Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucal.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the
scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that
promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
University of California Press and American Musicological Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,
preserve and extend access to Journal of the American Musicological Society.
http://www.jstor.org
The Antiphonsof the Oktoechos
BY OLIVER STRUNK
50
THE ANTIPHONS OF THE OKTOECHOS 51
on turningto earliersourcesone will Disturbingthe tidy balanceof this
find that the generalrule applies. arrangement, the Plagios tetartos
The written tradition for the goes on to add a fourth and final
verses of the Anabathmoigoes back antiphon,with versesfrom Psalm132.
to our oldest copies of the music of Only too obviously, this lies outside
the Oktoechos-Lavra r.67 (late the main series,and if the Grottafer-
tenth century) and Vatopedi 1488 ratacopy did not tell us that the piece
(about 1050), two Athos manu- had a special function, we might
scripts using the notation of the easily infer it. The rubricin E.a.xi is
Chartresfragment.5It may be fol- 'AvtKpcovoviVaIE6Osvov etg pLvtPTV
lowed in the Coislincopies of the late dylov-"An antiphon sung at the
11th and early 12th centuries, of commemorationof Saints."8Thus,
which the GrottaferrataMS E.a.xi while the first twenty-four antiphons
(dated "1113")is an outstandingex- are for ordinaryuse, the twenty-fifth
ample.6From these sourceswe learn and last was at one time reservedfor
that in former times each antiphon feasts of a particularclass.9
of the Anabathmoi possessed four How the verses were to be per-
verses-two for the first troparion formed and where they were to be
and two for the second. Following fitted in, our sources do not tell us.
an orderly and symmetrical plan, No verse has musical notation, and
the antiphons of the authentic one cannotbe quite surewhether the
modes draw their verses from the single troparion is to precede its
first twelve GradualPsalms;those of verses or to follow them, for the
the plagal modes begin again from physical arrangementof the single
Psalm119,using the samepsalmsand antiphon varies from one copy to
in principle the same verses as their another.But it is easy to show that
authentic parallels.7 The whole the verseswere intendedto be sung,
scheme works out as follows: andour best andearliestsourcesagree
Protos and Plagios protos Psalms 119, 120, 121
Deuteros and Plagios deuteros Psalms 122, 123, 124
Tritos and "Low mode" Psalms 125, 126, 127
Tetartos and Plagios tetartos Psalms 128, 129, 130
5 For an account of these MSS, with several in entering each pair of verses after
facsimiles, see my "Notation of the Chartres the troparionto which it belongsand
Fragment," Annales musicologiques III (1955),
PP. 7-37. in indicatingthe position of the dox-
6 For a facsimile, see P. Lorenzo Tardo,
L'antica melurgia bizantina (Grottaferrata, ology by a conventional direction,
1938), pl. xvii. I have also consulted two placed after the final troparion of
other Coislin sources-Sinai 1214 and I241. each antiphon.The whole construc-
7 Even in r.67, our earliest source and the
only one to contain its full complement of
tion has a close parallelin the proper
verses, there are several cases of disagreement antiphons that displace the regular
between the verses of corresponding authentic
and plagal antiphons, and as one turns to later s In a shortened form, the rubric of the
and later MSS, the disagreements become more Grottaferrata MS is found again in Sinai
numerous and one begins to contend also with 1231.
omissions and ambiguities. Thus, in Vienna 9 Psalm 132 has in the East a special as-
Theol. gr. I8I, which is dated "I223," each sociation with certain feasts of brother or
antiphon has one verse only, and one of these companion martyrs-Sergius and Bacchus,
verses is drawn inappropriately from Psalm 6 Marcianus and Martyrius, Cosmas and Da-
(or 37). The inescapable conclusion is that by mian, Cyrus and John. For all four of these
the time our first MSS with musical notation feasts it supplies the Alleluia verses, and it is
were written, the verses of the troparia were also quoted or paraphrased in two of the four
already beginning to pass out of use. offices.
