Rachel Evans
Chanting is an important aspect of the Byzantine Rite, with the practice dating back to early Christians who used psalms in both private and public prayer. The term psalmody refers to the singing or chanting of psalms, and there are different ways to chant them. In the Byzantine Rite, certain psalms are used for specific services such as Vespers and Matins, and the entire book of 150 Psalms is chanted in the course of the week. The Byzantine liturgical system assigns each week to one of eight tones, with hymns for each day of the week corresponding to the traditional liturgical theme for the day. The chanting of psalm verses can be done responsorially, with a fixed refrain, or in alternation with composed hymns called stichera. The psalms are often chosen to match the service being celebrated, the time of day, or the day of the week.
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What You'll Learn
The different tones and melodies used in chanting
Chanting is an integral part of the Byzantine Rite, with its roots in the ancient Mediterranean world. The practice involves singing or chanting psalms and hymns in specific tones and melodies, known as "modes" or "echoi". The Byzantine system, known as "octoechos", organises these modes into eight distinct tones, each with its own unique characteristics.
The eight tones in the Byzantine Rite provide variety to the liturgy and offer a diverse palette for hymnographers to express praise, teaching, and encouragement. Each week is dedicated to one of the eight tones, beginning with Vespers on Saturday evening and continuing through the following week. This weekly cycle ensures a consistent yet dynamic musical framework for the liturgical year.
The tones themselves are constructed from a set of four octaves: protos, devteros, tritos, and tetartos. Each octave has two forms: the kyrios echos (authentic mode) and the plagios echos (plagal mode), which differ in the placement of the final note. The combination of these octaves and modes creates the eight tones.
The melodies used in Byzantine chanting are formulaic and often adapted from traditional structures. Composers would typically set a text to a pre-existing melody and then modify it to suit the needs of the text. Certain melodic formulas were reserved for specific sections of a chant, such as the beginning or ending. Transitional passages could be either traditional or composed by individual chant writers.
The Byzantine chanting tradition also employs the use of an "ison", a drone note or slow-moving lower vocal part that accompanies the main melody. Additionally, the practice of "Terirem" involves vocal improvisation using nonsense syllables like "te ri rem" or "te ne na", sometimes interspersed with theological words.
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The structure of the Byzantine Rite
The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, is a liturgical rite with a wide range of cultural, devotional, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christian church of Constantinople. The Byzantine Rite is distinct from other Eastern Catholic liturgies, which use the Aramaic-Syriac, Armenian, and Coptic liturgies of the Oriental Orthodox churches.
The Byzantine Rite has a long and complex history that dates back to the early Christian church in the Greek city of Antioch (now in southern Turkey). It was developed and perfected in Byzantium, or Constantinople (now Istanbul), and was associated with the Great Church of Constantinople. As Constantinople's influence grew, the rite evolved and became more accessible to the diverse peoples who adopted it.
The Byzantine Rite is identified with a range of liturgical practices, including the frequent use of the sign of the cross, bowing, and the veneration of icons. The congregants are generally free to move within the church and interact with each other. The rite also includes distinctive traditions of liturgical chanting.
Of the three liturgies used by Byzantine Rite churches, the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is the most frequently celebrated, while the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great is used on 10 special occasions annually. The Liturgy of the Preconsecrated Offerings, or the Liturgy of St. Gregory the Great, is observed during Lent and Holy Week.
Within Eastern Catholicism, several Eastern Catholic Churches use the Byzantine Rite in its original Greek form or other adaptations, such as the Slavic, Romanian, Hungarian, and Albanian rites. The Byzantine Rite has also been adopted by Lutheran communities and adapted to Lutheran theology.
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The different types of psalmody
The term psalmody refers to the singing or chanting of psalms in public or private prayer. There are several types of psalmody, including direct psalmody, responsorial psalmody, continuous psalmody, and exclusive psalmody.
