Santiago de Compostela (also Saint James of Compostela) is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia and a UNESCO's World Heritage Site, located in the northwest region of Spain in the Province of A Coruña.
The city's cathedral is the destination of the important medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James (Galician: Camiño de Santiago, Spanish: Camino de Santiago).
The cathedral borders the main Praza of the old and well-preserved city.
The popular etymology of the name "Compostela" holds that it comes from Latin campus stellae, i.e. "field of stars," making Santiago de Compostela "St. James of the Field of Stars."
This name would come from the belief that the bones of St. James were taken from the Middle East, to Spain. These bones were then buried where a shepherd had spotted a star and a church was eventually built over the bones and later replaced with the Cathedral de Santiago de Compostela.
Another etymology is Compositum, i.e. "The well founded," or Composita Tella, meaning "burial ground."
Yet another etymology derives it from "San Jacome Apostol."
The legend that St James found his way to the Iberian peninsula, and had preached there is one of a number of early traditions concerning the missionary activities and final resting places of the apostles of Jesus. Although the 1884 Bull of Pope Leo XIII Omnipotens Deus accepted the authenticity of the relics at Compostela, the Vatican remains uncommitted as to whether the relics are those of Saint James the Great, while continuing to promote the more general benefits of pilgrimage to the site.
According to a tradition that cannot be traced before the 12th century, the relics were said to have been discovered in 835 by Theodomir, bishop of Iria Flavia in the far northwest of the principality of Asturias. Theodomir was guided to the spot by a star, the legend affirmed, drawing upon a familiar myth-element, hence "Compostela" was given an etymology as a corruption of Campus Stellae, "Plain of Stars."
As suggested already, it is probably impossible to know whose bones were actually found, and precisely when and how. Perhaps it does not matter. What the history of the pilgrimage requires, but what the meager sources fail to reveal, is how the local Galician cult associated with the saint was transformed into an international cult drawing pilgrims from distant parts of the world.
The 1000-year-old pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is known in English as the Way of St. James and in Galician as the Camiño de Santiago. Over 100,000 pilgrims travel to the city each year from points all over Europe, and other parts of the world.
School of Compostela (b. c. 1095) - Florid Organum - Cunctipotens Genitor (1125)
Organum as a musical genre reached its peak in the 12th Century with the development of two very different schools of organum composition: the St. Martial and Santiago del Compostela Schools of florid organum, and the Notre Dame school of organum of Paris, which included composers such as Léonin and Pérotin which provided many new composition techniques.
The basic principle of Florid Organum is that there are anywhere from two to six notes in the organal voice sung over a single sustained note in the tenor. St.Martial organum and Paris organum duplum follow from the same principle, but in a different form.
During the course of the1100's, the age of the Cathedrals, melismatic (or 'florid') organum developed in Aquitania, and is linked to St. Martial de Limoges. This form of organum is based on a plainchant melody that is sung in extended note-values in the lower voice, the length of which are determined by the length of the phrase in the organal part. The chant thus transforms into a succession of long held notes according to the original melody and comes to be called "tenor" from the Latin tenere meaning "to hold." The upper organal voice moves in extensive melisms on long protracted vowels. This newer style became known as "organum," "organum duplum," or "organum purum" and the older note-against-note style became known as "discantus style." The St. Martial organum is rhapsodic in character as rhythms are not yet organized according to the six rhythmic modes.
***
The tenor is the highest male voice within the modal register, just above the baritone voice. The typical tenor voice lies between the C one octave below middle C (C3) to the C one octave above middle C (C5). The low extreme for tenors is roughly B♭2 (two B♭s below middle C). At the highest extreme, some tenors can sing up to two Fs above middle C (F5).
Within opera, the lowest note in the standard tenor repertoire is A3, but few roles fall below C3 (one octave below middle C). The high extreme: many tenor roles in the standard repertoire call for a "tenor C" (C5, one octave above middle C). While some operatic roles for tenor require a darker timbre and fewer high notes, it is generally accepted that any tenor should be able to sing with a full timbre up to an A4. In the leggiero repertoire the highest note is an F5 (Arturo in I puritani), therefore, very few tenors can have this role in their repertoire.
The name "tenor" derives from the Latin word tenere, which means "to hold." In Medieval and Renaissance polyphony between about 1125 and 1500, the tenor was the structurally fundamental (or ‘holding’) voice, vocal or instrumental. All other voices were normally calculated in relation to the tenor, which often proceeded in longer note values and carried a borrowed Cantus Firmus melody.
Orkney (Orkneys or Orkney Islands) is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated 10 miles (16 km) north of the coast of Caithness.
***
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain, is a sovereign island country located off the northwestern coast of mainland Europe. The UK includes the island of Great Britain, the northeast part of the island of Ireland and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land border, sharing it with the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea. The largest island, Great Britain, is linked to France by the Channel Tunnel.
The United Kingdom is a union of four constituent countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
***
Orkney comprises over 70 islands; around 20 are inhabited. The largest island, known as "Mainland," has an area of 202 sq mi (523 km²), making it the sixth-largest Scottish island and the tenth-largest island in the British Isles. The largest settlement and administrative centre is Kirkwall.
Orkney has been inhabited for at least 5,500 years. Originally inhabited by neolithic tribes and then by the Picts, Orkney was invaded and finally annexed by Norway in 875 and settled by the Norse. It was subsequently re-annexed to the Scottish Crown in 1472, following the failed payment of a dowry agreement.
Orkney contains some of the oldest and best-preserved Neolithic sites in Europe, and the "Heart of Neolithic Orkney" is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Orkney Islands (b. c. 1085) - Hymn to St. Magnus "Nobilis Humilis"(c. 1115)
Denis Stevens (A Capella)
David Munrow (Psaltery)
***
The Pythagorean ideal accepted as consonances only intervals expressible in the simplest numerical ratios -- octaves, fifths, and fourths. But in the British Isles the interval of the third (as from C to E, or F to A) had been in common use for some time, although it is not expressible as such a simple ratio. In the Hymn to St. Magnus, the first thorough-going harmony in thirds appears.
***
A psaltery is a stringed musical instrument of the harp or the zither family. The psaltery of Ancient Greece (Epigonion) dates from at least 2800 BC, when it was a harp-like instrument. Etymologically the word derives from the Ancient Greek(psalterion)“stringed instrument, psaltery, harp” and that from the verb (psallo) “to touch sharply, to pluck, pull, twitch” and in the case of the strings of musical instruments, “to play a stringed instrument with the fingers, and not with the plectron”.
In the King James Version of the Bible, "psaltery", and its plural, "psalteries," is used to translate the Hebrew keliy in Psalm 71:22 and I Chronicles 16:5; nevel in I Samuel 10:5; 2 Samuel 6:5; I Kings 10:12; I Chronicles 13:8; 15:16, 20, 28; 25:1, 6; II Chronicles 5:12; 9:11; 20:28; 29:25; Nehemiah 12:27; Psalms 33:2; 57:6; 81:2; 92:3; 108:2; 144:9; and 150:3; and pesanterin in Daniel 3:5, 7, 10, and 15.
In the Christian era a psaltery consisting of a soundboard with several pre-tuned strings that are usually plucked, came into use. It was also known by the name canon from the Greek word "kanon" which means rule, principle and also "mode." The modern Greek folk instrument is called by its diminutive, kanonaki. The instrument is usually small enough to be portable; its shape and range vary. It is depicted in a number of artworks from the Medieval Period.