52 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY
psalmody of the morning office on the last three or four words of the
Good Friday. In former times, these odd-numbered verses which follow
antiphons also arranged their verses them, and since the verses of the cor-
in pairs, one pair for each troparion, responding authentic and plagal anti-
and each troparion was sung twice, phons agree, the quotations with
once before the first of its paired which they begin will agree also.
verses, once before the second. We The third troparion begins invariably
may safely conclude that the troparia with the phrase 'Ayq IHIveiFa-t,
of the Anabathmoi were also repeated quoted from the end of the half-
in this manner. verse of the doxology which follows
Unlike the Latin trope, the Byzan- it, and to keep to this plan Theodore
tine troparion seldom has any bear- has had to contrive twenty-five dif-
ing on the sense of the official text ferent tributes to the Trinity, all be-
with which it is coupled.10 The tro- ginning with the same two words. A
paria are thus more or less inter- translation will give an idea of the
changeable, and the particular con- extent to which these troparia are
text in which a given troparion is dependent upon their verses and will
sung can easily vary from one locality at the same time serve to clarify the
to another. To this general rule, the over-all design of the single antiphon.
troparia of the Anabathmoi consti- I use for this purpose the final anti-
tute a notable and striking exception, phons of the Protos and its plagal
for each troparion is a close para- parallel, with verses from Psalm
phrase of the first of its two verses 121.11
PROTOS PLAGIOS PROTOS
When they said unto me, let us walk When they said unto me, let us draw nigh
into the courts of the Lord, my spirit unto the courts of the Lord, filled with
was glad and my heart rejoiced. many joys, I sent up prayers.
1. I was glad when they said unto me.
When they said unto me, let us walk, When they said unto me, let us draw nigh,
&c. &c.
added to the existing order, Theo- prehensive and systematic way are
dore'santiphonsmust haveimpressed the early copies of the anthology
his contemporariesby their novelty. compiledtowardsthe end of the 13th
As liturgicalinnovations,they agree century, or at the beginning of the
well with what we know of Theo- 14th, by Joannes Koukouzeles, a
dore as a reformer of monastic rule monk of the Lavra.Often referredto,
and as an editor of the office books somewhat loosely, as WaXTLlxI,
who also added to them. His anti- IIajablxrl, or Movolx6v,the compi-
phons have no exact parallelsamong lation had at first the specific title
the other antiphonsof the Byzantine 'AxoXovOtaL-"Orders of Service."If
rite. Their troparia approach the one thought only of its provisionsfor
Western trope more closely than the office, one might describe this
those of any other class. And they volume as a musical counterpartof
have still another claim on our at- the Horologion. But it providesalso
tention which transcends any of for the three Liturgies and contains
these-they enable us to trace back much of the music required for
to the beginningsof the written tra-their celebration-melodies for the
dition, and beyond, the underlying Trisagion,the CherubicHymns, and
conventions of Byzantine psalmody, the various parts of the Proper of
with many of its specific formulas. the Mass.In its day, this useful little
Herein lies their special importance.
book must have been in the handsof
In themselves,they can tell us very every psaltist, for an extraordinary
little. But they can be made to tellnumberof copies hasbeen preserved.
