Byzantine Music

Author(s): Egon Wellesz

Source: Proceedings of the Musical Association , 1932 - 1933, 59th Sess. (1932 - 1933), pp.
1-22
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Royal Musical Association

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/765709

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 22 NOVEMBER, 1932.

PROF. E. J. DENT, M.A., D.Mus.,

PRESIDENT,
IN THE CHAIR.

BYZANTINE MUSIC.

BY EGON ELLESZ, D.MUS. (OXON.),

Professor of Music in the University of Vienna.

UNTIL recently the study of Byzantine history and civilisa

has had to fight against an almost insuperable preju
The whole Byzantine world was considered as petri
bloodless and decadent both in its life and in its artistic
creation, and gifted scholars refused to waste their energy on
a study which seemed unimportant. Although a large
number of Byzantine manuscripts were brought to Europe in
the seventeenth century and, in spite of the publication of
Allacci's Studies in the Liturgical Books of the Greek Church,
Goar's Commentary on the Euchologium and Montfaucon's
Paleographia Graeca, yet knowledge of these works and the
study of Byzantine art were confined to a small number of
people and aroused no regular interest. Sixty years ago a
famous German scholar-Professor W. Christ, of the Univer-
sity of Munich-in his Preface to the Anthologia Greca
Carminum Christianorum apologised for deserting the
"elegance and fine freedom of the poets of Greece and
Rome for the thorny bypaths of mediaval Christian verse."
The prefaces, too, of later works dealing with Byzantium all
contain the same apology, the author wishing to make it
clear that he has undertaken his task in a spirit of scientific
enquiry rather than out of conviction or enthusiasm.
The attitude of Gibbon and his whole account of
Byzantium are largely to blame for this prejudice: the ve
title, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, is significant
the admirer of Roman civilisation the transition from the
old freedom of life and thought to the strict ceremonial of
the Byzantine court with its interminable political and
religious squabbles must seem a decline. To Gibbon these
were the striking things about Byzantium, and, his attention
all centred on the disappearance of the characteristics of the

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 2 Byzantine Music
old Rome, he failed to see the birth of
its place.
In answer to Gibbon's deprecating remarks we have only
to consider what vigour the Byzantine Empire must have had.
Its so-called "decline" lasted a thousand years and yet
during this period it was of such importance that the capital
of the Empire won the name of " New Rome." It is only
from this standpoint that we can obtain a full understanding
of the task the Byzantine Empire had before it.
As the furthest outpost of Europe, Byzantium had to face
various waves of invasion from the East. This was only
possible for a government in which the Emperor combined
almost absolute temporal and spiritual power and centralisation
was carried to its extremest point. The character, too, of her
enemies made it often necessary for treachery and double-
dealing to play a part in Byzantine politics; only thus could
the Empire be preserved. In the fourth century the attacks
of the Ostrogoths began, in the fifth those of the Huns, and
in the sixth century the Slavs attacked from the North and
reached almost as far as the city itself. In the seventh
century the Persian invasions and the struggle with the Arabs
began, and in the following centuries Bulgarian, Hungarian
and Russian attacks from the North and North-East kept
the Empire in a state of perpetual danger. It remained for
the Crusaders, prompted by the commercial policy of Venice,
to prepare the final downfall of Byzantium. When, after
the end of the Latin Empire, the Palaeologi came to the
throne, all the strength of the Empire was spent, and in 1453
the Turks were able to take the city, her last Emperor dying
on the walls. Yet these struggles which often threatened
the very existence of the Empire and the metropolis did not
prevent the development of an astonishing civilisation and
the attainment of an artistic perfection which we can now
for the first time appreciate.
There is something insidious in the old clichds of
Byzantium's " treacherous diplomacy," the "stiffness of
Byzantine art," and in the anecdotes of the theological
disputes which continued even when the Turks were
already encamped before the city walls. For a long time
these clichs and anecdotes managed to obscure the glory of
Byzantium's great achievements; consequently in the words
of Charles Diehl, one of the most learned students of
Byzantine art and history: "Voild comment, sous une
anecdote banale et une epithkte courante, on &crase dix siecles
d'une civilisation, qui fut peut-etre la plus brillante et la plus
raffinme du moyen age."

