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==Early Christian Period==
Byzantine chant manuscripts date from the Ninth century, while [[lectionary|lectionaries]] of biblical readings in [[Ekphonetic Notation]] (a primitive graphic system designed to indicate the manner of reciting lessons from Scripture) begin about a century earlier and continue in use until the twelfth or thirteenth century. Our knowledge of the older period is derived from Church service books [[Typikon|Typika]], patristic writings and medieval histories. Scattered examples of hymn texts from the early centuries of Greek Christianity still exist. Some of these employ the metrical schemes of classical Greek poetry; but the change of pronunciation had rendered those meters largely meaningless, and, except when classical forms were imitated, Byzantine hymns of the following centuries are prose-poetry, unrhymed verses of irregular length and accentual patterns. The common term for a short hymn of one stanza, or one of a series of stanzas, is [[troparion]] (this may carry the further connotation of a hymn interpolated between Psalm verses). A famous example, whose existence is attested as early as the fourth century, is the Vespers hymn, "Phos Hilaron" ("O Gladsome Light"); another, "O Monogenes Yios" ("Only Begotten Son") ascribed to Emperor St. [[Justinian the Great]] (527-565), figures in the introductory portion of the Divine Liturgy. Perhaps the earliest set of troparia of known authorship are those of the [[monk]] Auxentios (first half of the fifth century), attested in his biography but not preserved in any later Byzantine order of service.
==Medieval Period==
Two concepts must be understood if we are to appreciate fully the function of music in Byzantine worship. The first, which retained currency in Greek theological and mystical speculation until the dissolution of the empire, was the belief in the [[angel]]ic transmission of sacred chant: the assumption that the early Church united men in the prayer of the angelic choirs. This notion is certainly older than the [[Apocalypse]] account ([[Revelation]] 4:8-11), for the musical function of angels as conceived in the [[Old Testament]] is brought out dearly by [[Isaiah]] (6:1-4) and [[Ezekiel]] (3:12). Most significant in the fact, outlined in [[Exodus]] 25, that the pattern for the earthly worship of [[Israel]] was derived from Heaven. The allusion is perpetuated in the writings of the early Fathers, such as [[Clement of Rome]], [[Justin Martyr|Justin]], [[Ignatius of Antioch]], [[Athenagoras of Athens]] and [[Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite]]. It receives acknowledgement later in the liturgical treatises of [[Nicolas Kavasilas]] and [[Symeon the New Theologian|Symeon of Thessaloniki]] (Patrologia Graeca, CL, 368-492 and CLV, 536-699, respectively).
==Later Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Periods==
With the end of creative poetical composition, Byzantine chant entered its final period, devoted largely to the production of more elaborate musical settings of the traditional texts: either embellishments of the earlier simpler melodies, or original music in highly ornamental style. This was the work of the so-called Maistores, "masters," of whom the most celebrated was St. [[John Koukouzeles]] (active ca. 1300), compared in Byzantine writings to St. John of Damascus himself, as an innovator in the development of chant. The multiplication of new settings and elaborations of the old continued in the centuries following the [[Fall of Constantinople]], until by the end of the eighteenth century the original musical repertory of the medieval musical manuscripts had been quite replaced by later compositions, and even the basic model system had undergone profound modification.
==See also==*'''[[Chrysanthos of Madytos]] (ca. 1770-46), [[Gregory the ProtopsaltesByzantine Notation]], and [[Chourmouzios the Archivist]] were responsible for a much needed reform of the notation of Greek ecclesiastical music. Essentially, this work consisted of a simplification of the Byzantine musical symbols which, by the early 19th century, had become so complex and technical that only highly skilled chanters were able to interpret them correctly. Despite its numerous shortcomings the work of the three reformers is a landmark in the history of Greek Church music, since it introduced the system of neo-Byzantine music upon which are based the present-day chants of the Greek Orthodox Church.'''
== Sources ==
Snagged originally from [[Wikipedia:Byzantine music]]