The book Octoechos (from the Greek language: ἡ βίβλος Ὀκτώηχος ;The female form ἡ Ὀκτώηχος means the book (ἡ βίβλος) "octoechos" or "octaechos". from 'eight' and 'sound, mode' called echos; , from 'eight' and 'voice, sound') is a liturgical book containing a repertoire of hymns ordered in eight parts according to eight echoi (Musical mode). Originally created in the Monastery of Stoudios during the 9th century as a hymnal complete with musical notation, it is still used in many rites of Eastern Christianity. The book with similar function in the Western Church is the tonary, and both contain the melodic models of an octoechos system; however, while the tonary serves simply for a modal classification, the octoechos is organized as a cycle of eight weeks of services. The word itself can also refer to the repertoire of hymns sung during the celebrations of the Sunday Office.
Usually the arrangement of the syllables with their metric accentuation are composed as a well-known hymn tune or sticheron avtomelon within the melos of a certain echos. These melodic stichera are called automelon, because they can easily be adapted to other texts, even if the number of syllables of verse varies—the so-called .The Three Classes of Melodic Forms for Stichera, II. Automela (Samopodobny, Model Melodies). The prooimion which precedes the kontakion for Christmas is recited today with a simple melody in a rather sophisticated heirmologoc melos of echos tritos; its most important part is the conclusion called "ephymnion" (in italic characters) which uses one and the same melody for all kontakia of the same echos (at the end of the prooimion as well as at the end of each following oikos):The Greek way definitely represents a monodic tradition of kontakion as it had developed since the 7th century since many centuries (going through periods of melismatic during the 12th and 13th centuries and even kalophonic elaboration of the music during the 14th century), while the polyphonic Russian way (18th century) to perform the kontakion uses simpler forms of "echos-melodies" (the expression "na glas" is still used among Old Believers) (Školnik 1995). Due to the particular form of kontakion, also the ephymnion itself might be regarded as an echos-melody, because the same melody has to be adapted to the length of its verse which can be very different between various kontakia of the same mode. Similar differences can also result from translations of the same ephymnion into different languages.
A hymn may more or less imitate an automelon melodically and metrically—depending, if the text has exactly the same number of syllables with the same accents as those of verses in the corresponding automelon.Modern avtomelon over the Prooimion of the Christmas Kontakion by Romanos 1 2 Slavonic Kondak sung in Valaamskiy Rozpev (Valaam Monastery) Such a hymn was usually called sticheron prosomoion or in the case of kontakion, kontakion prosomoion, the echos and opening words of the model (a sticheron avtomelon or in this particular case the prooimion of the Nativity kontakion) were usually indicated.The Three Classes of Melodic Forms for Stichera, III. Prosomoia (Podobny, Special Melodies). For example, the Octoechos' kontakion for Sunday Orthros in echos tritos has the indication, that it should be sung to the melody of the above Christmas kontakion.See the article about the three melody types of stichera, where the texts of the two kontakia are compared as an illustration (idiomelon, avtomelon, prosomoion). Both kontakia have nearly the same number of syllables and accents within its verses, so the exact melody of the former is slightly adapted to the latter, its accents have to be sung with the given accentuation patterns.The Three Classes of Melodic Forms for Stichera, I. Idiomela (Samoglasny, Independent Melodies).
The printed book Octoechos with the Sunday cycles is often without any musical notation and the determination of a hymn's melody is indicated by the echos or glas according to the section within the book and its avtomelon, a melodic model defined by the melos of its mode. Since this book collects the repertoire of melodies sung every week, educated chanters knew all these melodies by heart, and they learnt how to adapt the accentuation patterns to the printed texts of the hymns while singing out of other text books like the menaion.
