The Ancient Greek Heritage in Byzantine Music Theory

Under the auspices of the Levi Foundation, Venice, the study group “Psaltike” has conducted a three-year project (2023-2025) under the theme “Ancient Greek Musical Theory and Byzantine Chant in the Middle Ages and Beyond: Possible Points of Intersection?” The aim of the project has not only been to re-consider old evidence on the reception and re-cycling of ancient musical theoretical texts and concepts in Byzantine theory and practice, but also to widen the discussion by bringing in new evidence, namely Byzantine scholia on ancient theoretical texts on music, new insights into the use of diagrams, possible intersections with ancient grammar and rhetoric. The poster will present the results of the project in the briefest possible way and illustrate its potential through visual examples of diagram traditions, scholia, poetry etc. linking ancient music theory and Byzantine chant phenomena. The study group consists of Maria Alexandru (University of Thessaloniki), Sandra Martani (University of Pavia), Giuseppe Sanfratello (University of Catania), Silvia Tessari (University of Padua, scientific co-ordinator), Christian Troelsgård (University of Copenhagen, scientific co-ordinator), Nina-Maria Wanek (University of Vienna), Gerda Wolfram (University of Vienna).