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162-724: Byzantine music did not disappear after the fall of Constantinople . Its traditions continued under the Patriarch of Constantinople , who after the Ottoman conquest in 1453 was granted administrative responsibilities over all Eastern Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire . During the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century, burgeoning splinter nations in the Balkans declared autonomy or autocephaly from

324-501: A kyrios echos ( authentic mode ) with the finalis on the degree V of the mode, and a plagios echos ( plagal mode ) with the final note on the degree I. According to Latin theory, the resulting eight tones ( octoechos ) had been identified with the seven modes (octave species) and tropes ( tropoi which meant the transposition of these modes). The names of the tropes like "Dorian" etc. had been also used in Greek chant manuals, but

486-632: A 6th-century manual by Peter the Patrician . They rather describe administrative ceremonies such as the appointment of certain functionaries (ch. 84,85), investitures of certain offices (86), the reception of ambassadors and the proclamation of the Western Emperor (87,88), the reception of Persian ambassadors (89,90), Anagorevseis of certain Emperors (91–96), the appointment of the senate's proedros (97). The "palace order" did not only prescribe

648-430: A designation for the congregation, at worship and in song in heaven and on earth both. Concerning the practice of psalm recitation, the recitation by a congregation of educated chanters is already testified by the soloistic recitation of abridged psalms by the end of the 4th century. Later it was called prokeimenon . Hence, there was an early practice of simple psalmody , which was used for the recitation of canticles and

810-456: A famine (530): According to Johannes Koder the kontakion was celebrated the first time during Lenten period in 537, about ten months before the official inauguration of the new built Hagia Sophia on 27 December. During the second half of the sixth century, there was a change in Byzantine sacred architecture , because the altar used for the preparation of the eucharist had been removed from

972-624: A few small-calibre artillery pieces, which in the end proved ineffective. The rest of the citizens repaired walls, stood guard on observation posts, collected and distributed food provisions, and collected gold and silver objects from churches to melt down into coins to pay the foreign soldiers. The Ottomans had a much larger force. Recent studies and Ottoman archival data state that there were some 50,000–80,000 Ottoman soldiers, including between 5,000 and 10,000 Janissaries , 70 cannons , and an elite infantry corps, and thousands of Christian troops, notably 1,500 Serbian cavalry that Đurađ Branković

1134-518: A fleet in February 1453, but the fleet's departure was delayed until April, when it was already too late for ships to assist in battle. Further undermining Byzantine morale, seven Italian ships with around 700 men, despite having sworn to defend Constantinople, slipped out of the capital the moment Giustiniani arrived. At the same time, Constantine's attempts to appease the Sultan with gifts ended with

1296-692: A fleet strength of 110 ships comprising 70 large galleys , 5 ordinary galleys, 10 smaller galleys, 25 large rowing boats, and 75 horse-transports. Before the siege of Constantinople, it was known that the Ottomans had the ability to cast medium-sized cannons , but the range of some pieces they were able to field far surpassed the defenders' expectations. The Ottomans deployed a number of cannons, anywhere from 12 to 62 cannons. They were built at foundries that employed Turkish cannon founders and technicians, most notably Saruca, in addition to at least one foreign cannon founder, Orban (also called Urban). Most of

1458-528: A gifted hymnographer not only an own school, but he became also very eager to realise the purpose of this reform since 705, although its authority was questioned by iconoclast antagonists and only established in 787. After the octoechos reform of the Quinisext Council in 692, monks at Mar Saba continued the hymn project under Andrew's instruction, especially by his most gifted followers John of Damascus and Cosmas of Jerusalem . These various layers of

1620-545: A huge impact upon the Constantinople's defense capabilities. At the end of March 1453, emperor Constantine XI ordered a census of districts to record how many able-bodied men were in the city and whatever weapons each possessed for defense. George Sphrantzes, the faithful chancellor of the last emperor, recorded that "in spite of the great size of our city, our defenders amounted to 4,773 Greeks, as well as just 200 foreigners". In addition there were volunteers from outside,

1782-647: A modal signature and combined different hymn genres like troparion , sticheron , and canon . The earliest tropologion was already composed by Severus of Antioch , Paul of Edessa and Ioannes Psaltes at the Patriarchate of Antioch between 512 and 518. Their tropologion has only survived in Syriac translation and revised by Jacob of Edessa . The tropologion was continued by Sophronius , Patriarch of Jerusalem, but especially by Andrew of Crete's contemporary Germanus I, Patriarch of Constantinople who represented as

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1944-436: A section of the damaged Blachernae walls in the north-west part of the city. This section of the walls had been built earlier, in the 11th century, and was much weaker. The Turkmen mercenaries managed to breach this section of walls and entered the city but they were just as quickly pushed back by the defenders. Finally, the last wave consisting of elite Janissaries , attacked the city walls. The Genoese general in charge of

2106-432: A sort as to be forgotten through the lapse of time. Still, the eyewitness of those who have seen testifies better than does the hearing of deeds that happened but yesterday or the day before. Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI swiftly understood Mehmed's true intentions and turned to Western Europe for help; but now the price of centuries of war and enmity between the eastern and western churches had to be paid. Since

2268-553: Is based on a synthesis with ancient Greek models , but we have no sources left that explain to us how this synthesis was done. Carolingian cantors could mix the science of harmonics with a discussion of church tones, named after the ethnic names of the octave species and their transposition tropes, because they invented their own octoechos on the basis of the Byzantine one. But they made no use of earlier Pythagorean concepts that had been fundamental for Byzantine music, including: It

2430-636: Is due to certain monastic reforms, such as the Octoechos reform of the Quinisext Council (692) and the later reforms of the Stoudios Monastery under its abbots Sabas and Theodore . The triodion created during the reform of Theodore was also soon translated into Slavonic, which required also the adaption of melodic models to the prosody of the language. Later, after the Patriarchate and Court had returned to Constantinople in 1261,

2592-514: Is famously reported to have been moved to tears by this, saying, "What a city we have given over to plunder and destruction." Looting was carried out on a massive scale by sailors and marines who entered the city via other walls before they had been suppressed by regular troops, who were beyond the main gate. According to David Nicolle , the ordinary people were treated better by their Ottoman conquerors than their ancestors had been by Crusaders back in 1204, stating that only about 4,000 Greeks died in

2754-456: Is not evident by the sources, when exactly the position of the minor or half tone moved between the devteros and tritos . It seems that the fixed degrees (hestotes) became part of a new concept of the echos as melodic mode (not simply octave species ), after the echoi had been called by the ethnic names of the tropes. The 9th century Persian geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih (d. 911); in his lexicographical discussion of instruments cited

2916-538: Is perpetuated in the writings of the early Fathers, such as Clement of Rome , Justin Martyr , Ignatius of Antioch , Athenagoras of Athens , John Chrysostom and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite . It receives acknowledgement later in the liturgical treatises of Nicolas Kavasilas and Symeon of Thessaloniki. The second, less permanent, concept was that of koinonia or "communion". This was less permanent because, after

3078-426: Is raised to a 4th above the finalis (a second below the tenor of the authentic mode 7) in order to avoid the "unstable" degree ti , which may be flattened (in the authentic mode 3, the tenor is similarly raised to the sixth above the finalis , and the tenor of plagal mode 4—Hypophrygian—is therefore also a fourth above the finalis ). In Byzantine modal theory ( octoechos ), the word "plagal" ("plagios") refers to

3240-577: Is specifically thought to have been exported from Syria, where it was known in the 6th century, before its legendary creation by Arab monk John of Damascus of the Umayyad Caliphate . The term Byzantine music is sometimes associated with the medieval sacred chant of Christian Churches following the Constantinopolitan Rite . There is also an identification of "Byzantine music" with "Eastern Christian liturgical chant", which