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 Byzantine Music 3
To-day we can see how this prejudice
has complicated the work of all those
dealt with her art and civilisation. Tha
work of the last generation this prejud
down; but there still exists a feeling,
amongst scholars and connoisseurs o
Byzantine civilisation represents a deca
longer boast the spirit of the ancient world
We have only to think, however, of th
fifty years ago, the admirers of the R
for Gothic and Baroque, to realise how
are which praise one era at the expense
The purpose of history, according to o
to show " what really took place " ; and all
less if they do not serve in the end to b
nature of Byzantine art, contemporary
and the meaning it may still have for us
possession and as a living force.
Twenty years ago I set myself this task
of Byzantine music. It has given me gr
English scholar, Professor Tillyard,
same work, viewed from a slightly diff
worked separately at the solution of our p
last few years we have joined with
Copenhagen, in a plan to publish an e
important manuscripts, in which the tr
church music are contained.

Let us first consider the question of the place of

Byzantine, and indeed of all oriental church music in the
musical world and then go on to a description of the
characteristics of this music and its meaning for us.
I should like to say first, that it is only in the last few years
that the science of musical research has reached a level which
justifies our placing it on an equal footing with the research
carried out in literature and painting. Large tracts of musical
history, however, remain still untouched. In the eighteenth
century an attempt had already been made to cover the
whole field of music from its first beginnings--an attempt
which remained unfinished owing to lack of sufficient detail.
The regular study of musical origins began later; and
gradually there came to light, at any rate for certain
periods, such a mass of detail that a real danger arose of
intensive study of one period obscuring a general view of
the whole.

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4 Byzantine Music
During the nineteenth century and at
the twentieth, musical research was chi
European music from the beginning of
is true that a large number of books on G
but it is in these books that the great
accounts of the music and the music itself is most notice-
able. And so, although these studies are interesting land-
marks in the history of musical scholarship, they remain
comparatively unimportant in the history of music.
As far as Eastern music is concerned, a short introductory
section dealing with mediaeval music was usually considered
enough, Greek and Oriental music being included under
this heading. Byzantine music was not mentioned at all.
Labels such as "primitive" and "exotic" were attached
to Oriental music and there is no trace of any attempt to
regard it from a serious historical point of view. In the
second half of the nineteenth century the scientific and tech-
nical achievements of Europe had reached a point till then
untouched: Europeans all over the East came to regard them-
selves as the masters and natural superiors and Oriental
art as something which, though worthy of their interest and
their collections, was in no way comparable with the great
artistic masterpieces of the West. We have only to think
of the collections and exhibitions of Oriental art durirg the
nineteenth century, in which objects of purely folk-lore
interest were placed next to real works of art and cheap
export goods lay next to masterpieces.
In this period of indifference, Fox-Strangways' Music of
Hindustan and Courant's Essay on Chinese Classical Music are
brilliant exceptions and form the starting point for a com-
pletely new attitude of mind-the first condition necessary
before it was possible to understand the character of Oriental
music in general and the relationship between the music of
Europe and that of the Near East from antiquity to the
present day. This relationship, which has been long
recognised by students of history, art and liturgiology, must
be carefully borne in mind by students of Byzantine church
music, if they are to avoid false premises and faulty
conclusions. Once again we must try, from another stand-
point, to be clear in our minds as to the exact significance of
" Byzantium" and " Byzantine."
In 324 A.D., Constantine made Byzantion, a small Greek
town, the capital of the Eastern Empire, giving it the rights
and privileges of Rome. From this time on the town took
the name of Constantinople or New Rome and the name
Byzantium disappeared. The inhabitants of the Empire were

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 Byzantine Music 5
called Romans; for, with Julian the Apo
of Hellenism, the name " Hellenes" and
Hellenism had come into disrepute. Onl
of the use of the name Byzantion or Byzan
only in writers with an archaising tende
the fourteenth century and the return of
new classical movement began and w
Byzantium for Constantinople and H
Romans, chiefly in Western writers w
literature a continuation of the classical tradition.

It was these pioneers of Byzantine scholarship who

managed to convince the rest of the learned world that
Byzantine civilisation was nothing else but a continuation
of the old, and that the language, though it had lost its old
vigour, was still the same. Thus it came about that from a
linguistic point of view Byzantium came to be regarded as
an annexe of the ancient and of the Hellenistic worlds. This
undue emphasis laid on the character of the language led
people to see in it the significant characteristic of Byzantium,
instead of considering her relationship with the civilisation
of the Mediterranean, and further, of the Near and Middle
East, as history, art and liturgiology all demand.
It is nowadays a matter of common knowledge that we are
indebted to the East for many elements in our religious
consciousness and philosophical thought, a debt which we
can trace back to the Persian and Egyptian elements in the
earliest Greek civilisation. After the penetration of the East
by Alexander the Great-a penetration which reached beyond
Gandhara as far as India, Central Asia and the Far East-
military stations were established in the conquered areas and
all the higher positions of government were entrusted to
Greek officials: the whole Near East, in fact, was subjected
to a process of Hellenisation. This process, however, was
only rigorously and successfully pursued along the Medi-
terranean coast and where roads or rivers led inland. But
away from the main roads and far inland the native Eastern
civilisation could hold its own against that of the ruling
class. Not long after Alexander's death a reaction set in which
was both stronger and more fruitful than the Hellenising
movement. This reaction made possible an anti-Seleucid
union between the newly-formed Parthian Empire and
Bactria, the furthest outpost of Hellenism in the East,
whose influence extended over an area beyond the Hindu-
Kush and the Pamir plateau right into the steppes of Mongolia.
This union prepared the death-blow for Hellenic ascendancy

