The importance of the Library of Saint Catherine in the Sinai monastery as a whole is well known, considered to be the second in the world in terms of the importance of its manuscripts. As far as the musical manuscripts are concerned, both Byzantine and post-Byzantine, the collection is a great one, with almost 350 manuscripts, which is complemented by a smaller collection of about 60 codices and fragments, by the sub-collection of New Finds, which includes about 50 codices and/or fragments, and by smaller collections preserved in the monastery’s metochia (Cairo, Athens, etc.). In total, there are about 500 manuscripts and/or fragments, to which should be added a large number of codices with ekphonetic notation. The Sinai musical manuscript collections, dating from the 10th to the 19th century, include all types of musical manuscripts from their appearance up to the 19th century. They narrate in detail the history of Byzantine chant in Constantinople, Crete, Cyprus, Walachia and the Ionian Islands during at least these ten centuries, while at the same time reveal all the phases of Byzantine notation. The aim of the proposed round table is to highlight the importance of the collection and its significance for the scientific field of Byzantine musicology through the study of five different groups of manuscripts (Theoretical Treatises, Kalophonika Sticheraria, Psaltika, Cretan manuscripts and the reference codices for the study of Byzantine notation). On a second level, it will focus on specific case studies. The session is framed as part of the effort to finalize and publish the four-volume Sinai Catalogue of Musical Manuscripts, along with its online version.
The precious collection of Psaltic manuscripts of the monastery of Saint Catherine of Sinai contains many manuscripts which were written in Crete mainly during the 16th and 17th centuries. This is the period of the well-known Cretan Renaissance in literature, poetry, theater, but also the Psaltic Art. These manuscripts were located and studied in detail….
When Egon Wellesz published his transcription of the Akathistos Hymn (1957), he was not aware of the version in Sinai gr. 1314. Further, the Psaltikon 1280, but not 1322, was analyzed by Thodberg in his study of the Allelouiaria (1966). In addition to these three exemplars, prof. Kritikou has informed me of an important Psaltikon…
In the richness of the Sinai musical manuscripts, all the phases of Byzantine notation are preserved, from the first types of early Byzantine notation to the analytical Byzantine notation of the 19th century. Containing codices that are milestones for the periodisation of notation and our knowledge of its development, the importance of the collection is…
The Sinai musical manuscripts represent a true gold mine for the investigation of the kalophonic musical style. This presentation will focus on kalophonic compositions by St John Koukouzeles, the most outstanding composer of the Palaeologan Renaissance, as transmitted in Sinaitic manuscripts of the Mathematarion type, dated mainly in the 15th century (e.g. nos 1234, 1250,…
Byzantine music theory is presented in fragments in several manuscripts, mainly post-Byzantine, since theoretical writings usually concentrate on a single theme which they elaborate on without dealing with other subjects. It is fortunate that almost all the theoretical writings survive in the Sinai collection, whose presentation, the correct attribution of anonymous theoretical texts and their…