(b ?1767; d Constantinople, 1840). Romaic (Greek) theorist, scribe and composer. He learnt Byzantine chant from Petros Byzantios and Georgios of Crete at the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople, where his father Joannes was a priest and official. Like many other church musicians of his generation, he also became an accomplished instrumentalist in the Ottoman classical tradition. As a scribe, Konstas is known to have copied at least 106 codices, the majority of which are musical manuscripts. In addition to reproducing the works of others verbatim, he produced realizations (exēgēseis) in which orally transmitted melodic formulae (theseis) traditionally notated in shorthand were transcribed more fully, assembled pedagogical collections of difficult theseis and composed many chants for the Byzantine Divine Office and eucharistic liturgies, most of which remain unpublished. Among his chants for Orthros and Hesperinos are 27 Great Doxologies, including a modally ordered series of 16 short and long settings (GR-An 1869, ff.265r376v), the 11 morning Gospel Hymns of Emperor Leo VI (An 1869, ff.205r12v), and many stichēra for the liturgical year, including three for Hesperinos of 15 August as transcribed by Amphilochios Docheiarites (ed. Euthymiadēs). His eucharistic chants include 11 Cherubic Hymns (nine for the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, ATSdocheiariou 389, ff.70r79v; two for the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, Athens, Benaki Museum 13, ff.601r06r), and numerous communion verses for Sundays, weekdays and feasts. (For a full list of works see Apostolopoulos, pp.535.)
Konstas's significance today derives from the writings he produced as the last theorist operating within the framework of medieval Byzantine notation before its reform by Chrysanthos of Madytos. A member of the conservative musical faction led by Jakobos Peloponnesios, Konstas sought to defend the received tradition through systematized instruction in performing practice, by which he claimed to reduce the training of a cantor to 18 months. In 1800 he opened a chant school in Constantinople and wrote the first of nine known versions (three are now considered lost) of a treatise explaining the realization of Byzantine notation in contemporary performance. The final revision of 1820 (GR-An 1867) contains an additional comparative section on Arabo-Persian music. Patriarchal approval for the New Method of Chrysanthos and its subsequent dissemination through printed music books, however, consigned Konstas's work to obscurity.
Theōrētikon: mousikē technē, technologia, grammatikē (MS, 1820, GR-An 1867); facs. ed. C. Karakatsanēs: Byzantinē potamēis [Byzantine river], i: Theōrētikon Apostolou Konsta tou Chiou kōdix 1867 tou 1820 E.B.E [The theoretical treatise of Apostolos Konstas of Chios: codex 1867 (dated 1820) of the National Library of Greece] (Athens, 1995)
A. Euthymiadēs, ed.: Neon tetratomon phōnais aisiais [New four-volume collection [entitled] with Fitting Voices], iv (Thessaloniki, 1991), 51
G.T. Stathēs: Ta cheirographa byzantinēs mousikēs: Hagion Oros [The MSS of Byzantine Music: Holy Mountain] (Athens, 197593)
G.T. Stathēs: Hē exēgēsis tēs palaias byzantinēs sēmeiographias [The exegesis of Old Byzantine notation] (Athens, 1978, rev. 2/1989) [with Fr. summary]
M. Chatzēgiakoumēs: Cheirographa ekklēsiastikēs mousikēs (14531820) [MSS of ecclesiastical music] (Athens, 1980)
S.I. Karas: Methodos tēs hellēnikēs mousikēs: theōrētikon, [Method of Greek music: theoretical treatise] (Athens, 1982)
A. Alygizakēs: Ekklēsiastikoi ēchoi kai arabopersika makamia [Ecclesiastical modes and Arabo-Persian maqāmāt] (Thessaloniki, 1990)
T. Apostolopoulos: Ho Apostolos Kōnstas ho Chios kai hē symbolē tou stē theōria tēs mousikēs technēs [Apostolos Konstas of Chios and his contribution to the theory of musical art] (diss., U. of Athens, 1997)
ALEXANDER LINGAS