The earliest version of a Tropologion dedicated to the repertoire of Octoechos was created by Severus of Antioch, Paul of Edessa and John Psaltes between 512 and 518.It has only survived in a Syriac translation revised by Jacob of Edessa which dates back to 675 (British Library Ms. Add. 17134). According to Svetlana Kujumdzieva (2012, 14) the composition of the book has many similarities with the contemporary Georgian Iadgari. The Tropologion was expanded upon by St. Cosmas of Maiuma († 773), Theodore the Studite († 826) and his brother Joseph of Thessalonica († 832),Theodore created the Triodion, the Pentecostarion, and the three antiphons of the anavathmoi of the Octoechos (Wolfram 2003). Theophanes the Branded (c. 775–845),Theophanes created the Trinity Canon for the Sunday night service (mesonyktikon). the Hegumen and hymnographers Kassia (810-865) and Theodosia, Thekla the Nun, Metrophanes of Smyrna († after 880), Paul, Metropolit of Amorium, and by the emperors Leo VI and Constantine VII (10th century) as well as numerous anonymous authors.Natalia Smelova (2011, 119 & 123) also mentions two contemporary compilations which were later translated into Syriac language: ET-MSsc Ms. gr. 776, British Library Ms. Add. 26113. Syro-Melkite translation activity reached its climax not earlier than during the 13th century like Sinait. gr. 261, a few manuscripts were also copied directly at Sinai. This reduced version was simply called Octoechos and it was often the last part of the sticherarion, the new notated chant book of the reformers.
Until the 14th century the book Octoechos, as far as it belonged to the Sticherarion, was ordered according to hymn genre of the repertoire.See for instance the Octoechos part of the Sticherarion of Copenhagen: stichera anastasima (f. 254r), alphabetika (f. 254v), anavathmoi and stichera anatolika (f. 255v), stichera heothina (f. 277v), dogmatika (f. 281v) and staurotheotikia (f. 289r). Later the thematic structure of the stichera anastasima which had to be sung during Hesperinos on Saturday and during Orthros on Sunday, were emphasised and ordered according to the eight echoi, each of the eight parts structured according to the order, as they had to be sung during the evening and morning service. They became a well structured book for the daily use of chanters like the later book Anastasimatarion or in Slavonic Voskresnik.See the various printed editions in current use in Greece (Ephesios 1820, Phokaeos 1832, Ioannes the Protopsaltes 1905), Bulgaria (Triandafilov 1847, Todorov 1914), Romania (Suceanu 1823, Stefanescu 1897), and Macedonia (Zografski 2005, Bojadziev 2011). An exception is the series "Music Library" which published as a first volume Panagiotes the New Chrysaphes' Kekragarion under the title "Anastasimatarion of John of Damascus" (1868). It was taught by Iakovos the Protopsaltes as "Kekragarion palaion". A second volume published the "Anastasimatarion neon" by Petros Peloponnesios, each book with a set of two kekragaria, a sticheraric and an abridged sticheraric version. Since the 17th century different collections of the Octoechos had been separated as their own books about certain Hesperinos psalms like the Anoixantarion an octoechos collection for Psalm 103, the Kekragarion for Psalm 140, and the Pasapnoarion for the Psalm verse 150:6.The separation of this books can usually be found in anthologies ascribed to Panagiotes the New Chrysaphes (British Library Harley 1613, Harley 5544), but there is also a manuscript with composition of Petros Peloponnesios and his student Petros Byzantios organised as an Anastasimatarion and Doxastarion which preceded the printed editions (GB-Lbl Add. 17718). On the other hand, there is an alternative organisation in a manuscript according to the transcription of Gregorios the Protopsaltes (GB-Bm Ms. Mingana Gr. 8) which includes the whole Hesperinos cycles and postponed the Kekragaria in a rare fast sticheraric melos.
