Byzantine music

Byzantine music (Greek: Βυζαντινή μουσική, romanized: Vyzantini mousiki) was the music made for special events in the Byzantine Empire. It included songs and hymns used in important ceremonies. Even after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, this kind of music continued as part of Eastern Orthodox church services.

Today, people still sing Byzantine chant in many Eastern Orthodox churches. Cantors sing from old books like the Sticherarion and the Irmologion. After the Ottoman Empire took over, the Patriarch of Constantinople helped keep these traditions alive. As new nations formed in the Balkans, they created their own church music based on these old Byzantine roots.

In 2019, UNESCO named Byzantine chant as part of the world’s important cultural traditions. They recognized it as a special and old way of making music that has lasted almost 2,000 years. It is a key part of the musical history from the time of the Byzantine Empire and continues to be practiced today.

Imperial age

Byzantine music began as songs and hymns for the court and religious events in the Byzantine Empire. After Constantinople fell in 1453, this tradition kept going in Eastern Orthodox services. Today, we mostly know Byzantine music from its use in church services, where different Orthodox traditions still sing these old chants.

The tradition of eastern church singing started before Constantinople became the new Roman capital in 330 and lasted until the city fell in 1453. Byzantine music was influenced by Hellenistic, classic Greek, and music from Syriac and Hebrew cultures. A special feature was the octoechos system, which sorted melodies into eight different modes. This system probably began in Syria in the 6th century and was later connected to the work of the monk John of Damascus.

The words "Byzantine music" often mean the medieval sacred chants used in Christian churches that follow the Constantinopolitan Rite. This link grew from changes in monastery rules, like the Octoechos changes from the Quinisext Council in 692 and later changes at the Stoudios Monastery. These changes helped form the music traditions still used today in Orthodox services.

The monastic reform of the Stoudites and their notated chant books

During reforms at the Stoudios Monastery in the 9th century, new books of songs were created. These included the heirmologion and the sticherarion. The reforms added parts to the tropologion and organized special songs for days like Lent, called the triodion.

The new books had songs for different days, including Sundays and days during Lent, and the eight-week cycle beginning with Easter. These songs were first kept in the tropologion. Later, two new books were made: the sticherarion and the heirmologion. These books had more detailed songs and included traditions from many places.

An old 9th-century book from Saint Catherine's Monastery shows the old way of organizing songs. The new way, started by the reformers, arranged songs so that each part of the service used the same music for different verses. This mixed traditions from Constantinople and Palestine.

The reformers worked through difficult times, and their efforts helped shape the music used in services. Women also helped by founding their own communities. The reforms continued under later leaders, creating song cycles for special days and weekly services.

The Slavic reception

The Slavic reception helped change Byzantine music. During the 9th and 10th centuries, new empires like Great Moravia and the Kievan Rus' formed in the north. These Slavic groups wanted to use Byzantine religious traditions. The Bulgarian Empire, which had recently become Christian, made new learning centers and asked for religious texts and services.

Slavic people were interested in the music and rituals from places like the Hagia Sophia. Manuscripts from this time show early Slavic languages and help us learn about Byzantine church music, even though they used their own notation systems. These manuscripts are important for understanding Slavic literature and Byzantine religious practices.

The literary schools of the first Bulgarian empire

We do not have many early Slavic religious books written in the Glagolitic script by Cyril and Methodius. But we do have later books, like the Kiev Missal, which show influences from Western Christian traditions. Other important books include the Codex Assemanius and a euchologion made by Cyril, Clement, Naum, and Constantine of Preslav. These books helped organize religious readings and services.

Researchers found books like "Iliya's book," from around 1100, which include music notes. These notes show links between Slavic writers and places like Sinai or Mar Saba.

Znamennaya notation in the stichirar and the irmolog

In the Kievan Rus', people were very interested in organizing church music, including special books called tropologion and oktoich. These books had music for different parts of the service.

From the 12th century, some Slavic books began using a special notation called znamennaya. This helped musicians understand the melodies better. The music showed steps and intervals, helping singers perform the songs correctly.

The Kievan Rus' and the earliest manuscripts of the cathedral rite

In the Kievan Rus', there was great interest in the grand ceremonies performed at the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Russian leaders sent representatives to watch these ceremonies. The accounts from these visits describe the beautiful music and rituals that deeply impressed the Russians.

There are several important old books called kondakars from this time. These books record the music and ceremonies used in services. They were made in different places in Kievan Rus' between the 12th and 13th centuries.