3402-517: Is the tonic, though the range of modes 1, 2, and 7 may occasionally descend one step further. This added degree is called the "subfinal" which, since it lies a whole tone below the final, is also the "subtonium" of the mode. The range of mode 5 (Lydian) does not employ a subfinal, and so always maintains F as its lower limit. These four modes correspond to the modern modal scales starting on re ( Dorian ), mi ( Phrygian ), fa ( Lydian ), and sol ( Mixolydian ). The tenor, or dominant (corresponding to

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3564-514: The Encyclopædia Britannica , Mehmed II "permitted an initial period of looting that saw the destruction of many Orthodox churches", but tried to prevent a complete sack of the city. The looting was extremely thorough in certain parts of the city. On 2 June, the Sultan found the city largely deserted and half in ruins; churches had been desecrated and stripped, houses were no longer habitable, and stores and shops were emptied. He

3726-716: The Aegean , reached the Capital on 27 May and reported to the Emperor that no large Venetian relief fleet was on its way. On 28 May, as the Ottoman army prepared for the final assault, mass religious processions were held in the city. In the evening, a solemn last ceremony of Vespers was held in the Hagia Sophia , in which the Emperor with representatives and nobility of both the Latin and Greek churches partook. Up until this point,

3888-475: The Blachernae district's wall was the most fortified because that section of the wall protruded northwards. The land fortifications consisted of a 60 ft (18 m) wide moat fronting inner and outer crenellated walls studded with towers every 45–55 metres. The army defending Constantinople was relatively small, totalling about 7,000 men, 2,000 of whom were foreigners. The population decline also had

4050-896: The Bosphorus and defended against attack by the Genoese colonies on the Black Sea coast to the north. In fact, the new fortress was called Boğazkesen , which means "strait-blocker" or "throat-cutter". The wordplay emphasizes its strategic position: in Turkish boğaz means both "strait" and "throat". In October 1452, Mehmed ordered Turakhan Beg to station a large garrison force in the Peloponnese to block Thomas and Demetrios ( despotes in Southern Greece ) from providing aid to their brother Constantine XI Palaiologos during

4212-618: The Byzantine army was led by Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos . After conquering the city, Mehmed II made Constantinople the new Ottoman capital, replacing Adrianople . The fall of Constantinople and of the Byzantine Empire was a watershed of the Late Middle Ages , marking the effective end of the Roman Empire , a state which began in roughly 27 BC and had lasted nearly 1500 years. For many modern historians,

4374-539: The Council of Florence of 1439 proclaiming a Bull of Union . The imperial efforts to impose union were met with strong resistance in Constantinople. A propaganda initiative was stimulated by anti-unionist Orthodox partisans in Constantinople; the population, as well as the laity and leadership of the Byzantine Church, became bitterly divided. Latent ethnic hatred between Greeks and Italians, stemming from

4536-1087: The Elevation of the Cross , Christmas , Theophany , Palm Sunday , Good Friday , Easter and Ascension Day and feasts of saints including St Demetrius , St Basil etc. often extended over many days), while chapter 38–83 describe secular ceremonies or rites of passage such as coronations, weddings, births, funerals, or the celebration of war triumphs. For the celebration of Theophany the protocol begins to mention several stichera and their echoi (ch. 3) and who had to sing them: Δοχὴ πρώτη, τῶν Βενέτων, φωνὴ ἢχ. πλαγ. δ`. « Σήμερον ὁ συντρίψας ἐν ὕδασι τὰς κεφαλὰς τῶν δρακόντων τὴν κεφαλὴν ὑποκλίνει τῷ προδρόμῳ φιλανθρώπως. » Δοχἠ β᾽, τῶν Πρασίνων, φωνὴ πλαγ. δ'· « Χριστὸς ἁγνίζει λουτρῷ ἁγίῳ τὴν ἐξ ἐθνῶν αὐτοῦ Ἐκκλησίαν. » Δοχὴ γ᾽, τῶν Βενέτων, φωνἠ ἤχ. πλαγ. α'· « Πυρὶ θεότητος ἐν Ἰορδάνῃ φλόγα σβεννύει τῆς ἁμαρτίας. » These protocols gave rules for imperial progresses to and from certain churches at Constantinople and

4698-625: The Harbour of Eleutherios . Genoese and Catalan troops were stationed at the Great Palace ; Cardinal Isidore of Kiev guarded the tip of the peninsula near the boom. Finally, the sea walls at the southern shore of the Golden Horn were defended by Venetian and Genoese sailors under Gabriele Trevisano . Two tactical reserves were kept behind in the city: one in the Petra district just behind

4860-688: The Kanonaki , Oud , Laouto , Santouri , Toubeleki , Tambouras , Defi Tambourine , Çifteli (which was known as Tamburica in Byzantine times), Lyre , Kithara , Psaltery , Saz , Floghera , Pithkiavli, Kavali , Seistron, Epigonion (the ancestor of the Santouri), Varviton (the ancestor of the Oud and a variation of the Kithara), Crotala , Bowed Tambouras (similar to Byzantine Lyra ), Šargija , Monochord , Sambuca , Rhoptron , Koudounia , perhaps

5022-589: The Lavta and other instruments used before the 4th Crusade that are no longer played today. These instruments are unknown at this time. In 2021, archaeologists discovered a flute with six holes dated back to the 4th and 5th centuries AD, in the Zerzevan Castle . Secular music existed and accompanied every aspect of life in the empire, including dramatic productions, pantomime, ballets, banquets, political and pagan festivals, Olympic games, and all ceremonies of

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5184-618: The Lycus down to the Sea of Marmara . Mehmed himself erected his red-and-gold tent near the Mesoteichion , where the guns and the elite Janissary regiments were positioned. The Bashi-bazouks were spread out behind the front lines. Other troops under Zagan Pasha were employed north of the Golden Horn. Communication was maintained by a road that had been destroyed over the marshy head of

5346-772: The Pegae Gate with Greek soldiers. The section of the land walls from the Pegae Gate to the Golden Gate (itself guarded by a Genoese called Manuel) was defended by the Venetian Filippo Contarini, while Demetrius Cantacuzenus had taken position on the southernmost part of the Theodosian wall. The sea walls were guarded more sparsely, with Jacobo Contarini at Stoudion , a makeshift defence force of Greek monks to his left hand, and Prince Orhan at

5508-462: The bema . It was placed in a separated room called " prothesis " (πρόθεσις). The separation of the prothesis where the bread was consecrated during a separated service called proskomide , required a procession of the gifts at the beginning of the second eucharist part of the divine liturgy . The troparion "Οἱ τὰ χερουβεὶμ", which was sung during the procession, was often ascribed to Emperor Justin II , but

5670-539: The conquest of Constantinople , was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire . The city was captured on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 55-day siege which had begun on 6 April. The attacking Ottoman Army , which significantly outnumbered Constantinople's defenders, was commanded by the 21-year-old Sultan Mehmed II (later nicknamed "the Conqueror"), while

5832-471: The imperial palace , with fixed stations and rules for ritual actions and acclamations from specified participants (the text of acclamations and processional troparia or kontakia , but also heirmoi are mentioned), among them also ministers, senate members, leaders of the "Blues" (Venetoi) and the "Greens" (Prasinoi)—chariot teams during the hippodrome's horse races. They had an important role during court ceremonies. The following chapters (84–95) are taken from

5994-511: The lyra (lūrā) as the typical instrument of the Byzantines along with the urghun ( organ ), shilyani (probably a type of harp or lyre ) and the salandj (probably a bagpipe ). The first of these, the early bowed stringed instrument known as the Byzantine lyra , would come to be called the lira da braccio , in Venice, where it is considered by many to have been the predecessor of

