Summary
The present paper aims to reveal the music features of a unique Heirmologion Kalophonikon, the Greek manuscript Xeropotamou 415. This collection was printed around 1830-35 by Petros Manuel Ephesios (†1840) using the alphabetic musical notation, probably inspired by Agapios Paliermos’ similar system. Being regarded as an alternative to the New Method, this notation provides a quite precise way of writing down a melody. Deciphering this musical language, as daring as it can be, proves to be very useful in learning the method that Ephesios used for transcribing the melodies of the kalophonic heirmoi. There are significant dissimilarities between his transcriptions and the ones of the Constantinopolitan exegetists, Gregorios the Protopsaltes (†1822) and Chourmouzios the Chartophylax (†1840). The codex is also highly valuable because it contains several epiphonemata composed by Petros Ephesios, hymns meant to be chanted after the kratemata attached to the kalophonic heirmoi. These musical settings have never been transcribed so far into another music system, being trapped in an obsolete semiography.
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