Modern music notation developed out of the so-called square notation and this out of the Latin ne... more Modern music notation developed out of the so-called square notation and this out of the Latin neumes. The question of where these neumes came from has long been the subject of scholarly debate. This study aroused a great deal of dispute, recent studies have revealed that relevance of Neumenkunde remains essentially unchallenged after 40 years.
Book synopsis
Five kondakarian manuscripts dating from the 11th to 13th century belong among t... more Book synopsis
Five kondakarian manuscripts dating from the 11th to 13th century belong among the oldest witnesses of Russian church music. The Slavonic church texts are accompanied by a peculiar notation which represents the most complex notational system of the European Middle Ages. For centuries this system has been viewed as being undecipherable. In 1962 the author of this book succeeded in deciphering this notation using various methods even though directly compatible Greek sources were unknown at that time. His research appeared in two issues of journal which ceased publication several years ago. After the publication of the first part of this study a Greek philologist discovered in Kastoria (Northern Greece) a unique manuscript with a system of notation similar to that of the Russian kondakaria, confirming there by his research results in a most unexpected and indubitable manner. This path-breaking study has been revised and brought up to date in the present publication. The prominent Russian scholar Yuri Keldysh was of the opinion that «no historian of Russian music would be able to proceed without taking into consideration this study».
"This book is based primarily on the research of the author in the field of neumatic notation, pa... more "This book is based primarily on the research of the author in the field of neumatic notation, particularly his three-volume Universale Neumenkunde published in 1970. The principal studies in the field, both the older and the younger studies, are acknowledged. In addition, many recent research results appear here for the first time.
About the author
Constantin Floros is professor emeritus of musicology at the University of Hamburg and a prolific writer on diverse subjects. Born in Thessaloniki, he was trained in law at the University of Thessaloniki and in music at the Vienna Music Academy and the universities of Vienna and Hamburg. Among his monographs are three volumes on the origin of Gregorian neumes (Universale Neumenkunde: Bärenreiter, 1970), as well as books on the semantic meaning of the symphony; and on, among other composers, Mahler (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1977-85; Amadeus Press, 1993), Berg (Breitkopf, 1993), and Ligeti (Verlag Lafite, 1996). In 1999 Constantin Floros was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Athens. He was elected to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2002 and received the golden honorary diploma from the University of Vienna in 2005.
About the Translator
Neil K. Moran is the author of numerous studies on European cultural history in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, including The Ordinary Chants of the Byzantine Mass (K. D. Wagner Verlag, 1975) and Singers in Byzantine and Late Slavonic Painting (E. J. Brill, 1986). A native of Edmonton, Alberta, Dr. Moran earned the B.Mus. degree from the University of Alberta, the M.A. from Boston University, and the Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Hamburg. He has resided in Toronto since 1979.
"
Alive with adventure, rich with exotic detail, the voice of Rudyard Kipling carried readers to fa... more Alive with adventure, rich with exotic detail, the voice of Rudyard Kipling carried readers to faraway locations and brought new, exciting scenes to their doorsteps. Born and raised in India, Kipling became the voice of the eastern British Empire, and his writing extensively covered Central Asia. Early in his career, Kipling drew inspiration not from travels of his own, but from working with far-flung correspondents at the Civil and Military Gazette in Lahore, Pakistan, where he served as assistant editor. One of his chief correspondents was Dr. Charles Owen, a close friend of his father’s who served a tour of duty with the Afghan Boundary Commission between 1884 and 1886 addressing the border dispute between Great Britain and Russia. This historical biography provides a new perspective on Kipling’s days as an employee of the Civil and Military Gazette. Information garnered from newly uncovered letters and diaries of Dr. Owen (acquired by the National Army Museum in 1998) gives personal insight into Kipling’s life as well as firsthand perceptions of the Boundary Commission’s work. In addition, appendices provide a wealth of information regarding articles by Kipling, articles attributed to Kipling or his supervisor Wheeler, Kipling’s translations of Russian dispatches, and Boundary Commission reports.
reviews:
SPECULUM 65, 1990, pp 462–464 by George Gavlavaris.
BYZANTINOSLAVICA 50, 1989, 88-90 ... more reviews:
SPECULUM 65, 1990, pp 462–464 by George Gavlavaris.
BYZANTINOSLAVICA 50, 1989, 88-90 by Василий Пуцко (in Russian)
BYZANTINISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT 82, 198, 31-318 by P. L. Vocotopoulos (in Greek)
TIJDSCHRIFT VOOR GESCHIEDENIS 101, 1988, 428-429 by J. van Herwaarden (in Dutch)
JAHRBUCH DER ÖSTERREICHISCHEN BYZANTINISTIK 38, 1988, 509-510 by Gerda Wofram (in German)
Speculum
"Singers in Late Byzantine and Slavonic Painting. by Neil K. Moran / Review by: George GalavarisSpeculum, Vol. 65, No. 2 (Apr., 1990), pp. 462-464Published by: Medieval Academy of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2864346 .
In 1969 Nicholas Zias published two icons from Kastoria in which he identified cantors making "musical" gestures with their hands. It was this work that prompted Dr. Moran to undertake his study of singers in Byzantine art, starting primarily from a musicological point of view and branching out to their representations in frescoes, manuscripts, and icons. The book was completed in 1981.
The introductory chapter (pp. 1-13) presents problems of Byzantine music known from other specialized studies, such as the gradual emergence of composers from anonymity in late Byzantine manuscripts and above all the cheironomia (i.e., the signs of musical notation conveyed through the fingers, an art of Byzantine conducting). Questions associated with the iconography of the singers are also raised.
In the second chapter (pp. 5-13) the author defines the motif of the psaltae, not a subject by itself, but a component part of larger compositions. The motif became important in late Byzantine art but lost its vitality in the post-Byzantine period. The third chapter (pp. 15-30), the most informative and fluent in the book, deals with
the reconstruction of the Byzantine choir. Drawing on primary literary sources and modern studies and fully aware of the conflicting opinions of scholars, Moran distinguishes
the various ranks of the choir, defines Greek terms, discusses the condition of the psaltae's work, their salary, their musical education, and the position that music had within the classical quadrivium. Furthermore he investigates the location of the
choir in the church, the importance of the ambo, the function of the singers in the Byzantine ceremonials, and their costumes. There follows an extensive discussion of the cheironomia, which the author correctly differentiates from the modern conception
of a director's function: "It was rather an exact science for the identification of specific music intervals, of melodic figures" (p. 46). The controversial nature of literary sources is recognized, and hence any visual evidence on the problems of the cheironomia
becomes exceptionally important. An illustration cut by Uspenski, probably from Athos, MS Koutloumousi 457 (probably from the fourteenth century), and brought to St. Petersburg, forms the bridge from text to image. The miniature depicts three
late Byzantine composers, two of whom make signs with their fingers, identified by inscriptions with two different musical notations. These signs are found in Byzantine and Slavonic paintings.
