| The Nest of the Hellenic Mind WOMEN COMPOSERS IN BYZANTIUM: PART II BY: Diane Touliatos-Miliotis, Ph.D. Part II (for entirety see Part I) _______________________________________________________________________________ Kassia's documentation in Byzantine chronicles and the popularity that has made her a legend in Byzantine folklore is a result of her participation in the bride-show of Emperor Theophilos, who reigned from 830 to 842. Bride-shows, in which the bride was selected in the ancient Greek classical manner, with a token of a golden apple, were very popular in Byzantium during the eighth and ninth centuries and were also used in oriental empires. The story of the beautiful noblewoman's participation in the bride-show for Theophilos (ca.A.D. 830) has been told many times, and there is proof and authentic documentation of the verbal exchange between Kassia and Emperor Theophilos. The earliest chronicler to have documented the incident is Simeon the Logothete of the tenth century. The following description of the incident was written by the historian Edward Gibbon. With a golden apple in his hand he [Theophilos] slowly walked between two lines of contending beauties; his eye was detained by the charms of Icasia, and, in the awkwardness of a first declaration, the prince could only observe that in this world, women had been the occasion of much evil [in reference to Eve, the first created woman]; "And surely. Sir," she [Kassia] pertly replied, "they have likewise been the occasion of much good" [in reference to the Virgin Mary]. This affectation of unseasonable wit displeased the imperial lover; he turned aside in disgust; Icasia concealed her mortification in a convent, and the modest silence of Theodora was rewarded with the golden apple. Kassia's pertinent and bold response to Theophilos was in defiance to the Byzantine tradition of silence and obedience to male supremacy. The Byzantine saying addressed to women was "Silence is an ornament." Kassia paid dearly for her boldness and quickness of wit by losing the opportunity to become empress. It is ironic that Theophilos's choice, Theodora, after the death of her husband, was the empress who restored icons, bringing the final end to the iconoclastic controversy. In Byzantine society single women could not function easily and freely; as a result, the choices for proper women were either marriage or the monastery. Since Kassia had forfeited her chance to marry and become empress, she accepted the monastic life. In 843 she was said to have founded hew own monastery, named after her, on the seventh hill of Constantinople, the Xerolophos, near the Constantinian Wall. There she spent the remainder of her life as the abbess, composing music for the services in her monastery and writing her liturgical and secular verses. Known mostly as a hymnographer and composer of sacred poems, Kassia was a comtemporary of the famous Byzantine composers, Theodore of Studite, Joseph of Thessalonika, and St. Theophanes. Her compositions were not acknowledged until recent times. Furthermore, besides composing music to her own liturgical poetry, Kassia also composed music to the poetry and prose of Byzantios, Georgios, Kyprianos, and Marcos Monachos. Of the over fifty compositions attributed to Kassia, only about twenty-four are considered to be genuine compositions, while the remaining are of doubtful authorship. For the compositions that are of doubtful authorship, it is believed that the original melodies and texts of these were by Kassia but that other composers either embellished or varied her preexisting melodies with their own interpretation. Most of Kassia's liturgical compositions are Stichera and performed in the evening (see picture, above) and morning Office throughout the liturgical year. Although all of Kassia's compositions are notated monophonically, in accord with performance practice of medieval Byzantine liturgical music, it was usually sung by two choirs, one sang the monophonic notated melody, the other provided an unwritten improvisatory drone accompaniment called the isokratema. Kassia's most famous musical composition which is still in use today is her troparion "The Fallen Woman," sung in the Morning Office of Holy Wednesday but technically celebrated at the end of the Vespers service of Holy Tuesday. This hymn is about Mary Magdalene, a "fallen woman," who washed Christ's Feet, anointed them, and wiped them with her long hair (St. Luke 7:36-50). The hymn is also considered to be in part autobiographical. Emperor Theophilos later regretted his decision not to choose Kassia as his bride, and he attempted to meet with her to express his sorrow and love. Although Kassia avoided him, in her heart she felt she had returned his love and had become a "fallen woman." The melody and text of this hymn is by Kassia, but verse eight is attributed, according to legend, to Theophilos. Kassia was in the midst of writing this poem when the Emperor was making one of his unexpected stately