I. D. Petrescu, What is Byzantine Music

In the author's words 'Byzantine music is our heritage from the holy fathers of the Eastern Orthodox Church'.

'It is not merely the result of musical science, but the work of the upper clergy, who assumed an active role in the artistic sensitivity of the composers of religious chants'.

Byzantine music takes over and develops the clarity of the Greek spirit, the brightness of the Anatolian spirit prevailing in Syria and on the coast of the Anatolian Sea, as well as the artistic refinement of the Byzantine age.

Byzantine music displays simplicity, yet richness and variety. It is straightforward music, yet 'lacks exaggera-tions and passional outbursts no matter whether it expresses joy or sadness'. It actually enacts a spontaneous manifesta-tion of the religious spirit. 'It is as joyful as the Christian is at peace with God through the sacraments of repentance and communion'.

The well-educated begin to take interest in, acquire a taste for and understand it in its quality of 'genuine manifestation of the true religious style'.

Ioan D. Petrescu