Octoechos

This article is about the Byzantine musical system of eight modes. For the book of liturgical texts set to those modes, see Octoechos (liturgy).

Oktōēchos (here transcribed "Octoechos"; Greek: Ὀκτώηχος, from ὀκτώ "eight" + ἦχος "sound, mode" called echos) is the name of the eight mode system used for the composition of religious chant in Syrian, Coptic, Byzantine, Armenian, Latin and Slavic churches since the middle ages. In a modified form the octoechos is still regarded as the fundament of the living tradition of monodic Orthodox chant today.

In Byzantine chant, it was also the name for a liturgical book (see Great Octoechos), which was composed of eight parts corresponding to the eight echoi. In fact each echos subordinates various melodic models or modes than just one (in Greek those might rather be called "meloi" than "echoi"), it was more important to group chants according to its mode and to divide the year into eight-week-cycles starting in numerical order from echos protos (ἦχος πρῶτος) on Easter Sunday.^[1] This liturgical octoechos concept was the invention of monastic hymnographers at Mar Saba in Palestine and in Constantinople, and a synode held 692 in Constantinople accepted their reform which also aimed to replace the homiletic poetry of the kontakion and other forms sung during the morning service (Orthros) of the cathedral rite. The Hagia Sophia and other cathedrals of the Byzantine Empire did not abandon their habits, and the eight mode system came not earlier into use than in the mixed rite of Constantinople, after the patriarchate and the court had returned from their exile in Nikaia in 1261.

The reason that another eight mode system was established by Frankish reformers during the Carolingian reform, could be that Pope Hadrian I also accepted on the synode in 787 the seventh-century Eastern reform for the Western church. The corresponding "chant book" is the tonary, a list of incipits of chants ordered according to the intonation formula of each church tone and its psalmody. Later also fully notated and theoretical tonaries had been written.

The Hagiopolitan Octoechos and its Reception in the Carolingian Tonaries

Traditional singers today often memorize the history of Byzantine chant in three parts, identified with the names John of Damascus as the "beginning" (the inventor of the octoechos), John Kukuzelis as the "flower" (the inventor of the psaltic art and its soloistic style called "kalophonia"), and Chrysanthos of Madytos as the "great teacher" of the living tradition today (the translator of psaltic art into the modern neume notation).

Origins

The fact behind this simple imagination is, that the octoechos reform was already accepted some decades ago, before John and Cosmas became monks in Mar Saba, but the earliest sources which gives evidence of the octoechos used in Byzantine chant is a ninth-century treatise called "Hagiopolites" ("Holy Polis" after Jerusalem), which only survived in a complete form in a late copy dating back to the fourteenth century.^[2] It is supposed that it was an introduction of a book called tropologion – a chant book used during 9th century which was soon replaced by the book octoechos. Despite that the first paragraph ascribes the treatise to John of Damascus, it was probably written about 100 years after his death and it went through several little redactions during the following centuries. There is no doubt that the octoechos reform itself has taken place already in 692, because certain passages of the Hagiopolites are paraphrasing certain canons of the synodal decree.^[3] Eric Werner assumed that the eight mode system developed in Jerusalem since the late fifth century and that the reform by the hymnographers of Mar Saba were already a synthesis with the Hellenic names used for the tropes, applied to a model of Syrian origin already used in the Byzantine tradition of Jerusalem.^[4] During the eighth century, long before Hellenic treatises were translated into Arabic and Persian dialects between the ninth and the tenth centuries, there was already a great interest among Arabian theorists like Abū Yūsuf al-Kindī, whose Arabic terms were obviously translated from the Greek.^[5] He adored the universality of the Greek octoechos:

“

Sämtliche Stile aller Völker aber haben Teil an den acht byzantinischen Modi (hiya min al-alhān at-tamāniya ar-rūmīya), die wir erwähnt haben, denn es gibt nichts unter allem, was man hören kann, das nicht zu einem von ihnen gehörte, sei es die Stimme eines Menschen oder eines anderen Lebewesens, wie das Wiehern eines Pferdes oder das Schreien eines Esels oder das Krähen des Hahns. Alles, was an Formen des Schreis einem jeden Lebewesen/Tier eigen ist, ist danach bekannt, zu welchem Modus der acht es gehört, und es ist nicht möglich, daß es sich außerhalb eines von ihnen [bewegt].[6]

”

Every style of any tribe takes part of the Byzantine eight tones (hiya min al-alhān at-tamāniya ar-rūmīya) which I mentioned here. Everything which can be heart, be it the the human or be it the animal voice – like the neighing of a horse, the braying of a donkey, or the carking of a cock, can be classified according to one of the eight modes, and it is impossible to find anything outside of the eight mode system.