***
Saint Magnus, Earl Magnus Erlendsson of Orkney, was the first Earl of Orkney to bear that name, and ruled from 1108 to about 1115. His story is told in two sagas, Magnus' Saga the shorter and longer and one legend, Legenda de sancto Magno.
Magnus's grandparents Earl Thorfinn and his wife Ingibiorg Finnsdottir had two sons, Erlend and Paul, who were twins. Through Ingibiorg's father Finn Arnesson and his wife, the family was related to the Norwegian Kings Olav II and Harald II.
Born in 1075, Magnus was the son of Erlend Thorfinnsson, Earl of Orkney, and he first served Magnus III of Norway as skutilsvein (approx. Chamberlain), who took possession of the islands in 1098, deposing Erlend and his brother, Paul. Paul's son, Haakon Paulsson, then became regent on behalf of the Norwegian prince, Sigurd, who made Haakon earl in 1105. According to the Orkneyinga Saga, Magnus had a reputation for piety and gentleness, and blotted his record with the Norwegians by refusing to fight on a Viking raid on Anglesey, Wales, because of his religious convictions, instead staying on board singing psalms. He was obliged to take refuge in Scotland, but returned to Orkney in 1105 and disputed the succession with his cousin Haakon. Having failed to reach an agreement, he sought help from King Eystein II of Norway, who granted him the earldom and he ruled jointly and amicably with Haakon until 1114.
Their followers fell out, and the two sides met at the Thing (assembly) on the Orkney Mainland, ready to do battle. Peace was negotiated and the Earls arranged to meet each other on the island of Egilsay, each bringing only two ships. Magnus arrived on 16 April 1115) with his two ships, but then Haakon treacherously turned up with eight ships. Magnus was captured and offered to go into exile or prison, but an assembly of chieftains insisted that one earl must die. Haakon's standard bearer, Ofeigr, refused to execute Magnus, and an angry Haakon made his cook Lifolf kill Magnus by striking him on the head with an axe. It was said that Magnus first prayed for the souls of his executioners. Magnus was first buried on the spot he died. According to his legend, the rocky area around his grave miraculously became a green field. Later Thora, Magnus' mother asked Haakon allow her to bury him in a Church. Haakon gave his permission and Magnus was then buried at Christchurch at Birsay.
There were numerous reports of miraculous happenings and healings. William the Old, Bishop of Orkney, warned that it was "heresy to go about with such tales," then was struck blind at his church and subsequently had his sight restored after praying at the grave of Magnus, not long after visiting Norway (and perhaps meeting Earl Rognvald Kolsson).
Magnus's nephew, Rognvald Kali Kolsson, laid claim to the Earldom of Orkney, and was advised by his father Kol to promise the islanders to "build a stone minster at Kirkwall" in memory of his uncle the Holy Earl, and this became
St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall. When the cathedral begun in 1137 was ready for consecration the relics of St Magnus were transferred, and in 1917 a hidden cavity was found in a column, containing a box with bones including a damaged skull. These are held without (much) doubt to be the relics of St Magnus.
In the Faroes, the St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkjubøur was built about 1300 at the time of Bishop Erlendur. It is quite sure that the church was used for services (though it never was finished, or has been destroyed later), for estimated relicts of Saint Magnus were found here in 1905. Kirkjubøur is one of the most important Faroese historical sites and expected to become a World Heritage Site. In total there are 21 churches in Europe dedicated to St Magnus.
The House of Seljuk was a branch of the Kınık Oğuz Turks who in the 9th Century resided on the periphery of the Muslim world, north of the Caspian and Aral Seas in the Yabghu Khaganate of the Oğuz confederacy.
In the 10th century, the Seljuks started migrating from their ancestral homelands towards the eastern regions of Anatolia, which eventually became the new homeland of Oğuz Turkic tribes following the Battle of Manzikert (Malazgirt) in 1071. The victory of the Seljuks gave rise to the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate; which developed as a separate branch of the larger Seljuk Empire that covered parts of Central Asia, Iran, Anatolia, and the Middle East.
Turkey - Sufi - Dervish "Beyat" Based on a Classic Maqam
Sufism (Arabic: taṣawwuf, Turkish: tasavvuf, Persian: sufigari) is generally understood by scholars to be the inner or mystical dimension of Islam.
A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a Sūfī, though some senior members of the tradition reserve this term for those practitioners who have attained the goals of the Sufi tradition. Another common denomination is the word Dervish (derived from Persian: darwīš).
Shaykh Ahmad Zarruq, a 15th century Shadhili Sufi master, wrote in his major work "The Principles of Sufism" (Qawa`id al-Tasawwuf) that:
“ [Sufism is] a science whose objective is the reparation of the heart and turning it away from all else but God. ”
Shaykh Ahmad ibn Ajiba, a famous Moroccan Sufi in the Darqawi lineage, defined Sufism as: “ a science through which one can know how to travel into the presence of the Divine, purify one’s inner self from filth, and beautify it with a variety of praiseworthy traits. ”
Sufi Orders or Sufi Brotherhoods are traditionally known as Tariqa. They may be associated with Sunni Islam or Shia Islam, though the major ones, such as the Qādirī and Naqšhbandī orders, are associated with traditional Sunni Islam and are accepted by the majority of "folk Muslims."
Sufism is generally believed to have originated among Muslims near Basra in modern Iraq, though there is a history of Sufism in Transoxania dating from shortly after the time of Muhammad.
Transoxiana (sometimes spelled Transoxania) is the ancient name used for the portion of Central Asia corresponding approximately with modern-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and southwest Kazakhstan. Geographically, it means the region between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers.
When used in the present, it usually implies that one is talking about that region in the time prior to about the 8th century AD, although the term continued to remain in use among western historians for several centuries after. In the Persian epic Shahnameh, written by the poet Ferdowsi, Transoxiana is the homeland of the Iranian nomadic tribes and the Oxus river is the border between Iran and Turan.
From the traditional Sufi point of view, the esoteric teachings of Sufism were transmitted from the Prophet Muhammad, who was taught by God, to those who had the capacity to contain the direct experiential gnosis of God, which was passed on from teacher to student through the centuries. Almost all traditional Sufi schools (or "orders") trace their "chains of transmission" back to Prophet Muhammad via his cousin and son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib. The Naqshbandi order is a notable exception to this rule, as it traces its origin to the first Islamic Caliph Abdullah (Abu Bakr).
Some orientalist scholars believe that Sufism was essentially the result of Islam evolving in a more mystic direction. For example, Annemarie Schimmel proposes that Sufism in its early stages of development meant nothing but the interiorization of Islam. According to Louis Massignon: "It is from the Qur’an, constantly recited, meditated, and experienced, that Sufism proceeded, in its origin and its development."
Sufism was brought to Anatolia, Turkey, during the Seljuk dynasty, when Turkic tribes would make raids against the Byzantine Empire. Before long, the Byzantines had been pushed almost entirely out of Anatolia, and various Turkic tribal leaders and warlords held ground all through Anatolia. Before the formation of the Ottoman Empire a few centuries into the future, Sufi dervishes would go from village to village, teaching peasants to read and write through conversion to Islam.
Anatolian Sufi Baglama (Lute)
[Turkish dervish, 1860's]
The word Dervish, especially in European languages, refers to members of Sufi Muslim ascetic religious Tarika, known for their extreme poverty and austerity, similar to mendicant friars.