6156-421: The mediant and the participant . The mediant is named from its position—in the authentic modes—between the final and cofinal. In the authentic modes it is the third degree of the scale, unless that note should happen to be B, in which case C substitutes for it. In the plagal modes, its position is somewhat irregular. The participant is an auxiliary note, generally adjacent to the mediant in authentic modes and, in

6318-742: The mutual excommunications of 1054, the Pope in Rome was committed to establishing unity with the eastern church . The union was agreed by the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos in 1274, at the Second Council of Lyon , and indeed, some Palaiologoi emperors had since been received into the Latin Church . Emperor John VIII Palaiologos had also recently negotiated union with Pope Eugene IV , with

6480-493: The " reciting tone " of the psalm tones ), is a fifth above the final of the scale, with the exception of mode 3 (Phrygian), where it is a sixth above the final. This is because a fifth above the tonic of mode 3 is the "unstable" ti (in modern solfège), which may be flattened to ta . The older Byzantine system still retains eight echoi (sing. ἦχος – echos ), each consisting of a small family of closely related modes that, if rounded to their diatonic equivalents, would be

6642-402: The "Genoese, Venetians and those who came secretly from Galata to help the defense", who numbered "hardly as many as three thousand", amounting to something under 8,000 men in total to defend a perimeter wall of twelve miles. At the onset of the siege, probably fewer than 50,000 people were living within the walls, including the refugees from the surrounding area. Turkish commander Dorgano, who

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6804-559: The 1st century of a contemporary sovereign (possibly Nero) who could play a pipe ( tibia , Roman reedpipes similar to Greek aulos) with his mouth as well as by tucking a bladder beneath his armpit. The bagpipes continued to be played throughout the empire's former realms down to the present. (See Balkan Gaida , Greek Tsampouna , Pontic Tulum , Cretan Askomandoura , Armenian Parkapzuk , Zurna and Romanian Cimpoi .) Other commonly used instruments used in Byzantine Music include

6966-455: The 5th century. Compositions had been related to them, but they must be reconstructed by notated sources which date centuries later. The melodic neume notation of Byzantine music developed late since the 10th century, with the exception of an earlier ekphonetic notation , interpunction signs used in lectionaries , but modal signatures for the eight echoi can already be found in fragments ( papyri ) of monastic hymn books (tropologia) dating back to

7128-528: The 6th century. Amid the rise of Christian civilization within Hellenism, many concepts of knowledge and education survived during the imperial age, when Christianity became the official religion. The Pythagorean sect and music as part of the four "cyclical exercises" (ἐγκύκλια μαθήματα) that preceded the Latin quadrivium and science today based on mathematics, established mainly among Greeks in southern Italy (at Taranto and Crotone ). Greek anachoretes of

7290-437: The 7th century kanons at the Patriarchate of Jerusalem still consisted of the two or three odes throughout the year cycle, and often combined different echoi . The form common today of nine or eight odes was introduced by composers within the school of Andrew of Crete at Mar Saba . The nine odes of the kanon were dissimilar by their metrum. Consequently, an entire heirmos comprises nine independent melodies (eight, because

7452-506: The Bosphorus and a smaller castle at the village of Studius near the Sea of Marmara were taken within a few days. The Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara were likely taken by Admiral Baltoghlu 's fleet during this phase of the siege. Mehmed's massive cannons fired on the walls for weeks but due to their imprecision and extremely slow rate of fire, the Byzantines were able to repair most of

7614-669: The Byzantine chant is a significant cultural tradition and comprehensive music system forming part of the common musical traditions that developed in the Byzantine Empire." The tradition of eastern liturgical chant, encompassing the Greek -speaking world, developed even before the establishment of the new Roman capital, Constantinople , in 330 until its fall in 1453. Byzantine music was influenced by Hellenistic music traditions, classic Greek music as well as religious music traditions of Syriac and Hebrew cultures. The Byzantine system of octoechos , in which melodies were classified into eight modes,

7776-566: The Byzantines, but they were unable to secure the funds needed to hire him. Orban then left Constantinople and approached Mehmed II, claiming that his weapon could blast "the walls of Babylon itself". Given abundant funds and materials, the Hungarian engineer built the gun within three months at Edirne . However, this was the only cannon that Orban built for the Ottoman forces at Constantinople, and it had several drawbacks: it took three hours to reload; cannonballs were in very short supply; and

7938-584: The European envoys at his new court. But Mehmed's mild words were not matched by his actions. By early 1452, work began on the construction of a second fortress ( Rumeli hisarı ) on the European side of the Bosphorus , several miles north of Constantinople. The new fortress sat directly across the strait from the Anadolu Hisarı fortress, built by Mehmed's great-grandfather Bayezid I . This pair of fortresses ensured complete control of sea traffic on

8100-733: The Great Logothete George Sphrantzes : 200,000; the Cardinal Isidore of Kiev and the Archbishop of Mytilene Leonardo di Chio: 300,000). Mehmed built a fleet (crewed partially by Spanish sailors from Gallipoli ) to besiege the city from the sea. Contemporary estimates of the strength of the Ottoman fleet span from 110 ships to 430 (Tedaldi: 110; Barbaro: 145; Ubertino Pusculo: 160, Isidore of Kiev and Leonardo di Chio: 200–250; (Sphrantzes): 430). A more realistic modern estimate predicts

8262-506: The Hagiopolitan tropologion since the 5th century have mainly survived in a Georgian type of tropologion called "Iadgari" whose oldest copies can be dated back to the 9th century. Today the second ode is usually omitted (while the great kanon attributed to John of Damascus includes it), but medieval heirmologia rather testify the custom, that the extremely strict spirit of Moses' last prayer was especially recited during Lenten tide, when

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8424-646: The Horn. The Ottomans were experts in laying siege to cities. They knew that in order to prevent diseases they had to burn corpses, sanitarily dispose of excrement, and carefully scrutinize their sources of water. The city had about 20 km of walls ( land walls : 5.5 km; sea walls along the Golden Horn: 7 km; sea walls along the Sea of Marmara: 7.5 km), one of the strongest sets of fortified walls in existence. The walls had recently been repaired (under John VIII ) and were in fairly good shape, giving

8586-509: The Latin spelling of his name, "John Justinian", named after the famous 6th century Byzantine emperor Justinian the Great . Around the same time, the captains of the Venetian ships that happened to be present in the Golden Horn offered their services to the Emperor, barring contrary orders from Venice , and Pope Nicholas undertook to send three ships laden with provisions, which set sail near

8748-465: The Macedonian renaissance. Two concepts must be understood to appreciate fully the function of music in Byzantine worship and they were related to a new form of urban monasticism, which even formed the representative cathedral rites of the imperial ages, which had to baptise many catechumens . The first, which retained currency in Greek theological and mystical speculation until the dissolution of

8910-535: The Milanese and the Constantinopolitan rite. Before long, however, a clericalizing tendency soon began to manifest itself in linguistic usage, particularly after the Council of Laodicea , whose fifteenth Canon permitted only the canonical psaltai , "chanters:", to sing at the services. The word choros came to refer to the special priestly function in the liturgy – just as, architecturally speaking,

9072-657: The Morning Office, exist for all special days of the year, the Sundays and weekdays of Lent , and for the recurrent cycle of eight weeks in the order of the modes beginning with Easter . Their melodies were originally preserved in the tropologion . During the 10th century two new notated chant books were created at the Stoudios Monastery, which were supposed to replace the tropologion: These books were not only provided with musical notation, with respect to

9234-470: The Ottoman invaders captured children and took them away to their tents, and became rich by plundering the imperial palace and the houses of Constantinople. The Ottoman official Tursun Beg wrote: Authentic modes A Gregorian mode (or church mode ) is one of the eight systems of pitch organization used in Gregorian chant . The name of Pope Gregory I was attached to the variety of chant that

