Byzantine Music Formulae

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http://www.stanthonysmonastery.org/music/Formula.html

omposingByzantinemusicinatraditionalmannerisagreatchallenge,becauseitrequiresnotonlyinspiration,butalsotwotechnicalprerequisites:1)knowingwhichmusical
gesturesorformulaearepermittedforaparticularsyllabicpattern,and2)knowinghowtogrouptheseformulaetogetherinagivenmode.For,asthemusicologistsEgon
WelleszandGregoriosStathishaveobserved,thetaskofacomposerofGreekOrthodoxchurchmusichasalwaysbeennottoinventasmanyoriginalmelodiesaspossible,but
tocomposeanewmelodyfromoldandwellknownformulaeandcadences,ortowriteavariationonagivenmelody.[1]TheseformulaeareapricelesstreasureofOrthodox
liturgicalchant,becausetheyweredevisedbyhymnographerswhooverthecenturiesperfectedtheartofclothingliturgicaltextswithamelodythathighlightstheirmeaninginaway
thataidsprayer.

Unfortunately,therulesgoverningtheseformulaehaveneverbeencodifiedthoroughly.Asaresult,composerswhoareonlypartiallyfamiliarwiththeserulesfrequentlywritemusic
thatdepartsfromtraditionalmelodiclines.Thisisaseriousdefectnotonlyideologically(inthatsuchcompositionscannotbeconsideredavalidcontinuationofthetraditionof
Orthodoxchantwhich,asthemusicologistDimitriConomoshaspointedout,istheonlymusicinworldhistorythathasacontinuous1500yearunbrokenmelodictradition)butalso
aesthetically,becausetoquoteConomosagaintheseageoldchants,especiallypreservedonMountAthos,beararelevanceandabeautythatisunmatchedbyother,later
productions.Besides,melodiesthatbreaktheserulesusuallysoundawkwardeventotheuntrainedear,duetoalackofbalancebetweenwordsandmelody.

Thiswebpagepresentstheserulesinanorganizedmannerthatfacilitatestraditionalcomposition.
St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox
Monastery
The Divine Liturgies Music
Project
Byzantine vs. Western Notation
Writing Byzantine Music

***
Thelinksinthefollowingchartcontainmorethan10,000 Byzantinemusicformulae.Becauseofthecompletenessoftheselists,onemaydetermineifanewcompositionbreaksthe
formulaicrulesbycheckingifitsmelodicphrasesexistintheselists.OnemayalsousetheseliststocomposeaByzantinemelodyforaliturgicaltextinanylanguage.Theworkshop
demonstrateshowtousetheselistsinordertocomposeamelodyforasampleliturgicaltextinEnglish.Bystudyingtheselists,achantercanquicklydeveloptheinvaluableskillofbeing
abletoinventonthespotavalidByzantinemelodyinanymodeforanytextinanylanguage.

Heirmologic Formulae
First Mode (100 Kb, 21 pages)
Second Mode - hard (100 Kb, 21 pages)
Second Mode - soft (110 Kb, 17 pages)
Second Mode - verses (100 Kb, 16 pages)
Third Mode (110 Kb, 27 pages)
Fourth Mode - legetos (120 Kb, 33 pages)
Fourth Mode - soft (110 Kb, 16 pages)
Plagal First Mode (190 Kb, 38 pages)
Plagal First - verses (100 Kb, 18 pages)
Plagal Second Mode (180 Kb, 29 pages)
Plagal Second - verses (120 Kb, 22 pages)
Grave Mode (300 Kb, 40 pages)
Protovarys (120 Kb, 21 pages)
Plagal Fourth Mode (200 Kb, 37 pages)
Plagal Fourth - apolytikia (100 Kb, 14 pages)
Plagal Fourth - canons (110 Kb, 19 pages)
NEW! Formulae for Verses
NEW! Papadic Formulae

Concerning Adaptation
Seminar for Composers
Links
Contact Us

Sticheraric Formulae
First Mode (140 Kb, 45 pages)
Second Mode (190 Kb, 50 pages)

Third Mode (170 Kb, 46 pages)

Fourth Mode (200 Kb, 58 pages)
Plagal First Mode (210 Kb, 78 pages)
Plagal Second Mode (220 Kb, 87 pages)
Tetraphonos Pl. 2nd (100 Kb, 9 pages)
Grave Mode (170 Kb, 48 pages)
Protovarys (130 Kb, 21 pages)
Plagal Fourth Mode (260 Kb, 96 pages)

Formulae for Verses

Papadic Formulae Webpage

Workshop(400Kb,12pages)

