Abstract:
In the ritual of the Matins (and especially in the psalms that constitute the fixed repertoire of this service), the tactic of the imposition of (non-psalmic) poetic texts in the compositions of the Polyeleoi is quite interesting. Obviously, it is about the process of the addition or the interpolation of one poem (whose content is always related with a particular theme from the church calendar) into the usual psalmic verses of a given composition. This technique is indeed related (primarily and par excellence) with the Polyeleoi compositions (specifically with the first stasis of the so-called Latrinos Polyeleos, with which it undoubtedly has to be connected), but it also appears occasionally in the Antiphons (in the so-called Antiphons for the Theotokos, but mainly in the Antiphons for the Synaxis of Asomatoi), while it appears until today, in the known Ekloge Logon Agathon, thanks to the brilliant inspiration of the famous composer Petros Bereketes. The role of these imposed texts is clearly double and my attempt (in the present paper) will be to appoint and comment on this exactly double dimension:
From the viewpoint of the liturgy and ritual, it is obvious that, by adding any poem to a psalmic verse, a “conceptually neutral” poetic text is “transformed” into an appropriate composition for the celebration of a specific feast. For instance, in a relevant order (from a ritual of the second half of the 16th century), which refers to the feast of the Synaxis of Asomatoi, it is being noted: “the Polyeleos and after the Polyeleos Antiphon of the Ekloge […] we chant, at the Ekloge, triadic encomia, which are hymns [appropriate for] Antiphons of Asomatoi” (: “Είτα ο πολυέλεος, μετά δε τον πολυέλεον αντίφωνον της εκλογής […] ψάλλομεν δε εις την εκλογήν και τα εγκώμια τα τριαδικά, άπερ εισί ταύτα ύμνοι εις αντίφωνα Ασωμάτων”).
From the viewpoint of musicology, it is also explicit that with the addition of any poem to a psalmic verse, what follows is a melic and morphological differentiation between the verses where this specific poem is being added to and the rest (usual) verses of the same composition. That is the reason why in the relevant manuscript tradition the verses that carry non-psalmic texts are characterized as (asmatic or festal) Allagmata
Μιὰ ἐξειδικευμένη μορφολογικὴ τεχνικὴ τῆς παπαδικῆς μελοποιίας (ἡ ἐπιβολὴ ἐξωψαλμικῶν ποιητικῶν κειμένων στὸν ψαλμὸ τοῦ πολυελέου) μοῦ δίνει ἐδῶ τὴν εὐκαιρία νὰ ἀναπτύξω ἐνδιαφέροντες συλλογισμούς, μουσικολογικοὺς καὶ τυπικολογικούς. Ἡ ἐπισημανθεῖσα τεχνικὴ ἐρευνᾶται (κατὰ ἕναν πρωτότυπο συλλογισμό) σὲ ἐπίπεδο ἱστορικὸ καὶ τεχνικό (σὲ ποιές συνθέσεις ἐφαρμόζεται καὶ μὲ ποιόν ἀκριβῶς τρόπο), τοπικὸ (σὲ ποιὲς περιοχὲς ἀπαντᾶ ἡ συγκεκριμένη τεχνική) καὶ ἀνθρωπολογικό (ἀπὸ ποιούς μελοποιοὺς χρησιμοποιεῖται καὶ ποιές οἱ μεταξύ τους «σχέσεις»)· ἡ συμπλοκὴ τῶν παραπάνω στοιχείων, ἐκτιθέμενη ἐδῶ σὲ μιὰν ἐνδιαφέρουσα ἀλληλουχία, μᾶς ὁδηγεῖ –τελικά– στὴν «ἀποκάλυψη» πλήρων τῶν διαστάσεων τῆς ἐξεταζόμενης τεχνικῆς, ὅπως αὐτὴ ἀναπτύσσεται (καὶ ὄχι μόνον ὡς καθαρὰ «καλλιτεχνικὸ τέχνασμα») μεταξὺ διάφορων ὁμοειδῶν συνθέσεων καὶ ὅμορων τόπων καὶ ὁμότεχνων μελοποιῶν.
Keywords:
Byzantine Music, Byzantine Musicology, Byzantine music (Music), Hellenic (Byzantine) Music and Musicology, History of Byzantine Music, Morphology of Byzantine Music, βυζαντινή μουσική, Byzantine Church Music, βυζαντινή εκκλησιαστική μουσική
