Marina Neculai

( XI th grade student )Cristina Pasat - Music teacher

Daniela Livadaru – Religion teacher

THE BYZANTINE INFLUENCE IN THE ROMANIAN MUSIC

Byzantine music and Romanian Countries

I. Byzantine music :- origin and development- constitutive elements- genres- musical notationII. The influence of Byzantine music in the Romanian countries :- Religious music- Classical music of religious inspiration- Folk music. The carol- Classical musicIII. Byzantine music today (Jesus Christ – The Teacher)

BYZANTINE MUSICOrigin and development

Byzantine music has flourished during the expansion of the Byzantine Empire and it has developed throughout its territory. Byzantine music has spread beyond the empire’s borders, both in time (it continued to exist even after its collapse in the fifteenth century - 1453), and in space, being adopted by all nations that had embraced the Orthodox worship.

Hagia Sophia (inside view)

BYZANTINE MUSICOrigin and development

Periods:- Primary (1st-4th century) – singing psalms and biblical hymns, the creation of hymns- Patristic (4th-8th century) – singing with various modes, the development of hymnography, the appearance of singer schools (melodes – Theodore the Studite, Joseph the Hymnographer)- Post-patristic (9th-13th century) – the leveling of religious songs (melode – John Mauropous)- Decadence (13th-18th centuries) – the song becomes very elaborated, with sound embellishment, breaking away from the pure Byzantine spirit (melurge, maistor – John Koukouzelis)- Modern (19th-21st centuries) – the simplifying of musical notation and the return to the springs of Byzantine music

(Theodore the Studite)

(Joseph the Hymnographer)

BYZANTINE MUSICConstitutive elements

The Byzantine music has borrowed: Elements of Hebrew music Elements of other nations converted to

Christianity Elements of Greek and Syrian culture

The three modes of Greek scales (Dorian, Lydian, Phrygian) were developed, so in the late 8th century there was a variety of ways (fifteen). St. John of Damascus (676-749) is the one who systematized the religious singing, grouping all the existing hymns within eight modes (4 main ones and 4 derived). He also simplified the musical notation, his system being the base of the music notation of the Byzantine Church.

(St. John of Damascus)

BYZANTINE MUSICGenres

During the development of Byzantine music, 3 styles have taken shape:

Hirmological – includes simple chants, slavic, lively tempo (troparion, kontakion, canons)

Sticherarical – characterized by the small presence of melismas and slower tempo

Papadical– requires a very rich decoration, in slow tempo

BYZANTINE MUSICGenres

Byzantine hymnography (“sung prayer”) represents a particular kind of poetry, where the emphasis is on musicality and harmony. One of the greatest Hymnographers is Roman the Melode, who created numerous liturgical texts and the appropriate chants for Nativity, Epiphany, Resurrection and Annunciation. Remarkably is the Kontakion written for the Nativity, "Today the Virgin".

The main forms of the hymnography are: The Kontakion The Canon The Troparion

According to the text-music rapport, there were 2 types of Byzantine chants:

By own songs By borrowed songs that already exist – automelos

(Byzantine manuscript)

Besides religious music, in the life of the Byzantine empire an important role was played by the music accompanying the ceremony at the imperial court (on this we have few proof-documents, consisting in some acclamations from the 11th century and the 15th century).

Byzantium, taking the splendour of Rome, has developed ceremonial cheers, especially under Justinian the Great (527-565). When the emperor went to church, at the circus or when he was visited by ambassadors, he was welcomed with songs of praise, called “euphemesis”.

BYZANTINE MUSICGenres

(Emperor Justinian the Great)

The acclamations will also be used in honour of the heads of the Church, being called the same way – “euphemesis”.

From those cheers there are some preserved to this day "Happy Birthday" (Polihroniu), which is sung at the service of "Te Deum" and “To our Master", when meeting a bishop. They can be also found in the Romanian liturgical worship.

BYZANTINE MUSICGenres

(Choir)

During the secular processions, at feasts and circuses, the vocal music was accompanied by instruments: organ, wind instruments: trumpet, horn, flute and cymbal. The organ used in Byzantium will be used in the religious ceremonies in Western Europe.

BYZANTINE MUSICGenres

(Trumpet) (Cymbal)

(Organ)

BYZANTINE MUSICNotation

After a wide oral circulation, Byzantine music began to be noted down. Euphorical notation is replaced by the Neumatical one. Neums are signs that represent the relationship between the heights of two sounds, the interval between them. The pace was very briefly noted down.

Byzantine music has retained along its entire development a Monod type of organization.

The only exception to the one-voice performance is the Second or pedal-keyboard that a part of the choir accompanies, during one of the main steps of the melody (e.g. Anton Pann - The wedding at Cana).

(Manuscript with Byzantine notation)

The influence of Byzantine Music in Romanian Countries

The Romanian countries have perceived and kept the Byzantine influence differently. Closer to Byzantine sources is music from Moldavia and Wallachia, while in Transylvania a more Western influence can be noticed.

