Ds Manusc in Engl

7/28/2019 Ds Manusc in Engl

1/5

Several representative musical manuscripts in Byzantine and psaltic

notation in the Rare books section at Central University Library in IasiIRINA ZAMFIRA DNIL

Department of Musicology and CompositionUniversity of Arts George Enescu IasiStr. Horia nr. 7-9, Iasi 700126

[email protected]

Abstract: Within the Rare books section of the Central University Library Mihai Eminescu (BCUME) of Iai,there are around 70 musical manuscripts in psaltic and in Byzantine neumatic notation written between the 10thto 20th centuries. They are an important musical documentary resource as they illustrate almost all the stages ofByzantine notation: ecphonetic, medio-Byzantine, neo-Byzantine and Chrysantic. The present paper aims at

briefly presenting the basic features of the above mentioned notations, as they can be seen in four valuablemanuscripts at the BCUME: Ms. 160, call number IV 39 Lecionarul evanghelic of Iai / The Iai GospelLectionary- 9th 11th century, Ms. IV 34 Stikhirarion 13th century, Ms. I 26 Anthologion of Iai, 1545,and Ms. III 87, Stikhirarion or Doxastarion by Petru Lampadarie translated by Ghelasie Basarabeanu in 1840.

Key words: byzantine musical notation, manuscript, lectionary, anthologhion, stikhirarion, doxastarion

1 IntroductionByzantium fell under Ottoman occupation

more than five hundred years ago, but the cultural,religious and artistic echoes of the great empire stillreach us through the centuries, vibrating under the

wonderful cathedral domes, in miracle-workingicons or in the chants specific to the Orthodox rite,incessantly going on in churches.

Musical notation is one of the main reasonsthat allowed Byzantine chanting to continue eversince the Middle Ages to our days. Ingeniouslydevised at the end of the Ancient Age by using theaccents in Ancient Greek at that time a languageof wide circulation and of the directing signs of

protopsalts, this neumatic notation has gonethrough several evolutionary stages, starting withthe Ecphonetic stage (centuries 7th to 13th). The

next stage paleo-Byzantine (centuries 9th to 12th) presents itself as a superior stage to theEcphonetic one, which can be described as morerudimentary, as it did not define the meaning of thenotation signs. The medio-Byzantine notationevolved into the last stage of Byzantinesemiography, known as neo-Byzantine, startingwith the Fall of Constantinople (1453), while at the

beginning of the 19th century (1814) it wasreplaced by the current psaltic notation, asinstituted by the three reformers: Hrisant of Madyt,Protopsalt Grigorie and Hurmuz Hartofilax.

In the Romanian principalities, continuouschanting of Byzantine music within the Liturgy

caused the above mentioned notations to be used,as can be seen from research done on the greatfunds of Byzantine musical and psaltic manuscriptsin our country: the Library of the Academy, theCentral University LibraryMihai Eminescu of Iai

(BCUME), the National Library of Romania.In this year (2010), when 150 years fromthe foundation of the Al. I. Cuza University arecelebrated, and from the creation of what was

previously the Music and Declamation School, weconsider that a brief presentation of the mostimportant Byzantine and psaltic manuscripts inBCUME is welcome, and they are proof that thespirit of Byzantium still lives on the territory ofRomania, where it has been treasured and is stillheld in great respect through the importantmanuscripts that are representative for all stages of

Byzantine notation.The Central University Library MihaiEminescu of Iai (BCUME), a prestigious culturalinstitution created in 1853 as the Library of theRoyal Academy, the oldest higher educationinstitution in Iai, was founded and endowed with

books by Prince Vasile Lupu in 1640. When thefirst university was founded in Romania (1860), the

previous institution named the Michaelian Librarybecame the University Library, a name that hasbeen in use ever since, albeit various interruptions.Among the documents in the Rare manuscripts

section within the Library, about 70 are musicalmanuscripts

RECENT ADVANCES in ACOUSTICS & MUSIC

ISSN: 1790-5095 87 ISBN: 978-960-474-192-2


2/5


3/5

found in the Rare Books section within theBCUME, where a very important manuscript (callnumber Ms. IV-39) is kept; it is known tospecialists as the Stikhirarion due to its musicalcontent; it is also mentioned in the catalogue issued

by the researcher Nicu Moldoveanu. There is onlyone other manuscript of this kind in Romania, alsonamed Stikhirarion, in medio-Byzantine notation,Ms. gr. 953, at the Library of the Academy inBucharest [8]. Medio-Byzantine notation evolvedfrom the paleo-Byzantine, the main progressconsisting of: the precise explanation of thesignificance of all diastematic signs (somata and

pneumata), the introduction of martyria which hada role in checking up on the accuracy of melodicintonation, the validation of the Echoi, theintroduction of the cheironomic signs and their

classification into three large rhythmic, dynamicand expressive groups. Grigore Paniru was amongthe first Romanian researchers to emphasize theimportance of the Ms. IV-39 and to study thenotation it contains. A part of the chants in thismanuscript has been transcribed and published bythe Romanian paleographist in his capital workNotaia i ehurile muzicii bizantine / The notationand the Echoi of Byzantine music, which offersanyone interested the opportunity to read andtranscribe such texts. [9] We present here theincipit of the first stichera of 26th of October