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 6 Byzantine Music

in the Near East, though Bactria, thro

came into a position of isolation and had
the Nomad tribes which poured through
Parthian Empire.
In the struggles which developed betw
of the Seleucids, and Parthia, the influ
increasingly important. This influenc
when the Arsacid dynasty was replace
who consciously modelled their policy
tradition of the time of the Achasmen
of Iran spread over the whole Medi
influenced the west, with the result that
tion of Hellenism with Eastern ideas and vice versa took
place, whence arose the mixture of different cults characteristic
of the Near East.
Christianity started in one of the border provinces of the
Roman Empire whose sphere of influence came to an end
immediately behind the Lebanon. This province was adminis-
tered by a Graeco-Roman governing class, the population
consisting of a mixture of Aramaeans, Cappadocians and
Armenians, as well as the Jews. Since Christianity was at
first a popular faith in direct opposition to the authorities, it
was natural that the art which developed with the new ritual
should be to a large extent the product of native artists.
The future study ot music will have to reckon with this fact,
if a clear idea of the method and first growth of ecclesiastical
melody is to be obtained. Studies of this kind will have to
be closely connected with liturgiology. Up till now we have
had to content ourselves with conjectures and conclusions
drawn by analogy from developments in kindred spheres.
With one exception no written record of the earliest Christian
music has been preserved: this one exception is formed by
the fragment of a Hellenistic hymn found at Oxyrrynchus.
The rest are either lost, or, as seems more probable, the music
was never committed to writing in the earliest times, but
transmitted orally. The Coptic Church of the present day
has preserved something of this tradition; its cantors and
choir-singers are mostly blind, it being thought that only
such people can be expected to have the seriousness and
other-worldliness necessary for the correct singing of
ecclesiastical melodies.
Were these songs original productions?
Yes, at any rate in part. It is hardly conceivable that the
members of the new religion which was in opposition to the
official cult should compose their own melodies. At a time,
when religious gatherings could only be hald in secret, and

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 Byzantine Music 7
every kind of loud singing must be avo
been very little more than a kind of "
Psalms. As Christianity spread these co
changed. It is most likely, therefore, t
were sung to familiar tunes, just as alre
hymns were adapted to the new fait
creative musical activity cannot have be
when Christianity had gained strength
had begun to develop. This activity fir
Syria and Armenia.
Although nothing of this music is extant
of manuscripts, we should regard it as hav
wards with the Christian faith, rather t
for it in the treasures of Byzantine
Liturgiology would support this hyp
investigations are only possible when w
with some kind of notation to which we
From the ninth century onwards the
system of notation common to Byzantiu
and Ethiopia; and traces of a notation a
and Coptic Manuscripts. The Slavonic
notations come directly from the Byza
ever, to these systems of notation, whi
of fixing the melody, there exists an ea
for the correct reading of the Lections. Al
notation originated with the system of lec
continued everywhere unchanged un
century.
The appearance of these lection-sig
sidered only in Byzantine and Armenian
Old and New Testaments, until I was
appearance of a similar system in fragm
and Nestorian hymns from the caves o
signs are also to be found in manuscripts o
from Cambodia, while polychrome si
prayer-rolls. It is clear, therefore, that th
signs is not confined to Christian text
holy books of other religions as well. T
to stress particular words or phrases an
for the cantillations. A further princip
the case of Byzantine Evangelaria.
Pericopes-for each day are so arranged t
of each section always has one of three
of sign-order. At the end of the section
signs appear, indeed each sign is genera
this we gather that the priest who r

