Talk:List of Byzantine composers

This article is within the scope of the WikiProject Composers, a group of editors writing and developing biographical articles about composers of all eras and styles. The project discussion page is the place to talk about technical and editorial issues and exchange ideas. New members are welcome!ComposersWikipedia:WikiProject ComposersTemplate:WikiProject ComposersComposers articles

Middle Ages Low‑importance

	Middle Ages portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Middle Ages, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the Middle Ages on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Middle AgesWikipedia:WikiProject Middle AgesTemplate:WikiProject Middle AgesMiddle Ages articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Greece: Byzantine Mid‑importance

	Greece portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Greece, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the culture of Greece on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.GreeceWikipedia:WikiProject GreeceTemplate:WikiProject GreeceGreek articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by the Byzantine world task force.

Comments[edit]

Very good!

Kyriakos and Anastasios lived in 6th century like Romanos (c. 490-556). I do not know if the latter was the emperor, but Anastasius I (c. 431 – 9 July 518), his explicits opinions about monophysitism could be a motivation to compose hymns, although the favorite genres by Cyril of Alexandria () and Severus of Antioch (c. 459/465-538) were hymns of the tropologion, not so much kontakia, but since it was a Syriac genre, why not?

You should definitely mention Jacob of Edessa (c. 640-708) who created the liturgy of Jerusalem, but also made a redaction of the Syriac translation of the tropologion and his contemporary Germanus I of Constantinople (c. 634—c. 732) who established an important school of hymnography in Constantinople. You can find the Russian essay by Alexandra Nikiforova about him (Kassia was deeply influenced by his poetry, see Simić).

I quote for you two passages from Nikiforova's study of the oldest Greek tropologion of Sinai (Sin.Gr. ΜΓ 56+5), apart from earlier papyrus fragments:

The old stratus

"Most of the monostrophes belonging to the old strata can be found in the Lenten, Sacred Triduum, Pascha, Nativity of Christ, and Theophany cycles. These chants usually were passed on without any musical-poetical pattern and are mostly anonymous.

Turning now to the new-strata hymnography, I would like to mention in this tropolgion the interpolation of the second ode, which is the most archaic evidence of this phenomenon known today, and which influenced later Greek, Georgian, Syriac, and Slavonic manuscript menaia. At the beginning of 8 th Century, John of Damascus and Cosmas of Jerusalem carried out a reform in canon writing. They stopped composing for the second ode in nine-ode canons, at the same time preserving the memory of the nine-ode structure, which was treated as sacred. Our tropologion preserves this transitional moment and an attempt to interpolate a second ode into new canons, since the tropologion was ordered to the liturgical practices of the Old Iadgari. In our tropologion the second ode was interpolated five times–in the canons of John and Cosmas for Nativity of Christ and Theophany (rubrics 3, 8, 10) and the two-ode canon for Holy Tuesday (rubric 35). These two approaches to canon composition existed in the 7 th and 8 th centuries: some continued to write canons with a second ode (Old Iadgari, Andrew of Crete and Germanos) and some began to write them without a second ode (John and Cosmas). This situation continued to exist in the 9th Century, when hymnographers composed both nine and eight ode canons without any logical explanation for their choice. But finally, the new trend of canons without the second ode replaced the old one."

The new stratus

"It is fortunate that many attributed hymns are available in Sin.Gr.ΜΓ 56+5, primarily the hymns of John of Damascus (†before 754) and Cosmas of Jerusalem († circa 752). Dimitrios Skrekas studied the iambic canons attributed to John of Damascus in the tropologion, which are some of the earliest and best witness the liturgical poems of this hymnographer. 87 “John the Monk” is mentioned as the author of eight canons–for the Forefeast of the Nativity of Christ (rubric 1), Forefeast of Theophany (rubric 8), Saint Babylas (15 January, rubric 18), Saint Euthymius the Great (20 January, rubric 22), Pascha (rubric 40), New Sunday (rubric 41), the Apparition of Holy Cross over Jerusalem (6 May, rubric 54), and Pentecost (rubric 68). “Cosmas the Monk,” according to the inscriptions in the codex, is the author of six canons–for the Nativity of Christ (25 December, rubric 3), Theophany (6 January, rubric 10), Saint Gregory the Theologian (24 January, rubric 24), the Meeting of our Lord in the Temple (2 February, rubric 28. 3), Holy Thursday (rubric 37), and Pentecost (rubric 65). It seems likely that these two writers are also the authors of many stichera and heirmoi, as well as some other anonymous canons. Thus, according to the manuscript tradition, the canon to Saint Basil the Great (1 January, rubric 5) was a masterpiece of John and the canon to Saint George (23 April, rubric 44), of Cosmas. Only one canon, of Saints Faith, Hope, and Love, (1 June, rubric 69) is attributed in the Tropologion to the famous author of the Old Iadgari “Andrew of Jerusalem” and it is clear the we deal now with a new redaction of the book."

Do not forget the Greek hymnographers who made the first translation into Old Church Slavonic into Glagolithic script, at least Cyril, Methodius and Clement of Ohrid. It does not matter, if they were born in Macedonia or in so-called Bulgaria, they were in charge by knyaz Boris, but also earlier by the King of Moravia (Pannonia). Just forget about national narratives, they are not helpful for the proper understanding and the protagonists could not know about the current territory of the state Bulgaria (founded by the end of the 19th century) --Platonykiss (talk) 22:59, 24 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Many thanks for this. I've taken some time away from this list and will likely get back to it in a couple months for FL. When this happens I'll be sure to go through all of your suggestions! Best - Aza24 (talk) 05:34, 10 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Sabas of Stoudios? Aza24 (talk) 15:26, 26 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Germanus I of Constantinople, Anatolius of Constantinople Aza24 (talk) 02:43, 10 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Jacob of Edessa Aza24 (talk) 02:43, 10 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed, very important! And Severus of Antioch who created together the tropologion...