Veselete-te ntru Domnul cetatea Tesalonic /Rejoice unto the Lord, City of Thessaloniki (fig. 2),as transcribed by G. Paniru [10], in order toillustrate the melodic simplicity of the Byzantinechanting of 13th century and the modalconfiguration of the scale of the first authenticechos:

Fig. 2

Stichera Rejoice unto the Lord, City of Thessaloniki- incipit

The scale of the first bzyantine authentic echos

There are several manuscripts in neo-Byzantine (Koukouzelian) notation of varyingdates at the BCUME. The oldest manuscriptcontaining this notation, The Anthologion ofHieromonkAntonie (Ms. call number I 26), was

written in 1545 at the Putna Monastery nearSuceava, where a school ran in which Byzantine

arts were taught and performed: calligraphy,painting, miniature, and music. This importantcentre for learning and creation was founded at theinitiative of the Moldavian Prince Stephen theGreat (1457 1504); the school was foundedtowards the final part of his reign, and reached its

peak in the first three decades of the followingcentury, then gradually falling into obliviontowards the end of the 16th century. We shouldshow here that the Romanian researchers GheorgheCiobanu, Marin Ionescu i Titus Moisescudiscovered ten more manuscripts from the musicalschool at Putna beside Ms. I 26 of Iai, which werespread in many important libraries in Romania andabroad. Another interesting discovery a twelfthmanuscript from Putna was made by GabrielaOcneanu, Traian Ocneanu and Archimandrite

Clement Haralam [11].The Koukouzelian notation used in Ms. I26 is consistent with the general features ofByzantine notation: (1) the use of the interval signssomata andpnevmata; (2) of the approximately 40cheironomic signs used during this stage of theByzantine notation, only 32 appear in Ms. I 26, alsoused in the incompletePropedia to be found at the

beginning of the manuscript; (3) martyria arecomparatively seldom marked; (4) apechemataonly appear in a few pieces. The chants in theAntologhion of Iai belong to the Byzantine

composers of the period, Ioan Cucuzel, IoanCladas, Kukumas, Gherasim, as well as to the mainrepresentatives of the musical school of Putna:Evstatie Protopsaltul and Dometian Vlahu, whosecompositions can be found in most of themanuscripts from the Putna school [12]. Some ofthe chants belonging to these two importantRomanian composers, such as The Hymn to SaintJohn the New of Suceava (by Evstatie) or TheChalice of Salvation (by Dometian Vlahu) haverepresented a source of inspiration forcontemporary Romanian composers (Viorel

Munteanu The Voices of Putna, or Miriam MarbThe Time Found Again). Here are the incipits ofthese Byzantine hymns:

Fig. 3

The Hymn to Saint John the New of Suceava incipit [13]


ISSN: 1790-5095 89 ISBN: 978-960-474-192-2


4/5

The Chalice of Salvation incipit, Ms. I 26, f.127 [14]

Other important manuscripts inKoukouzelian notation copied during the 17thcentury are Ms. III 86, Ms. III 96 [15], Ms. I 22

[16]. A large number of Greek musical manuscriptsfrom the 18th century can be found, but only few inthe Romanian language. Here are some of theGreek manuscripts: Ms. gr. III 85, ms. 88, Ms. III87, Ms. gr. 89, Ms. I 24, Ms. III 93, Ms. III 95 [17].A smaller number of manuscripts in Koukouzeliannotation dating from the beginning of the 19thcentury are in store at the BCUME: Ms. III 94, Ms.III 95, Ms. IV-40, Ms. IV 71, Ms. IV 93 [18].Towards the end of the period when neo-Byzantinenotation was used (18th century and the beginningof the 19th century), dissenting opinions appeared:

some musicians considered that the cheironomicesigns should be improved and enriched, whileothers considered that they should be simplified, asin their exisiting form they made reading difficult,sometimes making chanting almost impossible. Thelatter tendency gained ground so, finally theChrysantic reform emerged and was approved bythe Patriarchy in Constantinople in 1814. For thisreason, Romanian paleography considers that thereis a period of transition from the Koukouzeliannotation to the Chrysantic notation.

