christian parts of

the population after the fall of the empire to the rule of the OttomanEmpire.

The extent of Byzantine music culture vs. liturgical chant proper

The term Byzantine music is commonly associated with what should more

correctly be termed the medieval sacred chant of Christian Churchesfollowing the Orthodox rite. The identification of "Byzantine music" with"eastern Christian liturgical chant" is a misconception due to historical

cultural reasons. Its main cause is the leading role of the Church as bearer

of learning and official culture in the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium),a phenomenon that was not always that extreme but that was exacerbated

towards the end of the empire's reign (14th century onwards) as greatsecular scholars migrated away from a decliningConstantinopleto risingwestern cities, bringing with them much of the learning that would spur the

development of the European Renaissance. The shrinking of Greek-speaking official culture around a church nucleus was even more

accentuated by political force when the official culture of the court changedafter the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire on May 29,1453.

Today, far too few sources and studies exist about Byzantine music on the

whole. It is beyond doubt that Byzantine music included a rich tradition ofinstrumental court music and dance. Any other picture would be both

incongruous with the historically and archaeologically documented

opulence of the Eastern Roman Empire. There survive a few but explicitaccounts of secular music. A characteristic example are the accounts of

pneumatic organs, whose construction was most advanced in the eastern

empire prior to their development in the west after the Renaissance. To a

certain degree we may look for remnants of Byzantine or early (Greek-

speaking, Orthodox Christian) near eastern music in the music of the

Ottoman Court. Examples such as that of the eminent composer andtheorist Prince Kantemir of Romania learning music from the Greek

musician Angelos indicate the continuing participation of Greek-speakingpeople in court culture. However the sources are too scarce to permit anywell-founded stipulations about what cultural musical changes took place

when and under which influences during the long histories of the Byzantineand the Ottoman empires. Hypotheses that Turkish (Ottoman) music wasinfluenced by Byzantine music, or the other way around, remain on the

level of more or less consciously nationalistic or romantically motivated

personal views, and are far too simplistic as to be of any value considering

the breadth and complexity of cultures historically involved in thesegeographic regions. It seems more logical to consider that these influences
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were probably more manifold than it is possible to reconstruct historically,

considering the breadth and length of duration of these empires and the

great number of ethnicities and major or minor cultures that theyencompassed or came in touch with at each stage of their development

(Egyptian, Persian, Jewish, Slavic, Central Asian including Avar, Moghul,Tatar and Turkic, Roman, Greek, Arabic, other Semitic and northernAfrican, Northwestern and Central European including Franc, Gothic,

Vandal, Nordic/Viking, last but importantly not least south central AsianGypsy, etc. etc.). The rest of this article confines itself to a discussion of the

musical tradition of Greek Orthodox liturgical chant, and is reproduced

from Dr. Conomos' text as cited at the end of the article

Characters of Byzantine Music


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Gospel Lectionary (Evangelistarion) 7th century (British Library, Add. MS

5111)

Origins and Early Christian Period

The tradition of eastern liturgical chant, encompassing the Greek-speakingworld, developed in the Byzantine Empire from the establishment of itscapital, Constantinople, in 330 until its fall in 1453. It is undeniably ofcomposite origin, drawing on the artistic and technical productions of the

classical age, on Jewish music, and inspired by the monophonic vocalmusic that evolved in the early Christian cities ofAlexandria, Antioch and

Ephesus.

Byzantine chant manuscripts date from the 9th century, while lectionaries

of biblical readings in Ekphonetic Notation (a primitive graphic systemdesigned to indicate the manner of reciting lessons from Scripture) begin

about a century earlier and continue in use until the 12th or 13th century.Our knowledge of the older period is derived from Church service booksTypika, patristic writings and medieval histories. Scattered examples of

hymn texts from the early centuries of Greek Christianity still exist. Some

of these employ the metrical schemes of classical Greek poetry; but thechange of pronunciation had rendered those meters largely meaningless,
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and, except when classical forms were imitated, Byzantine hymns of the

following centuries are prose-poetry, unrhymed verses of irregular lengthand accentual patterns.

The common term for a short hymn of one stanza, or one of a series ofstanzas, is troparion (this may carry the further connotation of a hymninterpolated between psalm verses). A famous example, whose existence is

attested as early as the 4th century, is the Vesper hymn, Phos Hilaron,

"Gladsome Light"; another, O Monogenes Yios, "Only Begotten Son,"

ascribed to Justinian I (527-565), figures in the introductory portion of theDivine Liturgy. Perhaps the earliest set of troparia of known authorship arethose of the monk Auxentios (first half of the 5th century), attested in his

biography but not preserved in any later Byzantine order of service.