In subsequent chapters, the author embarks upon the examination of the visual evidence, the portrayal of singers in the Skylitzes manuscript and in various distinct themes, such as the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, the sources of wisdom scenes,
death scenes, the illustrations of Psalms 134 and 148-50, the Akathistos hymn, the Christmas hymn, the Pokrov Bogomateri, and finally post-Byzantine hymnographic compositions. A glossary of Greek terms, a selection of musical neumes and their
Greek equivalents, and a select bibliography are appended. ""
Ostkirchliche Studien 66 (2017);
An investigation of the placement of the ceiling rings and fu... more Ostkirchliche Studien 66 (2017);
An investigation of the placement of the ceiling rings and furnishings in the aisles of the Hagia Sophia reveals significant information about the construction of Justinian’s church. Over 300 rings were identified in the four corners of the churlch
An investigation of the ceiling rings in the western end of the north aisle in the Hagia Sophia r... more An investigation of the ceiling rings in the western end of the north aisle in the Hagia Sophia revealed a rectangular space delineated by curtain rings. The SE corner of the church was assigned to forty deaconesses. An analysis of the music sources in which the texts are fully written out suggests that the deaconesses took part in the procession of the Great Entrance ceremony at the beginning of the Mass of the Faithful as well in rituals in front of the ambo. ……………………………………………………………………………………….. Since the turn of the century, a lively discussion has developed about the function and place of deaconesses in the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches. In her 2002 dissertation on "The Liturgical Participation of Women in the Byzantine Church. " 1 Valerie Karras examined the ordination rites for deaconesses preserved in eighth-century to eleventh-century euchologia. In the Novellae Constitutiones added to his code Justinian stipulated that there were to be forty deaconesses assigned to the Hagia Sophia: 2 Wherefore We order that not more than sixty priests, a hundred deacons, forty deaconesses, ninety sub-deacons, a hundred and ten readers, or twenty-five choristers, shall be attached to the Most Holy Principal Church, so that the entire number of most reverend ecclesiastics belonging thereto shall not exceed four hundred and twenty in all, without including the hundred other members of the clergy who are called porters.
Oriens Christianus Band 98 (2015), 174-183.
An except:
Nach Taft und Mathews hat sich der Kleru... more Oriens Christianus Band 98 (2015), 174-183. An except: Nach Taft und Mathews hat sich der Klerus am Anfang der Messe der Gläubigen im Skeuophylakion versammelt. Wenn dies der Fall wäre, dann musste man annehmen, dass die Byzantiner von damals einen völlig anderen Begriff von „Schatzkammer“ hatten, als wir ihn heute haben. Hätten die Byzantiner einer ganzen Schar von Diakonen und Unterdiakonen Zugang zu diesem abgelegenen, mit Kostbarkeiten und kaiserliche Thronen gefüllten Raum gewähren sollen? Man muss sich nun fragen wessen Auffassung „eigenwillig“ ist. Vor Beginn der Messe der Gläubigen wurde die Hagia Sophia gegen die materielle Welt abgeschlossen. Die Behauptungen von Taft, dass „one door, guarded by a deacon or porter, must have been left open“ (S. 194) oder „What would or would not be mentioned by a commentator is not always a convincing argument“ verraten die Schwäche ihrer These. Taft schrieb: “since in Hagia Sophia the skeuophylakion from which the procession departed was outside the church ..., the deacons may have had to intone the chant to signal that the procession was ready to enter” (Taft, p 80). Man muss sich fragen, wie das Signal den Praipositoi vermittelt wurde? Die Praipositoi fassten sich mit der Platzierung der Kaiser, Senatoren und die verschiedenen Träger der Zepter und den Rest der Insignien auf der rechten Seite des Ambons. ...Van Nice bemerkte, dass – ausgehend von dem Boden –, anscheinend Möbel aus der Nordostecke der Kirche entfernt wurden. Er konnte sich auch nicht vorstellen, dass Justinian die Hagia Sophia bauen könnte, ohne die Liturgie in Betracht zu ziehen.
Neil Moran, Халките за завеси в Света София @academia.edu
Въпреки, че е пренебрегвано при предишн... more Neil Moran, Халките за завеси в Света София @academia.edu Въпреки, че е пренебрегвано при предишни проучвания разположението на халките на тавана в Света София разкри значителна информация за литургията на Великата църква.
Appendix I.14: [The Rawul Pindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 6, 1885, p. 5ab)
Appen... more Appendix I.14: [The Rawul Pindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 6, 1885, p. 5ab) Appendix I.15: [The Rawul Pindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 6, 1885, p. 5bc) Appendix I.16: [The Rawul Pindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 6, 1885, p. 5cd) Appendix I.17: [The Rawul Pindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 7, 1885, 3bd) Appendix I.18: [The Rawul Pindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 8, 1885, p. 3bd–4a) Appendix I.19: [The Rawalpindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 9, 1885, p. 3d–4a) Appendix I.20: [The Rawalpindi Durbar] Civil and Military Gazette, (April ¡0, 1885, p. 3bd) from Neil Moran, Kipling and Afghanistan: a study of the young author as journalist writing on the Afghan Border Crisis of 1884-1885. McFarland & Company, 2005.
“Peshawar: The City of Evil Countenances” by Rudyard Kipling (from Neil Moran, Kipling and Afghan... more “Peshawar: The City of Evil Countenances” by Rudyard Kipling (from Neil Moran, Kipling and Afghanistan: a study of the young author as journalist writing on the Afghan Border Crisis of 1884-1885. McFarland & Company, 2005, page 134 ff.). Originally published in the Civil and Military Gazette, April 1, 1885, p. 4ab). Kipling was in Peshawar awaiting the arrival of the Amir of Afghanistan. The Amir met with the Viceroy of India in Rawul Pindi in April of 1885.
In: Michael Altripp / Claudia Nauerth (Hgg.): Architektur und Liturgie. Akten des Kolloquiums vom 25. bis 27. Juli 2003 in Greifswald (= Spätantike - Frühes Christentum - Byzanz. Kunst im ersten Jahrtausend. Reihe B: Studien und Perspektiven; Bd. 21), Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag 2006.
The architectural shell of the Church of Holy Wisdom surrounds a supernatural space preserving th... more The architectural shell of the Church of Holy Wisdom surrounds a supernatural space preserving through the centuries the most exquisite acoustical and optical tensions imaginable. John Chrysostom called upon the services of Brison, a eunuch in the service of the empress Eudoxia, to establish the two foundation stones which were to influence the development of musical culture until the 13th century; namely antiphony between two choirs of singers and the use of castrati. Both castrati and regular male singers figured in the choirs of the Hagia Sophia until the 9th century. At the Christmas service in St. Stephen’s chapel in 820, however, the emperor Leo V was murdered by assassins who had assumed the costumes of singers and sneaked into the palace precincts. After this incident singers were required to live in quarters within the imperial palace, a regulation which put ‘bearded’ singers with families at a disadvantage. Theodoros Balsamon states that by the 12th century the ordo cantorum consisted entirely of eunuchs.
Les Traditions du Plain-Chant Occidental / Actes du colloque de l’institut grégorien du Canada, Hamilton, 13-16 août 2009.