The term comes from the Persian word Darvīsh, which usually refers to a mendicant ascetic. This latter word is also used to refer to an unflappable or ascetic temperament (as in the Urdu phrase darwaishana thabiyath for an ascetic temperament); that is, for an attitude that is indifferent to material possessions and the like.
As Sufi practitioners, dervishes were known as a source of wisdom, medicine, poetry, enlightenment, and witticisms.
Many dervishes are mendicant ascetics who have taken the vow of poverty, unlike mullahs. The main reason why they beg is to learn humility, but dervishes are prohibited to beg for their own good. They have to give the collected money to other poor people. Others work in common professions; Egyptian Qadiriyya -- known in Turkey as Kadiri -- for example, are fishermen. Rifa'iyyah dervishes travelled and spread into North and East Africa, Turkey, the Balkans and all the way down to India.
There are also various dervish groups (Sufi orders), almost all of which trace their origins from various Muslim saints and teachers, especially Ali and Abu Bakr. Various orders and suborders have appeared and disappeared over the centuries.
The whirling dance that is proverbially associated with dervishes, is the practice of the Mevlevi Order in Turkey, and is just one of the physical methods used to try to reach religious ecstasy (majdhb, fana). The name "Mevlevi" comes from the Persian poet, Rumi, whose shrine is in Turkey and who was a Dervish himself. This practice, though not intended as entertainment, has become a tourist attraction in Turkey.
Other groups include the Bektashis, connected to the janissaries, and Senussi, who are rather orthodox in their beliefs. Other fraternities and subgroups chant verses of the Qur'an, play drums or dance vigorously in groups, all according to their specific traditions. Some practice quiet meditation, as is the case with most of the Sufi orders in South Asia, many of whom owe allegiance to, or were influenced by, the Chishti order. Each fraternity uses its own garb and methods of acceptance and initiation, some of them which may be rather severe.
The Mevlevi Order or the Mevleviye are a Sufi order founded by the followers of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi-Rumi, a 13th century Persian (Tādjīk) poet, Islamic jurist, and theologian, in Konya (in present-day Turkey). They are also known as the Whirling Dervishes due to their famous practice of whirling as a form of dhikr (remembrance of Allah). Dervish is a common term for an initiate of the Sufi Path.
The Mevleviye, one of the most well known of the Sufi orders, was founded in 1273 by Rumi's followers after his death, particularly by his successor Hüsamettin Çelebi who decided to build a mausoleum for Mevlâna, and then Mevlâna's son, Sultan Veled Celebi (or Çelebi, Chelebi) (the word "Çelebi" means " fully initiated"). He was an accomplished Sufi mystic with great organizing talents. His personal efforts were continued by his successor Ulu Arif Çelebi. The Mevlevi, or "The Whirling Dervishes," believe in performing their dhikr in the form of a "dance" and music ceremony called the sema.
The Sema represents a mystical journey of man's spiritual ascent through mind and love to "Perfect." Turning towards the truth, the follower grows through love, deserts his ego, finds the truth and arrives at the "Perfect." He then returns from this spiritual journey as a man who has reached maturity and a greater perfection, so as to love and to be of service to the whole of creation.
The sema was practised in the semahane (ritual hall) according to a precisely prescribed symbolic ritual with the dervished whirling in a circle around their sheikh, who is the only one circling around his axis. The dervishes wear a white gown (symbol of death), a wide black cloak (hirka) (symbol of the grave) and a high brown cap (kûlah), symbol of the tombstone.
The Mevlevi became a well-established Sufi order in the Ottoman Empire by realizing a blood relationship with the Ottoman sultans when Devlet Hatun, a descendant of Sultan Veled, married the sultan Bayezid I. Their son Mehmed I Çelebi became the next sultan, endowing the order, as did his successors, with many gifts.
Many of the members of the order served in various official positions of the Caliphate. The centre for the Mevlevi order was in Konya, where their 13th century guiding spirit, Mevlana (Jelaleddin al-Rumi) is buried. There is also a Mevlevi monastery or dergah in Istanbul, near the Galata Tower, where the sema (whirling ceremony) is performed and accessible to the public.
During the Ottoman Empire era, the Mevlevi order produced a number of famous poets and musicians such as Sheikh Ghalib, Ismail Ankaravi (both buried at the Galata Mevlevi-Hane) and Abdullah Sari). Vocal and instrumental music, especially the ney, plays an important role in the Mevlevi ceremony and famous composers such as Dede Efendi wrote music for the ayin (cycle of Mevlevi ceremonial music). The ayin text is normally a selection from the poetry of Mevlana.
During the Ottoman period, the Mevlevi order spread into the Balkans, Syria, and Egypt (and is still practiced in both countries where they are known as the Mawlawi order).
The Ottoman Empire (1299–1923) was a multi-ethnic and multi-religious Turkish-ruled state. The state was known as the Turkish Empire or Turkey by its contemporaries.
It was succeeded by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923.
At the height of its power (16th–17th century), it spanned three continents, controlling much of Southeastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, stretching from the Strait of Gibraltar (and, in 1553, the Atlantic coast of Morocco beyond Gibraltar) in the west to the Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf in the east, from the edge of Austria, Slovakia and parts of Ukraine in the north to Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia and Yemen in the south. The Ottoman Empire contained 29 provinces, in addition to the tributary principalities of Moldavia, Transylvania, and Wallachia.
The Empire was at the centre of interactions between the Eastern and Western worlds for six centuries. With Constantinople as its capital city, and lands during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent which roughly corresponded to the lands ruled by Justinian the Great exactly 1000 years earlier, the Ottoman Empire was, in many respects, an Islamic successor to the earlier Mediterranean empires — the Roman and Byzantine empires. Numerous traditions and cultural traits of these previous two empires (in fields such as architecture, cuisine, leisure and government) were adopted by the Ottomans, who elaborated them into new forms. These cultural traits were later blended with the characteristics of the ethnic and religious groups living within the Ottoman territories, which resulted in a new and distinctively Ottoman cultural identity.
With the demise of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rūm (about 1300), Turkish Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent states, the so-called Ghazi emirates.
By 1300, a weakened Byzantine Empire had seen most of its Anatolian provinces lost among some ten Ghazi principalities. One of the Ghazi emirates was led by Osman I (from which the name Ottoman is derived), son of Ertuğrul in the region of Eskişehir in western Anatolia. According to tradition, as Ertuğrul migrated across Asia Minor leading approximately four hundred horsemen, he chanced upon a battle between two armies. Having decided to intervene, he chose the side of the losing army and turned the battle in their favour to secure victory. The troops he supported happened to be those of a Seljuk Sultan who rewarded him with territory in Eskişehir.[2] Following Ertuğrul's death in 1281, Osman became chief, or Bey, and by 1299 declared himself a sovereign ruler from the Seljuk state.
Osman I extended the frontiers of Ottoman settlement towards the edge of the Byzantine Empire. He moved the Ottoman capital to Bursa, and shaped the early political development of the nation. Given the nickname "Kara" (Turkish for black) for his courage,[3] Osman I was admired as a strong and dynamic ruler long after his death, as evident in the centuries-old Turkish phrase, "May he be as good as Osman." His reputation has also been burnished by the medieval Turkish story known as "Osman's Dream," a foundation myth in which the young Osman was inspired to conquest by a prescient vision of empire.
