(Gk.: ‘sound’).
A technical term in Byzantine chant, usually translated ‘mode’ or ‘modality’.
There is considerable difference between the Eastern and Western European understanding of modality. In the West, the term ‘mode’ most often means a scale or ‘octave species’; but an ēchos depends rather on a ‘mood’, which is in turn dependent on the types of melody found in that ēchos. When systematized by theorists, these melody-types do produce different ‘octave species’ or scales; this is of secondary significance, however, compared to the melodies themselves. An ēchos in fact consists primarily of a repertory of melodic formulae together with some melodic motifs and even melody-types.
These categories overlap at times: a melody-type may be a melodic formula, but a melodic formula may be only part of a melody-type. The motif is the smallest of these units and occurs as a subdivision of the larger structural elements, the formula and the melody-type, the latter being the largest of the three. Some of these elements may appear exclusively in a single ēchos; others may be found in more than one ēchos. Formulae which are found in more than one ēchos are termed ‘wandering’ melodic elements and are distinguished from one another by slight inflections or differences in their melodic intervals, even though the basic melodic outline remains the same. In general, a hymn composed in a particular ēchos will contain a set of melodic elements (motifs, formulae or melody-types) peculiar to that ēchos; and these structural devices will be found in other hymns composed in the same ēchos.
The ‘melodic formula’ is not a rigid pattern of specified length consisting of a fixed number of notes. Although some parts of it will remain stable, the rest is subject to transformation, generally by contraction or expansion. Formulae may be expanded either by the repetition of a single pitch or by the insertion of notes or motifs at various points.
According to their function, the melodic structural elements of Byzantine chant may be classified as cadential formulae, initial formulae and transitional formulae. Cadential formulae appear primarily at the end of hymns, verses or even briefer melodic segments. Initial formulae, with distinct melodic patterns, are fewer in number than the previous category. Transitional formulae are often used within a hymn to lead from one type of formula to another; they never appear independently, and some patterns are quite brief – motifs rather than formulae. While initial formulae are used only for the opening parts of a hymn or a verse, cadential formulae may appear not only at the endings but also in the opening sections of a segment of a hymn.
A hymn in any given ēchos is preceded by an Ēchēma (intonation formula). This indicates the ēchos and was probably sung by the precentor before the chanting by the choir. Intonations are accompanied by syllables sung to their melodies (such as ananeanes, nehagie and so on; these became known in the West as the ‘noeane’ formulae). The Byzantine intonation formulae give only the basic melodic framework of the particular ēchos. All medieval Byzantine music manuscripts contain indications of the ēchoi, usually by means of the martyria, a modal signature that defines the mode and provides the final note of the ēchēma. In a few instances the intonation formula is given in full. These signatures at the beginning of each hymn were essential, since the Byzantine neumatic notation is intervallic, designating a note only in relationship to the preceding pitch.
Many compositions also contain internal intonation signs. These ‘medial signatures’ at times appear to designate the pitch that the chanter should have reached, thus serving as a check for correct performance; but in some melodies they indicate transposition into a new mode. For modulation proper, there was a special system of signs known as phthorai; these indicated chromatic changes which gave to the melody the flavour of a different ēchos.
Most medieval Byzantine melodies were probably composed and sung in a diatonic tonal system. No surviving theoretical treatise provides sufficient detail to warrant the assumption that the chromatic and enharmonic tetrachords of the ancient Greeks were in use in Byzantium. Discussion of them in the few surviving treatises appears to be a restatement of the ideas of antiquity rather than a reflection of contemporary musical practice. The inference about the basically diatonic tonal system of Byzantine music derives from an analysis of theoretical treatises and the melodies themselves.
The eight ēchoi are frequently discussed in medieval treatises, most of which, however, are ambiguous in their wording. For example, when discussing the theoretical starting notes for each ēchos, most texts state that the starting note of the ēchos deuteros (2nd mode) is ‘one step above that of the ēchos prōtos’ (1st mode), but no text reveals whether that step is a whole tone or semitone. Similarly, the starting note of the ēchos tritos (3rd mode) is described equivocally as being ‘one step above that for the deuteros’. It is clear, however, that the sequence of these initial notes ultimately results in a gamut of an octave. Consequently, this octave may be presumed to consist of two disjunct tetrachords (although for one part of the repertory a system of conjunct tetrachords also appears possible). In instances of the transposition of an ēchos, a melodic segment would require the use of sharps or flats.
An ēchos frequently begins on the pitch that may be considered to be its ‘tonic’, but the opening of a melody depends on the intonation formula and the notation that follows; most ēchoi have one or two distinct pitches on which the melodies in that ēchos may end. For instance, melodies in the ēchos prōtos (1st mode) may end either on D or A. There are some ‘ruling notes’ in each ēchos that are more prominent than the other pitches in a hymn.