In this presentation the chant Crucem tuam is traced back to the Greek chant Τον Σταυρόν σου προσ... more In this presentation the chant Crucem tuam is traced back to the Greek chant Τον Σταυρόν σου προσκυνοῦμεν from the Palestinian liturgy. In Greek sources this chant is assigned to the second medial mode. The results of the analysis are related to the question of the parapteres within the context of the Medieval modal system.
The present study should be understood as a contribution to the disputed relationship of Byzantin... more The present study should be understood as a contribution to the disputed relationship of Byzantine to Old Roman and Gregorian chant. It is based on a study of offertory chants in the relatively little-known medial modes. The author discusses four Old Roman offertories in the second medial mode in the recently
published book Inside the Offertory by Rebecca Maloy: In die sollemnitatis, Erit vobis, Confirma hoc and Oravi deum meum. Comparisons are made with chants based on Crucem tuam of the Old Roman repertory. In a previous article in Plainsong and Medieval Music the author demonstrated that the medial characteristics disappeared in the same texts in the Gregorian repertoire. In her comparisons of Old Roman and Gregorian sources Rebecca Maloy comes to a completely different conclusion. She argues that the so-called „Old Roman“ melodies
are late medieval creations and she characterizes them with the negative term ‘formulaicism’. In this article her conclusions are called into question.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
The employment of castrati in the Byzantine Church can be traced back to the choirmaster Brison i... more The employment of castrati in the Byzantine Church can be traced back to the choirmaster Brison in the fourth century. Brison was called upon by John Chrysostom to organize the antiphonal hymn-singing in the patriarchal church. Since eunuchs were generally considered to be remnants of a pagan past, castrati are seldom mentioned in early Byzantine sources, but beginning in the tenth century references to eunuchs or castrati became more and more frequent. By the twelfth century all the professional singers in the Hagia Sophia were castrati. The repertory of the castrati is discussed and the question is raised whether the introduction of castrati to the Sistine Chapel was influenced by the employment of castrati in Italo-Greek cloisters.
The architectural shell of the Church of Holy Wisdom surrounds a supernatural space preserving th... more The architectural shell of the Church of Holy Wisdom surrounds a supernatural space preserving through the centuries the most exquisite acoustical and optical tensions imaginable.
Modern music notation developed out of the so-called square notation and this out of the Latin ne... more Modern music notation developed out of the so-called square notation and this out of the Latin neumes. The question of where these neumes came from has long been the subject of scholarly debate. This study aroused a great deal of dispute, recent studies have revealed that relevance of Neumenkunde remains essentially unchallenged after 40 years.
Book synopsis
Five kondakarian manuscripts dating from the 11th to 13th century belong among t... more Book synopsis
Five kondakarian manuscripts dating from the 11th to 13th century belong among the oldest witnesses of Russian church music. The Slavonic church texts are accompanied by a peculiar notation which represents the most complex notational system of the European Middle Ages. For centuries this system has been viewed as being undecipherable. In 1962 the author of this book succeeded in deciphering this notation using various methods even though directly compatible Greek sources were unknown at that time. His research appeared in two issues of journal which ceased publication several years ago. After the publication of the first part of this study a Greek philologist discovered in Kastoria (Northern Greece) a unique manuscript with a system of notation similar to that of the Russian kondakaria, confirming there by his research results in a most unexpected and indubitable manner. This path-breaking study has been revised and brought up to date in the present publication. The prominent Russian scholar Yuri Keldysh was of the opinion that «no historian of Russian music would be able to proceed without taking into consideration this study».
"This book is based primarily on the research of the author in the field of neumatic notation, pa... more "This book is based primarily on the research of the author in the field of neumatic notation, particularly his three-volume Universale Neumenkunde published in 1970. The principal studies in the field, both the older and the younger studies, are acknowledged. In addition, many recent research results appear here for the first time.
About the author
Constantin Floros is professor emeritus of musicology at the University of Hamburg and a prolific writer on diverse subjects. Born in Thessaloniki, he was trained in law at the University of Thessaloniki and in music at the Vienna Music Academy and the universities of Vienna and Hamburg. Among his monographs are three volumes on the origin of Gregorian neumes (Universale Neumenkunde: Bärenreiter, 1970), as well as books on the semantic meaning of the symphony; and on, among other composers, Mahler (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1977-85; Amadeus Press, 1993), Berg (Breitkopf, 1993), and Ligeti (Verlag Lafite, 1996). In 1999 Constantin Floros was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Athens. He was elected to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2002 and received the golden honorary diploma from the University of Vienna in 2005.
About the Translator
Neil K. Moran is the author of numerous studies on European cultural history in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, including The Ordinary Chants of the Byzantine Mass (K. D. Wagner Verlag, 1975) and Singers in Byzantine and Late Slavonic Painting (E. J. Brill, 1986). A native of Edmonton, Alberta, Dr. Moran earned the B.Mus. degree from the University of Alberta, the M.A. from Boston University, and the Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Hamburg. He has resided in Toronto since 1979.
"
Alive with adventure, rich with exotic detail, the voice of Rudyard Kipling carried readers to fa... more Alive with adventure, rich with exotic detail, the voice of Rudyard Kipling carried readers to faraway locations and brought new, exciting scenes to their doorsteps. Born and raised in India, Kipling became the voice of the eastern British Empire, and his writing extensively covered Central Asia. Early in his career, Kipling drew inspiration not from travels of his own, but from working with far-flung correspondents at the Civil and Military Gazette in Lahore, Pakistan, where he served as assistant editor. One of his chief correspondents was Dr. Charles Owen, a close friend of his father’s who served a tour of duty with the Afghan Boundary Commission between 1884 and 1886 addressing the border dispute between Great Britain and Russia. This historical biography provides a new perspective on Kipling’s days as an employee of the Civil and Military Gazette. Information garnered from newly uncovered letters and diaries of Dr. Owen (acquired by the National Army Museum in 1998) gives personal insight into Kipling’s life as well as firsthand perceptions of the Boundary Commission’s work. In addition, appendices provide a wealth of information regarding articles by Kipling, articles attributed to Kipling or his supervisor Wheeler, Kipling’s translations of Russian dispatches, and Boundary Commission reports.
reviews:
SPECULUM 65, 1990, pp 462–464 by George Gavlavaris.
BYZANTINOSLAVICA 50, 1989, 88-90 ... more reviews:
SPECULUM 65, 1990, pp 462–464 by George Gavlavaris.
BYZANTINOSLAVICA 50, 1989, 88-90 by Василий Пуцко (in Russian)
BYZANTINISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT 82, 198, 31-318 by P. L. Vocotopoulos (in Greek)
TIJDSCHRIFT VOOR GESCHIEDENIS 101, 1988, 428-429 by J. van Herwaarden (in Dutch)
JAHRBUCH DER ÖSTERREICHISCHEN BYZANTINISTIK 38, 1988, 509-510 by Gerda Wofram (in German)
Speculum
"Singers in Late Byzantine and Slavonic Painting. by Neil K. Moran / Review by: George GalavarisSpeculum, Vol. 65, No. 2 (Apr., 1990), pp. 462-464Published by: Medieval Academy of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2864346 .
In 1969 Nicholas Zias published two icons from Kastoria in which he identified cantors making "musical" gestures with their hands. It was this work that prompted Dr. Moran to undertake his study of singers in Byzantine art, starting primarily from a musicological point of view and branching out to their representations in frescoes, manuscripts, and icons. The book was completed in 1981.
