This paper was written to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the publication of musical treatise by Archbishop Chrysanthos of Madytos (c.1770-1846), the first work towards a ‘scientific’ treatment of Greek ecclesiastical music (1821)[1]. Chrysanthos attempted to reorganize the modal and rhythmic theory of this music, and reform the musical notation that has remained to this day. The paper deals with an aspect of Chrysanthine modal system that has not received due attention so far: the abandonment of the traditional authentic-plagal order and its substitution by a new one that does not make sense if placed outside its cultural context and historical antecedents. Chrysanthos’ main point of reference seems to be the Ottoman makam system that had already penetrated post-Byzantine chant but was now given a new momentum[2]. Before that, Greek composers used the Byzantine modal division into four authentic (kurioi) and four plagal (plagioi), positioned a fifth apart from each other. The authentic modes were mostly ascending in terms of melodic movement, whereas the plagal were descending (though one has first to ascend in order to get down!). Otherwise, every authentic-plagal pair shared the same melodic scale (usually an octave), which they traversed according to certain melodic motifs (some common to all, others unique to every mode).
No comments:
Post a Comment