Observations on the Modern Musical Tradition of the Psalms in the Greek-Speaking Orthodox Church

The introduction of the New Analytical Method (NAM) of musical notation in the years A.D. 1814-15, and the appearance of the printed musical service books at the beginning of the 19^th century constitute an irreversible turning point in the evolution of ecclesiastical chant of the Greek-speaking Orthodox Church. This paper deals with the ’Aναστασιματάριον (Anastasimatarion) and the Tαμεîον ’Aνθολογίας (Tameion Anthologias), the essential 19^th century musical collections of resurrection hymns for the services of Vespers and Orthros of the eight-week cycle, from which most of our modern psalm compositions were derived from.

Chourmouzios’ and Gregorios’ Tameion Anthologias, represent a unique and first-hand recording of such compositions, transcribed from the old synoptic method into the new analytical notation and constitute our link to the repertoire tradition of the early 19^th, 18^th and 17^th centuries. Also their translation into the NAM of pieces that date as far back as the 13^th and 14^th centuries are one of our possible links in a chain taking us back to this early period. As a point of interest it is worth mentioning that the fairly marked differences observed on juxtaposing the written translations of Chormouzios against those of Gregorios boil down to imperceptible variations on comparing the performed melodies.

Panagiotes Ch. Panagiotides