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8 Byzantine Music

expected to read the last sentence of th

greatest emphasis, almost singing it, in
gregation might be prepared for the e
in with an "Amen." As every sentence
had to end with a rhythmic cadence,
rhetorical period being very strong, t
Pericope was so arranged that the fina
crescendo which closed with the reading
The ecphonetic signs are an aid to the
and New Testaments, while Byzantin
served to fix the hymn tunes, but also
secular acclamations composed by court
for the Emperor.
The individual systems of notation ar
each other that the peculiarities of eac
first glance. On this point no differen
scholars have arisen. Fundamental diff
ever, with regard to the dating and nami
The widest divergence is found betwee
the Greek catalogue and those assigned
A certain rivalry between the various m
taken into account, each monastery try
the manuscripts in its possession are ol
are. Another difficulty arises from the
script of the liturgical books which b
expert palaeographers and leads to dif
centuries in the assigning of dates. Fo
Pericopes of the ninth, tenth and elev
scribes try to imitate the older uncial scr
sixth; and only in a few places, where
they forget to archaise, can one see tha
one of imitation. An archaistic style is
books also, for the scribes were instru
existing manuscripts and to preserve the
originals. Hence the text came to be r
to be pedantically copied. The music
added later in the space left for the
generally in another hand-presumably
and though they are often ill formed, th
Examples of the earliest period of Byz
been preserved in manuscripts dating f
twelfth centuries; no manuscript with
known earlier than the ninth century
state of the signs, which resemble Lati
same period, suggests that it is only owin
stances, particularly to the Iconoclastic

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 Byzantine Music 9
have no earlier document. This notation has this in common
with the Latin Neumes, that it does not provide for an exact
statement of intervals. Gradually this was seen to be
unpractical; but whereas the West adopted lines to show
the pitch of each note, the East entirely reformed its
notation. In the middle period there appeared, in place of
the old approximate system, an exact notation of intervals,
and, more than this, an exact system to show the rhythmical
value of each note. Professor Fleischer, of Berlin, has been
able, by means of a theoretical treatise--one of the many
Papadike--to decipher the melodic line. But there still
remains a great deal unexplained with regard to the signs.
Why, for example, were there six different signs for a rise
of the interval of a second ? In the theoretical treatises I
found the following solution, giving the key for a satisfactory
transcription. These six signs for the interval of the second
represent six different shades of rhythm. If these different
rhythmic nuances are to be observed in the case of another
interval-a third, fourth, or fifth, each of which is represented
by its own special single sign, then the following rule was
observed. The rhythmic sign in question, which had
previously also represented the interval of a second, was
added to this new interval-sign, but merely in its rhythmic
capacity. By this means the so-called " round " notation
of the middle period has become legible. In my publication
of 1918 I selected corresponding signs, taken from our modem
notation, for these rhythmic nuances. I am pleased to say
that, when Professors Tillyard, H6eg and myself discussed
the question, my choice was accepted, with a few modifica-
tions. Our transcriptions, therefore, of the music will
agree to the last detail.
The middle period of Byzantine notation began, as my
latest investigations show, a great deal earlier than was
formerly supposed-namely, at the end of the eleventh century.
The old Neume-notation existed parallel to the new for some
time, while the improved notation of intervals was being
introduced. The middle period lasted into the fifteenth
century and was followed by the late Byzantine period
during which the complementary red notes were introduced.
This period lasted until the beginning of the nineteenth
century. The signs had by then become so numerous that
the singers could no longer understand them and the reformed
Greek notation was therefore introduced which is still used
in the printed choir-books.
The question of the part played by the changing of the
notation now arises: that is to say, whether we can hope to

3 Vol. 59

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 Io Byzantine Music

penetrate the secret of the early Byzan

whether the melodies in this notation are a
we already know in the middle period n
answer these questions, I must say some
of the poems to which these melodies w
the Kontakion and the Kanon.
Defined according to its contents, the Kontakion may be
called a poetical sermon. It consists normally of from eighteen
to twenty-four strophes, all structurally alike. At the
beginning stands a strophe in another metre, the Kukulion:
the individual strophes are connected alphabetically. Recent
investigations have shown that the Kontakion is Syrian in
origin and all its essential features are preserved in the chief
forms of Syrian poetry-Memra, Madrascha and Sugitha.
But how did Syrian ecclesiastical poetry come to
influence Byzantine ? Syria was spared the waste of energy
caused in Greek-speaking countries by the hostility of the
educated, on the one hand, towards Christian ideas, and on
the other, by the Christian refusal to accept heathen artistic
forms. In Syria the new civilisation was a Christian one,
and so the influence of the great Syrian poets-Ephrem,
Narses, Kirillonas and Jacob of Sarug--on the new Byzantine
ecclesiastical poetry is easy to understand.
The connection with Syria first became really important
with Romanos, the greatest of the Byzantine poets. Romanos
was born in Aleppo, at the end of the fifth century, of Jewish
parents, and grew up in Beiruth, coming to Constantinople
under the Emperor Anastasios. The decisive impression of
his youth must have been the Syrian poet Ephrem. Many
of Romanos's Kontakions are translations from Ephrem and
the rest are written entirely under his inspiration. This
influence of Syrian poetry is not confined to Romanos, but is
noticeable in other Kontakion writers.
This form of poetry reached its first bloom at the beginning
of the sixth century. From then on the Kontakion played a
large part in the liturgy, until in the eighth century it was
replaced by a new form of poetry, the Kanon. The Kanon
is composed of nine odes, each of which consists of
several (generally four) rhythmically similar strophes. The
odes are modelled on the nine Canticles of the Old and
New Testaments. From the fifth century onwards the
recitation of the canticles played an important part in the
liturgy, in company with the chanting of psalms, prayer and
preaching.
Nothing definite is known of the origin of this new form,
which reduced the Kontakion to a few strophes: recent