Direct psalmody refers to when a psalm is sung from beginning to end, either by a single individual, a choir, or all those present. The melodies used for direct psalmody are typically very simple psalm tones. Examples of direct psalmody include the Six Psalms of Matins, which are chanted by a single reader, and Psalm 103, which is chanted or sung by all the faithful at the start of Vespers.
Responsorial psalmody is the chanting of psalm verses, either preceded and followed by a fixed refrain or each followed by a short hymn. The first kind of responsorial psalmody, with the fixed refrain, evolved from the practice of intoning a psalm during processions, with the people singing a short refrain called a troparion after each verse. The second kind of responsorial psalmody, with the short hymn after each verse, developed in monastic life, with monks singing hymns in honour of a particular saint or event in the life of Christ.
Continuous psalmody is characteristic of monastic worship and involves singing the psalms one after another in order, often taking up where the previous service left off. This type of psalmody is ordered around the divisions of the Psalter called kathismata and is sung at Vespers, Matins, and during the Great Fast. It is also traditionally part of the wake service, where the entire Psalter is sung over the body of the deceased.
Exclusive psalmody is the practice of singing only the biblical Psalms in congregational singing for worship. It was preferred by the early church and used almost exclusively until the end of the fourth century. During the Protestant Reformation, John Calvin preferred the Psalms, and they were the only music allowed for worship in Geneva for 200 years. Today, exclusive psalmody is practised by several Protestant, especially Reformed, denominations.
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The role of the chanter or reader
In the Greek tradition, a chanter will often wear the exorason, a black outer cassock with angel-wing sleeves. The Slavic tradition, which tends to use a choir instead of a cantor, does not assign specific vestments to the chanters unless they have been ordained as Readers, in which case they wear the inner cassock (podryasnik) and put on the sticharion during Holy Communion. In the Byzantine tradition, Psalms are typically read, not chanted or intoned. However, in some cases, they may be chanted recto tono, which means they are read mostly on one note, with possible variations at the end of verses.
In summary, the chanter or reader in the Byzantine Catholic Church holds a vital position in leading the congregation in worship through chanted prayers and hymns. They are well-versed in the structure of the services and the ecclesiastical modes, and their role is to guide and enhance the spiritual experience of the faithful through their chanting or reading of the Psalms and liturgy.
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The use of psalms in procession
In the Byzantine Rite, the term psalmody refers to the singing or chanting of psalms in public or private prayer. The Church incorporates psalms into its liturgy in various ways, including direct psalmody, where a single individual, a choir, or all those present may sing the psalm from beginning to end.
During processions, which were common in the early liturgy of Constantinople, a reader or chanter would intone a psalm, while the people would respond by singing a short refrain called a troparion after each verse. The troparion encapsulates the meaning of the day's feast or commemoration. For example, during the service of Vespers, the faithful chant psalms praising God's creation and asking for his help, along with special hymns called stichera.
The psalms used in procession are often chosen based on their suitability for the service being celebrated, the time of day or day of the week, or the subject of a particular feast. For instance, Psalm 50 is typically chanted only on Sundays following the Gospel reading at Orthros, and can be chanted in a fast tempo in the second mode or the mode of the week.
In terms of the specific practice of chanting, the Byzantine tradition typically involves reading the psalms rather than chanting or intoning them. This is known as recto tono chanting, where the psalm is read mostly on one note, with possible variations at the end of verses. However, some sources suggest that the psalms are indeed chanted in the Byzantine tradition, with a simple cadence and a drawing out of a couple of notes.
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Frequently asked questions
Psalmody refers to the singing or chanting of psalms in public or private prayer.
In the Byzantine Rite, the 150 psalms are divided into twenty sections of roughly equal length, to be chanted at the various liturgical services of the daily cycle. Each week is assigned one of eight tones, and each day within that week has a hymn corresponding to the traditional liturgical theme.
Direct psalmody is when a psalm is sung from beginning to end, either by a single individual, a choir, or all those present. Responsorial psalmody is the chanting of psalm verses, either preceded and followed by a fixed refrain (the first kind) or followed by a short hymn (the second kind).