Al-Kindī demonstrated the intervals on the keyboard of a simple four-stringed oud, starting seven steps in ascending and descending direction from the third string.

According to Eckhard Neubauer, there is another Persian system of seven advār ("cycles") outside the Arabian reception of the Byzantine octoechos, which was possibly a cultural transfer from Sanskrit treatises. Persian and Hellenic sources were the main reference for the transfer of knowledge in Arabian-Islamic science.

The Monastic Reform of Mar Saba and the 16 Echoi of the Constantinopolitan Cathedral Rite

According to the Hagiopolites the eight echoi were divided in four "kyrioi" (authentic) echoi and their four respective plagal (enriched, developed) echoi, which were all in the diatonic genus.

The eight diatonic echoi of the Hagiopolitan octoechos

Despite the late copies of the Greek Hagiopolites treatise, the earliest Latin description of the Greek system of eight echoi is an eleventh-century treatise compilation called "alia musica". "Echos" was translated by "sonus" by the anonymous compilator, who commented with a comparison of the Byzantine octoechos:^[7]

“

Quorum videlicet troporum, sive etiam sonorum, primus graeca lingua dicitur Protus; secundus Deuterus; tertius Tritus; quartus Tetrardus: qui singuli a suis finalibus deorsum pentachordo, quod est diapente, differunt. Superius vero tetrachordum, quod est diatessaron, requirunt, ut unusquisque suam speciem diapason teneat, per quam evagando, sursum ac deorsum libere currat. Cui scilicet diapason plerumque exterius additur, qui emmelis, id est, aptus melo vocatur. Sciendum quoque, quod Dorius maxime proto regitur, similiter Phrygius deutero, Lydius trito, mixolydius tetrardo. Quos sonos in quibusdam cantilenis suae plagae quodammodo tangendo libant, ut plaga proti tangat protum, deuteri deuterum, triti tritum, tetrardi tetrardum. Et id fas est experiri in gradalibus antiphonis.[8]

”

It is known about the tropes, as to say: the ἦχοι, that the Greek language call the First πρῶτος, the Second δεύτερος, the Third τρίτος, the Fourth τέταρτος. Their Finales were separated by a pentachord, that is: a falling fifth [between kyrios and plagios]. And above [the pentachord] they require a tetrachord, that is: a fourth, so that each of them has its species of diapason, in which it can move freely, rambling down and up. For the full octave another tone might be added, which is called ἐμμελῆς: “according to the melos”.

It has to be known that the “dorian” [octave species] is usually ruling in the πρῶτος, as the “phrygian” in the δεύτερος, the “lydian” in the τρίτος, or the “mixolydian” in the τέταρτος. Their πλάγιοι are derived by these ἦχοι in that way, that the formula touch them [going down a fifth]. So the πλάγιος τοῦ πρώτου touch the πρῶτος, the plagal Second [τοῦ δευτέρου] the δεύτερος, the plagal Third [βαρύς] the τρίτος, the plagal Fourth [πλάγιος τοῦ τετάρτου] the τέταρτος. And this should be proved by the melodies of the antiphonal graduals as a divine law.

This Latin description about the octoechos used by Greek singers (psaltes) is very precise, when it says that each kyrios and plagios pair used the same octave, divided into a fifth (pentachord) and a fourth (tetrachord): D-a-d in protos, E-b-e in devteros, F-c-f in tritos, and C-G-c in tetartos.^[9] While the kyrioi had the finalis (final, and usually also base note) on the top, the plagioi had the finalis on bottom of the pentachord.