This period saw the creation of a formal Ottoman government whose institutions would remain largely unchanged for almost four centuries. The government utilized the legal entity known as the millet, under which religious and ethnic minorities were able to manage their own affairs with substantial independence from central control.
The bağlama is a stringed musical instrument shared by various cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean, Near East, and Central Asia. In Turkish, bağlamak means "to tie," a reference to the tied-on frets of the instrument. Like most stringed instruments, it can either be played with a plectrum (i.e., pick) or with a fingerpicking style known as şelpe.
The bağlama, sometimes referred to as a saz or a member of the saz family, is a Turkish instrument that is fundamental in Turkish folk music. Its name literally translates to "something that is tied up." It is a stringed instrument consisting of 7 strings divided into groups of 2, 2, and 3. These groups of strings can be tuned to different combinations, each corresponding to a different system.
The bağlama is believed to be a synthesis of historical musical instruments in Central Asia and pre-Turkish Anatolia. It is the most commonly used string folk instrument in Turkey, and it takes different names according to the region it's found in and its size: Bağlama, Divan Sazı, Bozuk, Çöğür, Kopuz Irızva, Cura, Tambura, etc.
The cura is the smallest member of the bağlama family, with the highest-pitched sound. One size larger than the cura is the tambura, which is tuned an octave lower than the cura. The Divan sazı is the largest instrument in the family and is tuned one octave lower than the tambura. The bağlama has three main parts, called tekne (the bowl); göğüs (sounding board); and sap (neck). The tekne is generally made from mulberry wood but may also be made of juniper, beech, spruce, or walnut. The göğüs is made from spruce, and the sap section from beech or juniper. The tuning pegs are known as burgu (literally screw). Frets are tied to the tekne with fishing line, which allows them to be adjusted. The bağlama is usually played with a tezene (similar to a guitar pick) and is made from cherrywood bark or plastic. In some regions, it is played with the fingers in a style known as Şelpe or Şerpe. There are three string groups, or courses, on the bağlama, with strings double or tripled. These string groups can be tuned in a variety of ways, known as düzen. For the bağlama düzeni, the most common tuning, the courses are tuned from top downward, A-G-D. Some other düzens are Kara Düzen (C-G-D), Misket Düzeni (A-D-F), Müstezat (A-D-F), Abdal Düzeni, and Rast Düzeni.
Anatolian Folk Music
The music of Turkey includes diverse elements ranging from Central Asian folk music and music from Ottoman Empire dominions such as Persian music, Balkan music and ancient Byzantine music, as well as more modern European and American popular music influences. In turn, it has influenced these cultures through the Ottoman Empire.
The roots of traditional music in Turkey spans across centuries to a time when the Seljuk Turks colonized Anatolia and Persia in the 11th century and contains elements of both Turkic and pre-Turkic influences.
Traditional music in Turkey falls into two main genres; classical art music and folk music. Turkish classical music is characterized by an Ottoman elite culture and influenced lyrically by neighbouring regions and Ottoman provinces, such as Persian and Byzantine vocal traditions and South European cultures.
Earlier forms are sometimes termed as saray music in Turkish, meaning royal court music, indicating the source of the genre comes from Ottoman royalty as patronage and composer.
Neo-classical or postmodern versions of this traditional genre are termed as art music or sanat musikisi, though often it is unofficially termed as alla turca. In addition, from the saray or royal courts came the Ottoman military band, Mehter takımı in Turkish, considered to be the oldest type of military marching band in the world. It was also the forefather of modern Western percussion bands and has been described as the father of Western military music.
Ottoman military bands are thought to be the oldest variety of military marching band in the world. Though they are often known by the Persian-derived word mahtar (مهتر; mehter in Ottoman Turkish) in the West, that word, properly speaking, refers only to a single musician in the band. In Ottoman, the band was generally known as mehterân (مهتران, from the Persian plural mahtarān), though those bands used in the retinue of a vizier or prince were generally known as mehterhane (مهترخانه, meaning roughly, "a gathering of mehters", from Persian "house of the mahtar"). In modern Turkish, the band as a whole is often termed mehter takımı ("group of mehters").
It is believed that individual instrumentalists may have been mentioned in the 8th century Orkhon inscriptions, the oldest written sources of the people who would eventually become the modern Turks.
Such military bands as the mehters, however, were not definitively mentioned until the 13th century.
It is believed that the first "mehter" was sent to Osman Gazi by the Seljuk Sultan Alaeddin III as a present along with a letter that salutes the newly formed state. From then on every day after the afternoon prayer; "mehter" played for the Ottoman ruler. The notion of a military marching band, such as those in use even today, began to be borrowed from the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. The sound associated with the mehterân also exercised an influence on European classical music, with composers such as Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven all writing compositions inspired by or designed to imitate the music of the mehters.
In 1826, the music of the mehters fell into disfavor following Sultan Mahmud II's massacre of the Janissary corps, who had formed the core of the bands. Subsequent to this, in the mid and late 19th century, the genre went into decline along with the Ottoman Empire. In 1911, as the empire was beginning to collapse, the director of Istanbul's military museum attempted a somewhat successful revival of the tradition, and by 1953—so as to celebrate the 500-year anniversary of the Fall of Constantinople to the forces of Sultan Mehmed II—the tradition had been fully restored as a band of the Turkish Armed Forces.
Today, the music of the mehters is largely ceremonial and considered by many Turks as a stirring example of heroism and a reminder of Turkey's imperial past.
The standard instruments employed by a mehterân are the kös (a large bass drum resembling the timpani), the nakare (a small kettledrum), the davul (a frame drum), the zil (cymbals), the kaba zurna (a bass variety of the zurna), the boru (a kind of trumpet), and the cevgen (a kind of stick bearing small concealed bells). The different varieties of bands are classed according to the number of instruments and musicians employed: either six-layered (altı katlı), seven-layered (yedi katlı), or nine-layered (dokuz katlı).
The costumes worn by the mehterân, despite wide variance in color and style, are always very colourful, often including high ribbed hats which are flared at the top and long robes wrapped in colourful silks.
Percussion Instruments:
The çevgan player
The kös player
Davul players
Zil and nakkare players
Wind Instruments:
Kaba zurna players
Boru players
The sound of the Ottoman military band is characterized by an often shrill sound combining bass drums, horns (boru), bells, the triangle and cymbals (zil), among others. It is still played at state, military and tourist functions in modern Turkey by the Mehter Band and the troops that accompany.
Turkish folk music is the music of Turkish-speaking rural communities of Anatolia, the Balkans, and Middle East. While Turkish folk music contains definitive traces of the Central Asian Turkic cultures, it has also strongly influenced and been influenced by many other indigenous cultures. Religious music in Turkey is sometimes grouped with folk music due to the tradition of the wandering minstrel or aşık (pronounced ashuk), but its influences on Sufism due to the spritiual Mevlevi sect arguably grants it special status.
It has been suggested the distinction between the two major genres comes during the Tanzîmat period of Ottoman era, when Turkish classical music was the music played in the Ottoman palaces and folk music was played in the villages.
However, with the type of cultural cross-breeding the empire allowed, both genres relate to the multitudes of ethnic groups to be found in the make-up of the Ottoman Empire. classical music has had lapses in prominence.
Anatolia (Turkish: Anadolu) (Greek:Anatolía) is that geographic region of Turkey bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean Sea to the west, and the bulk of the Asian mainland to the east.
