BİZANS MÜZİĞİ

Roman artistic tradition dating back to the old Hellenistic Greek art was reshaped by the Byzantine civilization under the influence of Palestinian, Syrian and Egyptian art thereby giving rise to an artistic fashion marked with the unique characteristics of Byzantine art. In that sense, one of the fields of art is Byzantine music art. Sources about Byzantine music are quite limited. There is hardly any source and information about non-religious music. The religious tunes that were used in rites were comprised of three forms which were Psalmodia, Hymnos and Spiritual tunes. All of the Byzantine tunes are based on eight-pitch system which is known as “pthorika”. Byzantine music makes use ekfotenik signs expressing high and low pitch. Other remarkable signs of Byzantine notation are made up of signs that are written in red ink in order to express the beat and vigor of a sound pitch. After 9th century, pitch sounds known as “neuma” came to be used. Byzantine hymnography refers to the expression of spiritual domain by means of music. Acclamations, rites in churches held in honor of the emperor and empress, used to be performed by “Kraktai” and “psaltai chorus” which was mastered by a conducted known as dometicus. The musical instruments used in such rites were the slightly altered forms of instruments of antiquity. Among the musical instruments used in Byzantine music art were a long-necked stringed musical instrument called pandura, viel, which was another stringed instrument thought to be the old form of modern violin, aulos, psalterion and organ.