Musical Instruments, 11th century

Dance, 11th century

Musical Instruments, 12th century
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Dance of Miriam

Medieval Period

Two concepts must be understood to appreciate fully the function of musicin Byzantine worship. The first, which retained currency in Greek

theological and mystical speculation until the dissolution of the empire, wasthe belief in the angelic transmission of sacred chant: the assumption that

the early Church united men in the prayer of the angelic choirs. This notionis certainly older than the Apocalypse account (Revelations 4:8-11), for the

musical function of angels as conceived in the Old Testament is brought out

dearly by Isaiah (6:1-4) and Ezekiel (3:12). Most significant in the fact,outlined in Exodus 25, that the pattern for the earthly worship of Israel was

derived from heaven. The allusion is perpetuated in the writings of the early

Fathers, such as Clement of Rome, Justin, Ignatius of Antioch, Athenagorasof Athens and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. It receives

acknowledgement later in the liturgical treatises of Nicolas Kavasilas andSymeon of Thessaloniki (Patrologia Graeca, CL, 368-492 and CLV, 536-699, respectively).

The effect that this concept had on church music was threefold: first, it bred

a highly conservative attitude to musical composition; secondly, it

stabilized the melodic tradition of certain hymns; and thirdly, it continued,for a time, the anonymity of the composer. For if a chant is of heavenly

origin, then the acknowledgement received by man in transmitting it to

posterity ought to be minimal. This is especially true when he deals withhymns which were known to have been first sung by angelic choirs - suchas the Amen, Alleluia, Trisagion, Sanctus and Doxology. Consequently,until Palaeologan times, was inconceivable for a composer to place his

name beside a notated text in the manuscripts.

Ideas of originality and free invention similar to those seen in later music

probably never existed in early Byzantine times. The very notion of usingtraditional formulas (or melody-types) as a compositional technique shows

an archaic concept in liturgical chant, and is quite the opposite of free,

original creation. It seems evident that the chants of the Byzantine repertoryfound in musical manuscripts from the tenth century to the time of the
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Fourth Crusade (1204-1261), represent the final and only surviving stage of

an evolution, the beginnings of which go back at least to the sixth century

and possibly even to the chant of the Synagogue. What exact changes tookplace in the music during the formative stage is difficult to say; but certain

chants in use even today exhibit characteristics whichmay throw light onthe subject. These include recitation formulas, melody-types, and standardphrases that are clearly evident in the folk music and other traditional musicof various cultures of the East, including the music of the Jews.

The second, less permanent, concept was that of koinonia or "communion."

This was less permanent because, after the fourth century, when it wasanalyzed and integrated into a theological system, the bond and "oneness"

that united the clergy and the faithful in liturgical worship was less potent.

It is, however, one of the key ideas for understanding a number of realities

for which we now have different names. With regard to musicalperformance, this concept of koinonia may be applied to the primitive use

of the word choros. It referred, not to a separate group within thecongregation entrusted with musical responsibilities, but to the

congregation as a whole. St. Ignatius wrote to the Church in Ephesus in thefollowing way:

"You must every man of you join in a choir so that bring harmonious and in

concord and taking the keynote of God in unison, you may sing with one

voice through Jesus Christ to the Father, so that He may hear you and

through your good deeds recognize that you are parts of His Son."

A marked feature of liturgical ceremony was the active part taken by the

people in its performance, particularly in the recitation or chanting ofhymns, responses and psalms. The terms choros, koinonia and ekklesiawere used synonymously in the early Byzantine Church. In Psalms 149 and

150, the Septuagint translated the Hebrew word machol (dance) by the

Greek word choros. As a result, the early Church borrowed this word from

classical antiquity as a designation for the congregation, at worship and in

song in heaven and on earth both. Before long, however, a clericalizingtendency soon began to manifest itself in linguistic usage, particularly after

the Council of Laodicea, whose fifteenth Canon permitted only thecanonical psaltai, "chanters," to sing at the services. The word choros cameto refer to the special priestly function in the liturgy - just as, architecturally

speaking, the choir became a reserved area near the sanctuary - and choroseventually became the equivalent of the word kleros.

