Theory books on Byzantine Music in English

Dimitri

Δημήτρης Κουμπαρούλης, Administrator
Staff member
Let's start a list of theory books on Byzantine Music in English here.

thanks,
Dimitri
 

frephraim

Παλαιό Μέλος
I have made a catalogue of Byzantine music books at: http://stanthonysmonastery.org/music/ByzBooks.pdf
It has the following four parts:
I. Music Books in Greek
II. Books about Byzantine Music (in Greek)
III. Books about Byzantine Music (in English)
IV. Contact Information for Bookstores​
Part III has several books that discuss Byzantine music theory.
 

μάρκελλος

Μάρκελλος Πιράρ, Γενικός συντονιστής
Dear Father Ephraim,

Since I am feeling that you are working at least 48 hours per day, I am a little bit ashaimed to propose some more titles. It is a fact that a bibliography cannot never been exhaustive, especially if the field is a large one, like ours.

GREEK

- Γεωργίου Δ. Καμαράδου-Βυζαντίου, Βιογραφία Νήλεως Καμαράδου, μουσικοδιδασκάλου. Αθήνα 1976 72 σ.

- Οι Ψάλτες του Οικουμενικού Πατριαρχείου. Σειρά πρώτη (Ιάκωβος Ναυπλιώτης, Ευστάθιος Βιγγόπουλος, Κωνσταντίνος Πρίγγος, Θρασύβουλος Στανίτσας, Βασίλειος Νικολαϊδης, Νικόλαος Δανιηλίδης). Αθήνα 1996

- Θωμᾶ Ἀποστολόπουλου, Ἡ ἐκκλησιαστικὴ μουσικὴ στὸ ἐκκλησιαστικὸ Δίκαιο. Θεσσαλονίκη 1999, 93 σ.

- Γεωργίου Ι. Παπαδοπούλου, Λεξικόν της Βυζαντινής Μουσικής. Αθήνα 1995. 267 σ.

I am sure you know the two following books but, except the fact that introduction and commentaries are written in German, I though they could be mentioned for the Greek text
- Γαβριὴλ Ἱερονομάχου, Περὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ ψαλτικῇ σημαδίων καὶ φωνῶν καὶ τῆς τούτων ἐτυμολογίας.
εν Gabriel Hieromonachos. Abdhandlung über den Kirchengesang (Εκδ. Christian Hannick, Gerda Wolfram). Βιέννη 1985 (Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae, Corpus Scriptorum de Re Musicae, I). 157 σ.

- Τοῦ ὁσίου καὶ θεοφόρου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωάννου τοῦ Δαμασκηνοῦ ἐρωταποκρίσεις τῆς παπαδικῆς τέχνης, περὶ σημαδίων καὶ φωνῶν καὶ τόνων καὶ πνευμάτων καὶ παραλλαγῶν καὶ ὅσα ἐν τῇ παπαδικῇ τέχνῃ διαλαμβάνουσαι.
ἐν Die Erotapokriseis des Pseudo-Johannes Damaskenos zum Kirchengesang (Εκδ. Christian Hannick, Gerda Wolfram). Βιέννη 1997 (Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae, Corpus Scriptorum de Re Musicae, V). 199 σ.


Το βιβλίο του Εμμ. Γ. Βαμβουδάκη, Συμβολή … 1938, φαίνεται να έχει επανεκδοθεί στην Αθήνα το 1990 (αγνοώ όμως τον εκδότη).

ENGLISH


- Neil K. Moran, The Ordinary Chants of the Byzantine Mass Vol. I-II. Hamburg 1975. 199 + 215 p.

- Tradition and Innovation in Late- and Postbyzantine Liturgical Chant. (Ed. Gerda Wolfram). Leuven-Paris-Dudley 2008 (Eastern Christian Studies 8). 381 p.

