FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF MUSIC

BYZANTINE CHANT: ORIGINS OF MICROTONAL INFLECTION

By
Jon Paul Yerby

A paper submitted to the College of Music

In Partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Music

Fall Semester, 2009

As a westerner, upon first listening of Byzantine chant one will notice the use of
modes and melodic patterns with microtonal inflections that westerners might at first
associate with jazz, folk, or music from the far east. In any case, it is a curiosity worthy
of investigation that requires a look into the origins of this sound in the context of
Byzantine Chant. Slightly lowered notes, or notes in between a black key and a white
key on the piano have an expressive quality that can be manipulated to enhance the
meaning of the text. Perhaps an early form of word painting, these off-color notes
generate a sense of longing, weeping, and a variety other emotional states. In the case
of Byzantine chant these effects reflect the mood or purpose of the liturgy. Other
genres of music such as blues music incorporate microtonal bends and nuances that
imitate the human voice as it expresses sadness. The pentatonic scale with the addition
of a flatted fifth and flatted seventh is at the skeleton of western blues music. This is
not a coincidence, the intonation and inflection of speech in languages from all over the
globe follows the basic pentatonic pattern. This makes it plausible to say without
having knowledge of Arabic or Syro-Palistinian languages, that the chant coming out of
the Byzantine Empire would contain similar inflections to Syriac, Arimaic, Coptic or
Armenian languages that were spoken in the Byzantine empire. As is the case with
most music, Byzantine chant is an art-form that is the result of hundreds of years of
territorial expansion and contraction, which as a result the chant contains elements of
many cultures.
The physical location of the Byzantine Empire at 1045 AD is a clue to the sonic
influences that influenced the development of the chant. Syria and Palestine bordered
on the southwest, along with Iraq while the eastern boarders included what is now

known as Eastern Europe. This particular geographic proximity is key, as Syria and
Palestine served as a pathway that connected the Holy Land with the Byzantine Empire.
According to Igon Wellesz, this was of utmost importance to understanding the origins
of Byzantine Chant:
The nucleus of the chants of the Byzantine church derives from
the Syro-Palestinian church, which in its turn is the liturgical heir
of the Synagogue. The principle, spread over the Near East, of
building up a melody from a limited number of traditional
formulas can be studied even more clearly in Byzantine chant
than in that of the Western church. (Wellesz 5)
The geographic proximities can be observed in the following map:

Byzantine chant developed from the area surrounding Constantinople from

the onset of the Byzantine empire in 330 AD until its conquest by the Ottomans in
1453. An exclusively monadic art-from, this music was influenced by plainsong
coming from the areas of Alexandria, Antioch and Ephesus. Although this information
gives us insight to some of the regional influences on early chant, there is still the
mystery that surrounds the use of microtones. Geographically the Byzantine Empire
was a land bridge between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea that connected
Persia, Iraq and Palestine from the eastern European countries of Bosnia and Hungary.
It is no surprise then that the music of from this region has elements of both the east
and the west. Still, it seems apparent that there is a clear distinction between early
church music of Western Europe and the music from the same period in the areas east
of the black sea. This distinction lies in the formation of scales and modes that in the
East contain microtones while in the West do not. One possible explanation for this is
that the microtonal inflection was incorporated in Quranic recitation in the Islamic
tradition. Even though the Byzantine Empire was formed three hundred years before
Muhammad began dictating the Quran, most of the chant texts in existence today are
dated much later, with ekphonetic chants dating from the 9th century, and chants with
melodic notation dating from the middle of the 10th century (Levy). The chronological
placement allows us to ponder the question of which tradition spawned the other. The
Byzantine Empire obviously came earlier, but without any pre-Islamic texts to prove its
originality it then becomes plausible to investigate the similarities between Tajwid and
Byzantine Chant. The Quranic text was traditionally shared by oral tradition, and the
intonation of the Quran and all the rules that apply is known as Tajwid. Today the

principles of recitation are said to be very similar to those during Muhammeds time
cerca 600 AD. This form of recitation has strict guidelines for the inflections produced
by slow, measured rhythmic tones. The comparison between properly intoned Quranic
recitation, or Tajwid, and Byzantine chant is striking. If the difference in language is
ignored, they could easily be mistaken for eachother. Unfortunately this similarity does
not shed light on the origins of the use of microtones, instead it merely confirms the
wide spread use of this technique in the East.
Although it was said that no manuscripts of Byzantine Chant exist until the 9th
century, there is the Oxyrhynchus manuscript that dates back to the 3rd century. This is
the earliest example of Christian church music in existence, and according to Wellesz,
the melodies in this hymn are already showing characteristics found in later Byzantine
music and its formulae (Wellesz 5). I close investigation of this hymn manuscript
would be necessary to see exactly to what degree the melodies resemble the formulae
found in later chants. If there is a close resemblance, it would be safe to assume that
the use of microtones was something that predated Islam and perhaps has origins that
are independent of the Byzantine or Islamic traditions.
There is an argument concerning the presence of microtones in Eastern music
and the lack thereof in Western music. This argument states that microtones are used in
Eastern music because it is primarily monophonic, and it is avoided in Western music
because this music is mostly polyphonic (Werbock). Microtones would not be well
suited to chordal or polyphonic music since harmonies rely on exact pitches to be
pleasant to the ear.