The listing of ēchoi in treatises raises a curious problem with regard to the terminology describing ascent and descent. Didactic treatises state that one moves in stepwise ascent from the initial note of the prōtos to that of the deuteros, and then to that of the tritos and the tetartos (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th modes). If one continues to ascend, one again touches upon the initial notes of these same modes, in the same sequence. If one proceeds downwards, however, starting from the theoretical initial note of the prōtos, the next step in the descent reaches the initial note of the plagios tetartos (4th plagal mode); the next note in the descent is described as the starting tone of the ēchos barys (the 3rd plagal mode; the term plagios tritos is never found in Byzantine treatises, which use the designation barys, that is, ‘low’ mode). In most early Byzantine texts there is no special term for the ‘authentic’ modes; in a few later texts the term kyrioi (i.e. ‘main’ or perhaps ‘authentic’) appears. It is unclear whether the appearance of this term represents an original Greek usage or a translation into Greek of concepts already widespread in the Latin West. The term plagios (plagal) is found in all surviving music manuscripts.
Besides the four ‘main’ and the corresponding ‘plagal’ ēchoi, the theoretical treatises also mention a category of mesos ēchos (?‘mediant mode’); in which the starting notes appear to have been a 3rd higher than the theoretical initial notes of an ēchos. Again, no distinction is made between the major or minor 3rd. There are also references to mode-types called para-mesos and parakyrios, both of which require further investigation.
Analytical studies suggest that the process by which a hymn was composed in an ēchos was similar to the principle of ‘centonization’ in Roman chant. The degree of similarity, however, varies from one type of chant to another. It has also been suggested that the concept of ēchos strongly resembles the Arabic maqām in its use of formulaic patterns. Such points need further study before the formulation of principles common to both musical cultures can be attempted.
The use of the term ēchos to describe the melodic framework within which a hymn is to be performed first appears in the text of GB-Mr Papyrus 466 from the 7th century ce. Some liturgical hymns are attributed to poets from earlier centuries and also carry the designations of the ēchoi in which they are to be performed in the services. The use of the term in manuscripts is probably an addition, dating from the period, after the 7th century, in which the system of eight modes (see Oktōēchos) was formulated. The Greeks traditionally ascribe the system of the oktōēchos to John Damascene (active in the first half of the 8th century); this is probably a legend similar to that attributing to Pope Gregory the Great the composition of the so-called Gregorian chant. Avid defenders of orthodoxy refer to the main body of music in the Greek Orthodox Church as Damascenian melodies, although most of the repertory is known to have been composed at a later date.
H.J.W. Tillyard: ‘The Modes in Byzantine Music’, Annual of the British School at Athens, xxii (1916–18), 133–56
H.J.W. Tillyard: ‘Signatures and Cadences of the Byzantine Modes’, ibid., xxvi (1923–5), 78–87
O. Strunk: ‘The Tonal System of Byzantine Music’, MQ, xxviii (1942), 190–204
O. Strunk: ‘Intonations and Signatures of the Byzantine Modes’, MQ, xxxi (1945), 339–55
H.J.W. Tillyard: ‘The Byzantine Modes in the Twelfth Century’, Annual of the British School at Athens, xlviii (1953), 182–90
L. Richter: ‘Antike Überlieferungen in der byzantinischen Musiktheorie’, DJbM, vi (1962), 75–115
J. Raasted: Intonation Formulas and Modal Signatures in Byzantine Musical Manuscripts, MMB, Subsidia, vii (1966)
C. Thodberg: Der Byzantinische Alleluiarionzyklus, MMB, Subsidia, viii (1966), esp. chaps. 18, 20
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H. Husmann: ‘Modalitätsprobleme des psaltischen Stils’, AMw, xxviii (1971), 44–72
M. Huglo: ‘Comparaison de la terminologie modale en Orient et en Occident’, IMSCR XI: Copenhagen 1972, 758–61
H. Husmann: ‘Echos und Makam nach der Handschrift Leningrad Öffentliche Bibliothek, gr. 127’, AMw, xxxvi (1979), 237–53
H. Husmann: ‘Zur Harmonik des griechischen Volksliedes’, AcM, liii (1981), 33–52
G. Amargianakēs: ‘Ho archaioellēnikos nomos, ho byzantinos ēchos kai hē indikē raga’ [The Ancient Greek musical nomos, the Byzantine ēchos and the Indian rāga], Mousikologia, i/2 (1985), 72–82
E. Moutsopoulos: ‘The “Characteristic Intervals” of the Byzantine Echoi and the Mystery of the “Fourth Echos”’, Musica antiqua VIII: Bydgoszcz 1988, 697–702
P. Jeffrey: ‘The Earliest Evidence of the Eight Modes: the Oktoechos of Jerusalem’, Three Worlds of Medieval Chant: Comparative Studies in Greek, Latin and Slavonic Liturgical Music for Kenneth Levy, ed. P. Jeffrey (forthcoming)
MILOŠ VELIMIROVIĆ