BYZANTINE CHANT

Byzantine Chant: translation

Chantof the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Uniate Church of the Byzantine Rite, and other ecclesial descendants of the eastern Roman empire. An estimated 15,000 manuscripts of the chant survive, although only about 10 percent are written in a musical notation that is decipherable. The earliest such books date from the 10th century. The notation indicates the direction and sizes of intervals, not absolute pitches in pitch space, as well as rhythmic, dynamic, and articulation nuances of great subtlety. The most commonly used liturgical chants are written in comparatively late sources since their vital oral tradition required no record.

Psalmchanting has much in common withGregorian chant, with intonations, reciting tones, and cadences organized according to the eightmodes(oktoēchos), although cadences are always four-note patterns regardless of textural accent, which some believe to be closer to the Jewish practice.The "divinesongs" ofprokeimenonandAlleluiasung at thedivine liturgy(mass) are florid for solo performance, like their Gregorian counterparts.

Byzantine chant distinguishes itself from Western chants in the vast number ofhymnspermitted in both the divine liturgy and thedivine office. Published sources alone account for 60,000; many more lie in manuscripts, the earliest of which is thePropologionfrom before the 10th century. The principal hymn forms arekontakion,kanon, andsticheron. Collections are calledheirmologion. A highly embellished and florid chanting style, thekalophonic, arises in the 12th century, and in the 13th its sources are numerous, especially forordinarychants. Hymn books of the 13th century became specialized;Psaltikoncontained elaborate melodies for soloists whileAsmatikoncontained simpler ones for chorus. The earliest evidence for the characteristicisonor sung drone that accompanies Byzantine chant in many Orthodox churches dates from perhaps 1400.

See alsoAsmatikon; Cheroubikon; Chrysanthos of Madytus; Cyril, St.; Ekphonesis; Katisma; Nine Canticles; Psalm Tone; Psaltikon; Trisagion.