us a great deal when we combine For the 14th century alone I can
them with later documents. If we name eight. Two of these are pre-
now work backwards from these, cisely datedby their colophons-MS
we shall end by placing the melodies2458 of the National Library of
of the Sticherarionand Hirmologion Athens ("1336") and Lavra I. 178
in their original and proper setting.("1377"). The others are approxi-
What is more,we shallhavestrength- mately dated by their acclamations
ened the foundationupon which the of the ruling Emperor or Empress-
comparative study of Eastern and regent and of the variousco-emper-
Western chant must ultimately rest. ors and their wives-they fall be-
* * *
tween the year 1341,when Anne of
Savoy began her regency, and the
The first manuscriptsto treat the death of AndronicusIV, which oc-
Byzantine psalm-tones in a com- curred in 1385.Three of them were
54 SOCIETY
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICANMUSICOLOGICAL
written during the lifetime of Anne, relatively recent date, although one
who died in 1360or thereabouts,the can recognize a gradual change in
three others after her death. make-up and style which leads in
1341 to ca. 1360 Ca. 1360 to 1385
AmbrosianaL. 36 sup. (gr. 476) AmbrosianaQ. 11 sup. (gr. 665)
Lavra I. 185 Vatopedi 1495
Athens 2622 Koutoumousi 457
In turning out new copies of this the end to the development of the
book, each scribefelt free to add and more or less new type represented
to discard,for that part of the con- by Fleischer's"CodexChrysander,"12
tents which consisted of original one can also recognize an ultra-con-
work was always in need of being servativeresistanceto change of any
brought up to date. But he left the kind. Those things which Koukou-
underlying plan as he found it, and zeles took over from older sources
in so far as changes in the conduct or from oral traditiontend to retain
Ex. 1
Dteros A
ft tn L
"
rur i t Q-
Triros ,
" J
7-r i ?. p 3
Tetartos =- I
A , . A. A
*-
IT-0 I n_ A_X
Plagios pro}os i I
p _J J Q sJ> 6 PJ> j
Plagios du+eros
vue
"Lowmodel I
Plagios earlos
;
S; PoS.; Sd J 21 c'.e~~~~~~~~~
'v A o 1bz- ntL K@L nii- <?jS; CA-yi- f frvvi- /ao- t1.
of the services themselves did not the form he gave them, and in this
dictate the outright suppressionof sense one may say that his "Orders
this or that item, he reproducedthe 12 After Fleischer's
death, the "Codex Chry-
traditionalpart of the contentswith- sander" was acquired by the Prussian State
out altering it in any essential way. Library, where it received the signature Mus.
MS. 40614. Since the second World War it
Thus, on proceeding from the ear- has been housed in the UniversityLibraryat
liest copies to related manuscripts of Tiibingen.
THE ANTIPHONS OF THE OKTOECHOS 55
of Service"led a long and useful life. Koukouzeles takes up their several
All things considered, it is astonish- uses one by one. First he adapts them
ing how little attention has been paid to verses from Psalm 50 (the Pente-
to them. Among Western scholars, kostarion), then he adapts them to
only Gerbert seems to have recog- verses from Psalms 148 to 150 (the
nized their importance.13 AIvoLor Lauds), finally he sums them
For the fixed and variable psalms up in the form of eight doxologies,
of the office, as found in the Horolo- one for each of the eight modes. I
gion and the liturgical Psalter, Kou- transcribe these from Lavra I. 185,
kouzeles makes a variety of provi- which was copied, as we know, in
sions in a variety of styles. The whole the 1340's or 1350's. (See Ex. 1.)
deserves a systematic study; here I In the normal Sunday order, the
can deal only with a part-the simple doxology of the Lauds is followed
Ex. 2
Psalm9 A+hens2458
A L L L m L NO 1 a
K . - n -O
'%l-'ov
. <-- p- Tq ??- "- rv ?; e. -,a-oxv.
At- vouw
-v, v -Xo- IOc- piv, 1roff-Ku-VO.-v TOYKu- .-ov.
'- -
'~J
v . ' ar ."
=: I ?I' fi
&- v - o oLt rT -o;,
MM- Tz,vu-a -T'-
A > _.~
P G7
> .K
PP..
v ~l
K i K
DP
L L .I
L =- I j
:
n n
Y42> 2 ;) >- e - ,- '- - -- A
%6-TrL u-T(V ?-I TL)V ] pa-fL-XECL-o TiV o0{- ga-v-v.