Modern notation, also known as Chrysantic

after the name of the main representative of thereform that took place in 1814, Hrysant of Madyt,retained the most important interval signs from theneo-Byzantine notation, somata and pnevmata(under the name of simple vocalic signs) and thecombined signs, and reduced the rhythmic signs tofour and the cheironomic signs to five; the latterwere re-named consonant signs. The Chrysanticreform also resulted in a simplified and unifiedstructure of cadences and of the formulas ofintoning the voices. The entire repertoire of the

previous period was transcribed according to thenew system by its promotors, Hrisant of Madyt,Grigorie the Protopsalt and Hurmuz Hartofilax.

In the Romanian Principalities, the newnotation came in use as soon as it was approved bythe Patriarchy of Constantinople; in 1817 a schoolof psaltic music was opened at the the church St

Nicholas elari in Bucharest, where the Greeksinger Petru Efesiu taught. His best pupils wereHieromonk Macarie and Anton Pann, whoeventually became founders of the modernRomanian psaltic music. The former published in

1823 in Vienna a group of three books,Theoritikon, Anastasimatar and Catavasier, whichare essential and indispensable to learn the new

notation and to apply church chanting according tothe new semiography. The latter, Anton Pann, wasalso a man of letters, folklore researcher, composer,

psalm singer, pedagogue and editor, a complexpersonality who contributed greatly to thepromotion of the new repertoire by publishing inhis own printing shop the main books necessary forthe church chanting.

Most of the manuscripts at BCUME arewritten in the new notation. Here are some of them:Ms. II 31, Canoanele Musichiei / The MusicalCanons of Ghelasie Basarabeanul, Anastasimatar

and Catavasier(1866), Ms. III 78, Stikhirarion orDoxastarion, by Petru Lampadarie, translated byGhelasie Basarabeanul and others (1840), Ms. II-157, Idioms and Praises of the Holy Week, byProtopsalt Constantin, Ms. III 84, Chants for the

Ceasurile mprteti, Ms. III 15, Romanian GreekAntologhion (1828), Ms. III 36 Antologhionin Greek (1830-1842) [19] etc.

We shall lay emphasis on Ms. III 78mentioned above, since its puts forward aRomanian personality who is less known, GhelasieBasarabeanu, protopsalt, who was active as psalmreader, transcriber and calligrapher, composer atCurtea de Arge. As a teacher of music at theSeminar, he transcribed all the books of the churchrepertoaire in the new system and created newmusical versions that were at the same inspired and

accessible. Unfortunately, since he was a monk, hefailed to obtain the support to print his work duringhis lifetime. Ghelasies work remained inmanuscript form and only few made their way tothe public arena, published in several anthologies;the manuscripts he and his pupils copied andtranscribed were discovered only recently. As aresult of these discoveries, his personality has beenrightfully restored to public recognition theByzantinologist Sebastian Barbu Bucur and PriestIon Isroiu published four volumes in bothsemiographies linear and psaltic comprising his

creation in its most representative elements. Hiseditors legitimately consider Ghelasie to be aclassic of Romanian music of Byzantine traditionin the former half of the 19th century, along withHieromonk Macarie and Anton Pann [20].

Below we present the incipit of a Sticheraby Ghelasie Basarabeanu (in 4th plagal voice) [21]:

Fig. 4

4 Conclusions


ISSN: 1790-5095 90 ISBN: 978-960-474-192-2


5/5

Among the approximately 70 musicalmanuscripts of the Rare Books section within theBCUME, there are invaluable unique manuscriptsof national and international importance.

The notations used in these manuscriptsprove the continuity of Byzantine music on theterritory of Romania and the constant concern forthe preservation of Byzantine and psaltic monodyin the Orthodox church, especially the Romanianchurch.

Beside the manuscripts written in Greek inMoldavia during the 19th and the 20th centuries,other manuscripts were produced in the Romanianlanguage in which the modern Chrysantic notationwas used. This notation corresponds to a period inwhich the emerging national music schools became

prominent. The main unifying characteristic of the

19th century musical schools of psaltic music isthat they actually have the same source, from theperiod of the states organization to the end of theMiddle Ages. A common set of features can be saidto describe the modern music of all Orthodoxchurches.

Our hope is that the data in the presentpaper have shed light on a part of the musicaltreasure stored at BCUME and have restored to thecurrent arena issues related to Byzantine music andits specific notation from the 11th century to the19th century.