Nevertheless, a temporal eight-week-order was always the essential part of the Octoechos, at least as a liturgical concept. The temporal organisation of the mobile feast cycle and its lessons was result of the Studite reform since Theodore the Studite; their books had already been translated by Slavic monks during the 9th century.Svetlana Poliakova (2009). The eight tones can be found as the Paschal cycle (moveable cycle) of the church year, the so-called Pentecostarion starting with the second Sunday of (the eighth day of) Easter. The first usually changes the echos each day, while the third week started the eight-week cycle with the second echos, each week in just one echos. The same cycle started in the triodion with the Lenten period until Easter,All of Great Lent, the periods of Cheesefare Week and Holy Week which are joined, respectively, to the beginning and end of Great Lent with the Lenten Friday preceding the subsequent Palm Sunday.Each day of Bright Week (Easter Week) uses propers in a different tone, Sunday: Tone One, Monday: Tone Two, skipping the least festive of the tones, the grave (heavy) tone. Each day of the week has a distinct theme for which hymns in each tone are found in the texts of the Octoechos. During this period, the Octoechos is not sung on weekdays and it is furthermore not sung on Sundays from Palm Sunday through the Sunday of All Saints.Although many of the Sunday resurrection hymns are replicated in the Pentecostarion
After Pentecost, the singing of the Great Octoechos on weekdays continued until Saturday of Meatfare Week, on Sundays there was another cycle organised by the eleven with their and their .
In the daily practice the of the Octoechos are combined with idiomela from the other books: On the fixed cycle, i.e., dates of the calendar year, the Menaion and on the movable cycle, according to season, the Lenten Triodion (in combination from the previous year's Paschal cycle). The texts from these volumes displace some of those from the Octoechos. The less hymns are sung from the Octoechos the more have to be sung from the other books. On major feast days, hymns from the Menaion entirely displace those from the Octoechos except on Sundays, when only a few Great Feasts of the Lord eclipse the Octoechos.
Note that the Octoechos contains sufficient texts, so that none of these other books needs to be used—a holdover from before the invention of printing and the completion and wide distribution of the rather large 12-volume Menaion—, but portions of the Octoechos (e.g., the last three sticheron following "Lord, I have cried," the Hesperinos psalm 140Ps 140:1 Gr. Κύριε ἐκέκραξα πρὸς σέ, Sl. Господн воззвахъ к'тебҍ.) are seldom used nowadays and they are often completely omitted in the currently printed volumes.
Another difference between the two Slavic receptions was the tonal system. Since the Southern Slavic reception did not change the system of , it corresponded to the Hagiopolitan Octoechos. Glas ("voice") 1–4 are the or echos, and the remaining 5–8 are the or echos, the latter term coming from the Medieval Greek plagios, "oblique" (from plagos, "side"). Unlike the Western octoechos, glas 5–8 (the plagioi echoi) used the same octave species like glas 1–4, but their final notes were a fifth lower on the bottom of the pentachord with respect to the finales of the kyrioi on the top of each pentachord, the melodic range composed in the plagioi was usually smaller. There was an alternative tonal system based on the obihodniy zvukoryad which was used in the Northern Slavic reception in Novgorod. It was based on a hexaechos, since it used a tone system based on triphonia with three modes organised in fourth equivalence.Irina and Marina Školnik (1994) offered an introduction into the tonal system of the obihodniy scale within their comparisons of the heirmologic repertoire.
Often the Parakletike was divided in two volumes as Pettoglasniks.See for example the very voluminous Parakletike written by Daniel Etropolski during the 17th century which also includes the canons, but only for Glas 5-8 (Sofia, Ms. НБКМ 187) or the Pettoglasnik for the same modes, which was written about 1450 (ff. 31-56, 60-110, 117-143, 147-175) and rebound with additional parts in 1574 (Skopje, National Library, Ms. 168). Another popular book, also characteristic for the Obihod reception, was the so-called Sbornik ("Anthologion" or better "Synekdemos")—a chant book which contained all the chant of the divine liturgy, including proper chant of the Sticherarion books (Miney, the Triods, and the Oktoich).See the Sbornik manuscripts of Skopje (MK-SKu Ms. 9, 142, and 111).
In Russia the Oktoich was the very first book printed (incunabulum) in Cyrillic typeface, which was published in Poland (Kraków) in 1491—by Schweipolt Fiol, a German native of Franconia. Only seven copies of this first publication are known to remain and the only complete one is in the collection of the Russian National Library.See Treasures of the National Library of Russia, Petersburg.