The introductory chapter (pp. 1-13) presents problems of Byzantine music known from other specialized studies, such as the gradual emergence of composers from anonymity in late Byzantine manuscripts and above all the cheironomia (i.e., the signs of musical notation conveyed through the fingers, an art of Byzantine conducting). Questions associated with the iconography of the singers are also raised.
In the second chapter (pp. 5-13) the author defines the motif of the psaltae, not a subject by itself, but a component part of larger compositions. The motif became important in late Byzantine art but lost its vitality in the post-Byzantine period. The third chapter (pp. 15-30), the most informative and fluent in the book, deals with
the reconstruction of the Byzantine choir. Drawing on primary literary sources and modern studies and fully aware of the conflicting opinions of scholars, Moran distinguishes
the various ranks of the choir, defines Greek terms, discusses the condition of the psaltae's work, their salary, their musical education, and the position that music had within the classical quadrivium. Furthermore he investigates the location of the
choir in the church, the importance of the ambo, the function of the singers in the Byzantine ceremonials, and their costumes. There follows an extensive discussion of the cheironomia, which the author correctly differentiates from the modern conception
of a director's function: "It was rather an exact science for the identification of specific music intervals, of melodic figures" (p. 46). The controversial nature of literary sources is recognized, and hence any visual evidence on the problems of the cheironomia
becomes exceptionally important. An illustration cut by Uspenski, probably from Athos, MS Koutloumousi 457 (probably from the fourteenth century), and brought to St. Petersburg, forms the bridge from text to image. The miniature depicts three
late Byzantine composers, two of whom make signs with their fingers, identified by inscriptions with two different musical notations. These signs are found in Byzantine and Slavonic paintings.
In subsequent chapters, the author embarks upon the examination of the visual evidence, the portrayal of singers in the Skylitzes manuscript and in various distinct themes, such as the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, the sources of wisdom scenes,
death scenes, the illustrations of Psalms 134 and 148-50, the Akathistos hymn, the Christmas hymn, the Pokrov Bogomateri, and finally post-Byzantine hymnographic compositions. A glossary of Greek terms, a selection of musical neumes and their
Greek equivalents, and a select bibliography are appended. ""
Ostkirchliche Studien 66 (2017);
An investigation of the placement of the ceiling rings and fu... more Ostkirchliche Studien 66 (2017);
An investigation of the placement of the ceiling rings and furnishings in the aisles of the Hagia Sophia reveals significant information about the construction of Justinian’s church. Over 300 rings were identified in the four corners of the churlch
An investigation of the ceiling rings in the western end of the north aisle in the Hagia Sophia r... more An investigation of the ceiling rings in the western end of the north aisle in the Hagia Sophia revealed a rectangular space delineated by curtain rings. The SE corner of the church was assigned to forty deaconesses. An analysis of the music sources in which the texts are fully written out suggests that the deaconesses took part in the procession of the Great Entrance ceremony at the beginning of the Mass of the Faithful as well in rituals in front of the ambo. ……………………………………………………………………………………….. Since the turn of the century, a lively discussion has developed about the function and place of deaconesses in the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches. In her 2002 dissertation on "The Liturgical Participation of Women in the Byzantine Church. " 1 Valerie Karras examined the ordination rites for deaconesses preserved in eighth-century to eleventh-century euchologia. In the Novellae Constitutiones added to his code Justinian stipulated that there were to be forty deaconesses assigned to the Hagia Sophia: 2 Wherefore We order that not more than sixty priests, a hundred deacons, forty deaconesses, ninety sub-deacons, a hundred and ten readers, or twenty-five choristers, shall be attached to the Most Holy Principal Church, so that the entire number of most reverend ecclesiastics belonging thereto shall not exceed four hundred and twenty in all, without including the hundred other members of the clergy who are called porters.
Oriens Christianus Band 98 (2015), 174-183.
An except:
Nach Taft und Mathews hat sich der Kleru... more Oriens Christianus Band 98 (2015), 174-183. An except: Nach Taft und Mathews hat sich der Klerus am Anfang der Messe der Gläubigen im Skeuophylakion versammelt. Wenn dies der Fall wäre, dann musste man annehmen, dass die Byzantiner von damals einen völlig anderen Begriff von „Schatzkammer“ hatten, als wir ihn heute haben. Hätten die Byzantiner einer ganzen Schar von Diakonen und Unterdiakonen Zugang zu diesem abgelegenen, mit Kostbarkeiten und kaiserliche Thronen gefüllten Raum gewähren sollen? Man muss sich nun fragen wessen Auffassung „eigenwillig“ ist. Vor Beginn der Messe der Gläubigen wurde die Hagia Sophia gegen die materielle Welt abgeschlossen. Die Behauptungen von Taft, dass „one door, guarded by a deacon or porter, must have been left open“ (S. 194) oder „What would or would not be mentioned by a commentator is not always a convincing argument“ verraten die Schwäche ihrer These. Taft schrieb: “since in Hagia Sophia the skeuophylakion from which the procession departed was outside the church ..., the deacons may have had to intone the chant to signal that the procession was ready to enter” (Taft, p 80). Man muss sich fragen, wie das Signal den Praipositoi vermittelt wurde? Die Praipositoi fassten sich mit der Platzierung der Kaiser, Senatoren und die verschiedenen Träger der Zepter und den Rest der Insignien auf der rechten Seite des Ambons. ...Van Nice bemerkte, dass – ausgehend von dem Boden –, anscheinend Möbel aus der Nordostecke der Kirche entfernt wurden. Er konnte sich auch nicht vorstellen, dass Justinian die Hagia Sophia bauen könnte, ohne die Liturgie in Betracht zu ziehen.
Neil Moran, Халките за завеси в Света София @academia.edu
Въпреки, че е пренебрегвано при предишн... more Neil Moran, Халките за завеси в Света София @academia.edu Въпреки, че е пренебрегвано при предишни проучвания разположението на халките на тавана в Света София разкри значителна информация за литургията на Великата църква.
Appendix I.14: [The Rawul Pindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 6, 1885, p. 5ab)
Appen... more Appendix I.14: [The Rawul Pindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 6, 1885, p. 5ab) Appendix I.15: [The Rawul Pindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 6, 1885, p. 5bc) Appendix I.16: [The Rawul Pindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 6, 1885, p. 5cd) Appendix I.17: [The Rawul Pindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 7, 1885, 3bd) Appendix I.18: [The Rawul Pindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 8, 1885, p. 3bd–4a) Appendix I.19: [The Rawalpindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 9, 1885, p. 3d–4a) Appendix I.20: [The Rawalpindi Durbar] Civil and Military Gazette, (April ¡0, 1885, p. 3bd) from Neil Moran, Kipling and Afghanistan: a study of the young author as journalist writing on the Afghan Border Crisis of 1884-1885. McFarland & Company, 2005.