9396-476: The Ottoman navy assuming control over the Golden Horn, which was accomplished by midday. The army converged upon the Augusteum , the vast square that fronted the great church of Hagia Sophia whose bronze gates were barred by a huge throng of civilians inside the building, hoping for divine protection. After the doors were breached, the troops separated the congregation according to what price they might bring in

9558-520: The Ottoman siege. Constantinople had been an imperial capital since its consecration in 330 under Roman emperor Constantine the Great . In the following eleven centuries, the city had been besieged many times but was captured only once before: the Sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. The crusaders established an unstable Latin state in and around Constantinople while

9720-405: The Ottomans from entering the city and the defenders were overwhelmed at several points along the wall. Janissaries, led by Ulubatlı Hasan , pressed forward. Many Greek soldiers ran back home to protect their families, the Venetians retreated to their ships and a few of the Genoese escaped to Galata. The rest surrendered or committed suicide by jumping off the city walls. The Greek houses nearest to

9882-439: The Ottomans had fired 5,000 shots from their cannons using 55,000 pounds of gunpowder. Criers roamed the camp to the sound of the blasting horns, rousing the Ghazis. Shortly after midnight on Tuesday 29 May, the offensive began. The Christian troops of the Ottoman Empire attacked first, followed by successive waves of the irregular azaps , who were poorly trained and equipped and Anatolian Turkmen beylik forces who focused on

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10044-416: The Patriarchate of Constantinople. The new self-declared patriarchates were independent nations defined by their religion. In this context, Christian religious chant practiced in the Ottoman Empire, in, among other nations, Bulgaria , Serbia and Greece , was based on the historical roots of the art tracing back to the Byzantine Empire, while the music of the Patriarchate created during the Ottoman period

10206-459: The Patriarchates of Jerusalem and Alexandria (especially Sinai) remained centres of the hymnographic reform. Concerning the Old Byzantine notation, Constantinople and the area between Jerusalem and Sinai can be clearly distinguished. The earliest notation used for the books sticherarion and was theta notation, but it was soon replaced by palimpsests with more detailed forms between Coislin (Palestine) and Chartres notation (Constantinople). Although it

10368-406: The Pope, promising to implement the union, which was declared valid by a half-hearted imperial court on 12 December 1452. Although he was eager for an advantage, Pope Nicholas V did not have the influence the Byzantines thought he had over the Western kings and princes, some of whom were wary of increasing papal control. Furthermore, these Western rulers did not have the wherewithal to contribute to

10530-515: The Theodosian Walls, the intricate series of walls and ditches protecting Constantinople from an attack from the West and the only part of the city not surrounded by water. His army encamped outside the city on 2 April 1453, the Monday after Easter . The bulk of the Ottoman army was encamped south of the Golden Horn. The regular European troops, stretched out along the entire length of the walls, were commanded by Karadja Pasha. The regular troops from Anatolia under Ishak Pasha were stationed south of

10692-445: The antiphonon, whether it was sung or not, its three sections of the psalmodic recitation were separated by the troparion. The fashion in all cathedral rites of the Mediterranean was a new emphasis on the psalter. In older ceremonies before Christianity became the religion of empires, the recitation of the biblical odes (mainly taken from the Old Testament) was much more important. They did not disappear in certain cathedral rites such as

10854-435: The background of the later book of ceremonies. Some of Romanos creations can be even regarded as political propaganda in connection with the new and very fast reconstruction of the famous Hagia Sophia by Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles . A quarter of Constantinople had been burnt down during a civil war . Justinian had ordered a massacre at the hippodrome , because his imperial antagonists who were affiliated to

11016-434: The base of the political history. Especially the first generation around Theodore Studites and Joseph the Confessor , and the second around Joseph the Hymnographer suffered from the first and the second crisis of iconoclasm . The community around Theodore could revive monastic life at the abandoned Stoudios Monastery, but he had to leave Constantinople frequently in order to escape political persecution. During this period,

11178-423: The blessing of the Patriarch; then the preliminary lessons are read in the ambo; when these are over the Liturgy begins, and at the end of the service the chief priest recites the so-called prayer of the ambo within the sanctuary while the second priest recites in the church, beyond the ambo; when they have finished the prayer, both bless the people. Vespers are said in the same fashion, beginning at an early hour. By

11340-487: The cannon is said to have collapsed under its own recoil after six weeks. The account of the cannon's collapse is disputed, given that it was only reported in the letter of Archbishop Leonardo di Chio and in the later, and often unreliable, Russian chronicle of Nestor Iskander . Having previously established a large foundry about 150 miles (240 km) away, Mehmed now had to undertake the painstaking process of transporting his massive artillery pieces. In preparation for

11502-462: The cannons at the siege were built by Turkish engineers, including a large bombard by Saruca, while one cannon was built by Orban, who also contributed a large bombard. Orban, a Hungarian (though some suggest he was German ), was a somewhat mysterious figure. His 27-foot-long (8.2 m) cannon was named " Basilica " and was able to hurl a 600-pound (270 kg) stone ball over a mile (1.6 km). Orban initially tried to sell his services to

11664-467: The ceremony. Outside Constantinople these choir or icon screens of marble were later replaced by iconostaseis . Antonin , a Russian monk and pilgrim of Novgorod , described the procession of choirs during Orthros and the divine liturgy, when he visited Constantinople in December 1200: When they sing Lauds at Hagia Sophia, they sing first in the narthex before the royal doors; then they enter to sing in

11826-492: The changes in sacred architecture were definitely traced back to his time by archaeologists. Concerning the Hagia Sophia , which was constructed earlier, the procession was obviously within the church. It seems that the cherubikon was a prototype of the Western chant genre offertory . With this change came also the dramaturgy of the three doors in a choir screen before the bema (sanctuary). They were closed and opened during

11988-429: The chant usually ends; it may be approximately regarded as analogous (but not identical) to the tonic in the Western classical tradition. Likewise the cofinal is an additional resting point in the chant; it may be regarded as having some analogy to the more recent dominant , but its interval from the tonic is not necessarily a fifth. In addition to the final and cofinal, every mode is distinguished by scale degrees called

12150-449: The choir became a reserved area near the sanctuary—and choros eventually became the equivalent of the word kleros (the pulpits of two or even five choirs). The nine canticles or odes according to the psalter were: and in Constantinople they were combined in pairs against this canonical order: The common term for a short hymn of one stanza, or one of a series of stanzas, is troparion . As a refrain interpolated between psalm verses it had

12312-530: The city on their own account. Cardinal Isidore , funded by the Pope, arrived in 1452 with 200 archers. An accomplished soldier from Genoa , Giovanni Giustiniani , arrived in January 1453 with 400 men from Genoa and 300 men from Genoese Chios . As a specialist in defending walled cities, Giustiniani was immediately given the overall command of the defence of the land walls by the Emperor. The Byzantines knew him by

12474-1038: The contemporary violin, which later flourished there. The bowed "lyra" is still played in former Byzantine regions, where it is known as the Politiki lyra (lit. "lyra of the City" i.e. Constantinople ) in Greece, the Calabrian lira in Southern Italy, and the Lijerica in Dalmatia . The second instrument, the Hydraulis , originated in the Hellenistic world and was used in the Hippodrome in Constantinople during races. A pipe organ with "great leaden pipes"

12636-419: The cost of many struggles and very great dangers and that, having passed it along in succession from their fathers, from father to son, they handed it down to me. For some of the oldest of you were sharers in many of the exploits carried through by them—those at least of you who are of maturer years—and the younger of you have heard of these deeds from your fathers. They are not such very ancient events nor of such

12798-442: The damage after each shot, mitigating the effect of the Ottoman artillery. Despite some probing attacks, the Ottoman fleet under Baltoghlu could not enter the Golden Horn due to the chain across the entrance. Although one of the fleet's main tasks was to prevent any foreign ships from entering the Golden Horn, on 20 April, a small flotilla of four Christian ships managed to get in after some heavy fighting, an event which strengthened

