Psaltike – Study Group of Byzantine Chant 2023-2025

An axiom of Byzantine scholarship is that ancient musical theory experienced survival and development in the Eastern Roman Empire, but only within the niche of school education and erudition. Another path was, instead, that of Christian chant, which inherited from its Jewish roots (and more widely Syrian-Palestinian roots) musical repertoires, modal organization, and theoretical-practical arrangement distinct from ancient theoretical treatises. The aim of this project is to investigate the fissures that question the absoluteness of this axiom. There are numerous clues, however never fully brought to light, on the existence of bridges between the two musical worlds (Greek theory / practice of Christian chant). This survey will develop through various methodologies. Greek theoretical sources copied in medieval manuscripts and treatises of Byzantine chant will be analyzed to verify (and record) the presence of marginal annotations containing terms or theoretical references belonging to the 'other' musical world. We will proceed to an examination of the texts and didactic schemes (partly unedited) for the teaching of Byzantine music, from the Middle Ages, but also after the fall of Constantinople, to understand if there are conceptual contributions coming from the ancient Greek world. The project intends to provide some answers to questions that involve not only musicology, but cultural identity in a broader sense: if this hybridization took place between close but distinct musical worlds, why did it happen, and when? What was the reason why the Byzantines reappropriated their Hellenic roots also in the liturgical chant? What was the role of the Renaissance? Venice was a point of attraction for the masters of Byzantine chant. What function did it play in this process?