Byzantine Chant!

[Dauphin]

I had asked this in another thread, but it was archived so I’ll repeat it here. My history professor has asked if I can produce early/medieval byzantine and gregorian chants for presentation in lecture on monday. I would appreciate any help in getting some authentic, early or medieval Eastern chants. You can easily upload them to zshare:

zshare.net/

Right now, I’m trying to establish the authenticity of the following chants:

Great Litany:

cdbynet.net/mp3/great-litany.mp3

Litany of Supplication:

vocalclassics.co.uk/boyan…pplication.mp3

Come, Let Us Bow Down Together:

vocalclassics.co.uk/boyan/audio/together.mp3

The Body of Christ:

vocalclassics.co.uk/boyan/audio/body.mp3

They’re all performed by a Ukrainian Choir (I assume in Ukrainian), so are these modern settings to ancient hymns, or are they close to authentic eastern music from the middle ages? I’m a bit ignorant in this area

Also, of these two versions of O Gladsome Light (Phos Hilarion), which is more authentic? I’m looking for musical settings that are actually from the middle ages or before:

Chant 1:
zshare.net/audio/4717450a9ddcba/
Chant 2:
zshare.net/audio/471708307b9448/

Thanks for any help you can give!

 

[wynd]

Also, of these two versions of O Gladsome Light (Phos Hilarion), which is more authentic? I’m looking for musical settings that are actually from the middle ages or before:

Chant 1:
zshare.net/audio/4717450a9ddcba/
Chant 2:
zshare.net/audio/471708307b9448/

Thanks for any help you can give!

The first one is a Slavonic choir piece and the second is Greek chant. As far as I know, the Western-style choir settings of Orthodox music didn’t start appearing until the 17th or 18th century, so I’m pretty sure the Greek one is older.

 

[rowlands]

The first one is a Slavonic choir piece and the second is Greek chant. As far as I know, the Western-style choir settings of Orthodox music didn’t start appearing until the 17th or 18th century, so I’m pretty sure the Greek one is older.

Please be aware that most Greek chant used today dates only from the reforms, rationalisations and revisions commenced in the early 18th Century by great chanters such as Chrysanthos tou Madytou, Grigorios Protopsaltes, Chourmouzios Chartohylakos and Petros Lampadarios.

The very earliest Byzantine manuscripts have never been deciphered, just as is the case with the earliest Russian musical manuscripts. There are a few recordings which are ‘scholastic’ as opposed to ‘liturgical’ which do draw upon reconstructions and modern interpretations of ancient manuscripts but whether they are accurate or not is a matter of conjecture.

There are some ‘academic’ recordings available of ancient late medieval manuscripts from Serbia and Romania which include very ‘ancient’ (14th Century) pieces either using the original Greek text or Slavonic settings contemporary with the original writing of the manuscripts.

Unfortunately the field is immense and probably too complex to obtain the sort of answers you might want in just a few days. Peraps you have access to a college library which has some of the works of Egon Wellesz and M. Velimirovic on Eastern/Byzantine chant.

 

[rowlands]

P.S. You might also find the recordings of Marcel Peres/Ensemble Organum of interest - they have carried out an immense amount of research on early Roman (and other) chant and have made some links between it and ‘classic’ Byzantine chant; some of their work was carried out in collaboration with one of today’s great Greek chanters, Lycourgos Angelopoulos - in fact the breakthrough in understanding the old Roman chant appears to have been made precisely when this contact was made!

You can probably listen to (and, if you do not find it too immoral, download) clips from some of their recordings from a site such as amazon.com - quicker than hunting for them in the stores and cheaper!

 

[Dauphin]

P.S. You might also find the recordings of Marcel Peres/Ensemble Organum of interest - they have carried out an immense amount of research on early Roman (and other) chant and have made some links between it and ‘classic’ Byzantine chant; some of their work was carried out in collaboration with one of today’s great Greek chanters, Lycourgos Angelopoulos - in fact the breakthrough in understanding the old Roman chant appears to have been made precisely when this contact was made!

You can probably listen to (and, if you do not find it too immoral, download) clips from some of their recordings from a site such as amazon.com - quicker than hunting for them in the stores and cheaper!

Thanks the tips! Since it’s perfectly legal for Canadians to download music for personal use, I think that’s the route I’ll go.

 

[bpbasilphx]

Keep in mind that when you’re talking about the chant, “Byzantine Chant” refers spefically to the liturgical chant of the Greek and Arabic Churches. Most of what you have put up should properly be called “Ukrainian Chant.”

There is a wide variety of music associated with the Byzantine liturgical family (both Orthodox and Catholic). Each local or sui juris church developed its own.

And when you’re looking at a church as vast as the Russian Orthodox church, things get even more varied just within her alone.

 

[mgy100]

The Great Litany is not a “slavonic piece.” It is in Ukrainian.