tones for the fixed psalms of the by one of the eleven Stichera Eothina,
morning office. In presenting these, and as though to remind the singer
13 De cantu et musica sacra, I, 587-588, of this, Koukouzeles adds to each of
pi. v. his doxologies a suitable opening
56 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY
bathmoi published by Professor Till- directly from the Chartres and Cois-
yard in the first volume of his Hymns lin sources.7
Ex. 5
Athens 974 (AfterTillyard) ViennaTheol.gr. 181
I. A I A dim. I. A I_ 1%,
of the Octoechus. These are trans- In cases like these, the original in-
criptions from 13th-century manu- tention must remain in doubt, and
scripts in the round notation,15whose just as it is a fair inference that signs
versions are related to those of the peculiar to the one early notation or
Chartres and Coislin manuscripts the other are of later origin than
very much as fully diastematic ver- those that are common property, so
sions of Latin melodies are related to it should follow also that the two
those written in campo aperto. But it early versions lie closer to the origi-
is not as though the Chartres and nal intention when they agree, fur-
Coislin notations were successive ther removed from it when they do
stages in a single straight-forward de- not.
velopment-on the contrary, they Among the troparia of the Protos
are two distinct and largely inde- we have just seen an illustration of
pendent notations which developed the way in which the opening pat-
concurrently from a common begin- tern at the beginning of the free para-
ning. The round notation derives phrase may determine the choice of
from the Coislin notation, not from psalmodic cadence. We shall find
the Chartres, and in much the same others among the troparia of the cor-
way the round versions derive from responding plagal mode, and in co-
the Coislin versions and agree with ordinating these I add in each case
the Chartres only when the Chartres the beginning of the appropriate
and Coislin agree with one another. paraphrase.'1 (See Ex. 6.)
To recognize this, one has only to The preparatory function of the
compare Tillyard's transcriptions of psalmodic cadence and its subordina-
the two atypical openings (Troparia tion to what follows could scarcely
4 and 5)16 with transcriptions made have been made more clear. In
15 Tillyard's primary sources are Athens
17 For the method of transcription, see the
974 and Vienna 181; he makes incidental use
of Vatopedi 1499 and Patmos 220. article cited in Note 5 above.
16 For Troparion 5 I have preferred the 18 For Troparion 4 I have preferred the
reading of Vienna 81 ; Tillyard follows simpler reading of Vienna 181, without the
Athens 974. kylisma; Tillyard follows Athens 974.
THE ANTIPHONS OF THE OKTOECHOS 59
Ex. 6
9 'A -IL-
t lTvh6-- tLv Zi*-w-@ - Kn.
Troparia 1 to 8, only the final ele- dore devises a special cadence to meet
ment of the cadence has been modi- a special requirement.
fied in an essential way. Where the Even from these few examples it is
paraphrase begins from G (as in quite evident that in Byzantine music
Troparia 2 and 8), this final element the psalmodic cadence is subject to
is simply a D; where the paraphrase the same laws that govern the modal
descends to the low C after a begin- formula and its abbreviation in the
ning on D (as in Troparia 1, 3, 6, and modal signature. When a hirmos or
7), the final element becomes the sticheron of the Plagios protos begins
group D-E; where the paraphrase from the low C, as sometimes hap-
begins directly from the low C (as pens, the modal formula which in-
in Troparia 4 and 5), the final ele- troduces it regularly takes the special
ment modifies the group D-E by ending whose earlier and later forms
prolonging the D and accenting the are shown in the example below. As
E which follows. Finally, in Tro- in the cadences of Troparia 4 and 5,
parion 9, where the paraphrasebegins only the final element is modified,
in a manner characteristic of the au- and it is modified in the same way
thentic form of the mode,19 Theo- and for the same reasons. (See Ex. 7.)
19 It agrees with the beginning of the para- To turn now to the body of the
phrase in Troparion 2 of the Protos. cadence, as distinguished from its
6o JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Ex. 7
Iviron470
finalelement,there can be little doubt early and late, for certain tro-
that the form this usually takes in pariaof the F modes, authenticand
Tillyard'smanuscriptsis a later form plagal.21
Ex. 8
* r -,.
