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Voices of Byzantium: Medieval Byzantine Chant from Mt. Sinai CD

Voices of Byzantium: Medieval Byzantine Chant from Mt. Sinai CD

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Member Price: $15.25

Item# 80-014538 

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Description

Between 548 and 565 the East Roman (Byzantine) Emperor Justinian I constructed the Holy Monastery of St. Catherine at the foot of Mount Sinai, a place already revered by pilgrims as the site of God’s appearance to Moses in the Burning Bush. Monastic life and pilgrimage have continued through the centuries without significant interruption at St. Catherine’s, providing its living community with a rich inheritance of spiritual traditions and material treasures. The latter include a priceless collection of artworks, among which are rare examples of Byzantine icons created prior to the destruction of images resulting from the imperially sponsored policy of Iconoclasm (730–843). Equally precious are the contents of the monastery’s library, a collection of over 4,700 manuscripts in Greek, Arabic, Georgian, Latin, Slavonic, Syriac and other languages. From November 2006 to March 2007 a selection of these items was featured at the J. Paul Getty Center in Los Angeles in an exhibition entitled Holy Image, Hallowed Ground: Icons from Sinai.

More than 350 of the manuscripts held at the monastery contain hymns and psalms of the Byzantine rite notated with musical signs (“neumes”) for melodic chanting (as opposed to the intoned recitation of scripture from medieval Greek lectionaries, which feature a distinct system of so-called “ecphonetic” notation). The earliest Sinaďte chantbooks from a thousand years ago employ only a small number of musical signs to remind singers of melodically elaborate passages, thus reflecting the emergence of Byzantine notation from a primarily oral musical culture. Later musical manuscripts contain more precise forms of notation, with a system of neumes capable of unambiguously recording a melody’s succession of intervals (“Middle Byzantine” or “Round Notation”) appearing toward the end of the twelfth century and remaining in use until the early nineteenth century, after which it was replaced by the even more precise “New Method” of Byzantine notation. This disc is the result of a request from the organizers of Holy Image, Hallowed Ground to prepare a concert of music related to the exhibition for performance at the Getty Center.

Performed by Cappella Romana.

17 tracks. Approximately 74 minutes.

  • Track List:

    Performed by Cappella Romana

    The Vespers of St. Catherine

    1. Invitatorium: Traditional, MS Sinai 1257 (dated 1332), Mode Plagal 4

    2. Proemium: from Psalm 103, Traditional, Mode Plagal 4

    3. Anoixantaria: St. John Koukouzeles (late 13th–early 14th c.), MSS Sinai 1257, Sinai 1527 (late 15th c.), Athens 2458 (dated 1336), Mode Plagal 4

    4. Doxology of the Anoixantaria: Traditional, MS Sinai 1257, Mode 2

    From the Lamplighting Psalms, the Kekragarion: Traditional, MS Sinai 1255 (15th c.), Mode 15. Psalm 140: 1

    6. Psalm 140: 2

    7. Psalm 140: 3–5

    8. Three Stichera Prosomoia for St. Catherine: Traditional, MS Sinai 1250 (15th c.), Mode 1, Doxastikon: Sticheron Idiomelon, Mode 2

    9. Part 1, Traditional, MS Ambrosianus 139 A sup. (14th c.)

    10. Part 2, Manuel Chrysaphes the Lampadarios (mid-15th c.), MS Sinai 1234 (autograph of John Plousiadenos, dated 1469), Mode Plagal 2

    The Service of the Furnace: A liturgical account of the Three Holy Children according to MS Sinai 1527 (late 15th c.)