The intonation formulas, called enechema (gr. ἐνήχημα), for the authentic modes or kyrioi echoi, usually descend within the pentachord and turn back to the finalis at the end, while the plagal modes or plagioi echoi just move to the upper third. The later dialogue treatises (gr. ἐροταπωκρισεῖς) refer to the Hagiopolitan diatonic eight modes, when they use the kyrioi intonations to find those of the plagioi:

“

Περὶ πλαγίων Ἀπο τοῦ πλαγίου πρώτου ἤχου πάλιν καταβαίνεις τέσσαρας φωνάς, καὶ εὑρίσκεται πάλιν πλάγιος πρώτου· ὅυτως δὲ / ἄνανε ἄνες  νὲ ἄνες· Ὁμοίως καὶ ὁ β’ ἤχος καταβαίνων φωνάς δ’, εὑρίσκεις τὸν πλάγιον αὐτοῦ, ἤγουν τὸν πλάγιον τοῦ δευτέρου. πλ Β οὕτως δέ. Ὁμοίως πάλιν ὁ τρίτος καταβαίνεις φωνὰς τέσσαρας, καὶ εὑρίσκεται ὁ πλάγιος αὐτοῦ, ἤγουν ὁ βαρύς, οὕτως· Ὁμοίως καὶ  πὸ τὸν τέταρτον καταβαίνων φωνὰς τέσσαρας, εὑρίσκεις τὸν πλάγιον αὐτοῦ, ὡς ἐστὶ ὁ πλ δ’ οὕτως·[10]

”

About the Plagioi

You descend 4 steps [φοναὶ] from the echos protos [kyrios protos/authentic protus] and you will find again the plagios protos, this way:

You do the same way in echos devteros. If you descend 4 steps to find its plagios, i.e. πλ β', thus:

Hence, you descend four steps from echos tritos 4 steps and you will find its plagios which is called "grave" [βαρύς], this way:

Also from echos tetartos you descend 4 steps [φοναὶ] and you will find its plagios, which is πλ δ', like this way:

Phthorai and Mesoi

The Hagiopolites as "earliest" theoretical treatise says, that two additional phthorai ("destroyers") were like proper modes which did not fit into the diatonic octoechos system, so the Hagiopolitan octoechos is in fact a system of 10 modes. Changes between the echos tritos and the echos plagios tetartos were bridged by the enharmonic phthora nana, and changes between the echos protos and the echos plagios devteros by the chromatic phthora nenano. The theoretical concept of the Hagiopolites strongly suggested that nenano and nana as phthorai "destroy" some of the 7 diatonic degrees used within the octave of a certain echos, so that the chromatic and enharmonic genus was somehow subordinated and excluded from the diatonic octoechos. This raises the question whether music in the near eastern Middle Ages was entirely diatonic, before certain melodies were coloured by the other enharmonic and chromatic genoi.

The Hagiopolites also mentioned an alternative system of 16 echoi, with 4 phthorai and 4 mesoi beyond the kyrioi and plagioi of the Octoechos, and the author called this system the "echoi of the Asma":

“

Οἱ μὲν οὖν τέσσαρρεις πρῶτοι οὐκ ἐξ ἄλλων τινων ἀλλ’ἐξ αὐτῶν γινονται. οἱ δὲ τέσσαρεις δεύτεροι, ἤγουν οἱ πλάγιοι, ὁ μὲν πλάγιος πρῶτος ἐκ τῆς ὑπορροῆς τοῦ πρώτου γέγονε. καὶ  ἀπὸ τῆς ὑπορροῆς τοῦ πληρώματος τοῦ δευτέρου γέγονεν ὁ πλάγιος δευτέρου· ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον δὲ καὶ τὰ πληρώματα τοῦ δευτέρου [εἰς τὸν πλάγιον δευτέρου] τελειοῖ. ὁ βαρὺς ὁμοίως καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ τρίτοῦ· καὶ γὰρ εἰς τὸ ἆσμα ἡ ὑποβολὴ τοῦ βαρέως τρίτος ψάλλεται ἅμα τοῦ τέλους αὐτοῦ. καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ τετάρτου γέγονεν ὁ πλάγιος τέταρτος. καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν τεσσάρων πλαγίων ἐγεννήθησαν τέσσαρεις μέσοι· καὶ ἀπ’αὐτῶν αἱ τέσσαρες φθοραί. καί ἀνεβιβάσθησαν ἦχοι ις’, οἵτινες ψάλλονται εἰς τὸ ἆσμα, οἱ δὲ δέκα ὡς προείπομεν εἰς τὸν Ἁγιοπολίτην.

