"Traditional innovation" in Byzantine Chant

The case of kalophonia

Authors

• Maria Alexandru
• Athanasios Delios
• Apostolia Gorgolitsa
• Symeon Kanakis
• Dimosthenis Spanoudakis
• Dimos Papatzalakis
• Maria Chaleplidou

Abstract

During the last two centuries of the Eastern Roman Empire, liturgical chant reached its point of highest development, producing an impressive wealth of compositions which are both grounded in the past classical style of the 10th-13th centuries and bringing a new, theretofore unknown flowering in the realm of the musical life of Byzantium – the so-called kalophonia. After a brief introduction, we will focus on some fragments from the oeuvre of three coryphées of the kalophonic style, namely Ioannis Glykys, St John Koukouzelis and Xenos Koronis. The presentation will end with some preliminary conclusions concerning the way in which old and new elements intermingled in the creation of the kalophonic style.