The name Anatolia comes from the Greek Aνατολή (Αnatolí), "rise (i.e. sunrise)," or Ανατολία (Anatolía), "(land) of the sunrise" or simply the "East."
It likely dates back at least 3,000 years, from the Ionian settlement period called the 1st millennium BC. (See also Ionian League). The Byzantine Greek term Anatolikon (the "Eastern One") signified the lands to the East of Europe and of the Byzantine Empire's capital city of Constantinople (now Istanbul). The etymology of the word supports the idea that Anatolia was a peninsula bordered by the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Eastern Taurus Range.
The Turkish form Anadolu derives from the Greek version – both which predated the growth of Constantinople across the Bosporus strait to both continental shores. Turkish folk etymology further breaks down the geographical term into two words: Ana ("mother") and Dolu ("full"). Thus, the name means "Full of Motherliness" and is used to advance a pedagogical ideal: Women's contribution of mother's milk to national masculine bravery.
Less literally, it is sometimes interpreted as Mother of Cities, perhaps dating to the pre-Islamic era when the Byzantine Empire was the biggest international power known in that part of Asia, and occupied the entire region
Because of its strategic location at the intersection of Asia and Europe, Anatolia has been the center of several civilizations since prehistoric times.
The Turkish language was introduced gradually with the conquest of Anatolia by Turkic peoples from the 11th century AD.
Latin Lyric Conductus Composer (b. c. 1070) - Song of the Ass (Orientis Partibus) (1100)
Denis Stevens (3/4 - History of European Music)
Noah Greenberg (4/4 - The Play of Herod)
Oxford History of Music in Sound (4/4/ 2-Part Harmonization)
The 12th-century Latin song Orientis Partibus first appeared in France and is sometimes attributed to Pierre de Corbeil, Bishop of Sens (d 1222) ("Office de la circoncision," "Lew manuscrit de l’office de la Circoncision de Notre-Dame-du-Puy," or "L’Office de Pierre de Corbeil," circa 1210). The Feast of the Circumcision is celebrated on January 1. The song is associated with the Feast of Fools.
The tune is said to have been part of the Fete de l’Ane (The Donkey’s Festival), which celebrated the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt and was a regular Christmas observance in Beauvais and Sens, France in the 13th Century. During the mass, it was common for a donkey to be led or ridden into the church.
The words and tune were designed to give thanks for the ass on which Mary rode, and began: Orientis partibus Adventavit asinus (‘From the East the ass has come’). Each verse was sung, and finished with the chorus "Hail, Sir donkey, hail’ "It was a solemn affair, but the tune became very popular in 17th and 18th century Germany.
Orientis partibus adventavit asinus, pulcher et fortissimus, Sarcinis aptissimus.
Hez, Sir Asnes, hez!
Saltu vincit hinnulos damas et capreolos super dromedarios velox madianeos
Hic in collibus Sychen iam nutritus sub Ruben transiit per Jordanem saliit in Bethlehem
Dum trahit vehicula multa cum sarcinula illius mandibula dura terit pabula
Cum aristis, hordeum comedit et carduum triticum ex palea segregat in area
Amen dicas, asine Iam satur ex gramine amen, amen itera aspernare vetera
An English Translation:
From the East the donkey came, Stout and strong as twenty men; Ears like wings and eyes like flame, Striding into Bethlehem. Heh! Sir Ass, oh heh!
Faster than the deer he leapt, With his burden on his back; Though all other creatures slept, Still the ass kept on his track. Heh! Sir Ass, oh heh!
Still he draws his heavy load, Fed on barley and rough hay; Pulling on along the road -- Donkey, pull our sins away! Heh! Sir Ass, oh heh!
Wrap him now in cloth of gold; All rejoice who see him pass; Mirth inhabit young and old On this feast day of the ass. Heh! Sir Ass, oh heh!
The song emigrated to England in the 12th century, where it began to take on a new character. It is for this reason that some sources will give the origin of this song as England.
Orientis Partibus was harmonized in 4/4 time for Church Hymn Tunes, ancient & modern (1853) by Richard Redhead (1820-1901) and given triple time by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) in English Hymnal (1906).
It is also known as "The Song of the Ass," The Donkey Carol," "The Animal Carol" and "The Gift of the Animals."
***
The Feast of the Ass (Latin: Festum Asinorum or asinaria festa, French: Fête de l'âne) was a medieval, Christian feast observed on January 14th, celebrating the Flight into Egypt. It was celebrated primarily in France, as a by-product of the Feast of Fools celebrating the donkey-related stories in the Bible, in particular the donkey bearing the Holy Family into Egypt after Jesus's birth.
This feast may represent a Christian adaptation of the pagan feast, Cervulus, integrating it with the donkey in the nativity story.
In connection with the Biblical stories, the celebration was first celebrated in the 11th century, inspired by the pseudo-Augustinian "Sermo contra Judaeos" c. 6th century.
In the second half of the 15th century, the feast disappeared gradually, along with the Feast of Fools, which was stamped out around the same time. It was not considered as objectionable as the Feast of Fools.
A girl with child on a donkey would be led through town to the church, where the donkey would stand beside the altar during the sermon, and the congregation would "hee-haw" their responses to the priest.
***
Latin (lingua Latīna) is an ancient Indo-European language that was spoken in Ancient Rome. It was also the de facto international language of science and scholarship in mid and western Europe until the 17th century. Through Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe. It later evolved into the languages spoken in France, Italy, Romania, and the Iberian peninsula, and through them to the Americas and Africa. There are two distinctions of Latin: Classical Latin, the form used in poetry and formal prose, and Vulgar Latin, the name given to a common set of Latin based dialects, until they diverged into the various Romance languages. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the rise of the Catholic Church, Latin became the ecclesiastical language of the Catholic Church and the lingua franca of educated classes in the West.
After 2,300 years, Latin began a slow decline around the 16th century. Vulgar Latin, however, was preserved in several regional dialects, which by the 800s had become the ancestors of today's Romance languages. Latin lives on in the form of Ecclesiastical Latin spoken in the Catholic Church. Some Latin vocabulary is still used in science, academia, and law. Classical Latin, the literary language of the late Republic and early Empire, is still taught in many primary, grammar, and secondary schools, often combined with Greek in the study of Classics, though its role has diminished since the early 20th century. The Latin alphabet, together with its modern variants such as the English, Spanish and French alphabets, is the most widely used alphabet in the world.
***
Lyric may refer to:
Lyric poetry is a form of poetry that expresses a subjective, personal point of view
Lyric, from the Greek language, a song sung with a lyre
Lyrics, the composition in verse which is sung to a melody to constitute a song
Lyric is a classification of the human voice in European classical music. The adjective describes a specific vocal weight and a range at the upper end of the given voice part, e.g. lyric soprano.
***
In medieval music, conductus (plural: conducti) is a type of sacred, but non-liturgical vocal composition for one or more voices. The word derives from Latin conducere (to escort), and the conductus was most likely sung while the lectionary was carried from its place of safekeeping to the place from which it was to be read. The conductus was one of the principal types of vocal composition of the ars antiqua period of medieval music history.
