Automelon Dóme Jevfráthov/Οἴκος τού Ἐφραθά: A Probe into the Development of Musical-liturgical Tradition
Abstract
The historical development of language was the subject of much scholarly effort in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and this topic was one of the fundamental research questions of linguistics. A similar phenomenon in music did not receive as much space, and there were several reasons for this.
One of them was the barrier of neum notation, which poses many challenges until this time. This article seeks to probe into the development of the Byzantine musical-liturgical tradition, which is similar in many ways to language.
We have chosen the automelon sticheron Dóme Jevfráthov/Οἴκος τού Ἐφραθά as the object of our research, which is in some ways unique. We can trace its development from the 11th century to the current living tradition.
The article will try to introduce the reader to the issues of Byzantine hymnography and liturgy and take him through the development of the hymn by the example of selected musical sources. The analysis includes reconstructions of earlier phases written down in adiastematic neumatic notation.