Byzantine Music

The term “Byzantine Music” today is mostly understood as its ecclesiastical forms, because the Orthodox traditions have maintained this tradition and still identify with its legacy. In contrast, little is known about the secular music, even though one can assume that it widely influenced the Balkan and Turkish music traditions. Let’s explore the musical world of the Byzantines, based on the sources, iconography, and its modern legacy.

Secular Music

Byzantium inherited the music tradition from Roman and Greek antiquity. Music accompanied every aspect of life in the empire and was omnipresent in the daily life. However, the Christianization of the Empire also had consequences. The Church condemned the theater, and included the music and dances that accompanied it. Some Church Fathers denounced secular music as being profane and lavish. Flute or cithara players incurred the worst condemnations.

The Book of Ceremonies, authored by Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in the 10th century, provides extensive evidence of the use of music in imperial ceremonies. The pneumatic organ was a prominent instrument, accompanying receptions, banquets, and appearances at the hippodrome. Other wind instruments, such as horns, trumpets, and even kinds of tubas, were also used, along with a variety of flutes and oboes. Rhythm was provided by bells or cymbals, and the music could be accompanied by plucked, hand-scraped, or bowed stringed instruments, such as lutes, citharas, and harps.

In addition to liturgical chant and court ceremonial music, there were other musical genres in Byzantium. Acclamations were sung to announce the entrance of the emperor during representative receptions at the court, into the hippodrome or churches, especially the Hagia Sophia. They were usually answered by a choir and could differ from the polychronia, which were sung in church at the end of the divine liturgy in honor of the emperor.

Religious Music

Byzantine liturgical music is the best-known aspect of the empire’s musical tradition, as it was preserved and continued by the Orthodox Church after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The music was also adopted by many countries under Byzantine influence or preserved in monasteries in the former Byzantine world.

The Byzantine liturgy is a complex and highly structured form of worship, with music playing a central role. The liturgical music of the Byzantine Empire can be divided into several genres, including the hymns of the Divine Liturgy, the stichera, the kontakia, and the canon.

The hymns of the Divine Liturgy are the most important and widely known genre of Byzantine liturgical music. They include the Trisagion, the Cherubic Hymn, and the Communion Hymn, among others. The stichera are short hymns that are sung between the verses of the Psalms. The kontakia are longer, poetic hymns that were originally composed in the sixth century. The canon is a series of hymns that are sung during the Orthros (Matins) service.

The Byzantine liturgical music tradition evolved over the long history of the empire. In the early centuries, the music was heavily influenced by the music of the Jewish and Syriac Christian traditions. The use of the eight modes, or tones, was also developed during this period. In the ninth and tenth centuries, the Byzantine musical notation system was created, which allowed for the preservation and transmission of the liturgical music.

During the Palaiologan Renaissance of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, there was a renewed interest in the study and performance of Byzantine music. The Maistor, a musical treatise written during this period, provides valuable insights into the theory and practice of Byzantine music.

Despite the challenges and upheavals of the empire’s history, the Byzantine liturgical music tradition has endured and continues to be a vital part of the worship and spirituality of the Orthodox Church. Byzantine chant was also recognised as an intangible heritage by the UNESCO in 2019.

Some famous Byzantine musicians.