12960-474: The dead ones ... without caring how near they came to the city walls. Our men shot at them with guns and crossbows, aiming at the Turk who was carrying away his dead countryman, and both of them would fall to the ground dead, and then there came other Turks and took them away, none fearing death, but being willing to let ten of themselves be killed rather than suffer the shame of leaving a single Turkish corpse by

13122-481: The defenders on land, Giovanni Giustiniani , was grievously wounded during the attack, and his evacuation from the ramparts caused a panic in the ranks of the defenders. With Giustiniani's Genoese troops retreating into the city and towards the harbour, Constantine and his men, now left to their own devices, continued to hold their ground against the Janissaries. Constantine's men eventually could not prevent

13284-536: The defenders sufficient reason to believe that they could hold out until help from the West arrived. In addition, the defenders were relatively well-equipped with a fleet of 26 ships: 5 from Genoa , 5 from Venice , 3 from Venetian Crete , 1 from Ancona , 1 from Aragon , 1 from France, and about 10 from the empire itself. On 5 April, the Sultan himself arrived with his last troops, and the defenders took up their positions. As Byzantine numbers were insufficient to occupy

13446-697: The divine liturgies of national Orthodox ceremonies today. The hippodrome was used for a traditional feast called Lupercalia (15 February), and on this occasion the following acclamation was celebrated: The main source about court ceremonies is an incomplete compilation in a 10th-century manuscript that organised parts of a treatise Περὶ τῆς Βασιλείου Τάξεως ("On imperial ceremonies") ascribed to Emperor Constantine VII , but in fact compiled by different authors who contributed with additional ceremonies of their period. In its incomplete form chapter 1–37 of book I describe processions and ceremonies on religious festivals (many lesser ones, but especially great feasts such as

13608-545: The earliest Western sources from about 800. In the traditional system of eight modes (in use mainly between the 8th and 16th centuries) there are four pairs, each pair comprising an authentic mode and a plagal mode . The authentic modes were the odd-numbered modes 1, 3, 5, 7, and this distinction was extended to the Aeolian and Ionian modes when they were added to the original eight Gregorian modes in 1547 by Glareanus in his Dodecachordon . The final of an authentic mode

13770-518: The earliest set of troparia of known authorship are those of the monk Auxentios (first half of the 5th century), attested in his biography but not preserved in any later Byzantine order of service. Another, O Monogenes Yios ("Only Begotten Son"), ascribed to the emperor Justinian I (527–565), followed the doxology of the second antiphonon at the beginning of the Divine Liturgy . The development of large scale hymnographic forms begins in

13932-603: The early Middle Ages did still follow this education. The Calabrian Cassiodorus founded Vivarium where he translated Greek texts (science, theology and the Bible), and John of Damascus who learnt Greek from a Calabrian monk Kosmas, a slave in the household of his privileged father at Damascus, mentioned mathematics as part of the speculative philosophy. Διαιρεῖται δὲ ἡ φιλοσοφία εἰς θεωρητικὸν καὶ πρακτικόν, τὸ θεωρητικὸν εἰς θεολογικόν, φυσικόν, μαθηματικόν, τὸ δὲ πρακτικὸν εἰς ἠθικόν, οἰκονομικόν, πολιτικόν. According to him philosophy

14094-723: The effort, especially in light of the weakened state of France and England from the Hundred Years' War , Spain's involvement in the Reconquista , the internecine fighting in the Holy Roman Empire , and Hungary and Poland's defeat at the Battle of Varna of 1444. Although some troops did arrive from the mercantile city-states in northern Italy, the Western contribution was not adequate to counterbalance Ottoman strength. Some Western individuals, however, came to help defend

14256-425: The eight modes of Gregorian chant. However, they are numbered differently, the authentic modes being 1, 2, 3, 4. Other Eastern Christian rites use similar systems of eight modes; see Syriac usage of Octoechos and Armenian usage of Octoechos . A plagal mode (from Greek πλάγιος 'oblique, sideways, athwart') has a range that includes the octave from the fourth below the final to the fifth above. The plagal modes are

14418-469: The empire, was the belief in the angelic transmission of sacred chant: the assumption that the early Church united men in the prayer of the angelic choirs. It was partly based on the Hebrew fundament of Christian worship, but in the particular reception of St. Basil of Caesarea 's divine liturgy. John Chrysostom , since 397 Archbishop of Constantinople, abridged the long formula of Basil's divine liturgy for

14580-565: The end of March. From the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily arrived in Constantinople the condottiero Gabriele Orsini del Balzo , duke of Venosa and count of Ugento , together with 200 Neapolitan archers, who died fighting for the defense of the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Meanwhile, in Venice, deliberations were taking place concerning the kind of assistance the Republic would lend to Constantinople. The Senate decided upon sending

14742-412: The end of the seventh century with the reform of 692 , the kontakion, Romanos' genre was overshadowed by a certain monastic type of homiletic hymn, the canon and its prominent role it played within the cathedral rite of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Essentially, the canon, as it is known since 8th century, is a hymnodic complex composed of nine odes that were originally related, at least in content, to

14904-510: The even-numbered modes 2, 4, 6 and 8, and each takes its name from the corresponding odd-numbered authentic mode with the addition of the prefix "hypo-": Hypodorian , Hypophrygian , Hypolydian , and Hypomixolydian . The earliest definition of plagal mode is found in Hucbald's treatise De harmonica (c. 880), who specifies the range as running from the fourth below the final to the fifth above. Later writers extend this general rule to include

15066-630: The events of the Massacre of the Latins in 1182 by the Greeks and the Sack of Constantinople in 1204 by the Latins, played a significant role. Ultimately, the attempted union between east and west failed, greatly annoying Pope Nicholas V and the hierarchy of the Roman church. In the summer of 1452, when Rumeli Hisarı was completed and the threat of the Ottomans had become imminent, Constantine wrote to

15228-403: The execution of the Emperor's ambassadors. Fearing a possible naval attack along the shores of the Golden Horn , Emperor Constantine XI ordered that a defensive chain be placed at the mouth of the harbour. This chain, which floated on logs, was strong enough to prevent any Turkish ship from entering the harbour. This device was one of two that gave the Byzantines some hope of extending

15390-490: The fall of Constantinople marks the end of the medieval period and the beginning of the early modern period . The city's fall also stood as a turning point in military history . Since ancient times, cities and castles had depended upon ramparts and walls to repel invaders. The Walls of Constantinople , especially the Theodosian Walls, protected Constantinople from attack for 800 years and were noted as some of

15552-610: The fall of Constantinople stated the Ottoman invaders pillaged the city, murdered or enslaved tens of thousands of people, and raped nuns, women and children: All the valuables and other booty were taken to their camp, and as many as sixty thousand Christians who had been captured. The crosses which had been placed on the roofs or the walls of churches were torn down and trampled. Women were raped, virgins deflowered and youths forced to take part in shameful obscenities. The nuns left behind, even those who were obviously such, were disgraced with foul debaucheries. During three days of pillaging,

15714-483: The fifth century with the rise of the kontakion , a long and elaborate metrical sermon, reputedly of Syriac origin, which finds its acme in the work of St. Romanos the Melodist (6th century). This dramatic homily which could treat various subjects, theological and hagiographical ones as well as imperial propaganda, comprises some 20 to 30 stanzas (oikoi "houses") and was sung in a rather simple style with emphasise on

15876-454: The fifth-century Theodosian Walls . By 1450, the empire was exhausted and had shrunk to a few square kilometers outside the city of Constantinople itself, the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara and the Peloponnese with its cultural center at Mystras . The Empire of Trebizond , an independent successor state that formed in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade , was also present at

