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The Byzantine Modes in the Twelfth Century
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 October 2013
Extract
Two recent publications mark an important stage in the progress of Byzantine musical studies—the facsimile of the Hirmologium at Grottaferrata (Codex G) and the transcription of two Modes from the Athos manuscript (Codex H) of which the facsimile appeared in 1938. These two manuscripts, though their dates are more than a hundred years apart, embody the standard musical tradition of the Hirmologium, whose origin lies in a far remoter antiquity. Otherwise they differ greatly; for, while H is often obscure and inaccurate, we are delighted by the clarity and beauty of G, a manuscript long familiar to scholars and already used (or rather, alas, misused) by Dr. Hugo Riemann before 1909. It is therefore the good fortune of our time that we may now use G to correct or elucidate the text of H.
When we consider the signatures of the Byzantine Modes, it becomes clear that there are two main points for discussion—firstly, the actual meaning of the signature as an indication of the initial note or initial formula of the hymn; and, secondly, the origin and growth of the signature itself and the significance of its component parts.
As it happens, the former of these points has attracted earlier attention; and a practical explanation was reached before 1931. This resulted in a table of signatures, which has been amplified and thoroughly tested, so that it is now supported by the decipherment of at least two thousand hymns, carried out partly by Prof. Egon Wellesz and his collaborators, and partly by myself. Such an inductive procedure was made necessary by the conventional nature of the signatures, few of which bore a self-evident clue to their meaning. But, now that the table of signatures is firmly established, we can read all the eight Modes with equal assurance and can usually evaluate an abnormal signature by the same method.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1953
References
1 Recent works: Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae III, Hirmologium Cryptense, ed. Laurentius Tardo. A magnificent facsimile of this famous MS., with a scholarly introduction. MMB Subsidia II, Eastern Elements in Western Chant, by Egon Wellesz. MMB Transcr. IIII; and V, The Hymns of the Octoechus, transcribed by H.J.W. Tillyard. MMB Transcr. VI, The Hymns of the Hirmologium Pt. 1, edited by C. Höeg. Other series: Wellesz, E., History of Byzantine Music and Hymnography (Oxford, 1949)Google Scholar, an invaluable introduction, both scientific and popular, with copious examples and illustrations. A good summary of the latest results is given by Palikarova-Verdeil, R. in Byzantinoslavica 10 (1949), 268Google Scholar.
2 Cf. Wellesz, E., Byz. Musik (Breslau, 1927), pl. 10Google Scholar.
3 Cf. my Handbk. of Mid. Byz. Mus. Notn. (MMB Subsidia I, Fasc, 1), 32 and E. Wellesz, Die Hymnen d. Sticherarium ƒ. Sept. (MMB Transcripta I), Introd. xxiv. My Octoechus, Pt. 1, 24, where Codex B has the b- a g- formula, 117, 151.
4 Cf. my Octoechus, Pt. 1, 160.
5 Op. cit.
6 The usual signatures are given in my Handbook, 33, 34. Cf. Wellesz, Hist. of Byz. Mus. etc. 249.
7 Handbk 27.
8 Handbk. 27.
9 Ibid. 34, Rebours, P., Traité de Psaltique, 115–119.Google Scholar
10 Handbk. 31.
11 In Mode III Plagal it has been found simplest to print b-flat as a signature, not to insert it like an accidental, as in other Modes.
12 MMB II, Hirmologium Athoum, ed. C. Höeg, 17.
13 For the usual forms in G and other MSS., cf. Handbk. 35.
14 Cf. Handbk. 21.
15 In other MSS. there are many examples of such alteration, v. MMB Transcr. VI, Introd. xxiii and xxvii. The most striking is the Jerusalem Hirmologium, where whole hymns have been converted from the Early to the Middle Byzantine system. Cf. Byz. Zeit. 1937 355. Wellesz, E. in Mus. Quart. XXXVIII (1952), 1, 68.Google Scholar
16 Several books have already been mentioned which I have written for the Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae. My final volume, The Hymns of the Pentecostarium, is advertised as en préparation; but, in point of fact, it is finished and lies in a safe at Copenhagen, at the end of a waiting-list, while funds are lacking for further issues; so that its appearance in the life-time of the author is less than likely. The present article therefore may be my last venture in the field of Byzantine music; and, at such a juncture, I should like to thank the Managing Committee of the British School at Athens and the successive editors, who in spite of the indifference which, until lately, surrounded this subject, have with constant generosity allowed me the hospitality of their pages.