”

The 4 Echoi which come first are generated from themselves, not from others. As to the four which come next, i.e. the Plagal ones, Plagios Prōtos is derived from Prōtos, and Plagios Deuteros from Deuteros – normally Deuteros melodies end in Plagios Deuteros. Similarly, Barys from Tritos – “for in the Asma Hypobole of Barys is sung as Tritos together with its ending“. From the 4 Plagioi originate the 4 Mesoi, and from these the 4 Phthorai. This makes up the 16 Echoi which are sung in the Asma – as already mentioned, there are sung only 10 in the Hagiopolites.^[11]

This clearly suggests a distinction of the monastic octoechos reform and an older "sung rite" (ἀκολουθία ᾀσματική) which was the name of the Constantinopolitan cathedral rite with its own chant books asmatikon ("book of the choir"), psaltikon ("book of the soloist called 'monophonaris'"), and kontakarion (the name of the psaltikon, if it included the huge collection of kontakia, sung during the morning service). Unfortunately no treatise about the Constantinopolitan sixteen echoi survived, so that there is only this short paragraph of the Hagiopolites which says, that the singers of Hagia Sophia and other cathedrals of the empire followed in their chant books an own modal system, which was distinct from the octoechos.

The earliest Music Manuscript of the Carolingian Reform: the Tonary

Latin theorists who knew the Hellenic tropes only by Boethius' translation of Ptolemy, did the synthesis of the octoechos named after the tropes not earlier than during the Carolingian reform.

The question of general (interval-structures of the scales)

Some 19th century and early 20th century musicologists claimed that Arab music as well as Western medieval chant and Byzantine music were essentially diatonic and went so far as to challenge the capability of humans to distinguish and to sing microtonal inflections with any accuracy. However outmoded this view may seem now (see microtone), it is closely reminiscent of arguments amongst music theorists that started as early as late classical antiquity. Major Hellenistic theorists such as Ptolemy and others stated that the enharmonic genus was extinct since early classical times, while the chromatic genus was only rarely mastered, and on its way to extinction.^{[citation needed]} Also, early Arab theorists such Ibn al Munajjim ^[12][13] and Ishak al Mawsili base their systems on the diatonic pythagorean scale. The struggle to accommodate microtonal inflections and non-diatonic scales in the modal system is an ongoing topic in near-eastern theory.^{[citation needed]} The mathematical, theoretical and notational tools developed are often confusing and not easy to grasp. Thus on the whole one may say that the subject of non-diatonic scales and microtonal inflections is as difficult to formalize theoretically and to master in practice as it is attractive.^{[citation needed]}

The Papadic Octoechos and the Koukouzelian Wheel

The Papadike and the Mixed Rite of Constantinople during the Palaiologan Period

The Octoechos as a Wheel and the Trochos System

Ioannis Plousiadinos and the Triphonic System

The Octoechos in the Didactic Chant of Mega Ison

The Fanariots of the Ottoman Empire and their integrative Concept of "Exoteric Music"

The system of echoi is far more diverse and developed than a cursory look at the basics of the theory suggests. In practice, the system of echoi is complex and its details are encoded in the notation and in the nomenclature of derived echoi or of echoi variants. An interesting attempt at capturing the full extent of the modal system with a quasi-systematic nomenclature was published by Simon Karas in his multi volume work on the theory and practice of Greek music. Other valuable sources of information are treatises comparing the echoi with their corresponding Ottoman (Turkish) makamlar (see makam). Such are the works by Kiltzanidis (published in the late 19th century) and Kyrillos Marmarinos (his own original manuscript dated AD 1747, stored in the archives of the Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece, Athens).

The Octoechos and its Melos according to the New Method

The eight Echoi and their Meloi

The Byzantine echoi as currently used in the monodic hymns of the Orthodox Churches in Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and Russia. Its melodic patterns were created by four generations of teachers at the "New Music School of the Patriarchate" (Constantinople/Istanbul), who redefined the Ottoman tradition of Byzantine chant between 1750 and 1830 and transcribed it into the notation of the New Method since 1814. Whereas in Gregorian chant a mode referred to the classification of chant according to the local tonaries and their psalmody, the Byzantine echoi were rather defined by an oral tradition how to do the thesis of the melos, which included melodic patterns like the base degree (ison), open or closed melodic endings or cadences (cadential degrees of the mode), and certain accentuation patterns. The melodic patterns were further distinguished according to different chant genres, which traditionally belong to certain types of chant books, often connected with various local traditions. The detailled transcription of the thesis of the melos and its various methods into the medium of the New Method redefined the genres according to parameters like tempo, rhythm, and the melodic treatment of text (between syllabic and highly melismatic). Often the strict rhythmic form of the melos was criticized as an innovation and an alternative slower style was created for the heirmologic and sticheraric melos.