The development of large scale hymnographic forms begins in the fifthcentury with the rise of the kontakion, a long and elaborate metrical

sermon, reputedly of Syriac origin, which finds its acme in the work of St.Romanos the Melodos (sixth century). This dramatic homily, which usually


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paraphrases a Biblical narrative, comprises some 20 to 30 stanzas and was

sung during the Morning Office (Orthros) in a simple and direct syllabic

style (one note per syllable). The earliest musical versions, however, are"melismatic" (that is, many notes per syllable of text), and belong to the

time of the ninth century and later when kontakia were reduced to theptooimion (introductory verse) and first oikos (stanza). In the second half ofthe seventh century, the kontakion was supplanted by a new type of hymn,

the kanon, initiated by St. Andrew of Crete (ca. 660-ca. 740) and developedby Saints John of Damascus and Kosmas of Jerusalem (both eighth

century). Essentially, the kanon is an hymnodic complex comprised of nine

odes which were originally attached to the nine Biblical canticles and towhich they were related by means of corresponding poetic allusion ortextual quotation.

The nine canticles are:

(1)-(2) The two songs of Moses (Exodus 15:1-19 and Deuteronomy32:1-43);

(3)-(7) The prayers of Hannah, Habbakuk, Isaiah, Jonah and theThree Children (1 Kings [1 Samuel] 2:1-10; Habbakuk 3:1-19; Isaiah26:9-20; Jonah 2:3-10; Apoc. Daniel 3:26-56);

(8) The song of the Three Children (Apoc. Daniel 3:57-88); (9) The Magnificat and the Benedictus (Luke 1:46-55 and 68-79).

Each ode consists of an initial troparion, the heirmos, followed by three,four or more troparia which are the exact metrical reproductions of theheirmos, thereby allowing the same music to fit all troparia equally well.

The nine heirmoi, however, are metrically dissimilar; consequently, an

entire kanon comprises nine independent melodies (eight, when the second

ode is omitted), which are united musically by the same mode and textuallyby references to the general theme of the liturgical occasion, and sometimes

by an acrostic. Heirmoi in syllabic style are gathered in the Heirmologion, abulky volume which first appeared in the middle of the tenth century and

contains over a thousand model troparia arranged into an oktoechos (theeight-mode musical system).

Another kind of hymn, important both for its number and for the variety ofits liturgical use, is the sticheron. Festal stichera, accompanying both the

fixed psalms at the beginning and end of Vespers and the psalmody of theLauds (the Ainoi) in the Morning Office, exist for all special days of the

year, the Sundays and weekdays of Lent, and for the recurrent cycle of

eight weeks in the order of the modes beginning with Easter. Their

melodies preserved in the Sticherarion, are considerably more elaborate andvaried than in the tradition of the Heirmologion.


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John of Damascus holding a manuscript with a hymn to Theotokos

(Michael Anagnostos, 1734 Byzantinian Museum of Chios)

Later Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Periods


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St. John Koukouzeles on a post-Byzantine music documentm 15th century(Monatery Megisti Lavra)

With the end of creative poetical composition, Byzantine chant entered itsfinal period, devoted largely to the production of more elaborate musical

settings of the traditional texts: either embellishments of the earlier simpler

melodies, or original music in highly ornamental style. This was the workof the so-called Maistores, "masters," of whom the most celebrated was St.

John Koukouzeles (active c.1300), compared in Byzantine writings to St.John of Damascus himself, as an innovator in the development of chant.

The multiplication of new settings and elaborations of the old continued in

the centuries following the fall of Constantinople, until by the end of theeighteenth century the original musical repertory of the medieval musical

manuscripts had been quite replaced by later compositions, and even thebasic model system had undergone profound modification.

Chrysanthos of Madytos (ca. 1770-46), Gregory the Protopsaltes, andChourmouzios the Archivist were responsible for a much needed reform of

the notation of Greek ecclesiastical music. Essentially, this work consisted


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of a simplification of the Byzantine musical symbols which, by the early

19th century, had become so complex and technical that only highly skilled

chanters were able to interpret them correctly. Despite its numerousshortcomings the work of the three reformers is a landmark in the history of

Greek Church music, since it introduced the system of neo-Byzantine musicupon which are based the present-day chants of the Greek OrthodoxChurch.

Text reproduced with permission from Dr. Conomos' text at the website of the

"Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America". http://www.goarch.org

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