    11. Sticheron, MS Ambrosianus 139 A sup. (14th c.), Mode 2

    12. First Canticle, Ode 7, The Song of the Three Holy Children with Refrains, Traditional and Xenos Korones (14th c.)

    13. Sticheron "The Angel of the Lord came down," Manuel Gazes the Lampadarios (fl. 1st half of the 15th c.), Mode Plagal 4

    14. Conclusion of the First Canticle

    15. Second Canticle, Ode 8

    16. Kalophonic Sticheron "When the tyrant saw": Angelos Gregoriou (later 15th c.), Mode Plagal 4

    17. Conclusion of the Second Canticle

  • 17 tracks
  • Approximately 74 minutes



Description

Between 548 and 565 the East Roman (Byzantine) Emperor Justinian I constructed the Holy Monastery of St. Catherine at the foot of Mount Sinai, a place already revered by pilgrims as the site of God’s appearance to Moses in the Burning Bush. Monastic life and pilgrimage have continued through the centuries without significant interruption at St. Catherine’s, providing its living community with a rich inheritance of spiritual traditions and material treasures. The latter include a priceless collection of artworks, among which are rare examples of Byzantine icons created prior to the destruction of images resulting from the imperially sponsored policy of Iconoclasm (730–843). Equally precious are the contents of the monastery’s library, a collection of over 4,700 manuscripts in Greek, Arabic, Georgian, Latin, Slavonic, Syriac and other languages. From November 2006 to March 2007 a selection of these items was featured at the J. Paul Getty Center in Los Angeles in an exhibition entitled Holy Image, Hallowed Ground: Icons from Sinai.

More than 350 of the manuscripts held at the monastery contain hymns and psalms of the Byzantine rite notated with musical signs (“neumes”) for melodic chanting (as opposed to the intoned recitation of scripture from medieval Greek lectionaries, which feature a distinct system of so-called “ecphonetic” notation). The earliest Sinaďte chantbooks from a thousand years ago employ only a small number of musical signs to remind singers of melodically elaborate passages, thus reflecting the emergence of Byzantine notation from a primarily oral musical culture. Later musical manuscripts contain more precise forms of notation, with a system of neumes capable of unambiguously recording a melody’s succession of intervals (“Middle Byzantine” or “Round Notation”) appearing toward the end of the twelfth century and remaining in use until the early nineteenth century, after which it was replaced by the even more precise “New Method” of Byzantine notation. This disc is the result of a request from the organizers of Holy Image, Hallowed Ground to prepare a concert of music related to the exhibition for performance at the Getty Center.

Performed by Cappella Romana.

17 tracks. Approximately 74 minutes.





  • Track List:

    Performed by Cappella Romana

    The Vespers of St. Catherine

    1. Invitatorium: Traditional, MS Sinai 1257 (dated 1332), Mode Plagal 4

    2. Proemium: from Psalm 103, Traditional, Mode Plagal 4

    3. Anoixantaria: St. John Koukouzeles (late 13th–early 14th c.), MSS Sinai 1257, Sinai 1527 (late 15th c.), Athens 2458 (dated 1336), Mode Plagal 4

    4. Doxology of the Anoixantaria: Traditional, MS Sinai 1257, Mode 2

    From the Lamplighting Psalms, the Kekragarion: Traditional, MS Sinai 1255 (15th c.), Mode 15. Psalm 140: 1

    6. Psalm 140: 2

    7. Psalm 140: 3–5

    8. Three Stichera Prosomoia for St. Catherine: Traditional, MS Sinai 1250 (15th c.), Mode 1, Doxastikon: Sticheron Idiomelon, Mode 2

    9. Part 1, Traditional, MS Ambrosianus 139 A sup. (14th c.)

    10. Part 2, Manuel Chrysaphes the Lampadarios (mid-15th c.), MS Sinai 1234 (autograph of John Plousiadenos, dated 1469), Mode Plagal 2

    The Service of the Furnace: A liturgical account of the Three Holy Children according to MS Sinai 1527 (late 15th c.)

    11. Sticheron, MS Ambrosianus 139 A sup. (14th c.), Mode 2

    12. First Canticle, Ode 7, The Song of the Three Holy Children with Refrains, Traditional and Xenos Korones (14th c.)

    13. Sticheron "The Angel of the Lord came down," Manuel Gazes the Lampadarios (fl. 1st half of the 15th c.), Mode Plagal 4

    14. Conclusion of the First Canticle

    15. Second Canticle, Ode 8

    16. Kalophonic Sticheron "When the tyrant saw": Angelos Gregoriou (later 15th c.), Mode Plagal 4

    17. Conclusion of the Second Canticle

  • 17 tracks
  • Approximately 74 minutes


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