16038-399: The final assault began in the evening of 26 May and continued to the next day. For 36 hours after the war council decided to attack, the Ottomans extensively mobilized their manpower for the general offensive. Prayer and resting was then granted to the soldiers on 28 May before the final assault would be launched. On the Byzantine side, a small Venetian fleet of 12 ships, after having searched

16200-433: The final assault, Mehmed had an artillery train of 70 large pieces dragged from his headquarters at Edirne, in addition to the bombards cast on the spot. This train included Orban's enormous cannon, which was said to have been dragged from Edirne by a crew of 60 oxen and over 400 men. There was another large bombard, independently built by Turkish engineer Saruca, that was also used in the battle. Mehmed planned to attack

16362-423: The former tropologia they were also considerably more elaborated and varied as a collection of various local traditions. In practice it meant that only a small part of the repertory was really chosen to be sung during the divine services. Nevertheless, the form tropologion was used until the 12th century, and many later books which combined octoechos, sticherarion and heirmologion, rather derive from it (especially

16524-472: The former cathedral rite was not continued, but replaced by a mixed rite, which used the Byzantine Round notation to integrate the former notations of the former chant books ( Papadike ). This notation had developed within the book sticherarion created by the Stoudios Monastery, but it was used for the books of the cathedral rites written in a period after the fourth crusade , when the cathedral rite

16686-529: The former dynasty, had been organised as a chariot team. Thus, he had place for the creation of a huge park with a new cathedral in it, which was larger than any church built before as Hagia Sophia. He needed a kind of mass propaganda to justify the imperial violence against the public. In the kontakion "On earthquakes and conflagration" (H. 54), Romanos interpreted the Nika riot as a divine punishment, which followed in 532 earlier ones including earthquakes (526–529) and

16848-457: The four lower-lying echoi , or modes. Thus plagal first mode (also known as "tone 5" in the Russian naming system ) represents a somewhat more developed and widened in range version of the first mode. The plagal second mode ("tone 6" in the Russian system) has a similar relation to the second mode, and the plagal fourth mode—respectively to the fourth mode. Though there is no "plagal third mode",

17010-400: The fourth century, when it was analyzed and integrated into a theological system, the bond and "oneness" that united the clergy and the faithful in liturgical worship was less potent. It is, however, one of the key ideas for understanding a number of realities for which we now have different names. With regard to musical performance, this concept of koinonia may be applied to the primitive use of

17172-502: The hands of the Turks as Ottoman possessions. The Emperor was not willing to leave the city without a fight: As to surrendering the city to you, it is not for me to decide or for anyone else of its citizens; for all of us have reached the mutual decision to die of our own free will, without any regard for our lives. Around this time, Mehmed had a final council with his senior officers. Here he encountered some resistance; one of his Viziers,

17334-550: The hill, directly into the Golden Horn on 22 April, bypassing the chain barrier. This action seriously threatened the flow of supplies from Genoese ships from the nominally neutral colony of Pera and it demoralized the Byzantine defenders. On the night of 28 April, an attempt was made to destroy the Ottoman ships already in the Golden Horn using fire ships but the Ottomans forced the Christians to retreat with many casualties. Forty Italians escaped their sinking ships and swam to

17496-450: The hippodrome or into the cathedral. They can be different from the polychronia, ritual prayers or ektenies for present political rulers and are usually answered by a choir with formulas such as "Lord protect" (κύριε σῶσον) or "Lord have mercy on us/them" (κύριε ἐλέησον). The documented polychronia in books of the cathedral rite allow a geographical and a chronological classification of the manuscript and they are still used during ektenies of

17658-481: The idea that Constantinople was inevitably doomed is incorrect and the situation was not as one-sided as a simple glance at a map might suggest. It has also been claimed that Constantinople was "the best-defended city in Europe" at that time. At the beginning of the siege, Mehmed sent out some of his best troops to reduce the remaining Byzantine strongholds outside the city of Constantinople. The fortress of Therapia on

17820-510: The impending siege of Constantinople. Karaca Pasha , the beylerbeyi of Rumelia , sent men to prepare the roads from Adrianople to Constantinople so that bridges could cope with the massive cannons. Fifty carpenters and 200 artisans also strengthened the roads where necessary. The Greek historian Michael Critobulus quotes Mehmed II 's speech to his soldiers before the siege: My friends and men of my empire! You all know very well that our forefathers secured this kingdom that we now hold at

17982-407: The imperial court. It was, however, regarded with contempt, and was frequently denounced as profane and lascivious by some Church Fathers. Another genre that lies between liturgical chant and court ceremonial are the so-called polychronia (πολυχρονία) and acclamations (ἀκτολογία). The acclamations were sung to announce the entrance of the Emperor during representative receptions at the court, into

18144-576: The initial assault, the Ottoman army fanned out along the main thoroughfare of the city, the Mese, past the great forums and the Church of the Holy Apostles , which Mehmed II wanted to provide as a seat for his newly appointed patriarch to better control his Christian subjects. Mehmed II had sent an advance guard to protect these key buildings. The Catalans that maintained their position on the section of

18306-408: The land walls and one near the Church of the Holy Apostles , under the command of Loukas Notaras and Nicephorus Palaeologus, respectively. The Venetian Alviso Diedo commanded the ships in the harbour. Although the Byzantines also had cannons, the weapons were much smaller than those of the Ottomans, and the recoil tended to damage their own walls. According to David Nicolle , despite many odds,

18468-579: The local cathedral rite. The notion of angelic chant 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 clearly 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

18630-473: The loot they could get from raiding the city's houses, so they decided to attack the city instead. The Venetian captain ordered his men to break open the gate of the Golden Horn. Having done so, the Venetians left in ships filled with soldiers and refugees. Shortly after the Venetians left, a few Genoese ships and even the Emperor's ships followed them out of the Golden Horn. This fleet narrowly escaped prior to

18792-586: The middle of the church; then the gates of Paradise are opened and they sing a third time before the altar. On Sundays and feastdays the Patriarch assists at Lauds and at the Liturgy; at this time he blesses the singers from gallery, and ceasing to sing, they proclaim the polychronia; then they begin to sing again as harmoniously and as sweetly as the angels, and they sing in this fashion until the Liturgy. After Lauds they put off their vestments and go out to receive

18954-436: The mines and kill the miners. The Byzantines intercepted the first tunnel on the night of 16 May. Subsequent tunnels were interrupted on 21, 23 and 25 May, and destroyed with Greek fire and vigorous combat. On 23 May, the Byzantines captured and tortured two Turkish officers, who revealed the location of all the Turkish tunnels, which were destroyed. On 21 May, Mehmed sent an ambassador to Constantinople and offered to lift

19116-403: The mode that one would expect ("tone 7") is called the "grave tone". Two characteristic notes or pitches in a modal melody are the final and cofinal ( tenor , dominant , or reciting tone ). These are the primary degrees (often the 1st and 5th) on which the melody is conceived and on which it most often comes to rest, in graduated stages of finality. The final is the pitch in which

19278-399: The modern oboe or Armenian duduk . Other forms include the plagiaulos (πλαγίαυλος, from πλάγιος, plagios "sideways"), which resembled the flute , and the askaulos (ἀσκαυλός from ἀσκός askos " wine-skin "), a bagpipe. These bagpipes, also known as Dankiyo (from ancient Greek : To angeion (Τὸ ἀγγεῖον) "the container"), had been played even in Roman times. Dio Chrysostom wrote in

19440-401: The morale of the defenders and caused embarrassment to the Sultan. Baltoghlu was most likely injured in the eye during the skirmish. Mehmed stripped Baltoghlu of his wealth and property and gave it to the janissaries and ordered him to be whipped 100 times. Mehmed ordered the construction of a road of greased logs across Galata on the north side of the Golden Horn and dragged his ships over