We can talk about four areas of influence:

1. Religious music2. Secular music worship of religious

inspiration3. Folk music4. Classical music

(Group of folk music singers)

RELIGIOUS MUSIC

The beginnings of the Byzantine music on the Romanian territory are closely related to the Christianization of the Romanian people.There is enough evidence about the embracing and the practice of Byzantine music in the inhabited Romanian territories since ancient times:

4th century - Saint Sava the Goth sang psalms

6th century – Saint Niceta of Remesiana composed the anthem “Te Deum Laudamus” (“God, we pray thee”)

at the end of the 15th century, during Stephen the Great's reign, the psaltes were singing after the greek Psaltic music books

1495 - in Brasov, the first Romanian school was established, where Byzantine music was taught.

(St. Sava the Goth – Romanian martyr,

4th Century)

RELIGIOUS MUSIC

Due to the geographical position, at the border of the Byzantine Empire and the Russian Empire, but also at the borders of the Roman Catholic people, the Romanian Countries will use the Slavonic language in worship, then the Greek language including in church hymns.

During this period, the traditional church chanting appears, in which the Slavic influence and the Romanian feeling were embroidered upon the Byzantine background. It was mainly performed in small churches and villages, Greek music being played at the royal court and in cathedrals.

In the 17 th century, in the same time with the introduction of Romanian religious practice language, there was also a translation and adaptation of the songs in the national language. In this process, an important role played Anton Pann (1793/1797 – 1854), composer, translator, and folklorist.

(Voronet Monastery)

RELIGIOUS MUSIC In 1820 the first printed works appeared and the

church song books contained, in addition to the texts, the musical notes (through neume –signs) and the basic data of singing: voice (way), tact (rhythm) and podobia (singing-style). Thus the first Romanian musical manuscripts appeared (Filotei sin Agăi Jipei, Mihalache Moldovlahul, Iosif from Neamt).

So, the first church music school were developed, schools in which Byzantine music was theorized (the school from St. Nicolae Selari church-Bucharest). Two of the prominent representatives of Romanian Byzantine music, Anton Pann and Macarie Ieromonahul (who has translated the entire Anastasimatarion, the fundamental book of church music) were educated in this school.

They were followed by George Ucenescu from Brasov and Dimitrie Suceveanu from Iasi. Their merit is that they adapted Byzantine music to the Romanian sensibility, engraving it with its national characteristic.

(Dimitrie Suceveanu)

RELIGIOUS MUSIC

Due to Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza’s reforms, who wanted the abolition of Greek influences, the removal of Byzantine music from Romanian liturgical worship was attempted, being then replaced with harmonica music.

In Iasi (1864) and in Bucharest(1866) Higher Schools of Music (Conservative) were founded, without Byzantine music departaments .

Starting with 1865, in the Romanian Orthodox Church two types of religious chants were used: monod song using Byzantine notation, but simplified and harmonic singing, choral, using western notation.

In some regions (Banat, Transylvania, Bukovina), church music is influenced by popular orality.

(Romanian folk orchestra)

RELIGIOUS MUSIC

Towards the end of the 20th century, thanks to some great teachers like Ion Popescu Pasărea, Chiril Popescu, Alexie Buzerea and Sebastian Barbu Bucur, in the Romanian religious music there has been a return to Byzantine sources.

After 1990, Byzantine music departments were established in the University of Music and the Faculty of Orthodox Theology.

(Ioan Popescu Pasărea)

CLASICCAL MUSIC OF RELIGIOUS INSPIRATION

Romanian church music has inspired great vocal-instrumental or instrumental works (Byzantine Oratorio for Christmas by Paul Constantinescu), comparable in richness and melodic variety with famous Western works of its kind. This is another branch of Romanian music, namely classical music of religious inspiration.

(Three Holy Hierarchs Church, Iaşi)

ROMANIAN MUSIC WITH FOLK INSPIRATION

Romanian folk-inspired music captures some of the tonalities of Byzantine music, being promoted by the foundation of the “Carmen” Choral (1901). D. G. Kiriac, George Cucu, Mihail Jora and Sabin Drăgoi are the most representative people for this kind of music.

For example we have Anton Pann with „Bordeias, bordei, bordei.”

(Anton Pann)

ROMANIAN MUSIC WITH FOLK INSPIRATION

A special case of adaptation of the Byzantine music to the common man’s life is the carol. Most of them keep the religious inspiration texts, especially related to the Birth of Jesus and the events that happened then, and the music is:

of Byzantine influence (Three Kings of the East, Wake up, Lords)

partially of Byzantine influence (The Star rises way up high, Going caroling etc.)

original (Up to the gates of Heaven, Wake up, dear host etc.)

(Singers)

ROMANIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC

Romanian classical music derived from folk music. It is represented by composers such as: Ciprian Porumbescu and George Enescu and the interpret Haricleea Darclee.

(Ciprian Porumbescu)

(George Enescu) (Haricleea Darclee)

BYZANTINE MUSIC TODAY Today, the “Anton Pann” group is the one that has brought the

attention back to the Medieval Romanian music in which the Byzantine influence combines with the folk one.

More and more choral groups who sang authentic Byzantine music(Byzantion, Anghelos, Psaltirion, Altar - Iasi, Stavropoleos, Psalmodia - Bucharest) were gradually founded.

Since 1993, the Centre of Byzantine Studies from Iaşi organises annually an International Symposium of Byzantine Music.

Also, every year, since 2008, in Iaşi it is organised a “Masterclass of Byzantine Chant”, who addresses beginners and advanced learners of Byzantine music or admirers of it as well.

(Symbol choir)(Byzantion choir)