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 Byzantine Music ii
investigations show that, as in the case
Eastern, particularly Syrian and Armen
strong. In any case the Kanon exemp
which seems to me to be of ever growin
whole of Eastern art-namely the princip
variation, whether it be of a thought, of a
tion, or of a musical idea.
I will try to explain this in a few word
A wall painting in an Egyptian temple
in an Indian temple are both repeated
order to print the picture, as it wer
memory, and, on the same principle,
repetitions in the Buddhist writings, the ho
or Arabian song-cycles and the reiterate
Egyptian witches.
The European creates a work of art
single, short, intensely passionate m
appreciation: the Oriental repeats the
provides it with almost unnoticeable va
appreciation of it becomes a form o
principle of variation may have work
Byzantine liturgy and the Kanon poetry
of the new ideas made current by the d
power of Islam, but the tendency was al
merely accentuated.
It is generally said that the Kontakions
Kanons, but if so, how is it that the Kan
Kontakions ? The only explanation is
expressed the ideas and atmosphere of
better than the poems of earlier gener
elaborate variations on one idea clearly a
to such an extent that the individual words were lost and the
many invocations and ejaculations of praise combined to
form a mystical atmosphere in which the spoken word became
merely a means to a state of ecstasy. (Some of these Kanons
have been known for a long time in England, in the trans-
lation of John Mason Neale, entitled Hymns of the Eastern
Church, but it would require all the skill of a great poet to
give a rendering of them which would reproduce the force
of the original language and the boldness of the original
images.)
In the eighth and ninth centuries a large number of new
poems appeared, the most famous of them connected with
the names of Andrew of Crete, John Damascene, Cosmas,
Theodore, and Joseph of the Studion Monastery. The

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 12 Byzantine Music

production was so great that by the end of

hardly any new poems were admitted but
regularly taken over into the liturgy.
What was this liturgy then ?
Before all else it had the characteristic
and mystical, of binding its hearers as b
is in direct contrast with the gravitas a
Roman liturgy. The congregation expe
of the sacred office, as the action of a m
Protagonist, Deutero- and Tritagonists. Ex
mysteries, there was one moment of illu
presence of the Godhead was felt. The s
selves as " symbols of the angels," as one ch
" who guided the congregation to the song
They sang We who in secret set forth the Ch
Communion in the liturgy of St. John
passed to eschatological mood and broke in
hymn Appear, appear, thou New Jerusalem.
As has been said before, for a long time th
a large part in this liturgy. These odes from
Testament were considered as divine hym
odes of the Kanons took the place of the Ca
considered as earthly symbols of the heaven
same way as the singers symbolised the
although these odes were composed for p
and saints, they had still to be variations of
There was no question of a free, individu
a theme. But it would be a great mistake to
treatment of the same narrow circle of sub
invention. It should be regarded rather a
deeper, as an example of the Oriental con
permissible in an act of worship. There i
the Western conception of man's relation
detail of the cult, every ornament of the ch
position of a divine appearance or power
which earthly eyes and ears could seize.
The same is true of the music. The h
different patterns on which a number of
modelled. The explanation must be that
not have to compose an entirely differe
Kanon: his task was rather that of a modest artisan who
wished to add to an admired model something which seemed
to him permissible as an intensification, a beautifying, or a
small variation. The melodies sung in church were, to the
composer and the congregation, imitations of the hymns