“Peshawar: The City of Evil Countenances” by Rudyard Kipling (from Neil Moran, Kipling and Afghan... more “Peshawar: The City of Evil Countenances” by Rudyard Kipling (from Neil Moran, Kipling and Afghanistan: a study of the young author as journalist writing on the Afghan Border Crisis of 1884-1885. McFarland & Company, 2005, page 134 ff.). Originally published in the Civil and Military Gazette, April 1, 1885, p. 4ab). Kipling was in Peshawar awaiting the arrival of the Amir of Afghanistan. The Amir met with the Viceroy of India in Rawul Pindi in April of 1885.
In: Michael Altripp / Claudia Nauerth (Hgg.): Architektur und Liturgie. Akten des Kolloquiums vom 25. bis 27. Juli 2003 in Greifswald (= Spätantike - Frühes Christentum - Byzanz. Kunst im ersten Jahrtausend. Reihe B: Studien und Perspektiven; Bd. 21), Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag 2006.
The architectural shell of the Church of Holy Wisdom surrounds a supernatural space preserving th... more The architectural shell of the Church of Holy Wisdom surrounds a supernatural space preserving through the centuries the most exquisite acoustical and optical tensions imaginable. John Chrysostom called upon the services of Brison, a eunuch in the service of the empress Eudoxia, to establish the two foundation stones which were to influence the development of musical culture until the 13th century; namely antiphony between two choirs of singers and the use of castrati. Both castrati and regular male singers figured in the choirs of the Hagia Sophia until the 9th century. At the Christmas service in St. Stephen’s chapel in 820, however, the emperor Leo V was murdered by assassins who had assumed the costumes of singers and sneaked into the palace precincts. After this incident singers were required to live in quarters within the imperial palace, a regulation which put ‘bearded’ singers with families at a disadvantage. Theodoros Balsamon states that by the 12th century the ordo cantorum consisted entirely of eunuchs.
Les Traditions du Plain-Chant Occidental / Actes du colloque de l’institut grégorien du Canada, Hamilton, 13-16 août 2009.
In this presentation the chant Crucem tuam is traced back to the Greek chant Τον Σταυρόν σου προσ... more In this presentation the chant Crucem tuam is traced back to the Greek chant Τον Σταυρόν σου προσκυνοῦμεν from the Palestinian liturgy. In Greek sources this chant is assigned to the second medial mode. The results of the analysis are related to the question of the parapteres within the context of the Medieval modal system.
The present study should be understood as a contribution to the disputed relationship of Byzantin... more The present study should be understood as a contribution to the disputed relationship of Byzantine to Old Roman and Gregorian chant. It is based on a study of offertory chants in the relatively little-known medial modes. The author discusses four Old Roman offertories in the second medial mode in the recently
published book Inside the Offertory by Rebecca Maloy: In die sollemnitatis, Erit vobis, Confirma hoc and Oravi deum meum. Comparisons are made with chants based on Crucem tuam of the Old Roman repertory. In a previous article in Plainsong and Medieval Music the author demonstrated that the medial characteristics disappeared in the same texts in the Gregorian repertoire. In her comparisons of Old Roman and Gregorian sources Rebecca Maloy comes to a completely different conclusion. She argues that the so-called „Old Roman“ melodies
are late medieval creations and she characterizes them with the negative term ‘formulaicism’. In this article her conclusions are called into question.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
The employment of castrati in the Byzantine Church can be traced back to the choirmaster Brison i... more The employment of castrati in the Byzantine Church can be traced back to the choirmaster Brison in the fourth century. Brison was called upon by John Chrysostom to organize the antiphonal hymn-singing in the patriarchal church. Since eunuchs were generally considered to be remnants of a pagan past, castrati are seldom mentioned in early Byzantine sources, but beginning in the tenth century references to eunuchs or castrati became more and more frequent. By the twelfth century all the professional singers in the Hagia Sophia were castrati. The repertory of the castrati is discussed and the question is raised whether the introduction of castrati to the Sistine Chapel was influenced by the employment of castrati in Italo-Greek cloisters.
The architectural shell of the Church of Holy Wisdom surrounds a supernatural space preserving th... more The architectural shell of the Church of Holy Wisdom surrounds a supernatural space preserving through the centuries the most exquisite acoustical and optical tensions imaginable.
Chants based on Crucem tuam in the second medial mode are examined in Greek, Slavonic and Latin s... more Chants based on Crucem tuam in the second medial mode are examined in Greek, Slavonic and Latin sources. Central to the discussion is the role of Jerusalem in the dissemination of the modal system. On the Latin side, the emphasis is on Old Roman melodies, showing how they reproduce the prototypes more faithfully than Beneventan or Frankish melodies. The analysis does not support certain conclusions regarding the origins of the modal system and the relationship of Old Roman and Gregorian melodies advanced by Robert Snow, Helmut Hucke and Leo Treitler."
Relationships between Latin, Byzantine and Slaviconic Church Music in the Early and High Middle A... more Relationships between Latin, Byzantine and Slaviconic Church Music in the Early and High Middle Ages: The Cherubikon for Holy Thursday: ΤΟΥ ΔΕΙΠΝΟΥ ΣΟΥ
Renaissance and Reformation, vol VII, no. 4, p. 282-284, 1981
Petersen, Peter: “Against the "dehumanization of music". On the occasion of the eighteenth birthd... more Petersen, Peter: “Against the "dehumanization of music". On the occasion of the eighteenth birthday of the musicologist and historian Constantin Floros,” translated from: Musikforum 8 (2010), 58-59.
“Specialisation without universality is blind. Universalism is blind. Universality without specialisation is a soap bubble.” This is the maxim of the musicologist and historian Constantin Floros, whose academic life is now being celebrated.
Christian Waldhagen: “Everything is material, but material is not everything. The meaning of the ... more Christian Waldhagen: “Everything is material, but material is not everything. The meaning of the adage that universal scholarship is no longer possible today depends on the concept of the universality: the example of the musicologist Constantin Floros” in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, January 6, 2010. In our thoroughly diversified world, the archetype of the universal scholar shares a fate to a certain degree with that of the dinosaurs. No one can seriously claim today to have an overview of the development of human knowledge. At the same time, there are at least a few individual figures in individual areas, who, by virtue of the breadth of their research and their specific focus, exemplify entire disciplines. Among them is the German-Greek musicologist Constantin Floros, who celebrated his 80th birthday at the beginning of January. Floros, professor of musicology at the University of Hamburg for many years, continues to encompass without any pretenses a comprehensive range of themes stretching from tonal works of the Middle Ages to the music of the 18th, 19th and 20thcenturies.
TRANSLATION
Petersen, Peter: “Against the "dehumanization of music". On the occasion of the eight... more TRANSLATION Petersen, Peter: “Against the "dehumanization of music". On the occasion of the eighteenth birthday of the musicologist and historian Constantin Floros,” translated from: Musikforum 8 (2010), 58-59.
“Specialisation without universality is blind. Universalism is blind. Universality without specialisation is a soap bubble.” This is the maxim of the musicologist and historian Constantin Floros, whose academic life is now being celebrated.