The form most likely originated in the south of France around 1150, and reached its peak development during the activity of the Notre Dame School in the early 13th century. Most of the conductus compositions of the large mid-13th century manuscript collection from Notre Dame are for two or three voices. Conductus are also unique in the Notre Dame repertory in admitting secular melodies as source material, though sacred melodies were also commonly used. Common subjects for the songs were lives of the saints, feasts of the Lord, the Nativity, as well as more current subjects such as exemplary behavior of contemporary witnesses to the faith, such as Thomas à Becket. A significant and interesting repertory of conductus from late in the period consists of songs which criticize abuses by the clergy, including some which are quite outraged. While it might be difficult to imagine them being sung in church, it is possible that the repertory may have had an existence beyond its documented liturgical use.
Almost all composers of conductus are anonymous. Some of the poems, all of which are in Latin, are attributed to poets such as Philip the Chancellor and John of Howden.
G Major (Ionian) - Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do
G Mixolydian - Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Te Do ("Blues Major")
G Dorian - Do Re Me Fa Sol La Te Do ("Blues Minor")
Hermann of Reichenau (also called Hermannus Contractus, Hermannus Augiensis, Herman the Cripple, Herman the Lame) (July 18, 1013 - September 24, 1054) was an 11th-century scholar, composer, music theorist, mathematician, and astronomer. Hermannus was a son of the duke of Altshausen, Germany.
***
Germany is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The territory of Germany covers 357,021 km² and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate.
A region named Germania inhabited by several Germanic peoples has been known and documented before 100 AD. Since the 900's, German territories have formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire that lasted until 1806.
***
Herman was crippled by a paralytic disease from early childhood. He spent most of his life in the abbey of Reichenau, an island on Lake Constance. Hermannus contributed to all four arts of the quadrivium. He was renowned as a musical composer (among his surviving works are officia for St. Afra and St. Wolfgang). He also wrote a treatise on the science of music, several works on geometry and arithmetics and astronomical treatises (including instructions for the construction of an astrolabe, at the time a very novel device in Christian Europe). As a historian, he wrote a detailed chronicle from the birth of Christ to his own present day, for the first time compiling the events of the 1st millennium AD scattered in various chronicles in a single work, ordering them after the reckoning of the Christian era. His disciple Berthold of Reichenau was its continuator.
He was beatified (cultus confirmed) in 1863.
***
Marian antiphons are a group of sacred devotional songs in the Gregorian chant repertory of the Roman Catholic Church sung in honor of the Virgin Mary. Marian antiphons are not true antiphons, in that they are not associated and chanted with a Psalm verse.
Although there are a number of Marian antiphons, some of great antiquity, the term is often used to refer to four elaborate chants in particular:
Alma Redemptoris Mater Ave Regina caelorum Regina caeli Salve Regina
These four chants have been sung according to different schedules in different monastic traditions over the years, but in current usage the liturgical year is divided into four periods, with each period associated with one of the four Marian antiphons, which is sung at the end of Compline or Vespers during that period. For example, Alma Redemptoris Mater is sung at from the first Sunday in Advent until Candlemas.
The four Marian antiphons, sometimes with alterations, were often set to polyphonic arrangements by Renaissance composers.
***
Alma Redemptoris Mater or, in English, "Loving Mother of our Savior," is one of four liturgical Marian antiphons (the other three being: Ave Regina caelorum, Salve Regina, and Regina coeli) sung at the end of the office of Compline. Hermannus Contractus (Herman the Cripple) (1013 - 1054) is said to have authored the anthem based on the writings of Ss. Fulgentius, Epiphanius, and Irenaeus of Lyon. It is mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Formerly it was recited at compline only from the first Sunday in Advent until the Feast of the Purification (February 2).
Alma Redemptoris Mater, quae pervia caeli Porta manes, et stella maris, succurre cadenti, Surgere qui curat, populo: tu quae genuisti, Natura mirante, tuum sanctum Genitorem Virgo prius ac posterius, Gabrielis ab ore Sumens illud Ave, peccatorum miserere. Optional: from the first Sunday of Advent till christmas Eve V. Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae R. Et concepit de Spiritu Sancto. Oremus Gratiam tuam quæsumus, Domine, mentibus nostris infunde; ut qui, angelo nuntiante, Christi Filii tui Incarnationem cognovimus, per passionem ejus et crucem, ad resurrectionis gloriam perducamur. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Optional: from Christmas Eve to the Presentation V. Post Partum Virgo inviolata permansisti. R. Dei Genitrix, intercede pro nobis. Oremus Deus, qui salutis aeternae beatae Mariae virginitate foecunda humano generi praemia praestitisti: tribue, quaesumus, ut ipsam pro nobis intercedere sentiamus, per quam meruimus, Auctorem vitae suscipere Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum. Amen.
Loving Mother of our Savior, hear thou thy people's cry Star of the deep and Portal of the sky! Mother of Him who thee made from nothing made. Sinking we strive and call to thee for aid: Oh, by what joy which Gabriel brought to thee, Thou Virgin first and last, let us thy mercy see. Optional: from the first Sunday of Advent till Christmas eve V. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary R. And she conceived by the Holy Ghost. Let us pray. Pour forth we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the Incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may, by His passion and cross, be brought to the glory of his Resurrection; through the same Christ, our Lord. Amen. Optional: from Christmas Eve to the Presentation V. After childbirth, O Virgin, thou didst remain inviolate. R. O Mother of God, plead for us. Let us pray. O God, Who by the fruitful virginity of blessed Mary, hast given to mankind the rewards of eternal salvation: grant, we beseech You, that we may experience her intercession for us, by whom we deserved to receive the Author of life, our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son. Amen.
***
[Anonymous Italian (b. c. 1170) - Madonna and Child (c. 1200, in Byzantine style)]
The Virgin Mary is a traditional title used by most Christians and most specifically used by liturgical Christians such as Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics, and some others to describe Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ.
Since the first century, devotion to the Virgin Mary has been a major element of the spiritual life of a number of Christians. From the Council of Ephesus in 431 to Vatican II and Pope John Paul II's Redemptoris Mater encyclical, the Virgin Mary has become to be seen, not only as the Mother of God but also as the Mother of the Church, a Mediatrix who intercedes to Jesus Christ and even a proposed Co-Redemptrix.
The key role of the Virgin Mary in the beliefs of many Christians, her veneration, and the growth of Mariology have not only come about by the Marian writings of the saints or official statements but have often been driven from the ground up, from the masses of believers, and at times via reported Marian apparitions, miracles and healings.
There is a long-standing and widespread Christian tradition of giving special honour and devotion to the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus.
[Early image of the Virgin and Child from the Catacombs of Rome, 4th century]
The Council of Ephesus in 431 formally sanctioned devotion to the Virgin as Theotokos, Mother of God, (more accurately translated as God bearer) allowing the creation of icons bearing the images of the Virgin and Child. Devotion to Mary was, however, already widespread by this point. The early Church Fathers saw Mary as the "new Eve" who said "yes" to God as Eve had said no. The non-canonical Gospel of James, written around 150, is an example of early devotion to Mary, advocating her perpetual virginity. Mary, as the first Christian Saint and Mother of Jesus, was deemed to be a compassionate mediator between suffering mankind and her son, Jesus, who was seen as King and Judge. Biblical support for this position was found in the story of the Marriage at Cana whereat Mary entreated Jesus to turn water into wine (Gospel of John, Chapter 2). Elizabeth's praise of Mary "blessed art thou among women" and "who am I that the mother of my Lord would visit me?" in Luke 2 are also cited, among other passages of Scripture.