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TodownloadalllistsasasinglePDFfilethathasacover,thisintroduction,theworkshop,aglossary,andtheformulaeforverses(butexcludingthepapadicformulae),clickhere
(979pages,11MB)
TodownloadalllistsasseparatePDFfilesinzipformat,clickhere(5.6MB)
TodownloadalllistsasseparateWordfilesinrarformat,clickhere(1.7MB)HavingtheselistsinWordformatisusefulforthosewhowanttocopyandpasteformulaeintotheirown
compositionsusingourByzantinemusicfontpackage.
AbriefarticlebyNancyTakisexplainingtheimportanceoffollowingtheseformulaicrulesofByzantinemusicisavailableat:http://www.newbyz.org/correctness.pdf

,
.(90KB,2)

Eachoftheeightmodescanbesubdividedintoseveralcategoriesbasedontheratioofnotestosyllablesandonthetempoofaparticulargenre.ChrysanthosofMadytos,oneofthe
threeteachers,wrotethattheformsofpsalmodybelongtofourmelodicgenera:theoldsticheraric,thenewsticheraric,papadic,andheirmologic.[2] GeorgiosHatzitheodorou,
however,[3]teachesthatthereareactuallyeightsuchsubdivisions:
1) theconcise,syllabicheirmologicmelody(e.g.,thebriefversionofthekatavasia)
2) thenewconcisesticheraricmelody(e.g.,thebriefversionsoffoundinthesecondhalfofthe)
3) theslowheirmologicmelody(e.g.,theslowversionofthekatavasia)
thenewslowsticheraricmelody(e.g.,theslowversionsoffoundinthe)[4]Thesemelodiesareconsiderednewbecausetheyconstitutea
genreofmusicthatwasperfectedintheeighteenthcentury.
5) theoldsticheraricmelody(e.g.,theveryslowversionofthedoxasticonbyChrysaphestheNew).Thismelodiesareconsideredoldbecausetheywere
composedbetweenthetwelfthandsixteenthcenturies.

4)

6) thepapadicmelody(e.g.,cherubicandcommunionhymns)[5]
7) thekalophonicheirmologicmelody(e.g.,theveryslowversionof onp.336involumeIVoftheseries)
8) theekphoneticmelody(e.g.,themelodiesusedforintoningthegospel,epistlereadings,andthepetitionsofthepriestanddeacon)

Thevastmajorityoftropariachantedtodayaretheheirmologicmelodiesthatcomprisesubdivisions1and2.Thenextmostfrequentkindoftropariaincontemporaryusageisthe
sticheraricmelodiesofsubdivision4.(Seefootnote [6] foralistofthesetroparia.)Lessfrequentlyusedarethepapadicmelodiesinsubdivision6andtheslowherimologicalmelodiesin
subdivision3.Theveryslowmelodiesofsubdivisions5and7arerarelychantedtoday.Themelodiesofsection8areusuallyintonedaccordingtooraltraditionratherthanfromwritten
music.
Eachofthesesubdivisionshasitsownrulesofcompositionthatdeterminewhichmelodicgesturesarepermittedforaparticularsyllabicpattern.Ourlistscontainthemusical
formulaeusedintheheirmologicmelodiesofsubdivisions1and2,andthesticheraricmelodiesofsubdivision4.Wechosetocodifyonlytheseformulaesincetheycoverthevast
majorityoftropariaincurrentusage.[7]

Oneslightdrawbackofourlistsofformulaeisthattheydonotincludeeverysinglepossiblemelodicformula.Nevertheless,theydoinclude100%ofallcommonlyusedformulae
andatleast90%ofthelesscommonformulae.Intherareeventthatnoformulaorcombinationofformulaeinourlistsprovidesasatisfactorysolution,achanterwithmoderate
experienceshouldbeablewithoutdicultytocombinehisknowledgewiththeselistsinordertofindanacceptablesolution.

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http://www.stanthonysmonastery.org/music/Formula.html

AnotherlimitationoftheselistsisthattheywerecompiledonlyfromByzantinemusicinGreek.ThereisaconsiderableamountofByzantinemusicwritteninSlavonic,Romanian,
Arabic,andmorerecentlyalsoinWesternEuropeanlanguagesincludingEnglish,French,andSpanish.However,mostofthesecompositionsaremerelyadaptationsoforiginalGreek
melodies,andsomeofthemdepartconsiderablyfromthestyleoftheoriginal.Therefore,weconsideredthemtobesecondarysourcesandexcludedthemfromourcompilation.Even
thoughwehavereliedsolelyonGreeksourcesofByzantinemusic,ourexperiencehasshownthatourlistsofformulaecontainmorethanenoughvarietynecessaryforcomposingnew
melodiesinEnglish.Toseemanycompositionsmadebyrelyingonourlistsofformulae,seeourVespersbookat:http://www.stanthonysmonastery.org/music/Vespers.htm