"The subject of this book is the semantics of symphonic music from Beethoven to Mahler. Of fundam... more "The subject of this book is the semantics of symphonic music from Beethoven to Mahler. Of fundamental importance is the realization that this music is imbued with non-musical, literary, philosophical and religious ideas. It is also clear that not only Beethoven, Schubert and Bruckner were crucial role models for Mahler, but also the musical dramatist Wagner and the programmatic symphony composers Berlioz and Liszt. At the same time a semantic musical analysis of their works reveals for the first time the actual inherent (poetic) quintessence of numerous orchestral works of the 19th Century."
At the Twentieth Biennial New College Conference on Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Sarasota, Mar... more At the Twentieth Biennial New College Conference on Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Sarasota, March 2016 a session was organized on The Hagia Sophia: Recent Discoveries with papers by Ruth Dwyer ("The Emperor Justinian and an Oracle at the Hagia Sophia"). Çiğdem Özkan Aygün, Istanbul (The Subterranean Tunnels, Wells and Cisterns Beneath the Hagia Sophia) and Neil Moran (Curtain Rings in the Hagia Sophia as Related to the Celebration of the Mass).
Curtain Rings in the Hagia Sophia as Related to the Celebration of the Mass
In 1979 in the Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik I suggested that the Great Entrance ceremony at the beginning of the Mass began inside the church to the left of the altar. The implements for the procession were brought from the skeuophylakion into this area and the procession proceeded to the center of the left aisle where it turned into the nave. The curtain rings in the ceiling along this corridor figured as a main component of my thesis. When my colleagues Ruth Dwyer and Şebnem Yavuz were in the Aya Sofya Müzesi in 2012 they recorded the location of over 300 curtain rings in the aisles and photographed them. An arrangement similar to that in the NE corner marked curtained off areas in all four corners of the church. The emperor's metatorium was hidden behind curtains in the SE corner and the SW corner was reserved for the patriarch. Most intriguing are the rings in the NW corner. Taft believes the narthex of the woman deaconesses was in a vestibule extending out from the north side of the bema. The placement of the rings in the NW corner indicate that it was this area that was reserved for the women deaconesses.
Uploads
Books by Neil Moran
Five kondakarian manuscripts dating from the 11th to 13th century belong among the oldest witnesses of Russian church music. The Slavonic church texts are accompanied by a peculiar notation which represents the most complex notational system of the European Middle Ages. For centuries this system has been viewed as being undecipherable. In 1962 the author of this book succeeded in deciphering this notation using various methods even though directly compatible Greek sources were unknown at that time. His research appeared in two issues of journal which ceased publication several years ago. After the publication of the first part of this study a Greek philologist discovered in Kastoria (Northern Greece) a unique manuscript with a system of notation similar to that of the Russian kondakaria, confirming there by his research results in a most unexpected and indubitable manner. This path-breaking study has been revised and brought up to date in the present publication. The prominent Russian scholar Yuri Keldysh was of the opinion that «no historian of Russian music would be able to proceed without taking into consideration this study».
About the author
Constantin Floros is professor emeritus of musicology at the University of Hamburg and a prolific writer on diverse subjects. Born in Thessaloniki, he was trained in law at the University of Thessaloniki and in music at the Vienna Music Academy and the universities of Vienna and Hamburg. Among his monographs are three volumes on the origin of Gregorian neumes (Universale Neumenkunde: Bärenreiter, 1970), as well as books on the semantic meaning of the symphony; and on, among other composers, Mahler (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1977-85; Amadeus Press, 1993), Berg (Breitkopf, 1993), and Ligeti (Verlag Lafite, 1996). In 1999 Constantin Floros was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Athens. He was elected to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2002 and received the golden honorary diploma from the University of Vienna in 2005.
About the Translator
Neil K. Moran is the author of numerous studies on European cultural history in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, including The Ordinary Chants of the Byzantine Mass (K. D. Wagner Verlag, 1975) and Singers in Byzantine and Late Slavonic Painting (E. J. Brill, 1986). A native of Edmonton, Alberta, Dr. Moran earned the B.Mus. degree from the University of Alberta, the M.A. from Boston University, and the Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Hamburg. He has resided in Toronto since 1979.
"
SPECULUM 65, 1990, pp 462–464 by George Gavlavaris.
BYZANTINOSLAVICA 50, 1989, 88-90 by Василий Пуцко (in Russian)
BYZANTINISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT 82, 198, 31-318 by P. L. Vocotopoulos (in Greek)
TIJDSCHRIFT VOOR GESCHIEDENIS 101, 1988, 428-429 by J. van Herwaarden (in Dutch)
JAHRBUCH DER ÖSTERREICHISCHEN BYZANTINISTIK 38, 1988, 509-510 by Gerda Wofram (in German)
Speculum
"Singers in Late Byzantine and Slavonic Painting. by Neil K. Moran / Review by: George GalavarisSpeculum, Vol. 65, No. 2 (Apr., 1990), pp. 462-464Published by: Medieval Academy of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2864346 .
In 1969 Nicholas Zias published two icons from Kastoria in which he identified cantors making "musical" gestures with their hands. It was this work that prompted Dr. Moran to undertake his study of singers in Byzantine art, starting primarily from a musicological point of view and branching out to their representations in frescoes, manuscripts, and icons. The book was completed in 1981.
The introductory chapter (pp. 1-13) presents problems of Byzantine music known from other specialized studies, such as the gradual emergence of composers from anonymity in late Byzantine manuscripts and above all the cheironomia (i.e., the signs of musical notation conveyed through the fingers, an art of Byzantine conducting). Questions associated with the iconography of the singers are also raised.
In the second chapter (pp. 5-13) the author defines the motif of the psaltae, not a subject by itself, but a component part of larger compositions. The motif became important in late Byzantine art but lost its vitality in the post-Byzantine period. The third chapter (pp. 15-30), the most informative and fluent in the book, deals with
the reconstruction of the Byzantine choir. Drawing on primary literary sources and modern studies and fully aware of the conflicting opinions of scholars, Moran distinguishes
the various ranks of the choir, defines Greek terms, discusses the condition of the psaltae's work, their salary, their musical education, and the position that music had within the classical quadrivium. Furthermore he investigates the location of the
choir in the church, the importance of the ambo, the function of the singers in the Byzantine ceremonials, and their costumes. There follows an extensive discussion of the cheironomia, which the author correctly differentiates from the modern conception
of a director's function: "It was rather an exact science for the identification of specific music intervals, of melodic figures" (p. 46). The controversial nature of literary sources is recognized, and hence any visual evidence on the problems of the cheironomia
becomes exceptionally important. An illustration cut by Uspenski, probably from Athos, MS Koutloumousi 457 (probably from the fourteenth century), and brought to St. Petersburg, forms the bridge from text to image. The miniature depicts three
late Byzantine composers, two of whom make signs with their fingers, identified by inscriptions with two different musical notations. These signs are found in Byzantine and Slavonic paintings.