References:[1] Carsten Hoeg, La notation ecphontique,Copenhaga, 1935, p. 15 and 137[2] Carsten Hoeg, La notation ecphontique,Copenhaga, 1935, pp. 21-31.[3] Egon Wellesz, A History of Byzantine Musicand Himnography, Second Edition, revised andenlarged, Oxford, At the Clarendon Press, 1961,

pp. 252-254.[4] Grigore Paniru, Lecionarul evanghelic de la

Iai, Bucureti, Ed. Muzical, 1982, p. 144.[5] Sandra Martani, Lvangliare de Iai et lesystme ekphontique dans les manuscripts enmajuscule, Acta Musicae Byzantinae, vol. IV, Iai,Centrul de Studii Bizantine, Editura Novum, 2001,

pp. 20-25; Le manuscrit de Iai IV-34 etlinterpretation de la notation ekphontique, ActaMusicae Byzantinae, vol. VII, Iai, Centrul deStudii Bizantine, Ed. Novum, 2004, pp. 7-12.[6] Zamfira Bucescu-Dnil, Manuscrisele 7030 i4915-L de la Muzeul Literaturii Romne din Iai,Acta Musicae Byzantinae, vol. VII, Iai, Centrul deStudii Bizantine, Editura Novum, 2004, pp. 170-179.

[7] Florin Bucescu, Un pasionat cercettor almuzicii medievale din Romnia: Grigore Paniru,Byzantion, vol I, Iai, Academia de Arte GeorgeEnescu, 1995, p. 93.[8] Titus Moisescu, Sisteme de notaie n muzicareligioas de tradiie bizantin, Acta MusicaeBzyantinae, vol., nr. 1, Iai, Centrul de StudiiBizantine, Ed. Novum, p. 27.[9] Grigore Paniru, Notaia i ehurile muziciibizantine, Bucureti, Editura Muzical, 1971, p. 6.[10] Grigore Paniru, Notaia i ehurile muziciibizantine, Bucureti, Editura Muzical, p. 44.[11] Gabriela Ocneanu, Al XII-lea manuscris dincoala de la Putna Manuscrisul de la Lvov, ActaMusicae Byzantinae, vol. VIII, Iai, Centrul deStudii Bizantine, Ed. Novum, 2005, pp. 80-93;Apartenena manuscrisului 1060 de la Lvov la

coala de la Putna, Artes, vol. V, Iai, Ed. Artes,2005, pp. 27-43.[12] Ciobanu, Gheorghe, Ionescu, Marin,Moisescu, Titus, coala muzical de la Putna.Manuscrisul nr. I-26/Iai Antologhion dinBiblioteca Central Universitar MihaiEminescu Iai, Bucureti, Ed. Muzical, 1981,pp. 54-55.[13] Grigore Paniru, Notaia i ehurile muziciibizantine, Bucureti, Editura Muzical, 1971, p. 85.[14] Titus Moisescu, Muzica bizantin n spaiulcultural romnesc, Bucureti, Ed. Muzical a

Uniiunii Compozitorilor i muzicologilor dinRomnia, 1996, p. 333.[15] Nicu Moldoveanu, Izvoare ale cntrii psalticen Biserica Ortodox Romn, Biserica OrtodoxRomn, Buletin oficial al Patriarhiei Romne,Bucureti, 1974, nr. 1-2, p. 221.[16] Florin Bucescu, Documente importante demuzic bizantin i psaltic n bibliotecile din Iai,Acta Musicae Byzantinae, vol. I, nr. 1, Ed. Novum,1999, p. 68.[17] Nicu Moldoveanu, Izvoare ale cntrii psalticen Biserica Ortodox Romn, Biserica Ortodox

Romn, Buletin oficial al Patriarhiei Romne,Bucureti, 1974, nr. 1-2, p. 221.[18] Florin Bucescu, Documente importante demuzic bizantin i psaltic n bibliotecile din Iai,Acta Musicae Byzantinae, vol. I, nr. 1, Iai, Centrulde Studii Bizantine, Ed. Novum, p. 69.[19] Florin Bucescu, Cntarea psaltic nmanuscrisele moldoveneti din sec. XIX. Ghidulmanuscriselor din Moldova sec. XIX, vol. I, Iai,Ed. Artes, 2009, pp. 65-67.[20] Ghelasie Basarabeanu, Doxastar. Triod.Penticostar, Bucureti, Ed. SemnE, 2007, p. III.[21] Ghelasie Basarabeanu, Doxastar. Triod.Penticostar, Bucureti, Ed. SemnE, 2007, p. 91.


ISSN: 1790-5095 91 ISBN: 978-960-474-192-2

Documents

Ds Manusc in Engl