visits to her monastery. Seeing Theophilos from afar, Kassia fled and left the poem on her desk. When the Emperor entered her monastery cell and saw her unfinished poem, he added the lines: The feet whose sound Eve heard in Paradise In the afternoon And hid in fear. After his departure Kassia returned to complete her poem and found the addition with its double meaning: Eve hiding from God, or Kassia hiding from Theophilos. Although out of context with the theme of a fallen woman, Kassia retained the Emperor's addition. It is this legendary element that has made this hymn so well known. The next most popular hymn of Kassia's after "The Fallen Woman" is her famous sticheron idiomelon doxastikon "Augustus, the Monarch." In this picture you see Kassia's "Augustus, the monarch" as it appears in a musical manuscript. On the lower right corner of the manuscript, you can see the attribution to Kassia. This melody was so well known during Byzantine times that it was documented in the chronicles of Byzantium. This hymn was sung during the Vespers service of December 25th, for it glorifies the birth of a new King, Jesus Christ. In this hymn Kassia displays her genius as both a poet and musical composer, for the text interweaves and influences the structure of the melody. In the text Kassia parallels and contrasts the reign of the first Roman Emperor Augustus (27 B.C. -A.D. 14) with the rule of Jesus Christ. Besides the parallelism of the themes, there is a parallel metrical rhyming scheme in the text that corresponds to the parallelism in the music. The sequential structure of this sticheron has led some scholars to believe that the sequence was brought from Byzantium to the West. Kassia's over fifty musical compositions exhibit her talent and originality as a poet and an a composer. Her poetry guides the structure of her musical compositions. Her compositions are far more original than most of her contemporaries'; otherwise, her music might not have been documented in the Byzantine chronicles of the time. Most hymnographers of the period were far less imaginative; their poetry was more verbose and their compositions longer. They gave little attention to musical structure. Kassia's music is concise; her texts set syllabically. Her musical inventiveness and wit is demonstrated by the form of her compositions, which often parallels or contrasts with the text; in musical motives that symbolize and reflect the text (an early use of tone painting); and in her poetic play with words. Furthermore, Kassia is historically important as the only hymnographer who wrote a penitential hymn on the "fallen woman," Mary Magdalene, a subject that no male hymnographer deemed worthy of attention. These few names of women composers in Byzantium is evidence of women who contributed to the culture of music. Since the participation of women in secular music was condemned, respectable women, with no other outlet for musical participation, turned to sacred music and created new works for the nunneries of Byzantium. These convents served as cultural retreats for those aristocratic, wealthy, and educated women who did not marry. It was for the convents of Byzantium that the few known women composers and hymnographers wrote their compositions, to be chanted in liturgical services by their female peers. Some of these, such as Kouvouklisena, possessed outstanding vocal abilities that were admired by their male counterparts-an extraordinary measure of success. There is no doubt that the convents were centers for much musical activity and productivity by Byzantine women. However, few of the typika from nunneries have survived. More importantly, misogyny taints much of the documentation of Byzantine women's participation in music. Women were measured by the standard Byzantine phrase: ] Ivm=hn de p`antos kef`alhn t=hs gunaik-os ton } andra [" Ισμήν δέ πάντος κεφaλήν τής γυναικός άνδρα"] (Women are always under the head of the man). Kassia (bottom center!) Bibliography Touliatos, Diane. "Kassia (ca. 810-ca.867)," Women Composer: Music Through the Ages, vol. I Composers Born Before 1599, eds.Martha Furman Schleifer and Sylvia Glickman. New York: G.K. Hall,1996, pp. 1-24. Idem., "The Traditional Role of Greek Women in Music from Antiquity to the End of the Byzantine Empire," Rediscovering the Muses: Women's Musical Traditions, ed. Kimberly Marshall (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1993), pp. 111-23 and notes 250-53. Idem., "Medieval Women Composers in Byzantium and the West," Proceedings of the VIth International Congress of Musicology "Musica Antiqua Europae Orientalis" (Bydgoszcz, Poland, 1982) pp. 687-712. Idem., "Women Composers of Medieval Byzantine Chant," College Music Society Symposium, vol. 24, pt. 1 (Spring, 1984), 62-80. Kassia's "Using the Apostate Tyrant As His Tool," Transcription and Arrangement by Diane Touliatos for the Kronos String Quartet's Early Music (Lachrimae Antiquae) CD, 3' 51", released September, 1997. RETURN TO MAIN PAGE PLEASE! |