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 Byzantine Music 13

sung in God's praise by inspired saints a

hymns in their turns imitating the div
unceasingly by the angels in heaven. Th
was, therefore, not to compose as many
possible, but to write variations on a giv
some new feature appeared, despite a clo
the original. The artist's expression must
liturgy and is never allowed to break th
hierarchy by adopting a personal accent i
the object of worship. The artist felt hi
with all other artists, as a link in a chain, w
ranks of the faithful, his position determin
of his piety. This ordering of the faithf
the ranks of the celestial hierarchy, which
of the Byzantine church, Dionysius the A
so wonderfully. This art developed rathe
growth was directed inwards not outwards,
understanding of this principle can give a p
of Byzantine Church music.
This leads us back to the question whet
continuity in the Byzantine melodies pr
script, or whether the different notatio
contemporary groups of melodies which
as one notation replaced another.
As long as we were compelled to suppos
notation did not exist before the four
supposition based on the fact that our first
from between 125o and 3oo00--it was imp
relationship between the melodies in this
of the early Byzantine. The early Byzant
tion of intervals and was therefore only
who already knew the melodies and used
aid to his memory, exactly as in the case of
Now, however, manuscripts have been fou
end of the twelfth century and I have m
photograph of a Hirmologion from the Iv
Mount Athos which must date at latest f
of the twelfth century, probably from the
A comparison of the same poem set to
early and then in middle-Byzantine nota
similarity of the signs and their groupin
the melody is the same. I then inspected
of the early Byzantine period more close
whether the same melodies appear in the
I was able to establish their identity a

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 14 Byzantine Music

century fragment. This means that from

which are preserved we can establish the
melodic tradition from the ninth to the
The old Neume notation of intervals was
in the twelfth century, while the new int
already coming into use. It is noticeable,
the ninth and the fifteenth centuries n
appear which regulated the rhythm and the
and make the grouping of the notes clear
themselves became rather richer.
Let us take it then as an established fact that from the
ninth to the fifteenth century we have a continuous tradition
of melodies sung to the Kanons--that is, over a period beginning
after the Iconoclastic controversy when a new intensive
religious movement began, and extending over the full flower
of the Empire in the tenth century, the Latin Empire and the
rule of the Palaeologi, right to the fall of the city in 1453.
From all that we know of Byzantine religious art we have no
reason to suppose that the Kanon writers of the eighth century
set their odes to any other melodies than those which were
used fifty and a hundred years later. We have every reason
to believe that melodies existing in the ninth and tenth
centuries were the same ones as those used by the Kanon
poets. It is now known that the Hymnographers did not
compose new melodies, but used already existing ones; that
is to say, they took the Kontakion melodies and set them to
new texts. But these Kontakion melodies date from the sixth
century, even if some of them were not perhaps taken over
from older times and were not originally Syrian. Therefore
we see that a part of the melodies-before all else those of the
model strophes, the Hirmi--go back to the sixth century
and remained in use almost unchanged until the fifteenth.
After the fifteenth century Byzantine music changed its
character under the influence of the Turkish domination.
The church-singers were forced to earn their living by
playing Turkish music in the houses and palaces of the Pashas.
Their own style was thus corrupted and the old Diatonic
character of the music changed. At this time new, highly-
ornamented melodies began to replace the simple old ones,
with the result that a reform of Byzantine music in the countries
where the Greek church predominates was possible only
by a return to the manuscripts, and only thus could new
life come to the old music.
Let us now take a melody from the beginning of the
Triodium, the book which contains the offices for the

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 Byzantine Music 15

Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee

inclusive :-

no It

*a_.p _ OU , " OS - K -.i'O _.___tt-.. ?. _

#a -pir a" - X - os
* ? A A

K
A t
~>

&

g - -I . - fir 1i No n

- -dA-5 7
" pa- wo ----- - --
7-r

6,rO'nrW^v
v - Ow'
a - -e 4
Fq8f's
p ru'Oe-p,
-rtsroi. IYi, Xo-'pe v os b,

This is a highly developed melody in the Ist Tone. If we

compare it with the Introit of the Missa de Confessore Pontifice
of the Latin church, we find a noticeable similarity which
cannot be overlooked.

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 i6 Byzantine Music
STATUIT It DOMINUS
A

Sta - tu-it e - i Do - mi - nus

te - sta-men -tumrn pa - cis et prin -

(0 --oo
ci-pem fe - cit e - um ut sit il - li

sa - cer do-ti- i dig-ni - tas in

ae - ter - num.

It is impossible to suppose
seem to be related, travell
would contradict every pr
But, as we have seen, the a
may well have come from S
home of the earliest Grego
have a common source.
The majority of the Byzantine melodies are preserved in
two collections, the Hirmologion and the Sticherarion. In
the great period from the ninth to the fifteenth century these
were the chief music-books. The word hirmos is related
etymologically to the Latin series or concatenatio; it means
the relation of a model strophe to others which correspond
to it rhythmically and melodically. The arrangement of the
Hirmologion is based on the eight tones of the Oktoechos.
The Sticherarion is composed chiefly of the Stichera
Idiomela-that is, strophes for the festivals of the ecclesiastical
year, each with its own melody. In addition to this it contained

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 Byzantine Music 17
the Stichera for Lent and Eastertide, the Resurrection
hymns from the Oktoechos and the Lenten Prosomoia,
that is, strophes on a previous model-the Eothima or
morning hymns of the Emperor Leo, the Exaposteilaria of
Constantine Porphyrogenetes, and the Theotokia of John
Damascene. It is very seldom, however, that such complete
Sticheraria are found: one or more of the groups is generally
wanting.
As we have already said, the Hirmi are the models on which
others are composed. They are the oldest and most simple
melodies.
Here is the first strophe of a Hirmos of the Ist Tone taken
from a morning-office for Low Sunday at the beginning of
the Hirmologion.