The eight Byzantine Tones are:

• First Tone (ἦχος πρῶτος)
• Second Tone (ἦχος δεύτερος)
• Third Tone (ἦχος τρίτος)
• Fourth Tone (ἦχος τέταρτος)
• Plagal First Tone (Tone Five^[14]) (ἦχος πλάγιος τοῦ πρώτου)
• Plagal Second Tone (Tone Six) (ἦχος πλάγιος τοῦ δευτέρου)
• Grave Tone (or Barys) (ἦχος βαρύς)
• Plagal Fourth Tone (Tone Eight) (ἦχος πλάγιος τοῦ τετάρτου)

Hymns are typically divided into four chant genres and their melodic patterns used for each echos:

• Papadic hymns are melismatic troparia sung during the divine liturgy (Cherouvikon, Koinonikon, etc.), according to the New Method slow in tempo, and fast in Teretismoi (sections using abstract syllables); the name "papadic" refers to the treatise of psaltic art called "papadike" (παπαδική) and its elaborated form is based on kalophonic compositions (between the 14th and the 17th century).
• Sticheraric hymns are taken from the book sticherarion (στιχηραριὸν), its text is composed in hexameter, today called Doxastarion, according to the New Method there is a slow (Doxastarion argon) and a fast way (Doxastarion syntomon) of singing its melos; the tempo is 2 times faster than that of the papadic melos.
• Heirmologic hymns are taken from the heirmologion (εἰρμολογιὸν), their meter is defined by the odes of the canon, their content according to the first 9 biblical odes, in the poetic composition is based on melodic models called "heirmos" (εἴρμος); according to the New Method there is a slow (Katavaseion) and a fast way (Heirmologion syntomon) of singing it; the tempo is up to two times faster than that of the sticheraric melos. The melos follows strict melodic pattern which are also applied to texts sung from the text book menaion.
• Troparic hymns are taken from the book of the Great Octoechos or Osmoglasnik and its melos is memorized by the most frequently sung resurrection hymns (apolytikia anastasima) and Theotokia (troparic hymns dedicated to the Mother of God); according to the Anastasimatarion neon of the New Method the troparic melos has the same tempo than the fast heirmologic melos, but in certain modes different melodic patterns and genus.

This classification reflects into the structure of the hymn's melody. Hymns of the same tone belonging to different gernes are structured musically in a different way. This holds true for hymns belonging to every tone (with the possible exception of the third tone) but for some tones like the fourth or the grave tone it is apparent. There is a popular misconception that the division into gernes is based on the complexity of the melody versus the text. According to this misconception heirmologic hymns have one note per syllable, sticheraric two or more notes per syllable and papadic many notes per syllable. However one can encounter hymns of the three gernes with exactly the same notes per syllable ratio. For example "syntomoi polyeleoi" or "doxologiai", "syntoma stichera" and "katavasiai" have all typically two notes per syllable, the first two being papadic hymns (based on troparia which were originally sung as refrains within psalmodic recitation), the third sticheraric and the fourth heirmologic. That being said, typically the heirmologic hymns are faster than the sticheraric and the sticheraric faster than the papadic.

There are typically two main notes that define each of the Byzantine Tones. The base note or ison is the final note on which the hymn ends. The ison is typically droned against the melody. Any other notes different than the ison that occur more often than others during the course of a hymn are called dominant notes and also help define the Tone. The plagal (oblique) tones mentioned above employ the same scales as their counterparts, however their base notes (ison) are a fifth below that of their counterparts.^[15]

Genos and Phthora

Byzantine music does not distinguish between major and minor scales, and in fact the majority of Byzantine tones, as they are practically performed in Mediterranean churches, cannot be played on a conventionally tuned piano. Byzantine music theory and its reference to Ancient Greek music theorists and their distinction between the diatonic, chromatic and enharmonic genus (gr. γένος) widely employ microtones, with intervals either narrower or wider than the Western-style diatonic interval (both equally tempered and just). In the early Hagiopolitan octoechos (7th-12th century) the diatonic echoi were destroyed by two phthorai nenano and nana, which were like two additional modes with their own melos, but subordinated to certain diatonic echoi. In the period of psaltic art (13th-17th century), changes between the diatonic, the chromatic, and the enharmonic genos became so popular in certain chant genres, that certain echoi of the papadikan Octoechos were coloured by the phthorai – not only the traditional Hagiopolitan phthorai, but also additional phthorai which introduced transition models taken from maqam traditions. After Chrysanthos' redefinition of Byzantine chant according to the New Method (1814), the scales of echos protos and of echos tetartos are usually soft diatonic, those of the tritos echoi and the papadikan echos plagios tetartos enharmonic (phthora nana), and those of the devteros echoi chromatic.^[16] Whereas modern Western music is ultimately based on two different scales (major and minor), and the Latin octoechos on eight diatonic modes, four basic scales are used in the different Orthodox traditions of monodic chant today:

