Oktōēchos (here transcribed "Octoechos";
Greek
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Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: ;
[The feminine form exists as well, but means the book octoechos.] from
ὀκτώ "eight" and
ἦχος "sound, mode" called
echos;
Slavonic: Осмогласие, ''Osmoglasie'' from
о́смь "eight" and
гласъ,
Glagolitic
The Glagolitic script (, , ''glagolitsa'') is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed to have been created in the 9th century by Saint Cyril, a monk from Thessalonica. He and his brother Saint Methodius were sent by the Byzan ...
: , "voice, sound") is the eight-mode system used for the composition of religious chant in Byzantine, Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, Latin and Slavic churches since the Middle Ages. In a modified form the octoechos is still regarded as the foundation of the tradition of
monodic chant in the
Byzantine Rite
The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, identifies the wide range of cultural, liturgical, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christian Church of Constantinople.
The canonical hours a ...
today.
Nomenclature
The names ascribed to the eight tones differ in translations into
Church Slavonic
Church Slavonic (, , literally "Church-Slavonic language"), also known as Church Slavic, New Church Slavonic or New Church Slavic, is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bosnia and Her ...
. The Slavonic system counted the plagioi echoi as glasa 5, 6, 7, and 8. For reference, these differences are shown here together with the Ancient Greek names of the octave species according to the Hagiopolites
(see
Hagiopolitan Octoechos) and to the chant treatises and
tonaries of Carolingian theorists. Fifteenth-century composers like
Manuel Chrysaphes
Manuel Doukas Chrysaphes ( el, , ) was the most prominent Byzantine musician of the 15th century.
Life and works
A singer, composer, and musical theoretician, Manuel Chrysaphes was called "the New Koukouzeles" by his admirer, the Cretan compos ...
, Lampadarios at the Court of Palaiologan Constantinople exchanged the Phrygian with the Lydian. The Armenian names and their temporal cycles are represented in the article about the hymn books
octoechos and parakletike.
Southern Slavs use the Byzantine musical system and, nonetheless, use the variant numbering that is always found in Church Slavonic texts.
History
According to three main periods, which divides the history of the eight-mode system, the former article has been split chronologically:
Analysis
Byzantine Chant performance practice has been computationally compared to the theory by Chrysanthos. The analysis of 94 Byzantine Chants performed by 4 singers showed a tendency of the singers to level theoretic particularities of the echos that stand out of the general norm in the octoechos. In practice, smaller scale degree steps (67-133 cents) appear to be increased and the highest scale step of 333 cents appears to be decreased compared to theory. In practice, the first four scale notes in decreasing order of prominence I, III, II, IV are more prominent than the V., VI., and the VII.
References
{{Middle Eastern music
Ancient Greek music theory
Classical and art music traditions
Byzantine music theory
Eastern Orthodox liturgical music
Byzantine Rite
Modes (music)
Ottoman classical music
Tonaries