'- ,, w -uev, td >v res Aaol, ? JC i - cpaS 8V A- Xf as

>= - - b :-_= -' '-" ---- .-'--'

>__ ? >_ _

- & bv- Ir

The melodies o
music, more
ornamentation
original simp
fifteenth cen
exactly as ea
poorer ones.
coloratura, so
melodies of

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 x8 Byzantine Music
composed. In the nineteenth century a wave of Eu
influence led, in Greece, to the harmonisation of t
melodies, and consequently to a complete destruction of
original character. The same process will have to tak
with the melodies of the Greek church as has alread
place with Gregorian music,-liberation from false harm
tion and a restoration to their early simplicity. The
of Greek church music is much more favourable than was
that of the Gregorian, since the Byzantine notation is much
clearer in its rhythmical and dynamic signs. But one thing
is necessary above all: the most important manuscripts
must be published in facsimile and the melodies then
published in their best versions, on the basis of a comparison
of manuscripts. Hoeg, Tillyard and I have made every
preparation for the work of publication; we are only waiting
for the deciding impulse for the work to begin.
Let us now turn to secular music to see what part it played
in the public life of Byzantium.
When a victorious Emperor returned to the capital at the
end of the war he was hailed with acclamations in which his
exploits were sung. These acclamations were written and
composed by court poets and musicians. At Nikephoros's
processional entry after the defeat of the Saracens the people
sang :-
Behold the morning star whose beams darken the sun
The Saracens' doom, Nikephoros the Ruler appears.
Then there followed a second acclamation called Polychron
since it contained wishes for a long life for the Empero
Long life to Nikephoros the Ruler!
Honour him, all ye nations and bow low before the
mighty prince !
When an Emperor entered the Hippodrome he w
greeted by choirs of the Greens and the Blues singing
phonally and the same happened at church festivals.
most ceremonious were the Christmas celebrations when the
Emperor came from his apartments into the full assembly.
While he prostrated himself before the Ikons, a choir sang :-
May God protect thy majesty, divinely ordained, crowned and
protected, mighty and holy for many years !
These acclamations were not exclusively confined to
Emperors; princes of the church were also greeted. In this
case the acclamations were included in the liturgy under the
name of Euphemesis, and in this form they survive to the

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 Byzantine Music 19
present day. The ritual-books and the desc
ambassadors give a picture of these festiv
a large part music played in the public lif
On Christmas Eve the Emperor came to t
and receive communion. The court and clergy were
assembled beforehand, the princes of the Empire and the
Church with their flags behind them. The Emperor's
chaplains then entered, fully robed, and behind them again
the Imperial musicians (flutes, horns, trombones and cymbals).
The Emperor with his suite then mounted the Tribune which
was hung with curtains. He changed his robes and, when the
curtains were drawn, he was fully visible, alone. The singers
then started the Imperial hymn, the instruments joined them
and continued after the end of the hymn, until the Emperor
gave with a cloth the sign to cease. The singers then started
the Christmas hymn, Christ Who crowned thee Emperor is
born. Several strophes followed, with acclamations for the
Emperor and the Empress. While the curtains were drawn
the Imperial hymn was sung again and with another fanfare
the ceremony closed.
This one example may serve to show how magnificent the
many other festivals were. Their year was full of them-
the Christmas festival at which the prisoners of war were fed;
the performance of the Christmas play; Palm Sunday
ceremonies ; the Washing of the Feet on Maundy Thursday;
the Good Friday procession; the Easter festival; the
Blessing of the Grapes; and the races to commemorate the
founding of the city.
Nothing of all this music remains, except ecclesiastical
fragments. Only the spirit of the music lives on in the
festivals which the West took over from Byzantium and still
celebrates.

What I have tried to say in a few words here will have

shown you, I hope, that the problem of Byzantine Music is
the problem of the art of a peculiar civilisation. You may
perhaps feel as I did when I first realised the beauty and
strength of these melodies, that this music enlarges our view
of the world. The Byzantine Empire united East and West.
In the same way an understanding of her music brings us to
an understanding of the East and its music. What we need
to-day is not merely to assimilate new kinds of knowledge,
but rather to make every truly great and significant creation
a part of ourselves. The purpose of this lecture will have
been fulfilled if it has aroused in you a feeling that in Byzantine
music a great art speaks to you.

