In Everlasting Remembrance - Grave Mode

[GabrielCremeens]

Good evening everyone,

Attached is a setting of Tuesday's Communion Hymn, in diatonic grave mode.

I hesitate to call it a "composition" or even an "adaptation," since 90% of the melodic material is lifted straight from the original by Petros - I realized that the English words fit almost exactly into the original composition, with the exception of the words "In everlasting". So I changed the beginning. But after that, the music is a direct quote from Petros.

Of course, the ramifications of this are the fact that practically any setting of Εις μνημόσυνον could be adapted to English with almost no effort whatsoever, since the texts are practically the same. (I assume this is the case - I haven't actually made a study of various settings of this koinonikon to be sure - but it certainly seems this way.)

If anyone spots any mistakes, or can make some suggestions, I would appreciate the feedback.

In Christ,
Gabriel

EDIT: After realizing the similarities between the Greek and the English texts of this Communion hymn, I decided to do an experiment with another setting of the same text by Petros the Peloponnesian. I used Petros' setting of the Tuesday Communion Hymn in plagal fourth mode, which I attach to this post for reference. I then attempted an English adaptation based on it. With a little research in Papa Ephraim's Formula book, as well as a quick glance at the Μουσική Πανδέκτη Μαθηματάριον, I made a few small changes to the musical text of Petros' Communion hymn, and composed the attached English adaptation in Plagal Fourth. The necessary changes were so few and so slight that I was able to use almost the exact same musical text, and I could make the necessary changes simply by cutting and pasting some characters in Paint. (Not the most professional method, obviously, but given the fact that I was short on time, it worked very well. Maybe someday I will find the time to type it up nicely.)

Please note, though, that I am missing a syllable on the last line of page 1. The final ison of that line should have the syllable "re" underneath it, to continue into the word "remembrance" on the next page.

 

[GabrielCremeens]

I attach here a recording of Fr. Ephraim of St. Nektarios Monastery in New York chanting the original Greek version (not my English adaptation) of the Koinonikon in plagal fourth. It is a very elegant setting, and the length is comparable to the "standard" setting in varys. I find myself using it often.

In Christ,
Gabriel

 

[GabrielCremeens]

Finally, here is a typeset version of the score in Plagal Fourth.

-Gabriel

 

[GabrielCremeens]

Returning to this same topic after several months, I finally decided to finalize the koinonikon that I wrote in Grave Mode. Attached is the PDF.

I know this is quite the topic of theoretical debate, but I decided to put the ison on Ke on the bottom of page 2, when the melody revolves more around Ke. Then, slightly afterward, there is more melodic movement around Di (indicated by the sharp Ga on the first line of page 3), and then the melody descends back to Pa (first mode).

I based my thoughts about this particular section off of this recording of Demetrios Nerantzis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IydX5g1TJv0

However, there are many different interpretations of this particular section. Georgios Hatzichronolgou, my teacher from Athens, took a similar approach to this section, except that he delays the switch to first/plagal first mode until several notes later. I have attached the relevant recording.

Thoughts?

-Gabriel