Reception of the cathedral rite

The Primary Chronicle tells the story of Russian representatives who visited Constantinople. They were amazed by the beauty of the services in the Hagia Sophia and told this to their leaders, Vladimir the Great. This experience helped influence the decision to adopt Christianity in Kievan Rus'.

Kondakarian notation of the asmatikon part

The people of Kievan Rus' were especially interested in a special way of directing music using hand signs, called cheironomia. They made their own way of writing music called "kondakarian notation," which mixed different styles of notation.

One interesting example is a special song called a Polyeleos from the Blagoveščensky kondakar'. This song was divided into eight parts, each in a different musical mode. The song included refrains that were likely sung by different parts of the choir, showing how these early musicians worked together.

The end of the cathedral rite in Constantinople

In 1207, the old way of singing in Constantinople stopped. This happened because the leaders moved to Nikaia after Western crusaders made it difficult to keep their traditions. The special song books were made in places like Patmos, Mount Athos, Saint Catherine's monastery, and Italy. They used a new way to write down the music called Middle Byzantine round notation. This can be seen in books like the sticherarion and heirmologion.

The books for solo singers were called "kontakarion" because they had songs called kontakion that were mostly sung by one person. These books had many special songs, usually about 60, but often only the beginning parts were written down. These songs were mixed with other important church songs. Because these books were made after the old way stopped, they show how the music continued in other places.

The kontakarion-psaltikon books had parts like prokeimena, alleluiaria, hypakoai anastasimai, and kontakia anastasima. There were also books just for choirs, called asmatika. In Southern Italy, there were books that had both solo and choir parts mixed together in different orders.

The era of psaltic art and the new mixed rite of Constantinople

There was a discussion led by Christian Troelsgård about Middle Byzantine notation and Late Byzantine notation. When the court and patriarchate returned from Nikaia in 1261, they created a mixed rite. This did not change the signs used in Middle Byzantine notation. The change might have happened earlier in monasteries outside Constantinople.

This idea came from the Papadike, a type of book that existed from the 13th to the 19th centuries. Troelsgård and Maria Alexandru found that the Papadike could serve many purposes. It introduced a changed version of the sticherarion and covered other books like mathemataria, akolouthiai, and Ottoman anthologies.

As creative poetry ended, Byzantine chant focused on making more detailed versions of old songs. This included adding decorations to older tunes or creating new, ornamental music. This work was done by the Maïstores, or “masters,” with St. John Koukouzeles from the 14th century being one of the most famous for developing chant.

Ottoman era

Byzantine music still had an effect even after the Byzantine Empire ended. Some music from the Ottoman court showed ideas from Byzantine traditions. For example, a composer named Prince Cantemir from Romania learned music from a Greek musician named Angelos. This shows that Greek people kept sharing their musical traditions. The music of Turkey also took some ideas from Byzantine music. Ottoman music mixed many cultures, including Greek and Armenian Christian chants, creating a rich blend of sounds.

The Orthodox reformulation according to the New Method

Chrysanthos of Madytos (c. 1770–1846), Gregory the Protopsaltes (c. 1778 – c. 1821), and Chourmouzios the Archivist helped change how Greek church music was written. They made the old music symbols simpler because they were hard for many people to read. Their work made a new way of making music that is still used today in the Greek Orthodox Church. Sadly, some people misunderstood their work, and some old ways of singing were lost.

The Ison (music) is a low, slow note that helps support the main tune in Byzantine chant. People began using it in the 16th century. Terirem is a way to make up songs on the spot using sounds like "te ri rem" or "te ne na," and sometimes adding words from religious teachings. It's common for a choir or singer to start a song by softly singing "ne-ne" to find the right note.

The Simon Karas school at Athens

Simon Karas (1905–1999) worked to collect materials and bring back a lost musical tradition. His students, Lycourgos Angelopoulos and Ioannis Arvanitis, continued his work in their own ways.

Lycourgos Angelopoulos saw himself as a student even though he taught many people. He worked with Georgios Konstantinou to create new guides for his school. He studied old music styles and worked with traditional singers from places like Constantinople and Athonite monasteries. Today, Orthodox churches have schools to train new singers, and each area has a main singer called a protopsaltes who leads the music.

Ioannis Arvanitis studied older music writings and created his own way of understanding them. He started music groups that perform ancient Byzantine music, working with singers from different places around the world.