In the Byzantine Empire, religious rituals and the associated psalm songs played an important role. Byzantine music has even been part of the intangible world cultural heritage since 2019. But which melodies shaped this music? And how have they changed over time? Because there are hardly any records on this, a scientist is now working on reconstructing the old chants through comparative analyzes.
“If you open your hand, they will be full of good.” These sung words were at the beginning of the daily evening service in Byzantium. Psalms like this also play a role in the Western Church. But in the Orthodox tradition they have a far greater importance. When set to music, they are a structural element of the liturgical rites to this day – especially the prayers of the hours such as the morning and evening offices.
Lost in the darkness of history
However, little is known about the melodic formulas and musical principles behind the Byzantine chants. The reason: “There are very few written records of the early psalm chants that were used before the 14th century, including the Anabathmoi, the so-called Gradual Psalms, which can be found in manuscripts from the 11th century” , explains the musicologist and Byzantium researcher from Nina-Maria Wanek from the University of Vienna. “From the 14th century, however, there are detailed records of the psalm chants – probably because the melodies began to be greatly expanded and decorated with numerous decorations so that everything could no longer be remembered.”
Wanek would like to find out more about the early, comparatively unknown melodies. “These psalm chants were probably kept very simple, which is why we also speak of the ‘simple psalmody’ here,” explains the researcher. One of the most important methodological approaches that she uses in her research is comparative literature. “My work includes in-depth comparisons between the melodic formulas from the early and later sources. The aim is to find out how much of the old melodies is still in the newer variants. “
Searching for traces in follow-up chants
It already seems clear that it was important in Byzantine society to preserve traditions – also in music. “The melodies have been passed on from generation to generation. Innovations were not in demand, ”explains Wanek. “Little fundamentally new was composed, instruments and polyphony were and are still forbidden in the Greek Church then.” It is also typical that the melisms called ornaments – today they would be called coloratura – of the later, traditional melodies of the pieces made them longer and more playful. Nevertheless, the pieces mostly still retained the core of the old, orally transmitted melodies.
Based on this knowledge, Wanek is now working to reconstruct these early melodies. “It’s like having a sprawling opera based on the song ‘Alle meine Entchen’ – which you don’t know, though. The challenge now is to identify and distill this simple melody in the midst of all the exuberant ornamentation, ”so the scientist’s vivid comparison. To make matters worse, unlike in other disciplines, there are no databases that bring together the original sources scattered all over the world. Important manuscript collections are only accessible on site. “There are also stocks on Mount Athos, which is known to be inaccessible to women,” says Wanek. “This difficult source situation is partly responsible for the fact that so few studies exist on the psalm chants, but also on Byzantine music in general.”
Through her work, she would like to contribute to bringing Byzantine music, declared an intangible world cultural heritage by Unesco in 2019, more into the focus of science. Ultimately, a historical overview should be created that covers the period from the 10th to the 15th century.
Source: FWF the Science Fund