• The diatonic scale begins and ends on C, with the exception that the E and the B are slightly flatter, micro-tonally, than in 12-equal temperament. Furthermore if the melody of a hymn in the diatonic scale is ascending, the B is natural, while for the descending melody B is flatted. The diatonic scale is the most common scale for the First, First Plagal, Fourth and Fourth Plagal Tones. To western ears, the diatonic scale sounds similar to the Western natural minor scale or the Aeolian mode.

• The enharmonic scale is tuned exactly like the Western major scale with the main note (ison) on F. The enharmonic scale is the only Byzantine scale that can be played relatively accurately on the 12-equally tuned piano or other keyboard instrument. The Third and Grave Tones are enharmonic, except for a papadic variant of the Grave Tone, which is diatonic.

• The hard chromatic scale is usually based on D of the lower tetrachord with the second step slightly flatter and the third step slightly sharper (micro-tonally) than the flat and sharps of Western music. The longer rhythmic styles of the Second Plagal and some Second Tones use the hard chromatic scale.

• The soft chromatic scale also uses the lower tetrachord but is based on C instead of D. There is some controversy about how much the second note of the lower tetrachord (D-flat) should be flattened as compared to the second note of the upper tetrachord (A-flat) in the soft chromatic scale. Traditionally, the D is flatted more than the A. Currently, however, the argument is that both should be flatted the same, making both the upper and lower tetrachords equal, and thus identical to the hard chromatic scale. The Second, Fourth and Second Plagal Tones all use the soft chromatic scale.^[17]

Notes

1. ^ The numerical order of Byzantine echoi is the 4 kyrioi echoi, then the 4 plagioi echoi, in Carolingian tonaries it is tonus primus (first authentic tone), tonus secundus (first plagal tone) etc.
2. ^ The fourteenth-century manuscript is Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fonds grec, ms. 360 and was edited by Jørgen Raasted 1983, an earlier fragment dates back to the twelfth century and was edited by Johann Friedrich Bellermann (1972).
3. ^ Peter Jeffery (Jeffery 2001, 186f) believes that certain paraphrases – like Raasted 1983, §8, p.16 – are polemics against the 16 echoi of the Asma, the modal system of the Constantinopolitan cathedral rite.
4. ^ Harold S. Powers, "Mode, §II: Medieval Modal Theory, 1: The Elements, (ii) The Byzantine Model: Oktōēchos" (Powers), see also Jeffery 2001 and Werner 1948.
5. ^ Neubauer 1998.
6. ^ German translation by Neubauer 1998, 378f.
7. ^ According to Charles Atkinson (2008: p.177) the commentary was inserted by "author δ", the compilator of the fourth layer.
8. ^ Gerbert 1784, 139.
9. ^ The octave can be transposed, but if the tetartos octave for example is G-g, it has f sharp.
10. ^ Hannick & Wolfram 1997: pp.84f.
11. ^ Raasted 1983, §6, p.14.
12. ^ Ibn al-Munadjdjim (in French)
13. ^ Sources Arabes sur la Musique (in French)
14. ^ The Mnemonic Verses: A Quick and Easy Guide to the Byzantine Tones, J. Suchy-Pilalis, accessed 2010-02-15.
15. ^ The Byzantine Tones, Part I, accessed 2007-06-06.
16. ^ Chrysanthos of Madytos 1832
17. ^ The Byzantine Tones, Part II, , accessed 2007-06-06.

References

Editions of Theoretical Octoechos Treatises

Greek Treatises

Hagiopolites

• Raasted, Jørgen, ed. (1983), The Hagiopolites: A Byzantine Treatise on Musical Theory, Cahiers de l'Institut du Moyen-Âge Grec et Latin, 45, Copenhagen: Paludan .
• Bellermann, Johann Friedrich; Najock, Dietmar, eds. (1972), Drei anonyme griechische Traktate über die Musik, Göttingen: Hubert .