Early representations show Mary as the "Throne of Heaven" with Mary and the Child Jesus both crowned as Royalty. She was further identified with the Bride in the Old Testament Song of Solomon, by such noted theologians as St. Bernard of Clairvaux. She became the prototype for the Church itself. During the Middle Ages, and especially in France, the great Cathedrals were thus named for Mary. The Marian Rosary was popularized by the followers of St. Dominic.
Devotion to the Virgin Mary as the "new Eve" lent much to the status of women during the Middle Ages. Women who had been looked down upon as daughters of Eve (first woman), came to be looked upon as objects of veneration and inspiration. The veneration of Mary both as woman and prototype of the Church was greatly responsible for transforming the Germanic Warrior code into the Code of Chivalry. This reinterpretation of women flowered in the Courtly Love poetry of Medieval and Renaissance France. Mary, as the original "vessel of Christ" may have also influenced the legends of the Holy Grail.
The earliest known Marian prayer is the Sub tuum praesidium, or Beneath Thy Protection, dating from late 2nd century. A papyrus dated to c. 250 containing the prayer in Greek was discovered in Egypt in 1917, and is the earliest known reference to the title Theotokos, confirmed by the Council of Ephesus in 431:
Beneath your compassion, We take refuge, O Mother of God: do not despise our petitions in time of trouble: but rescue us from dangers, only pure, only blessed one.
In the 1000's indications of a regular devotion can be noted in the pious meditations on the Ave Maria and the Salve Regina, usually attributed either to St. Anselm of Lucca (d. 1080) or St. Bernard.
The Navajo people (or Diné) of the Southwestern United States are the second largest Native American tribe in North America, with 298,197 people claiming to be full or partial Navajo in the 2000 U.S. census.
The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the Four Corners area of the United States. The traditional Navajo language is still largely spoken throughout the region, although most Navajo also speak English fluently as well. The Navajo people call themselves Diné, which is translated "The People" in English.
The Navajo speak dialects of the language family referred to as Athabaskan. In addition to Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and
Arizona, Athabaskan speakers are also found living in Alaska, through west-central Canada and in a few areas on the Pacific coast. Linguistic and cultural similarities indicate the Navajo and other Southern Athabaskan speakers, known today as Apache, were once a single ethnic group that probably came from the Great Slave Lake area having crossed the Bering land bridge thousands of years previously. In present-day Canada, an aboriginal people known as Diné still live in the far north, centered around Great Slave Lake but also with communities in the far north of adjacent provinces. Despite the thousand years that has elapsed, these people reportedly can still understand the language of their long-lost cousins, the Navajo.
Archaeological and historical evidence suggests that the Navajo ancestors (linguistically called Apachean) entered the Southwest after 1000 AD, with substantial population increases occurring in the 13th century, raising sheep in the 1600's.
As with the Southeast Native American experience of the "Trail of Tears," the Navajo had their "Long Walk" (1864) to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, after Kit Carson (1809-1868) burned their homes, before agreeing to reservation life (1868).
Navajo - Ribbon Dance
Ribbon Dance has tense singing, with hand rattle and a ceremonial basket turned upside down, beaten like a log drum. Vocables are indefinite-but-meaningful. The meter alternates between 2's and 3's, and pitch consists of two tritonic collections (A C E and A C Eb) -- or, alternately, one tetratonic (A C Eb E), or one tritonic with unstable 5th degree (Eb orE), depending on the point of view (or hearing).
Part of the Fire Dance held on the last night of the nine-day Mountain Way Ceremony, this cure for sore throats (including those caused by eating bear or porcupine) has been adapted for the public. Yeibichai Song
Yeibichai Song is part of the Nightway Ceremony, with a complex ABCDD'EFGD'EFB'CB''C structure -- a very large altered ternary (ABA' -- where A = anything above in the ABC group and B = everything else)! Pulsations on individual notes are characteristic.
[Guido d'Arrezzo and student] Guido d'Arezzo - Micrologus (c. 1026)
Epistola de Ignoto Cantu
Ut Queant Laxis (Hymn to St. John) (c. 1030)
Guido of Arezzo or Guido Aretinus or Guido da Arezzo or Guido Monaco or Guido D'Arezzo (991/992–after 1033) was a music theorist of the Medieval era. He is regarded as the inventor of modern musical notation (staff notation) that replaced neumatic notation; his text, the Micrologus, was the second-most-widely distributed treatise on music in the middle ages (after the writings of Boethius).
Guido was a monk of the Benedictine order from the Italian city-state of Arezzo. Recent research has dated his Micrologus to 1025 or 1026; since Guido stated in a letter that he was thirty-four when he wrote it, his birthdate is presumed to be around 991 or 992.
His early career was spent at the monastery of Pomposa,
on the Adriatic coast near
Ferrara. While there, he noted the difficulty that singers had in remembering Gregorian chants. He came up with a method for teaching the singers to learn chants in a short time, and quickly became famous throughout north Italy. However, he attracted the hostility of the other monks at the abbey, prompting him to move to Arezzo, a town which had no abbey, but which did have a large group of singers needing training.
While at Arezzo, he developed new technologies for teaching, such as staff notation and solfeggio (the progenitor of the "do-re-mi" scale, whose syllables are taken from the initial syllables of each of the first six musical phrases of the first stanza of the hymn, Ut queant laxis). This may have been based on his earlier work at Pomposa, but the antiphoner that he wrote there is lost.
Guido is also credited (inaccurately) with the invention of the Guidonian hand, a widely used mnemonic system where note names are mapped to parts of the human hand.
The Micrologus, written at the cathedral at Arezzo, contains Guido's teaching method as it had developed by that time. Soon it had attracted the attention of Pope John XIX, who invited Guido to Rome. Most likely he went there in 1028, but he soon returned to Arezzo, due to his poor health. Nothing is known of him after this time, except that his lost antiphoner was probably completed in 1030.
Guido of Arezzo is also the namesake of GUIDO Music Notation, a format for computerized representation of musical scores.
***
In Medieval music, the Guidonian hand was a mnemonic device used to assist singers in learning to sight sing. Some form of the device may have been used by Guido of Arezzo, a medieval music theorist who wrote a number of treatises, including one instructing singers in sightreading. The hand occurs in some manuscripts before Guido's time as a tool to find the semitone, it does have the depicted form until the 12th century. Sigebertus Gemblacensis (c1105–10) did describe Guido using the joints of the hand to aid in teaching his hexachord. The Guidonian hand is closely linked with Guido's new ideas about how to learn music, including the use of hexachords, and the first known use of solfege.
The idea of the Guidonian hand is that each portion of the hand represents a specific note within the hexachord system, which spans nearly three octaves from "Γ ut" (that is, "Gamma ut") (the contraction of which is "gamut", which can refer to the entire span) to "E la" (in other words, from the G at the bottom of the modern bass clef to the E at the top of the treble clef). In teaching, an instructor would indicate a series of notes by pointing to them on their hand, and the students would sing them. This is similar to the system of hand signals sometimes used in conjunction with solfege.