, ?,? g U>vv i
.
,S _j:;:',,??
* - .?
t h* ^ 0#*? ..-/.'
f rpr . # 'gc?^. n ?w t W;S;Tff ;^^^r?
I4&* *- Vt.'
I ~
" tS ies x
4?r"
Wv:
Plate i.
Lavra r. 67, Folio I14, recto & verso
The Antiphons of the Deuteros
,
5 'a
.
5 Jj4 - I
,-4 4
- 1 r1 o
z
;,
'S4 Ifl
* 2
t 3\-
4.
z s
L-
0 *
3 B' 0
S S ?:
-! 0 Z 4
% .
40 ~ F? S $
l -
t
9 f tc
,I T O
C
it:
O O
.. Z
s
t'
s(< r p 0 0
I
* c 0ON
0
2 o
L
0* cc 0
"3
tr 2
L/ P 07 C
la . -.,
U
\o
? ,
*,
u,
, ' 0?
..
- 6.
m
t P 0o,
_f
4b 5^
14 '4
o O
,3j
<^
14
o6 C-
Wl~A
t3
c
v
'S
4e r4
man
to
ti. %<J? sU
IV
<r
<--'
THE ANTIPHONS OF THE OKTOECHOS 6i
Ex. 9
PsalmIOZ
A I I
..P,-P P P P p D" p p -P
Eu-XA-rT,^ YU-X'IAo; iTKb - -ov
I t T I- V
with particular modes, as with par- the simplest and the most instructive.
ticular steps of the system. A given In coordinating its troparia, I omit
formula may be used in several those of Antiphon 4, which treats its
modes, and as one result of this, there quotations from the Psalter and the
is established a sort of intermodal re- Doxology in a special style suited to
lationship, usually at the third. We its special purpose. (See Ex. 10.)
shall meet with this same relationship Once again the cadence formula
again, and with an entirely new set most frequently used is in essential
of formulas, if we turn now from agreement with the one prescribed
the modes on D and F to those on by Koukouzeles. Once again the final
E and G. Among these remaining element of this cadence has some-
modes, the Plagios tetartos is at once times been accommodated to the
Ex. 10
62 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY
opening pattern at the beginning of the final element becomes the group
the free paraphrase.Normally, this G-E-F. And as before, these spe-
final element is simply a G (as in cial forms of the psalmodiccadence
Troparia 5 to 8); where the para- correspond to special forms of the
phrase ascends by step after begin- modal intonation and modal signa-
ning from the low D (as in Troparia ture,regularlyassociatedin the Hirm-
1 to 3), the finalelementbecomesthe ologion and Sticherarionwith the
group G-a;22 where the paraphrase same opening patterns.23
Ex. 11
Iviron 470 412
Kou}loumousi
Ex. 12
. t, ' wi
VT--,- w TS
rsi - oc.
:; O - ' -
go v.
K ~'Ev
7 Ot rO6--
lrt-W- I-T - Kv - ?- OV.
Afhens 974(AfterTIllyard)
A
ri- >
Ex. 14
Deu+eros
4 EL -L1 -T Kb- t
?L- ?- v tv - pvW tc - - v.
Coislin versions disagree that the Not less important for the troparia
descent of the round versions be- For this embellished cadence, see also
24
comes apparent. (See Ex. 12.) (in Tillyard's publication) the first troparion
of the final antiphon of the Plagios tetartos,
This cadence too belongs to the paraphrasing the first line of Psalm 132.