In the case of medieval chant however, this argument is not useful

as both music of the East and West during this time was purely monophonic.

Regardless of the chronological placement of Islam and Christianity, and taking into
consideration the geographical influences, there is one last factor that could serve as an
explanation for the use of microtones in Eastern music as well as Byzantine music, and
that is the primary language associated with early Byzantine Christianity, Greek. All
other influences aside, this is a major difference between Eastern and Western chant.
Different languages and also cultures employ varying inflections that add meaning to
the words, or in some cases the tonal inflection can change the meaning of a word
entirely. Eastern countries where these languages are spoken also tend to produce
monophonic melodies that are based on a set of formulae. In Byzantine chant, these are
referred to as Echoi. This system of modal construction originated in the surrounding
Near East and also is also found in ancient music history. Even without manuscripts
from the early Byzantine Empire, it can be assessed that the modes of the far east have
undoubtedly influenced this musical practice. It is safe to say this and not the inverse
relationship if we assume that civilization existed much earlier in the east than it did in
the west. For example, ancient Chinese music pre-dates Byzantine music yet there is
evidence of microtonal inflection in Chinese and Indian music. As people migrated
westward the musical cultures did so as well. These modes were eventually
implemented into the Byzantine chant and became of part of an eight-week liturgical
cycle. An article by Peter Jeffreys sheds some insight on the origins of the oktchos,
or eight-fold sound:
Although many theories regarding the origins of the eight-mode
system have been proposed, the earliest genuine evidence of the
musical oktchos dates from the 8th and 9th centures CE. The

modes appeared during this period in all the Eastern and Western
chant repertories that use them, and the evidence consistently
points to an origin in the milieu of Greed-speaking Palestinian
Monasticism of the closely related liturgical tradition of Jerusalem
(Jefferey).
The eight Byzantine modes (choi) are related to the eight Western modes: both
systems have the four finals on D, E, F and G, with an authentic (higher-range) form
and a plagal (lower-range) form based on each final. However, the modes in an eastern
context will have altered scale degrees (microtones) that are not found in any of the
western church modes. Current Byzantine chant theory divides the octave into seventytwo parts, which produces a very different sound from the western scale that is divided
into only 12 parts. These scales are then again categorized into various tetra-chords:
First there is the Diatonic tetrachord which begins and ends on C with slightly flatted
third and seventh scale degrees. The result is a sound somewhat similar to the western
harmonic minor scale. Also these pitches are to be sung differently depending on if the
tone is ascending or descending. This treatment of variable pitch designation is similar
to the melodic minor scale in western music. In the Diatonic scale the B is natural,
while descending it would be flatted. The second scale is the enharmonic tetrachord
that begins and ends on F and is similar to the western major scale. The next two
tetrachords have a stronger microtonal sound, since several of the pitches are slightly
raised or lowered. The Hard Chromatic scale begins on D and has a flatted second
and raised third scale degree. This creates a greater distance (in pitch) between the
second and third scale degrees, resulting in an ascending tendency to resolve to the

fourth scale degree, and the descending tendency would be to resolve back to the
starting pitch. This may seem obvious since it can be argued that a western scale will
follow the same tendencies but is important to point out as we prepare to discuss the
formulaic chants that are constructed around melodic patterns such as these. Last, there
is the Soft chromatic scale that again begins and ends on C, but now the sixth and
seventh scale degrees are altered slightly. Today there is an agreement within the
Byzantine Orthodox rite to flat them equally, but in the past they were not flatted
equally. These characteristics are better heard than described with words and upon
hearing one can immediately make a connection with Turkish and Arab Makam music.
Western musicologists tend to believe that the ancient Greek musical scale was
originally diatonic, and was later influenced by the Turks, Armenians, and other
cultural influences that entered the empire during its many phases of deconstruction.
The article entitled Oktchos by Peter Jeffery suggests that this may not in fact be the
case. He reasons that because of the Islamic restrictions on music making, the
musicians in the Ottoman courts were primarily Greek and other Eastern Christians. In
this case, it would seem that perhaps the Greeks and Christians influenced the musical
traditions of the East instead of the inverse relationship (Jeffery).
Turkish and Arab Makam music is formulaic in the same ways Byzantine music
is formulaic. Each Makam is intoned in a particular mode and each mode contains
different placements of microtones. Also, the shape of the melody is part of the mode.
Some Makams may begin on the lowest pitch in the scale, or in the center, or at the top
of the scale and eventually end on the lowest note in the scale. The practice of
composing melodies using formulae such as these is centonization. Formulaic