There have been a number of variations in the position of the notes on the hand, and no one variation is definitive but, as in the example above, the notes of the gamut were mentally superimposed onto the joints and tips of the fingers of the left hand. Thus "gamma ut" (two Gs below middle C) was the tip of the thumb, A ("A re") was the inside of the thumb knuckle, B ("B mi") was the joint at the base of the thumb, C ("C fa ut") was the joint at the base of the index finger, and so on, spiraling around the hand counterclockwise past middle C ("C sol fa ut") until the D a ninth above middle C ("D la sol") (the middle joint of the middle finger) and the E above that ("E la") (the back of that joint, the only note on the back of the hand) were reached. This device allowed people to visualize where the half steps of the gamut were, and to visualize the interlocking positions of the hexachords (the names of which — ut re mi fa sol la — were taken from the hymn Ut queant laxis). The Guidonian hand was reproduced in numerous medieval treatises.
***
In music, solfège (palso called solfeggio, sol-fa, or solfa) is a pedagogical solmizatin (sung-syllable) technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solfège syllable (or "sol-fa syllable"). The seven syllables normally used for this practice in English-speaking countries are: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, and ti (with a chromatic scale of ascending di, ri, fi, si, li and descending te, le, se, me, ra).
***
The forms of solmization used throughout the world:
In the West, solfège.
In India, the origin of solmization was to be found in Vedic texts like the Upanishads, which discuss a musical system of seven notes, realized ultimately in what is known as sargam. In Indian classical music, the notes in order are: sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, and ni.
Byzantine music also uses syllables derived from a hymn to name notes: starting with A, the notes are pa, vu', ga, di, ke, zo, ni.
In Japan, Iroha, an ancient poem, is sometimes used as solfège (i, chi, yo, ra, ya, a, we).
In Scotland, Canntaireachd was used as a means of communicating bagpipe music vocally.
Other systems invented for teaching sight-singing are:
Tonic sol-fa
Kodály method with Curwen hand signs
Shape note
***
Traditionally, solfège is taught in a series of exercises of gradually increasing difficulty, each of which is also known as a "solfège". By extension, the word "solfège" may be used of an instrumental étude.
French "solfège" and Italian "solfeggio" ultimately derive from the names of two of the syllables used: so[l] and fa. The English equivalent of this expression, "sol-fa", is also used, especially as a verb("to sol-fa" a passage is to sing it in solfège).
The word "solmization" derives from the Medieval Latin "solmisatiō", ultimately from the names of the syllables sol and mi. "Solmization" is often used synonymously with "solfège", but is technically a more generic term[1]; i.e., solfège is one type of solmization (albeit a nearly universal one in Europe and the Americas).
The use of a seven-note diatonic musical scale is ancient, though originally it was played in descending order.
The scale created by Guido of Arezzo went as follows: ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si. The notes were taken from the first verse of a Latin hymn below (where the sounds fell on the scale), and later "ut" and "sol" were changed to flow with the other notes, while "si" was changed to "ti" to avoid confusion with "so[l]."
Ut queant laxis resonāre fibris Mira gestorum famuli tuorum, Solve polluti labii reatum, Sancte Iohannes.
The text of the hymn (Hymn of St. John) was written by Paulus Diaconus (Paul the Deacon -- c. 720 – 13 April probably 799), also known as Warnefred and Cassinensis, i.e. "of Monte Cassino," a Benedictine monk and historian of the Lombards) in the 8th century. It translates as:
So that these your servants can, with all their voice, to sing your wonderful feats, clean the blemish of our spotted lips. O Saint John!
French scholars Laborde and Villoteau suggest that Guido of Arezzo was himself influenced by Muslim musical notation.[
In Romance countries, these seven syllables have come to be used to name the notes of the scale, instead of the letters C, D, E, F, G, A and B. (For example, they would say, "Beethoven's ninth symphony is in Re minor".) In Germanic countries, the letters are used for this purpose, and the solfège syllables are encountered only for their use in sight-singing and ear training. (They would say, "Beethoven's ninth symphony is in D minor".)
In Anglo-Saxon countries, "sol" is often changed to "so", and "si" was changed to "ti" by Sarah Glover in the nineteenth century so that every syllable might begin with a different letter. "So" and "ti" are used in tonic sol-fa and in the song Richard Rodgers song "Do-Re-Mi."
There are two main types of solfège:
Fixed do, in which each syllable corresponds to a note-name. This is analogous to the Romance system naming pitches after the solfège syllables, and is used in Romance and Slavic countries, among others.
Movable do, or solfa, in which each syllable corresponds to a scale degree. This is analogous to the Guidonian practice of giving each degree of the hexachord a solfège name, and is mostly used in Germanic countries.
Fixed do solfège is employed in Iran, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Latin American countries, among others. In this system, each solfège syllable corresponds exactly to the name of a note, so that, e.g., any written "C" is sung as "Do," etc. Since these syllables are, in these countries, the names of the notes for which they are used, this system would be analogous to an English-speaker singing a tune on "A, B, C" etc.
Movable do is frequently employed in Australia, Ireland, the UK, the USA and English-speaking Canada (although many American conservatories use French-style fixed do). Originally it was used throughout continental Europe as well, but in the mid-nineteenth century was phased out by fixed do.
In this system, each solfège syllable corresponds not to a pitch, but to a degree of the scale: The first scale degree of a (major) scale is always sung as do, the second scale degree as re, etc. (For minor keys, see below.) In movable do, a given tune is therefore always sol-faed on the same syllables, no matter what key it is in.
The names used for movable do differ slightly from those used for fixed do, because chromatically altered syllables are usually included, and the English names of the syllables are usually used:
If, at a certain point, the key of a piece modulates, then it is necessary to change the solfège names at that point as well.
One particularly important variant of movable do, but differing in some respects from the system here described, was invented in the nineteenth century by John Curwen, and is known as tonic sol-fa.
***
Do-Re-Mi is a song featured in the musical The Sound of Music. Within the story, Maria uses the song to teach the notes of the major musical scale to the Von Trapp children, by identifying six of the solfège syllables, Do Re Mi Fa So and Ti with the English words "doe", "ray", "me", "far", "sew" and "tea"; La is called "a note to follow So." Each syllable of the diatonic scale appears as solfège in its lyrics, sung on the pitch it names.
Meredith Willson's The Music Man used solfège in its music, particularly in the piano lesson scene and Shipoopi.
The Curwen hand signals are used in the climactic scene of the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind when François Truffaut's character communicates with the alien being.
The American jazz clarinettist Irving Fazola (1912-1949) took his last name from "fa", "so," and "la". Born Irving Prestopnik, he was given the nickname "Fazola" as a child because of his musical abilities.
The sung libretto to Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach is entirely in numbers and fixed do solfege syllables.
Mark Alburger (b. 1957, Upper Darby, PA) is an award-winning, eclectic ASCAP composer of postminimal, postpopular, and postcomedic sensibilities. He is Music Director of San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra and San Francisco Cabaret Opera, Editor-Publisher of 21st-Century Music and New Music, and Professor Emeritus in Music Theory and Literature at Diablo Valley College. His principal teachers were Gerald Levinson, Joan Panetti, and James Freeman at Swarthmore College (B.A.); Jules Langert at Dominican University (M.A.); Christopher Yavelow at Claremont University (Ph.D.); and Terry Riley. Dr. Alburger has composed 406 major works over the past 48 years, including chamber music, concertos, oratorios, operas, song cycles, and symphonies. His complete catalogue is being issued on discs from New Music. Alburger's multiple blogs include: markalburger.blogspot.com,
markalburger2022.blogspot.com,
markalburgerworks.blogspot.com, markalburgerevents.blogspot.com, markalburgermusichistory.blogspot.
com, 21st-centurymusic.blogspot.com