Sticheraricmelodies(i.e.,thenew,slowsticheraricmelodiesofsubdivision4)consistoftwokindsofformulae:formulaethatarepurelysticheraricandformulaethatare
heirmologic.Thepurelysticheraricformulaehavetwoormoresyllablesinthemthatareheldformorethanonebeat,whereastheheirmologicformulaehaveatmostonesyllablethat
lastsfortwobeats.Theseheirmologicformulaearealsonamedbridgesorfillerssincetheyareusedtoconnecttwosticheraricformulae.Therearehundredsofpossiblebridges
allowableforeachmode.Wehavenotincludedalistofallsuchbridgesinthesticherariclistsofformulae,sincethebuildingblockstoconstructsuchabridgearefoundinthe
heirmologiclists.Nevertheless,wehaveincludedasamplingtoserveasareminderofwhatbridgesarecommonforthatparticularmode.

Anotherminordrawbackoftheselistsisthattheydonotdelineatewhichpatternsofformulaeareacceptable.Forexample,asticheraricmelodyinthirdmodefrequentlybeginswith
aphraseendingonKE,followedbyacadenceonPA,andthentwoconsecutivecadencesonKE,etc.Itisexpectedthatthecomposerwillalreadyhaveageneralnotionofthesemelodic
movementsandwillbeablechooseformulaeaccordingly.ItisalsoexpectedofthecomposertoknowwhentoselectaformulafromthesectionentitledFthorasinordertocolora
certainwordorphraseaccordingtoitsmeaning.

Oneotheraspectthatislefttothecomposersdiscretionisthechoiceofhowmanynotestousepersyllableonaverage.Anastuteobserverwillnoticethatbasedonthisratioof
notestosyllables,onecanclassifysticheraricmelodiesintothreesubcategories:
1) sticheraricmelodiesforidiomela,
2) sticheraricmelodiesfordoxastica,and
3) sticheraricmelodiesfordoxasticaofspecialfeastdays.
Melodiesforidiomelawilltypicallyhaveasmallerratioofnotestosyllablesthanmelodiesfordoxasticado.Composersaccomplishedthisbyinsertingheirmologicbridgesbetween
thesticheraricformulaemorefrequently.Theyalsoaccomplishedthisbyincreasingthelengthofthesebridges.Somesticherariccompositionscanbefoundwithsuchbridgesconsisting
ofasmanyaseighteenconsecutivesyllables,eachhavingasinglenote.Ontheothersideofthespectrum,thedoxasticaofspecialfeastdaystendtohavemorenotespersyllablethan
thedoxasticaofregulardays,becausecomposersmadetheirmelodiesmoreelaboratebyusingsomeofthelengthyoldsticheraricformulae(whichwehaveincludedinaseparate
sectionineachlistofformulae).

Thefollowingbookswereusedtocollectformulaeforourlists:

, , ..,( 1906).
, , , ,,2002.
, ,,1853.
, , , ,
,,1999( 1869).
, , ..,( 1844).
, , .,,1998(
1903).
, , , , .., (
1883).
, , , .., ,2003.
, , ,1999( 1820).
, , .., ,2002.

***
OnJune17,2007,wecorrecteddozensoftyposanduploadedcorrectedversionsofthefilesthathadtypos.Ifyoudownloadedfilesbeforethenandwouldliketoknowwhichpageswere
corrected,clickhereforeachofthosecorrectedpagesasseparatePDFfiles.
OnJune27,2008,wecorrectedafewmoretyposandaddedseveralmoreformulaeinthemargins(withoutchangingtheoriginalpagination).Thelinksinthiswebpagegototheupdated
versionsofthefiles.Ifyoudownloadedfilesbeforethisdateandwouldliketoknowwhichpageswerecorrected,clickhereforeachofthosecorrectedpagesasseparatePDFfiles.
OnJuly8,2009,wecorrectedafewmoretyposandaddedseveralmoreformulaeinthemargins(withoutchangingtheoriginalpagination).Thelinksinthiswebpagegototheupdated
versionsofthefiles.Ifyoudownloadedfilesbeforethisdateandwouldliketoknowwhichpageswerecorrected,clickhereforeachofthosecorrectedpagesasseparatePDFfiles.
OnAugust27,2010,wecorrectedafewmoretypos,addedseveralmoreformulaeinthemargins(withoutchangingtheoriginalpagination)especiallyfortheoldsticheraricformulae,
andaddedanappendixfortheformulaeforverses.Thelinksinthiswebpagegototheupdatedversionsofthefiles.Ifyoudownloadedfilesbeforethisdateandwouldliketoknow
whichpageswerecorrected,clickhereforeachofthosecorrectedpagesasseparatePDFfiles.
***
Ifyouhaveanysuggestionsorcorrectionswewouldbegratefulifyouwouldcontactus.