compositions tend to be prevalent in societies that transmit music via oral tradition.
When a melody is composed upon a formula, there is much less memorization
demanded of the performer, and this also allows for some consistency in transmission.
The orator or performer now only has to memorize the tones of a handful of modes
rather than a compendium of through-composed melodies. Around 1300 some of these
formulaic chants were placed together by Joannes Glykys and Joannes Koukouzeles
into a set of didactic chants that are used today, with the addition of modern musical
notation for ease of reading. Before we examine one of these didactic chants, it should
be recognized that Byzantine formulaic chant may use one or several modes, but never
all the modes together. This differs from Makam music in that typically only one mode
is used for a song. There are modulations to different modes, but there is a distinct
separation between them. An article by Levy and Trolsgard offers some insight into the
us of formulae in chant:
Formulae and patterns also tend to function in specific positions
initial (phrase-starters), middle or cadential within the natural
contour of musical phrases, and they often underline the syntactic
structure of texts. The accentuation of the text also seems to have a
strong influence on the choice of formula, especially in the syllabic
genres; thus a specific number of unaccented syllables before the
first accent often results in the same melodic opening in several
pieces of the same mode. The formulae are also made to serve
larger formal designs: they may embellish a psalmodic framework
or combine into some abstract compositional figuration with

symmetries of its own; they may be attached to a specific category

of liturgical chant, or to a specific performing medium, helping to
define a particular style by their rejection of other categories.
(Levy)
Below is a short example of a didactic chant by Koukouzeles:

QuickTime and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.

The neumes seen above some of the notes in the chant are indicators of microtonal
inflection. The old system of neumes is very complex and would not be easy for a
child or non-musician or greek speaking person for that matter, to decipher. Even at a
glance one can notice the repetive of melodic ideas in this excerpt of chant and notice
there usefulness as a learning tool.
Although the development of Byzantine chant is something that spanned many

centuries and had many cultural influences as different peoples migrated in and out of
the area surrounding Constantinople, there is a great deal of mystery as to the origins of
the use of microtones. As a staple of Turkish and Arab music, one might suppose that
these peoples had an influence over the Byzantine music, however chronological
placement might suggest otherwise. With no documentation or manuscripts that date
back far enough to draw any concrete conclusions, we must take into account cultural
practices and geographic location. The argument made by Peter Jeffery that it is
unlikely that the use of microtones was something imposed by the Ottomans makes
perfect sense. Islam has restricted music production and therefore one can assume that
there were not many practicing musicians in the Ottoman Empire, and this work was
left to the Greeks and Eastern Christians. However there is also some weakness to this
argument, because he did not take into account the practice of Tajwid. Even though
music was forbidden, there recitation of the Quran was musical in itself, and this can
be heard in modern times as well as the practice of Quran recitation is not something
that is notated, rather it has been passed down by oral tradition since the 640s A.D.
There are very strict guidelines in Tajwid and one of those prohibits pre-meditated
intonation. The recitation must be improvised and come from within, with divine
inspiration. The orator merely follows formulaic patterns that he has learned his entire
life through studying Tajwid. In any case, the microtonal inflection is central to
Byzantine chant and for good reason. These inflections add a distinctive, highly
expressive quality to the chants that make them much more accessible and meaningful
to the listener. Without them, there would be much less emotion and text painting.
One would lose the same qualities if trying to perform say blues music without using

any of the blue notes or even microtones that are common to this genre. This is an
interesting investigation that results in perhaps more questions being posed than
answered. It may also shed some light on the nature of the ancient Greek musical
system, suggesting that perhaps it was not composed entirely of diatonic motion, but
also incorporated chromaticism and microtones.

Bibliography

Peter Jeffery. "Oktchos." In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online,

http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/m
usic/50097.

Kenneth Levy and Christian Troelsgrd. "Byzantine chant." In Grove Music Online.
Oxford Music Online,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/m
usic/04494.

Wellesz, Egon. A History of Byzantine Music and Hymnography. Oxford University

Press (UK), 1961.

Wellesz, Egon. The Music of the Byzantine Church. Kln, : Arno Volk Verlag;
New York, : Leeds Music Corp., Sole distributors for the U.S.A., [c1959].

Toker, Byram Bilge. Turkish folk songs & Sufi melodies. Chapel Hill, N.C.:
Music of the World, 1990.

Wilson, Nigel Guy. Manuscripts of Byzantine Chant in Oxford. Oxford, Bodleian

Library, 1963.