19602-401: The most advanced defensive systems in the world at the time. However, these fortifications were overcome with the use of gunpowder , specifically from Ottoman cannons and bombards , heralding a change in siege warfare. The Ottoman cannons repeatedly fired massive cannonballs weighing 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) over 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) which created gaps in the Theodosian Walls for

19764-596: The most interesting question of the genre are the different functions that kontakia once had. Romanos' original melodies were not delivered by notated sources dating back to the 6th century, the earliest notated source is the Tipografsky Ustav written about 1100. Its gestic notation was different from Middle Byzantine notation used in Italian and Athonite Kontakaria of the 13th century, where the gestic signs (cheironomiai) became integrated as "great signs". During

19926-434: The movable cycle. The new Studite or post-Studite custom established by the reformers was that each ode consists of an initial troparion, the heirmos, followed by three, four or more troparia from the menaion, which are the exact metrical reproductions of the heirmos (aposticha), thereby allowing the same music to fit all troparia equally well. The combination of Constantinopolitan and Palestine customs must be also understood on

20088-551: The names Lydian and Phrygian for the octaves of devteros and tritos had been sometimes exchanged. The Ancient Greek harmonikai was a Hellenist reception of the Pythagorean education programme defined as mathemata ("exercises"). Harmonikai was one of them. Today, chanters of the Christian Orthodox churches identify with the heritage of Byzantine music whose earliest composers are remembered by name since

20250-404: The nine Biblical canticles and to which they were related by means of corresponding poetic allusion or textual quotation (see the section about the biblical odes ). Out of the custom of canticle recitation, monastic reformers at Constantinople, Jerusalem and Mount Sinai developed a new homiletic genre whose verses in the complex ode meter were composed over a melodic model: the heirmos . During

20412-433: The northern shore. On orders of Mehmed, they were impaled on stakes, in sight of the city's defenders on the sea walls across the Golden Horn. In retaliation, the defenders brought their Ottoman prisoners, 260 in all, to the walls, where they were executed, one by one, before the eyes of the Ottomans. With the failure of their attack on the Ottoman vessels, the defenders were forced to disperse part of their forces to defend

20574-559: The number of odes was limited to three odes ( triodion ), especially patriarch Germanus I contributed with many own compositions of the second ode. According to Alexandra Nikiforova only two of 64 canons composed by Germanus I are present in the current print editions, but manuscripts have transmitted his hymnographic heritage. During the 9th-century reforms of the Stoudios Monastery , the reformers favoured Hagiopolitan composers and customs in their new notated chant books heirmologion and sticherarion , but they also added substantial parts to

20736-454: The period of psaltic art (14th and 15th centuries), the interest of kalophonic elaboration was focussed on one particular kontakion which was still celebrated: the Akathist hymn. An exception was John Kladas who contributed also with kalophonic settings of other kontakia of the repertoire. Some of them had a clear liturgical assignation, others not, so that they can only be understood from

20898-453: The psalter, and usually Byzantine psalters have the 15 canticles in an appendix, but the simple psalmody itself was not notated before the 13th century, in dialogue or papadikai treatises preceding the book sticheraria. Later books, like the akolouthiai and some psaltika , also contain the elaborated psalmody, when a protopsaltes recited just one or two psalm verses. Between the recited psalms and canticles troparia were recited according to

21060-468: The remainder of the Byzantine Empire splintered into a number of successor states, notably Nicaea , Epirus and Trebizond . They fought as allies against the Latin establishments, but also fought among themselves for the Byzantine throne. The Nicaeans eventually reconquered Constantinople from the Latins in 1261, reestablishing the Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty . Thereafter, there

21222-466: The same function as the antiphon in Western plainchant. The simplest troparion was probably "allelouia", and similar to troparia like the trisagion or the cherubikon or the koinonika a lot of troparia became a chant genre of their own. A famous example, whose existence is attested as early as the 4th century, is the Easter Vespers hymn, Phos Hilaron ("O Resplendent Light"). Perhaps

21384-404: The same more or less elaborated psalmody. This context relates antiphonal chant genres including antiphona (kind of introits ), trisagion and its substitutes, prokeimenon , allelouiarion , the later cherubikon and its substitutes, the koinonikon cycles as they were created during the 9th century. In most of the cases they were simply troparia and their repetitions or segments were given by

21546-523: The sea walls along the Golden Horn. The Ottoman army had made several frontal assaults on the land wall of Constantinople, but they were costly failures. Venetian surgeon Niccolò Barbaro , describing in his diary one such land attack by the Janissaries, wrote They found the Turks coming right up under the walls and seeking battle, particularly the Janissaries ;... and when one or two of them were killed, at once more Turks came and took away

21708-442: The second ode was often omitted outside Lenten period), which are united musically by the same echos and its melos, and sometimes even textually by references to the general theme of the liturgical occasion—especially in aposticha (ἀpόστιχα) composed over a given heirmos , but dedicated to a particular day of the menaion . Until the 11th century, the common book of hymns was the tropologion and it had no other musical notation than

21870-481: The siege if they gave him the city. He promised he would allow the Emperor and any other inhabitants to leave with their possessions. He would recognize the Emperor as governor of the Peloponnese. Lastly, he guaranteed the safety of the population that might choose to remain in the city. Constantine XI only agreed to pay higher tributes to the sultan and recognized the status of all the conquered castles and lands in

22032-601: The siege until the possible arrival of foreign help. This strategy was used because in 1204, the armies of the Fourth Crusade successfully circumvented Constantinople's land defences by breaching the Golden Horn Wall , which faces the Horn. Another strategy employed by the Byzantines was the repair and fortification of the Land Wall ( Theodosian Walls ). Emperor Constantine deemed it necessary to ensure that

22194-786: The siege, he was shifted to the Mesoteichion to join Constantine, leaving the Myriandrion to the charge of the Bocchiardi brothers. Girolamo Minotto  [ el ; es ; fr ; it ] and his Venetians were stationed in the Blachernae Palace , together with Teodoro Caristo, the Langasco brothers, and Archbishop Leonardo of Chios . To the left of the emperor, further south, were the commanders Cataneo, who led Genoese troops, and Theophilus Palaeologus, who guarded

22356-399: The siege, while according to a Venetian Senate report, 50 Venetian noblemen and over 500 other Venetian civilians died during the siege. Many of the riches of the city were already looted in 1204 , leaving only limited loot to the Ottomans. Other sources claim far more brutal and successful pillaging by the Ottoman invaders. Leonard of Chios made accounts of the atrocities that followed

22518-524: The sixth above the final and the fifth below, except for the Hypolydian mode , which would have a diminished fifth below the final and so the fourth below, C, remained the lower limit. In addition to the range, the tenor (cofinal, or dominant, corresponding to the " reciting tone " of the psalm tones ) differs. In the plagal modes, the tenor is a third lower than the tenor of the corresponding authentic mode, except in mode 8 (Hypomixolydian), where it

22680-487: The sixth and early ninth centuries, but there are neither theoretical sources nor notated music from this period. By the late eighth century, a system of eight modal categories, for which there was no precedent in Ancient Greek theory , came to be associated with the repertory of Gregorian chant. This system likely originated from the early Byzantine oktōēchos , as indicated by the non-Hellenistic Greek names used in

22842-407: The slave markets. Ottoman casualties are unknown but they are believed by most historians to be severe due to several unsuccessful Ottoman attacks made during the siege and final assault. The Venetian Barbaro observed that blood flowed in the city "like rainwater in the gutters after a sudden storm" and that bodies of Turks and Christians floated in the sea "like melons along a canal". According to

23004-542: The time on the coast of the Black Sea . When Mehmed II succeeded his father in 1451, he was 19 years old. Many European courts assumed that the young Ottoman ruler would not seriously challenge Christian hegemony in the Balkans and the Aegean . In fact, Europe celebrated Mehmed coming to the throne and hoped his inexperience would lead the Ottomans astray. This calculation was boosted by Mehmed's friendly overtures to