[1] cf.AnIntroductiontoByzantineMusic,Blackfriars,23(1942),p.377,asquotedbyGregoryStathisinStudiesinEasternChant,Vol.IV,MiloVelimirovi,ed.,
St.VladimirsSeminaryPress,1979,p.192f.NannaSchidtalsopointsoutthat...oneofthemainpathstowardanunderstandingofthisstructure[ofByzantine
chant]liesinanexaminationofthemelodicformulae.Schidt,Nanna,AComputerAidedAnalysisofThirtyfiveByzantineHymns,inStudiesinEastern
Chant,VolumeII,Wellesz,EgonandVelimirovi,Milo,London,1971,p.129.backtoreference
[2] , , ,1821,.179,402.backto
reference
[3],.,,,,2004,.6870.
backtoreference
[4] Afurthersubdivisioncouldbemadeforthemoreelaboratesticheraricmelodiessuchasthosefoundinthe11EothinaDoxasticaofthe
andinthepublishedbyPetrosPhilanthidisin1906.backtoreference
[5] GregoriosStathisclarifiesthattherearetwootherformsofpapadicmelodies:themelodyoftheKontakarion(orOikematarion)andthemelodyofthe
Kratematarion(e.g.,theoldAnoixantaria,versesofthePolyeleos,etc.)Vid. ,

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, ,3,,1979,.46. backtoreference
[6] IncontemporaryGreekOrthodoxpractice,thefollowingtropariaarechantedwithasticheraricmelody:
1)The (Lord,Ihavecried)ofVesperschantedeverySaturdayandeveryfeastday.
2)Theand tropariachantedeverySaturdayi.e.,thetropariafollowingLord,Ihavecriedandthetropariapreceding (theprayerofSt.Symeon).
Notethatthe (thebookwithmusicfortheresurrectionalhymnsoftheOctoechos)hastwoversionsforeachofthesemelodies:asticheraricversionandaheirmologic
version.Incurrentpractice,theApostichaarealmostalwayschantedaccordingtotheheirmologicmelody,whereastheEsperiaareusuallychantedaccordingtothesticheraricmelody.
3)TheSaturdayeveningDoxasticonoftheEsperia(alsoknownasthefirstDogmatikonTheotokion)andtheSaturdayeveningDoxasticonoftheAposticha(alsoknownasthesecond
theotokion).AlthoughtheAnastasimatarionhasheirmologicversionsoftheDogmatikonTheotokion,inmostplacesitisrarelyused.Onthecontrary,though,thesecondtheotokionis
almostalwayschantedheirmologicallyaccordingtocontemporaryusage.AccordingtosomeAthoniterubrics,however,thesticheraricversionofthesecondtheotokionischantedwhen
itisnotimmediatelyprecededbyadoxasticon.
4)The (Leteverybreath)ofthe (thePraises),whichischantedneartheendofOrthroseverySundayandeveryfeastday.TheAnastasimatariondoeshaveheirmologic
versionsofthistroparionaswell,butthosebriefversionsareusedonlyinaweekdayOrthrosinwhichamajorsaintisnotcommemorated.
5)TheresurrectionaltropariaforthePraiseschantedeverySundaymorning.Again,theAnastasimatarionprovidesbothsticheraricandheirmologicversionsofthesetroparia.In
contemporaryusage,theheirmologicversionsarepreferred,althoughpracticesvary.InsomeplacesonMt.Athos,thesticheraricversionsarechantedforfirst,second,plagalfirst,and
plagalsecondmodes,whiletheheirmologicversionsarechantedfortheremainingmodes.
6)TheelevenEothinaDoxastica.
7)TheEsperiatropariaoftheTwelveGreatFeasts,exceptforthefeastsoftheEntryoftheTheotokos,theAnnunciation,andtheDormition,inwhichtheEsperiatropariaareprosomoia
(whichcanhoweverbechantedintheslowheirmologicstyle).
8)TheApostichatropariaoftheTwelveGreatFeasts,exceptforthefeastsoftheExaltationoftheCross,theEntryoftheTheotokos,andtheMeetingofourLord.
9)TheDoxasticonoftheEsperia,Aposticha,andPraisesforeverysaintsfeastdaythathassuchdoxastica.
10)AlltropariaoftheLitiexceptfortheTheotokionoftheLiti,whichsometimesisheirmologic.
11)TheidiomelaofOrthrosthatarechantedonfeastdaysafterthefiftiethpsalm.
12)VarioustropariafromtheDivineLiturgy,suchastheslowTrisagion,theslowAlleluias,andsomeversionsoftheAnaphora,ItisTrulyRight,Communionhymns,psalmverses,etc.

backtoreference
[7]Dr.JessicaSuchyPilalishasalsocompiledalistofheirmologicformulaeinWesternnotation,butherworkisunpublished.backtoreference

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