In 1905 the Zograf Monastery Monastery published a set of Slavonic chant books whose first volume is the Voskresnik with the repertoire of the simple Osmoglasnik.See also the recent edition by Kalistrat Zografski (2005). Within the Russian Orthodox church a chant book Octoechos with notated with kryuki developed during the late 15th century. The first print edition Oktoikh notnago peniya, sirech' Osmoglasnik was published with Kievan staff notation in 1772. It included hymns in Znamenny Chant as well as the melodic models (avtomela) for different types of hymns for each Glas.A later edition called the "Sputnik Psalomshcika" ("The Chanter's Companion") was republished in 1959 by Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY, USA. "The Church Obihod of Notational Singing" contains, among other hymns, the repertoire of the Octoechos. Archbishop Averky: "Liturgics — On Music Books."
The Syriac Orthodox Church today still makes use of a system of eight modes (usually classified as Turkish makam). Each hymn (Syriac language: qolo, plural: qole) is composed in one of these eight modes. Some modes have variants ( shuhlophe) similar to the "special melodies" mentioned above. Only skilled chanters can master these variants.
The modal cycle consists of eight weeks. Each Sunday or Feast day is assigned one of the eight modes. During the weekday offices, known in Syriac by the name Shhimo, the 1st and 5th modes are paired together, so are the 2nd and 6th, the 3rd and 7th, and the 4th and 8th. If a particular Sunday makes use of the 1st mode, the following Monday is sung with the 5th mode, Tuesday with the 1st mode, etc., with the pair alternating every day of the week (see the table provided in Guide to the Eight Modes in the External Links below).
The ecclesiastical year starts with Qudosh `Idto (The Consecration of the Church), a feast observed on the eighth Sunday before Christmas ( Yaldo). The 1st mode is sung on this day. The following Sunday makes use of the 2nd mode, and so on, repeating the cycle until it starts again the next year. The cycle is interrupted only by feasts which have their own tones assigned to them. Similar to the Byzantine usage, each day of Easter Week has its own mode, except the Syriacs do not skip the 7th mode. Thus, the Sunday after Easter, called New Sunday ( Hadto) is in the 8th mode rather than the 1st.
In one type of hymn used by the Syriac Church, the Qole Shahroye (Vigils), each of the modes is dedicated to a theme: The 1st and 2nd modes are dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the 3rd and 4th to the saints, the 5th and 6th to penitence, and the 7th and 8th to the departed.
The primary collection of hymns in the eight modes is the Beth Gazo d-ne`motho, or "Treasury of Chants."
First Voice (aradjin tzayn) |
First Side (aradjin koghm) |
Second Voice (yerkrord tzayn) |
Second, Principal Side (yerkrord, awag koghm) |
Third Voice (yerrord tzayn) |
Third Side, low voice (yerrord koghm, vaṙ tzayn) |
Fourth Voice (tchorrord tzayn) |
Fourth Side, Last Voice (tchorrord koghm, verdj tzayn) |
This order is important, because it is the order in which the modes are used liturgically and different from the order of the Greek traditions. Instead of using one tone per week, the Armenians use one tone per day. Easter Sunday is always the First Voice, the next day is First Side, and so on throughout the year. However, the cycle does not actually begin on Easter day, but counts backwards from Easter Sunday to the First Sunday in Lent, which is always Forth Side, regardless of what mode the previous day was. Each mode of the oot tzayn has one or more tartzwadzk‘ (auxiliary) modes.
The Šaraknoc' is the book which contains the Šarakan, or Šaragan (Canons),See the illuminated manuscripts at The Walters Art Museum (W.547, W.545) and the printed edition (Constantinople 1790). hymns which constitute the substance of the musical system of Armenian liturgical chant in the eight modes.It corresponds to the Georgian Iadgari, which is one of the earliest testimonies of the tropologion (Renoux 1993, Frøyshov 2012). Originally, these were Psalms and Biblical that were chanted during the services. A Sharagan was composed of verses which were interspersed between the scriptural verses. Eventually, the Šarakan replaced the biblical text entirely. In addition, the eight modes are applied to the psalms of the Night office, called Kanonaklookh (Canon head). the Armenian Church also makes use of other modes outside of the oot tzayn.
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