64 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY
of the E modes is the peculiar ca- quently used, but he will discover
dence used to prepare an opening little outright irregularity, provided
pattern common to the authentic and only that he bears in mind that what
plagal varieties.25 (See Ex. 14.) appears to be irregular in a later
In an embellished form, this ca- source will often prove to be a mere
dence is also used by the round and distortion of something that in an
Coislin sources for Troparion 8 of earlier one is not irregular at all.
the Deuteros. In Vatopedi 1488 and Thus our two sets of documents
Lavra r.67 it is just the other way- confirm and complete each other
Troparion 8 has the simple cadence, most satisfactorily. The "Orders of
while the embellished form is re- Service" enable us to recognize in
served for Troparion 4. early copies of the Anabathmoi the
Ex. 15
_ ( --_ Jr - /, (Z
Ex. 16
4 JK-
Too K-9-ov
t Iv -Ti xnL
L-pI -- 6 . E. ;
1v T r
T?cS KV-qL-ov bV x ext
PF.- I
6M 4
Alleluia!" A similar thing happens on same simple tones that were used for
T. IV (fol. 102v), at the head of the verses of other troparia. And they
which one finds the ending of the were followed by Alleluia refrains
final antiphon of the Deuteros, with adapted to the melodies of Theo-
Verses 2, 3, and 4, Troparion 9, and dore's paraphrases.The first of these
an abbreviated doxology. Here the conclusions should be equally valid
verses are without musical notation for Byzantium. And it would seem
and no Alleluia refrains are indicated. that the second must be valid also,
But in copying the abbreviated dox- despite the silence of the Greek
ology, the scribe has repeated above sources on this point, for unless it is,
the Slavonic equivalent of the words the single antiphons, ending as they
'Aylp IIv6Uptaxtthe neumes already do with the half-verse "Both now
written above these same words at and ever," will break off inconclu-
the beginning of the preceding tro- sively with a preparatory cadence,
parion, and once again, instead of leaving an unsatisfactory impression.
stopping, he has gone on to add an To sing the Anabathmoi with Alle-
Alleluia refrain, this time a threefold luia refrains would be to tie them in
Alleluia. It has no musical notation, with the readings from the Psalter
but the plain inference is that it is to that precede them, for in former
be treated exactly like the one on the times the psalms recited on Sunday
previous plate. The melody of the mornings were regularly chanted
earlier paraphrase was a short one with Alleluia refrains that followed
and fell naturally into two distinc- each distinction of the text.
tions; the one to be adapted here is * * *
longer and falls naturally into three.
And from the meaningless extra syl- This is not the place to enlarge
lables that have been interpolated to upon the implications of the Ana-
lengthen the Alleluias, one can ac- bathmoi for the comparative study
tually see how the adaptation is to be of Eastern and Western chant. One
made-the first two Alleluias, with would be simplifying matters unduly,
10 and 4 plus 4 syllables, correspond and claiming at once too much and
to the distinctions whose Greek too little, if one were to ascribe to
equivalents are jtooxrlyadesl jtoa the Lavra copy of Theodore's anti-
oocpia and EVsyEVXaCig1 a&toot6xoAg; phons a position analogous to that oc-
the third Alleluia corresponds to the cupied in the West by the Tonarius
remainder of the paraphrase. of Regino, the Commemoratio brevis,
We may draw two conclusions. or the Hartker Antiphoner. In some
In the Slavic-speaking countries the respects it is a comparable document.
verses and doxologies of the Ana- But there is one respect in which it is
bathmoi were at first recited to the not. As a record of psalmodic prac-
THE ANTIPHONSOF THE OKTOECHOS 67
tice, it is an involuntaryrecord, for music, he sought only to enrich the
its writer did not consciouslyseek to rite of his church, and if he consci-
transmit information on this point. ously alluded in this work to the
All he sought to do was to transmita psalmodic practice of his day, this
cycle of compositionsby an eighth- was for him a meansand not an end.
century author, and it was no con- In a word, while our record belongs
cern of his that, imbedded in that to the tenth century, it records the
cycle, were incidentalallusionsto the testimony of an eighth-centurywit-
salmodicpracticeof its author'sday. ness, and if the record and the wit-
omething of the same kind may be ness are equally ingenuous,they are
said also of Theodore Studites. He by the sametoken equallyandideally
is an involuntary witness, for in trustworthy.
writing a poetic commentaryon the Princeton University
Gradual Psalms and setting it to