In subsequent chapters, the author embarks upon the examination of the visual evidence, the portrayal of singers in the Skylitzes manuscript and in various distinct themes, such as the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, the sources of wisdom scenes,
death scenes, the illustrations of Psalms 134 and 148-50, the Akathistos hymn, the Christmas hymn, the Pokrov Bogomateri, and finally post-Byzantine hymnographic compositions. A glossary of Greek terms, a selection of musical neumes and their
Greek equivalents, and a select bibliography are appended. ""
Papers by Neil Moran
An investigation of the placement of the ceiling rings and furnishings in the aisles of the Hagia Sophia reveals significant information about the construction of Justinian’s church. Over 300 rings were identified in the four corners of the churlch
An except:
Nach Taft und Mathews hat sich der Klerus am Anfang der Messe der Gläubigen im Skeuophylakion versammelt. Wenn dies der Fall wäre, dann musste man annehmen, dass die Byzantiner von damals einen völlig anderen Begriff von „Schatzkammer“ hatten, als wir ihn heute haben. Hätten die Byzantiner einer ganzen Schar von Diakonen und Unterdiakonen Zugang zu diesem abgelegenen, mit Kostbarkeiten und kaiserliche Thronen gefüllten Raum gewähren sollen? Man muss sich nun fragen wessen Auffassung „eigenwillig“ ist. Vor Beginn der Messe der Gläubigen wurde die Hagia Sophia gegen die materielle Welt abgeschlossen. Die Behauptungen von Taft, dass „one door, guarded by a deacon or porter, must have been left open“ (S. 194) oder „What would or would not be mentioned by a commentator is not always a convincing argument“ verraten die Schwäche ihrer These. Taft schrieb: “since in Hagia Sophia the skeuophylakion from which the procession departed was outside the church ..., the deacons may have had to intone the chant to signal that the procession was ready to enter” (Taft, p 80). Man muss sich fragen, wie das Signal den Praipositoi vermittelt wurde? Die Praipositoi fassten sich mit der Platzierung der Kaiser, Senatoren und die verschiedenen Träger der Zepter und den Rest der Insignien auf der rechten Seite des Ambons.
...Van Nice bemerkte, dass – ausgehend von dem Boden –, anscheinend Möbel aus der Nordostecke der Kirche entfernt wurden. Er konnte sich auch nicht vorstellen, dass Justinian die Hagia Sophia bauen könnte, ohne die Liturgie in Betracht zu ziehen.
Въпреки, че е пренебрегвано при предишни проучвания разположението на халките на тавана в Света София разкри значителна информация за литургията на Великата църква.
Appendix I.15: [The Rawul Pindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 6, 1885, p. 5bc)
Appendix I.16: [The Rawul Pindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 6, 1885, p. 5cd)
Appendix I.17: [The Rawul Pindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 7, 1885, 3bd)
Appendix I.18: [The Rawul Pindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 8, 1885, p. 3bd–4a)
Appendix I.19: [The Rawalpindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 9, 1885, p. 3d–4a)
Appendix I.20: [The Rawalpindi Durbar] Civil and Military Gazette, (April ¡0, 1885, p. 3bd)
from Neil Moran, Kipling and Afghanistan: a study of the young author as journalist writing on the Afghan Border Crisis of 1884-1885. McFarland & Company, 2005.
published book Inside the Offertory by Rebecca Maloy: In die sollemnitatis, Erit vobis, Confirma hoc and Oravi deum meum. Comparisons are made with chants based on Crucem tuam of the Old Roman repertory. In a previous article in Plainsong and Medieval Music the author demonstrated that the medial characteristics disappeared in the same texts in the Gregorian repertoire. In her comparisons of Old Roman and Gregorian sources Rebecca Maloy comes to a completely different conclusion. She argues that the so-called „Old Roman“ melodies
are late medieval creations and she characterizes them with the negative term ‘formulaicism’. In this article her conclusions are called into question.
Five kondakarian manuscripts dating from the 11th to 13th century belong among the oldest witnesses of Russian church music. The Slavonic church texts are accompanied by a peculiar notation which represents the most complex notational system of the European Middle Ages. For centuries this system has been viewed as being undecipherable. In 1962 the author of this book succeeded in deciphering this notation using various methods even though directly compatible Greek sources were unknown at that time. His research appeared in two issues of journal which ceased publication several years ago. After the publication of the first part of this study a Greek philologist discovered in Kastoria (Northern Greece) a unique manuscript with a system of notation similar to that of the Russian kondakaria, confirming there by his research results in a most unexpected and indubitable manner. This path-breaking study has been revised and brought up to date in the present publication. The prominent Russian scholar Yuri Keldysh was of the opinion that «no historian of Russian music would be able to proceed without taking into consideration this study».
About the author
Constantin Floros is professor emeritus of musicology at the University of Hamburg and a prolific writer on diverse subjects. Born in Thessaloniki, he was trained in law at the University of Thessaloniki and in music at the Vienna Music Academy and the universities of Vienna and Hamburg. Among his monographs are three volumes on the origin of Gregorian neumes (Universale Neumenkunde: Bärenreiter, 1970), as well as books on the semantic meaning of the symphony; and on, among other composers, Mahler (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1977-85; Amadeus Press, 1993), Berg (Breitkopf, 1993), and Ligeti (Verlag Lafite, 1996). In 1999 Constantin Floros was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Athens. He was elected to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2002 and received the golden honorary diploma from the University of Vienna in 2005.
About the Translator
Neil K. Moran is the author of numerous studies on European cultural history in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, including The Ordinary Chants of the Byzantine Mass (K. D. Wagner Verlag, 1975) and Singers in Byzantine and Late Slavonic Painting (E. J. Brill, 1986). A native of Edmonton, Alberta, Dr. Moran earned the B.Mus. degree from the University of Alberta, the M.A. from Boston University, and the Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Hamburg. He has resided in Toronto since 1979.
"
SPECULUM 65, 1990, pp 462–464 by George Gavlavaris.
BYZANTINOSLAVICA 50, 1989, 88-90 by Василий Пуцко (in Russian)
BYZANTINISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT 82, 198, 31-318 by P. L. Vocotopoulos (in Greek)
TIJDSCHRIFT VOOR GESCHIEDENIS 101, 1988, 428-429 by J. van Herwaarden (in Dutch)
JAHRBUCH DER ÖSTERREICHISCHEN BYZANTINISTIK 38, 1988, 509-510 by Gerda Wofram (in German)
Speculum
"Singers in Late Byzantine and Slavonic Painting. by Neil K. Moran / Review by: George GalavarisSpeculum, Vol. 65, No. 2 (Apr., 1990), pp. 462-464Published by: Medieval Academy of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2864346 .
In 1969 Nicholas Zias published two icons from Kastoria in which he identified cantors making "musical" gestures with their hands. It was this work that prompted Dr. Moran to undertake his study of singers in Byzantine art, starting primarily from a musicological point of view and branching out to their representations in frescoes, manuscripts, and icons. The book was completed in 1981.
The introductory chapter (pp. 1-13) presents problems of Byzantine music known from other specialized studies, such as the gradual emergence of composers from anonymity in late Byzantine manuscripts and above all the cheironomia (i.e., the signs of musical notation conveyed through the fingers, an art of Byzantine conducting). Questions associated with the iconography of the singers are also raised.