I also recommend some Georgian hymnographers Iovane Zosime, even he was not so much a hymnographer than a scribe who organised the old and new Iadgari (especially in the horologion ET-MSsc Sinait. georg. 34), and of course the Slavic hymnographer who are not less Byzantine Saints Cyril and Methodius, Clement of Ohrid (Ohrid literary school) and Saint Naum (Preslav literary school). These are only the most important.

In Italy Saint Nilus the Younger (San Nilo da Rossano), he composed akrosticha to celebrate Benedict of Nursia in order to introduce his community at Montecassino Abbey. Another interesting figure, maybe not so well-known is Philanthropinos the Eunoch Protopsaltis who composed in the kalophonic style (like Kladas, Koukouzeles and Glykys). Platonykiss (talk) 17:53, 3 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Possible additions[edit]

These may be included at some point but as of now the scope of the list seems to suggest otherwise Aza24 (talk) 05:34, 10 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Early medieval composers
Name	Lifetime	Nationality	Works	Ref(s)
Panagiotes the New Chrysaphes	c. 1620–25 – after 1682	Romaic–Greek	Composer	^[1]
Petros Bereketis	17th century	Byzantine	Composer
Petros Peloponnesios	c. 1735 – 1778	Byzantine	Composer
Peter the Byzantine	fl. 1770 – 1808	Byzantine	Composer and chanter
Chourmouzios the Archivist	c. 1770 – 1840	Greek	Composer
Chrysanthos of Madytos	c. 1770 – 1846	Byzantine	Composer? and chanter
Gregorios the Protopsaltes

References

^ Lingas, Alexander (2001). "Panagiotes the New Chrysaphes". Grove Music Online. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.52233. (subscription or UK public library membership required)

The most important who should be mentioned here is Balasios the Priest, a Romanian composer and student of Georgios Rhaidestinos I and Germanos of New Patras. He is probably the composer of the Ottoman period, because Petros Peloponnesios just used his heirmologion and corrected some accents according to the style of his school in his own heirmologion argon, his cherubika and some of his polyeleos compositions are very important, he was probably the founder of the new kalophonic style to compose heirmoi kalophonikoi (even a model for Petros Bereketis) and also founded the Athos school to compose in this style (especially at Mone Vatopaideiou).

And very important the archon protopsaltes at the Ecumenical Patriarchate: http://www.ec-patr.net/en/index.htm and http://e-kere.gr/βιογραφικά Platonykiss (talk) 18:09, 3 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Reminder[edit]

Reminder to add the three woman composers from Touliatos-Banker, 1984, p. 80. Aza24 (talk) 23:54, 8 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Also list of composers partially here: [1] Aza24 (talk) 06:50, 23 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Symeon of Thessalonica
another list here Aza24 (talk) 23:38, 26 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion[edit]

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

Kassia.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 21:08, 10 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

To add[edit]

From here: "This compositional activity continued well into the 15th century and beyond, notably in the work of John Kladas, a composer whose main theme was the Virgin Mary (his Akathistos Hymn is highly regarded to this day), and of composers such as John Laskares, Manuel Argyropoylos, Manuel Vlateros, and Manuel Gazes. In the mid-14th century Manuel Chrysaphes emerged as a key figure, with a pivotal and multifaceted body of work, but his contemporaries Gregory Alyates, Gerasimos Chalkeopoulos, Mark, Bishop of Korinthos, and John Plousiadenos were hardly less influential." [2] – Aza24 (talk) 04:48, 13 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Nilus the Younger
Clement of Ohrid
Sabas of Stoudios??
Jacob of Edessa? Aza24 (talk) 04:14, 13 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Cyril and Methodius Aza24 (talk) 04:15, 13 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Sophronius of Jerusalem 04:24, 13 July 2022 (UTC)

"The named hymnographers include John Koukouzeles, Panaretos (Patzadas), Xenos Korones and his brother Agathon, Dokeianos, Mustakon, John Lampadarios al. Kladas, Manuel Chrysaphes, Angelos Gregoriou, Ioannes Glykys, Demetrios priest of the Sunapante Monastery, Ioannes Phokas, Konstantinos Magoulas, Ioannes Laskaris, Ioannes Plousiadinos, Demetrios Argetes, and Ioannes Argyropoulos." – [bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=add_ms_57942_fs001r]
"Agathon Korones, Dokeianos, Panaretos, Kontopetres, Michael Ananeotes, Manuel Agallianos" – [3] (long list)
Kontakion composers ([4])
"Some of the composers represented are among the earliest hymnographers: Germanos, Andreas Pyros, Byzantios, Kyprianos, John Damascene, Kassia, Leon, Anatalois, Stuodites, Theophanes, Kosmas Hagiopolites, Georgios Nikomedias, Arsenios, Ephraim, Methodios" – https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Descriptive_Catalogue_of_the_Musical_M/SXPv2jqOS64C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Diane+H.+Touliatos-Banker&pg=PR4&printsec=frontcover] (p. 4) – Aza24 (talk) 05:38, 11 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
[5] further women composers listed here – Aza24 (talk) 23:00, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
list in Greek, I think? p. 444 cf – Aza24 (talk) 15:51, 12 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Συμβολαὶ εἰς τὴν ἱστορίαν τῆς παρ' ἡμῖν εκκλησιαστικής μουσικής – list throughout – Aza24 (talk) 16:01, 12 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

[1] Lingas, Alexander (2001). "Panagiotes the New Chrysaphes". Grove Music Online. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.52233. (subscription or UK public library membership required)

[1]