Respectfully yours
m
 
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frephraim

Παλαιό Μέλος
Dear Markellos,
Don't feel bad at all. I will gladly add more information to my catalogue whenever people give it to me. It just takes a minute to make changes to it. I'm sure there must be dozens more books missing, and there is still plenty of missing information for the books I already have included in my catalogue.
I have included those titles now, and have uploaded the updated version.
+Fr. Ephraim
 

frephraim

Παλαιό Μέλος
I just remembered that I had forgotten to include in my catalogue the most important theory book on Byzantine music in English: The "Mega Theoretikon" by Chrysanthos of Madyton. An English translation of it is available online for free at: http://www.newbyz.org/Mega.pdf
The file is 45 Mb, so it will take some time to download.
 
C

chretienorthodox

Guest
I just remembered that I had forgotten to include in my catalogue the most important theory book on Byzantine music in English: The "Mega Theoretikon" by Chrysanthos of Madyton. An English translation of it is available online for free at: http://www.newbyz.org/Mega.pdf
The file is 45 Mb, so it will take some time to download.

Mr. Administrator,

About "Mega Theoretikon" by Chrysanthos of Madyton, Patriarchal Commission on Music in its handbook "elementaty indroductory in our Ecclesiastical Music" page 9, comments (in beta code): "h( e)rgasi/a au(/th, a)/llws te e)n polloi=s e)sfalme/nh, e)sti\n a)telh\s" and in page 10: "e)n th=| fantasiw:dei kai\ a)ori/stw| tau/th| e)rgasi/a|".
Above comments are referred to Chrysanthos's intervals, otherwise Commission praises his book as basis for everyy after it works on the theory of Byzantine Music. Anyway Commission states that Chrysanthos book "contains the whole theory of our ecclesiastical music [today called Byzanine Music]". It means that this book is not a practical quide or "user manual" for sacred singers but a theoretical work, basis for further theoretical works. Also it's clear that Patriarchal Commission suggests for practical quide for sacred singers, its "elementary teaching of our ecclesiastical music". There is a lot of room for compromise on the matter.

With regards
George Theodosiou
 
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Dimitri

Δημήτρης Κουμπαρούλης, Administrator
Staff member
Thanks very much Basil! Very useful post. There is also a theory book in English by Dimitri Sourlantzis' student Vasili Psilacos (of Australia) which was in the review and proofreading stage a couple of years ago but I don't know if it has been published yet. Watch this space.
 

tstylianou

Νέο μέλος

GeorgeStevens

Νέο μέλος
Thanks for setting up this thread.

The Byzantine Training manual of the late Dr. Frank Desby is now avialable in English. The book entitled The Notation, Transcription and Rendition of Post Byzantine Chant is available in a Hard bound copy with accompanying CD ($115) a Binder-ready version with CD ($90) and a CD only version ($42). All prices include shipping to US address. I will be happy to send a copy of the Table of Contents to anyone interested along with ordering instructions. The CD contains, in addition to the complete copy of the book, audio clips of all the exercises in the book which are presented in both Byzantine and Western notation with Greek text and its tranliteration. The renditions on the CD are synthesixed so are intended only to present pitches as opposed to any nuances.
 
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GeorgeStevens

Νέο μέλος
The attached file describes the Training Manual and an order form. Thanks for your interest
 

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GabrielCremeens

Music Director at St. George, Albuquerque, NM
I just remembered that I had forgotten to include in my catalogue the most important theory book on Byzantine music in English: The "Mega Theoretikon" by Chrysanthos of Madyton. An English translation of it is available online for free at: http://www.newbyz.org/Mega.pdf
The file is 45 Mb, so it will take some time to download.

Is there an updated source for a pdf version of this particular work? The above link no longer works.

-Gabriel
 

Reader Nick

Νέο μέλος
The last link on this page includes the original translation: http://www.byzantinechant.org/resources.html

The new translation is cleaned up and much better typeset, although it's hard to find (and the hard copies no longer exist except in Libraries).

I have a PDF, but I'll have to get permission before I post it. It's included on an enhanced CD by the Axion Estin Foundation.

-Nick
 
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