23166-591: The tropologion and re-organised the cycle of movable and immovable feasts (especially Lent, the triodion , and its scriptural lessons). The trend is testified by a 9th-century tropologion of the Saint Catherine's Monastery which is dominated by contributions of Jerusalem. Festal stichera, accompanying both the fixed psalms at the beginning and end of Hesperinos and the psalmody of the Orthros (the Ainoi) in

23328-505: The understanding of the recent texts. The earliest notated versions in Slavic kondakar's (12th century) and Greek kontakaria-psaltika (13th century), however, are in a more elaborate style (also rubrified idiomela ), and were probably sung since the ninth century, when kontakia were reduced to the prooimion (introductory verse) and first oikos (stanza). Romanos' own recitation of all the numerous oikoi must have been much simpler, but

23490-469: The usually unnotated Slavonic osmoglasnik which was often divided in two parts called "pettoglasnik", one for the kyrioi, another for the plagioi echoi). The old custom can be studied on the basis of the 9th-century tropologion ΜΓ 56+5 from Sinai which was still organised according to the old tropologion beginning with the Christmas and Epiphany cycle (not with 1 September) and without any separation of

23652-443: The veteran Halil Pasha , who had always disapproved of Mehmed's plans to conquer the city, now admonished him to abandon the siege in the face of recent adversity. Zagan Pasha argued against Halil Pasha and insisted on an immediate attack. Believing that the Byzantine defence was already weakened sufficiently, Mehmed planned to overpower the walls by sheer force and started preparations for a final all-out offensive. Preparations for

23814-458: The wall that the emperor had assigned them, had the honor of being the last troops to fall. The sultan had Pere Julià, his sons and the consul Joan de la Via, amongst others, beheaded. A few civilians managed to escape. When the Venetians retreated over to their ships, the Ottomans had already taken the walls of the Golden Horn. Luckily for the occupants of the city, the Ottomans were not interested in killing potentially valuable slaves but rather in

23976-501: The walls in their entirety, it had been decided that only the outer walls would be guarded. Constantine and his Greek troops guarded the Mesoteichion , the middle section of the land walls, where they were crossed by the river Lycus. This section was considered the weakest spot in the walls and an attack was feared here most. Giustiniani was stationed to the north of the emperor, at the Charisian Gate ( Myriandrion ); later during

24138-498: The walls were the first to suffer from the Ottomans. It is said that Constantine, throwing aside his purple imperial regalia, led the final charge against the incoming Ottomans, perishing in the ensuing battle in the streets alongside his soldiers. The Venetian Nicolò Barbaro claimed in his diary that Constantine hanged himself at the moment when the Turks broke in at the San Romano gate. Ultimately, his fate remains unknown. After

24300-463: The walls. After these inconclusive attacks, the Ottomans sought to break through the walls by constructing tunnels to mine them from mid-May to 25 May. Many of the sappers were miners of Serbian origin sent from Novo Brdo under the command of Zagan Pasha . An engineer named Johannes Grant , a German who came with the Genoese contingent, had counter-mines dug, allowing Byzantine troops to enter

24462-610: The way of movements (symbolic or real) including on foot, mounted, by boat, but also the costumes of the celebrants and who has to perform certain acclamations. The emperor often plays the role of Christ and the imperial palace is chosen for religious rituals, so that the ceremonial book brings the sacred and the profane together. Book II seems to be less normative and was obviously not compiled from older sources like book I, which often mentioned outdated imperial offices and ceremonies, it rather describes particular ceremonies as they had been celebrated during particular imperial receptions during

24624-704: The word choros. It referred, not to a separate group within the congregation entrusted with musical responsibilities, but to the congregation as a whole. St. Ignatius wrote to the Church in Ephesus in the following way: You must every man of you join in a choir so that being harmonious and in concord and taking the keynote of God in unison, you may sing with one voice through Jesus Christ to the Father, so that He may hear you and through your good deeds recognize that you are parts of His Son. A marked feature of liturgical ceremony

24786-521: Was already abandoned at Constantinople. It is being discussed that in the Narthex of the Hagia Sophia an organ was placed for use in secular processions of the Emperor's entourage. According to the chant manual " Hagiopolites " of 16 church tones ( echoi ), the author of this treatise introduces a tonal system of 10 echoi. Nevertheless, both schools have in common a set of 4 octaves ( protos, devteros, tritos , and tetartos ), each of them had

24948-510: Was correct that the Studites in Constantinople established a new mixed rite, its customs remained different from those of the other Patriarchates which were located outside the Empire. Fall of Constantinople 40,000–50,000 in total (Turkish sources) 60,000–80,000 in total (Modern sources) Naval forces: Naval forces: 26 ships The fall of Constantinople , also known as

25110-564: Was divided into theory (theology, physics, mathematics) and practice (ethics, economy, politics), and the Pythagorean heritage was part of the former, while only the ethic effects of music were relevant in practice. The mathematic science harmonics was usually not mixed with the concrete topics of a chant manual. Nevertheless, Byzantine music is modal and entirely dependent on the Ancient Greek concept of harmonics. Its tonal system

25272-498: Was forced to supply as part of his obligation to the Ottoman sultan — just a few months before, Branković had supplied the money for the reconstruction of the walls of Constantinople. Contemporaneous Western witnesses of the siege, who tend to exaggerate the military power of the Sultan, provide disparate and higher numbers ranging from 160,000 to 300,000 ( Niccolò Barbaro : 160,000; the Florentine merchant Jacopo Tedaldi and

25434-475: Was in Constantinople working for the Emperor, was also guarding one of the quarters of the city on the seaward side with the Turks in his pay. These Turks kept loyal to the Emperor and perished in the ensuing battle. The defending army's Genoese corps were well trained and equipped, while the rest of the army consisted of small numbers of well-trained soldiers, armed civilians, sailors and volunteer forces from foreign communities, and finally monks . The garrison used

25596-552: Was little peace for the much-weakened empire as it fended off successive attacks by the Latins , Serbs , Bulgarians and Ottoman Turks . Between 1346 and 1349, the Black Death killed almost half of the inhabitants of Constantinople. The city was further depopulated by the general economic and territorial decline of the empire, and by 1453 , it consisted of a series of walled villages separated by vast fields encircled by

25758-566: Was often regarded as "post-Byzantine." This explains why Byzantine music refers to several Orthodox Christian chant traditions of the Mediterranean and of the Caucasus practiced in recent history and even today, and this article cannot be limited to the music culture of the Byzantine past. The Byzantine chant was added by UNESCO in 2019 to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage "as a living art that has existed for almost 2,000 years,

25920-591: Was sent by the emperor Constantine V to Pepin the Short King of the Franks in 757. Pepin's son Charlemagne requested a similar organ for his chapel in Aachen in 812, beginning its establishment in Western church music. Despite this, the Byzantines never used pipe organs and kept the flute-sounding Hydraulis until the Fourth Crusade . The final Byzantine instrument, the aulos , was a double-reeded woodwind like

26082-550: Was the active part taken by the people in its performance, particularly in the recitation or chanting of hymns, responses and psalms. The terms choros, koinonia and ekklesia were used synonymously in the early Byzantine Church. In Psalms 149 and 150, the Septuagint translated the Hebrew word machol (dance) by the Greek word choros Greek : χορός . As a result, the early Church borrowed this word from classical antiquity as

26244-633: Was to become the dominant variety in medieval western and central Europe (the diocese of Milan was the sole significant exception) by the Frankish cantors reworking Roman ecclesiastical song during the Carolingian period. The theoretical framework of modes arose later to describe the tonal structure of this chant repertory, and is not necessarily applicable to the other European chant dialects ( Old Roman , Mozarabic , Ambrosian , etc.). The repertory of Western plainchant acquired its basic forms between

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