filotheu
Νέο μέλος
Forgive my intervention, please.
All the dictionaries and theoretical treaties define the Byzantine Church music as formulaic, but in this very important topic you debate there are very few references to this reality. In fact, most arguments here circle around the number of times (χρόνοι) which the heirmoi or other species use. Forgive me to say it, but this is a materialistic view. A formula (θέσις) is for the psaltic art and Church music the ultimate measure, it is an atomic unity (ἄτομος in the Ancient Greek philosophy). Either we accept that formulas are revealed by the Holy Spirit, either any other option is available to talk about the Holy Tradition, including the option of chanting Rachmaninov's compositions from now on by the psaltes in Greece or elsewhere.
The introductions (προπαιδεία, etc) at the beginning of the old Anthologies all deal with formulas. Even some of them compare the new (17th century) with the old (13-14th century) repertoires of formulas. Therefore, when one is looking for understanding the old notations, one should consider that all those medieval manuscripts contain formulas, thesis after thesis. If one is looking in the Heirmologia, one should have in mind heirmologic formulas to be found beyond the different notations; in Sticheraria mainly sticheraric formulas should be found (caveat! Petros' Anastasimatarion and Doxastarion are heirmologic, not sticheraric, as very many scribes of manuscripts caution the readers); in Papadike and Mathemataria one should find mainly papadic formulas.
Someone already wrote here that from the 16th century on, the music is more or less the same. Allow me an analogy: look on the walls of the churches; what changes do you see between icons of the 12th and icons of the 17th-18th century? The images are the same (only few details added to some scenes), the hermeneutics are the same, even the texts on the scrolls of the saints contain more or less the same texts. What are the changes? We can see them in the painting technique, especially in the details of the manner the colors are used. So if we could say without fear of any mistake that the Holy Spirit preserved the iconography from the 11th-12th century to these days more or less unchanged, why isn't it the same in the hymnography and music?
Is it fair to measure music with materialistic tools and search for new ways to interpret the old notations? What do you think the old musicians would say about numbering χρόνοι in a composition?
All the dictionaries and theoretical treaties define the Byzantine Church music as formulaic, but in this very important topic you debate there are very few references to this reality. In fact, most arguments here circle around the number of times (χρόνοι) which the heirmoi or other species use. Forgive me to say it, but this is a materialistic view. A formula (θέσις) is for the psaltic art and Church music the ultimate measure, it is an atomic unity (ἄτομος in the Ancient Greek philosophy). Either we accept that formulas are revealed by the Holy Spirit, either any other option is available to talk about the Holy Tradition, including the option of chanting Rachmaninov's compositions from now on by the psaltes in Greece or elsewhere.
The introductions (προπαιδεία, etc) at the beginning of the old Anthologies all deal with formulas. Even some of them compare the new (17th century) with the old (13-14th century) repertoires of formulas. Therefore, when one is looking for understanding the old notations, one should consider that all those medieval manuscripts contain formulas, thesis after thesis. If one is looking in the Heirmologia, one should have in mind heirmologic formulas to be found beyond the different notations; in Sticheraria mainly sticheraric formulas should be found (caveat! Petros' Anastasimatarion and Doxastarion are heirmologic, not sticheraric, as very many scribes of manuscripts caution the readers); in Papadike and Mathemataria one should find mainly papadic formulas.
Someone already wrote here that from the 16th century on, the music is more or less the same. Allow me an analogy: look on the walls of the churches; what changes do you see between icons of the 12th and icons of the 17th-18th century? The images are the same (only few details added to some scenes), the hermeneutics are the same, even the texts on the scrolls of the saints contain more or less the same texts. What are the changes? We can see them in the painting technique, especially in the details of the manner the colors are used. So if we could say without fear of any mistake that the Holy Spirit preserved the iconography from the 11th-12th century to these days more or less unchanged, why isn't it the same in the hymnography and music?
Is it fair to measure music with materialistic tools and search for new ways to interpret the old notations? What do you think the old musicians would say about numbering χρόνοι in a composition?
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