The evolution of Armenian liturgical music (original) (raw)
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In this study using the research material except bibliographic study comes from the process of the fieldwork, the music system of Armenian sacred music compares to another tradition, that of the Byzantine music. While talking about two religious musical traditions which are tenets of Christianity, the differences are apparent after separation and thus the evolution followed different paths in recent centuries. On the other hand, the oral tradition and listening gives them the feeling that they are often the same musical tradition since the similarities are obvious. Finally, with the help of technology will become quote comparative study through analysis of audio examples from computer. These analyzes indicate mainly the differences and similarities between the two musical traditions in terms of musical intervals. Keywords: Byzantine music, Armenian music, comparison. ISTANBUL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY - INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Dr. Erol Üçer Centre for Advanced Studies in Music (MIAM)
In this study using the research material except bibliographic study comes from the process of the fieldwork, the music system of Armenian sacred music compares to another tradition, that of the Byzantine music. While talking about two religious musical traditions which are tenets of Christianity, the differences are apparent after separation and thus the evolution followed different paths in recent centuries. On the other hand, the oral tradition and listening gives them the feeling that they are often the same musical tradition since the similarities are obvious. Finally, with the help of technology will become quote comparative study through analysis of audio examples from computer. These analyzes indicate mainly the differences and similarities between the two musical traditions in terms of musical intervals. Keywords: Byzantine music, Armenian music, comparison. ISTANBUL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY - INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Dr. Erol Üçer Centre for Advanced Studies in Music (MIAM)
In this study using the research material except bibliographic study comes from the process of the fieldwork, the music system of Armenian sacred music compares to another tradition, that of the Byzantine music. While talking about two religious musical traditions which are tenets of Christianity, the differences are apparent after separation and thus the evolution followed different paths in recent centuries. On the other hand, the oral tradition and listening gives them the feeling that they are often the same musical tradition since the similarities are obvious. Finally, with the help of technology will become quote comparative study through analysis of audio examples from computer. These analyzes indicate mainly the differences and similarities between the two musical traditions in terms of musical intervals. Keywords: Byzantine music, Armenian music, comparison. ISTANBUL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY - INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Dr. Erol Üçer Centre for Advanced Studies in Music (MIAM)
International Journal of Human Sciences, 2013
For the purposes of keeping the focus on historical sketches that form musical identity construction, I focus on three periods of 'renaissance' in the history of music, art and culture in the Armenian case, which can be summarized as: a-) 5th -7th centuries: transition to the Christianity and the formation of national ideology, b-) 10th -15th centuries: canonizing sacred and secular repertories, c-) 19th through 20th centuries: Westernization process on music. As it can be followed from historical musicology research, 'distinct' traits that were attributed to nations or ethnicities by the means of music have been mythicized and narrated by those 'renaissence' periods or socalled 'golden age' images. In this case, those special periods in the history of a nation are seen as the origin of the authenticity in the identity construction processes. In that case, my goal is not to write a sophisticated history of Armenian music, but rather to offer an overview of those historical contexts, to identify the strategies on musical discourses and attributions, and to call attention to the role of nationalization practises in the process of reconceptualising history. The transformations such as the formation of national liturgical music after Christianity,
Reflections on Armenia and the Christian Orient: Studies in honour of Vrej Nersessian, ed. Christiane Esche-Ramshorn, 2017
Haig Utidjian published translation of At'ayean's monograph on the Armenian neumes. The jacket of this handsome volume bore an intriguing reproduction of neumes, including some rather oddlooking, and largely "un-Armenian" shapes. I soon came to discover that the intriguing illustration had been taken from Gapasak'alean's 1794 publication, to which I had cause to return in more recent years, in connection with my own musicological research; and Gapasak'alean's notational systems are indeed briefly discussed in the article below. It is therefore particularly apt, I think, to offer the present contribution by way of my own modest tribute to Tēr Hayr.
Memory and the development of writing in Armenian liturgical music (2012)
The invention of the Armenian alphabet at the beginning of the 4th century by the monk Saint Mesrob Mashdots was a turning point in every aspect of the Armenian culture. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Armenian liturgy started to develop its specific character with the invention of the alphabet and the translation movement which immediately followed. Books written in the Armenian script gave a foundation to the liturgy, eliminating the dependence upon the Byzantine and Syriac languages, and the transmission difficulties due to the oral translation of the Bible which had been carried out until then. These were obligations and difficulties that had to be surmounted for an Armenian speaking, multi-dialect population, and also for a Church seeking geographical harmony on the path to becoming an institution.
Armenian Folk Music and the East-West Dichotomy (On the example of Komitas and Suny)
By the turn of the twentieth-century, the Armenians, a people who have historically been divided politically and geographically were entering a period defined by a “powerful process of self awareness.” This process took many forms, but perhaps one of the safest grounds on which Armenians, regardless of geographic location, could agree on the growing awareness of their nationality, was through an important part of their culture: music, a medium which is often treated “as an autonomous and politically innocent domain of social life”. This paper will investigate the role of music in developing a national awareness amongst Armenians at the turn of the century by tracing the “national professional music” that emerged during this time by comparing two composers and folk music collectors, who are representative of the diversity of the term ‘Armenian’. First, Komitas Vardapet, an Armenian priest hailing from Western Armenia, educated in Berlin, who remains to this day an iconic and revered figure in Armenian society, both in the country and in the diaspora. The second, Grikor Suni, a composer hailing from Eastern Armenia whose formal music education took place in St. Petersburg, Russia where he studied under Rimsky-Korsakov. Both ethnically are Armenian. Both began their early musical educations at Echmiadzin Cathedral in Vagharshapat, Armenia (a symbolic and spiritual center for Armenians worldwide). Both collected and appropriated the folk music of rural Armenian peasants. What makes a comparison of their music so interesting is the fact that, despite all of their apparent similarities, they had profoundly different ideas about how the melodies sung by Armenian peasants can and should be prepared according to European standards of choral arrangement and harmonization. Through music, we bear witness to some of the divisive political tensions that characterized Armenian society at that time.