In the second chapter (pp. 5-13) the author defines the motif of the psaltae, not a subject by itself, but a component part of larger compositions. The motif became important in late Byzantine art but lost its vitality in the post-Byzantine period. The third chapter (pp. 15-30), the most informative and fluent in the book, deals with
the reconstruction of the Byzantine choir. Drawing on primary literary sources and modern studies and fully aware of the conflicting opinions of scholars, Moran distinguishes
the various ranks of the choir, defines Greek terms, discusses the condition of the psaltae's work, their salary, their musical education, and the position that music had within the classical quadrivium. Furthermore he investigates the location of the
choir in the church, the importance of the ambo, the function of the singers in the Byzantine ceremonials, and their costumes. There follows an extensive discussion of the cheironomia, which the author correctly differentiates from the modern conception
of a director's function: "It was rather an exact science for the identification of specific music intervals, of melodic figures" (p. 46). The controversial nature of literary sources is recognized, and hence any visual evidence on the problems of the cheironomia
becomes exceptionally important. An illustration cut by Uspenski, probably from Athos, MS Koutloumousi 457 (probably from the fourteenth century), and brought to St. Petersburg, forms the bridge from text to image. The miniature depicts three
late Byzantine composers, two of whom make signs with their fingers, identified by inscriptions with two different musical notations. These signs are found in Byzantine and Slavonic paintings.
In subsequent chapters, the author embarks upon the examination of the visual evidence, the portrayal of singers in the Skylitzes manuscript and in various distinct themes, such as the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, the sources of wisdom scenes,
death scenes, the illustrations of Psalms 134 and 148-50, the Akathistos hymn, the Christmas hymn, the Pokrov Bogomateri, and finally post-Byzantine hymnographic compositions. A glossary of Greek terms, a selection of musical neumes and their
Greek equivalents, and a select bibliography are appended. ""
An investigation of the placement of the ceiling rings and furnishings in the aisles of the Hagia Sophia reveals significant information about the construction of Justinian’s church. Over 300 rings were identified in the four corners of the churlch
An except:
Nach Taft und Mathews hat sich der Klerus am Anfang der Messe der Gläubigen im Skeuophylakion versammelt. Wenn dies der Fall wäre, dann musste man annehmen, dass die Byzantiner von damals einen völlig anderen Begriff von „Schatzkammer“ hatten, als wir ihn heute haben. Hätten die Byzantiner einer ganzen Schar von Diakonen und Unterdiakonen Zugang zu diesem abgelegenen, mit Kostbarkeiten und kaiserliche Thronen gefüllten Raum gewähren sollen? Man muss sich nun fragen wessen Auffassung „eigenwillig“ ist. Vor Beginn der Messe der Gläubigen wurde die Hagia Sophia gegen die materielle Welt abgeschlossen. Die Behauptungen von Taft, dass „one door, guarded by a deacon or porter, must have been left open“ (S. 194) oder „What would or would not be mentioned by a commentator is not always a convincing argument“ verraten die Schwäche ihrer These. Taft schrieb: “since in Hagia Sophia the skeuophylakion from which the procession departed was outside the church ..., the deacons may have had to intone the chant to signal that the procession was ready to enter” (Taft, p 80). Man muss sich fragen, wie das Signal den Praipositoi vermittelt wurde? Die Praipositoi fassten sich mit der Platzierung der Kaiser, Senatoren und die verschiedenen Träger der Zepter und den Rest der Insignien auf der rechten Seite des Ambons.
...Van Nice bemerkte, dass – ausgehend von dem Boden –, anscheinend Möbel aus der Nordostecke der Kirche entfernt wurden. Er konnte sich auch nicht vorstellen, dass Justinian die Hagia Sophia bauen könnte, ohne die Liturgie in Betracht zu ziehen.
Въпреки, че е пренебрегвано при предишни проучвания разположението на халките на тавана в Света София разкри значителна информация за литургията на Великата църква.
Appendix I.15: [The Rawul Pindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 6, 1885, p. 5bc)
Appendix I.16: [The Rawul Pindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 6, 1885, p. 5cd)
Appendix I.17: [The Rawul Pindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 7, 1885, 3bd)
Appendix I.18: [The Rawul Pindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 8, 1885, p. 3bd–4a)
Appendix I.19: [The Rawalpindi Durbar] (Civil and Military Gazette, April 9, 1885, p. 3d–4a)
Appendix I.20: [The Rawalpindi Durbar] Civil and Military Gazette, (April ¡0, 1885, p. 3bd)
from Neil Moran, Kipling and Afghanistan: a study of the young author as journalist writing on the Afghan Border Crisis of 1884-1885. McFarland & Company, 2005.
published book Inside the Offertory by Rebecca Maloy: In die sollemnitatis, Erit vobis, Confirma hoc and Oravi deum meum. Comparisons are made with chants based on Crucem tuam of the Old Roman repertory. In a previous article in Plainsong and Medieval Music the author demonstrated that the medial characteristics disappeared in the same texts in the Gregorian repertoire. In her comparisons of Old Roman and Gregorian sources Rebecca Maloy comes to a completely different conclusion. She argues that the so-called „Old Roman“ melodies
are late medieval creations and she characterizes them with the negative term ‘formulaicism’. In this article her conclusions are called into question.
“Specialisation without universality is blind. Universalism is blind. Universality without specialisation is a soap bubble.” This is the maxim of the musicologist and historian Constantin Floros, whose academic life is now being celebrated.
In our thoroughly diversified world, the archetype of the universal scholar shares a fate to a certain degree with that of the dinosaurs. No one can seriously claim today to have an overview of the development of human knowledge. At the same time, there are at least a few individual figures in individual areas, who, by virtue of the breadth of their research and their specific focus, exemplify entire disciplines. Among them is the German-Greek musicologist Constantin Floros, who celebrated his 80th birthday at the beginning of January. Floros, professor of musicology at the University of Hamburg for many years, continues to encompass without any pretenses a comprehensive range of themes stretching from tonal works of the Middle Ages to the music of the 18th, 19th and 20thcenturies.
Petersen, Peter: “Against the "dehumanization of music". On the occasion of the eighteenth birthday of the musicologist and historian Constantin Floros,” translated from: Musikforum 8 (2010), 58-59.
“Specialisation without universality is blind. Universalism is blind. Universality without specialisation is a soap bubble.” This is the maxim of the musicologist and historian Constantin Floros, whose academic life is now being celebrated.
Curtain Rings in the Hagia Sophia as Related to the Celebration of the Mass
In 1979 in the Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik I suggested that the Great Entrance ceremony at the beginning of the Mass began inside the church to the left of the altar. The implements for the procession were brought from the skeuophylakion into this area and the procession proceeded to the center of the left aisle where it turned into the nave. The curtain rings in the ceiling along this corridor figured as a main component of my thesis. When my colleagues Ruth Dwyer and Şebnem Yavuz were in the Aya Sofya Müzesi in 2012 they recorded the location of over 300 curtain rings in the aisles and photographed them. An arrangement similar to that in the NE corner marked curtained off areas in all four corners of the church. The emperor's metatorium was hidden behind curtains in the SE corner and the SW corner was reserved for the patriarch. Most intriguing are the rings in the NW corner. Taft believes the narthex of the woman deaconesses was in a vestibule extending out from the north side of the bema. The placement of the rings in the NW corner indicate that it was this area that was reserved for the women deaconesses.