Dialogue Treatises

• Hannick, Christian; Wolfram, Gerda, eds. (1997), Die Erotapokriseis des Pseudo-Johannes Damaskenos zum Kirchengesang, Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae - Corpus Scriptorum de Re Musica, 5, Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, ISBN 3700125208 .

Papadikai

• Conomos, Dimitri, ed. (1985), The Treatise of Manuel Chrysaphes, the Lampadarios: [Περὶ τῶν ἐνθεωρουμένων τῇ ψαλτικῇ τέχνῃ καὶ ὧν φρουνοῦσι κακῶς τινες περὶ αὐτῶν] On the Theory of the Art of Chanting and on Certain Erroneous Views that some hold about it (Mount Athos, Iviron Monastery MS 1120, July 1458), Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae - Corpus Scriptorum de Re Musica, 2, Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, ISBN 9783700107323 .
• Fleischer, Oskar, ed. (1904), "Die Papadike von Messina", Die spätgriechische Tonschrift, Neumen-Studien, 3, Berlin: Georg Reimer, pp. 15-50; fig. B3-B24 .
• Hannick, Christian; Wolfram, Gerda, eds. (1985), Gabriel Hieromonachus: [Περὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ ψαλτικῇ σημαδίων καὶ τῆς τούτων ἐτυμολογίας] Abhandlung über den Kirchengesang, Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae - Corpus Scriptorum de Re Musica, 1, Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, ISBN 3700107293 .
• Tardo, Lorenzo (1938), "Papadiche", L'antica melurgia bizantina, Grottaferrata: Scuola Tipografica Italo Orientale "S. Nilo", pp. 151–163 .

New Method

• Chrysanthos of Madytos (1832), Θεωρητικὸν μεγὰ τῆς Μουσικῆς (Athens 1977 reprint ed.), Triest: Michele Weis .

Latin Tonaries

• Gerbert, Martin, ed. (1784), "Alia musica", Scriptores ecclesiastici de musica sacra potissimum, 1 (Hildesheim 1963 reprint ed.), St Blaise: Typis San-Blasianis, pp. 125-152, http://www.chmtl.indiana.edu/tml/9th-11th/ALIMUS_TEXT.html .

Studies

• Atkinson, Charles M. (2008), The critical nexus: Tone-System, Mode, and Notation in Early Medieval Music, Oxford, New York [etc.]: Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780195148886 .
• Neubauer, Eckhard (1998), "Die acht "Wege" der arabischen Musiklehre und der Oktoechos – Ibn Misğah, al-Kindī und der syrisch-byzantinische oktōēchos", Arabische Musiktheorie von den Anfängen bis zum 6./12. Jahrhundert: Studien, Übersetzungen und Texte in Faksimile, Publications of the Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science : The science of music in Islam, 3, Frankfurt am Main: Inst. for the History of Arab.-Islamic Science .
• Jeffery, Peter (2001), "The Earliest Oktōēchoi: The Role of Jerusalem and Palestine in the Beginnings of Modal Ordering", The Study of Medieval Chant: Paths and Bridges, East and West; In Honor of Kenneth Levy, Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, pp. 147-209, ISBN 0851158005 .
• Jeffery, Peter, "Oktōēchos", Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/50097, retrieved 26 Oct. 2011 .
• Powers, Harold, "Mode, § II Medieval Modal Theory, 1. The Elements, (ii) The Byzantine Model: oktōēchos", Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/43718pg2#S43718.2.1.2, retrieved 26 Oct. 2011 .
• Werner, Eric (1948), "The Origin of the Eight Modes in Music", Hebrew College Annual 21: 211-255 .

Related articles

• Musical mode
• Echos
• Octoechos mega
• Phthora nenano (φθορά νενανὼ)
• Phthora nana (φθορά νανὰ)
• Diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic tetrachord
• Troparion
• Heirmologion
• Sticherarion
• Makam
• Byzantine Music
• John of Damascus
• Cosmas of Maiuma
• John Kukuzelis
• Chrysanthos of Madytos

External links

• Présentation générale des systèmes musicaux (French)
• Introduction to Chant Notation and Theory
• The Mnemonic Verses: A Quick and Easy Guide to the Byzantine Tones