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20 Byzantine Music
DISCUSSION.

THE CHAIRMAN : It is a great privilege for us to listen to-day

to a most distinguished foreign scholar, one distinguished not
only in research in various fields, but distinguished also a
composer for the theatre.
Byzantine music has for a long time been a very obscur
subject, and the interpretation of it was confused and inde
erratic. Thanks to the work of Professor Wellesz and his
collaborators, among whom I am glad to find our eminent
Cambridge scholar, Prof. H. J. W. Tillyard, we are now on
the way to a clear understanding of this difficult problem,
based on sound historical and palaeographical research.
The importance of this research is twofold: in the first
place it throws light on the history of Byzantine culture, and
secondly, it points onward to a further musical problem which
future generations will have to resolve. If we could obtain a
really comprehensive view of all the earliest music of the
Eastern churches, we should then be able to find out how much
of our Western plainsong was derived from Oriental sources.
Mr. ROYLE SHORE: I recently met the Archimandrite of
the Greek Cathedral in Bayswater who was naturally very
interested in the subject of this lecture and would have liked
to have come to it. But unfortunately, although an invitation
had been sent to him, he had been prevented at the last
moment from coming.
The music sung by the Clergy officiating in this Cathedral
is the Byzantine form of plain-chant which obviously has
affinities with the more familiar Western plain-chant, as one
of this afternoon's examples plainly shows. This is inevitable.
The singers, always unaccompanied, sing ancient melodies
harmonised for voices in a modern diatonic form, and not
with the modal restrictions used in harmonising Western
plain-chant.
The West is like the East in that they have no written
records of the use of notation in early days. Instruction was
entirely oral. It is said that it took ten years to make a singer
in the West.
I am very glad to hear the lecturer say that the music is
being published: it is most desirable that it should be.
The LECTURER: It is important to distinguish between the
practice of the present day and that of the " Golden Age "
of Byzantine music. During the decay of the Byzantine
Empire and particularly after the capture of Constantinople,
Byzantine church music underwent important modifications,
as I have already pointed out. At the present day traces of

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 Byzantine Music 21
Persian, Arabic, Turkish and Slavonic i
noticeable, influences which had a great effec
as well as the melody. We cannot therefo
to avoid making our conclusions, drawn f
state of formality, apply to the middle ag
Dr. FROGGArr: I understand that the
different scales in Byzantine music forme
tetrachords. Is that so ?
The LECTURER: In answer to the question of scales,
theoretical treatises of modern Greek music speak of eight
scales. Modern harmonisation naturally changed entirely
the character of Byzantine melodies. The same is true of
Gregorian music and the present tendency is to make all
organ accompaniments as simple as possible; they should be
merely a support to the voices. Nowadays attempts are often
made in Catholic churches to sing Gregorian music with no
accompaniment whatever.
In this connection I should like to refer to the collections
of gramophone records (His Master's Voice), which were
made two years ago in Solesmes.
Dr. COLLES: The lecturer has already answered to Mr.
Royle Shore the question I was going to ask about the scale
system in Byzantine music, but I should like to put a
supplementary question. Was there any period at which the
scale system was organised on a theoretical basis for this music,
comparable to the Gregorian system of Latin plainsong ?
The LECTURER: I am more and more convinced that the
question of scales was treated independently from the teaching
of music. There exists a description from Mesante of the
Church of the Holy Apostles where we read that directions
such as niti, paraniti, etc. " which nobody nowadays under-
stands " were taught by mathematicians, but that "singing
was taught by masters who conducted with their hand the
course of melody" (xCpovYOdLa). The scales were gradually
evolved from the melodies by a process of grouping certain
melodic formulae (maqam) on which all melodies were built.
I have studied the section " ichoi " and have found that there
the mode is not absolutely connected with a certainfinalis, but
with the occurrence of a group of maqams which form the
melody of each mode. The question of the scales and the
maqams has not been approached from this angle until quite
recently. It is a very important subject which should receive
more attention. But it can only be studied successfully when
the Byzantine melodies are better known, that is when they
are published in a collected edition.

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22 Byzantine Music
Mr. ROYLE SHORE: Has not the Byzanti
much in common with the Western system
The LECTURER: Yes, it has.
Mr. ROYLE SHORE: Some early Western
come down to us, appears to have been co
regard to any modal system. This may h
with Byzantine music. Practice invariably p
The LECTURER: Yes, that is true.
The meeting closed with a vote of thanks t

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