This feature first was published in The Tablet on February 28th 2004
A woman of Byzantium
The legacy of one of the earliest known woman composers is honoured at a festival of Byzantine art in London.
The Troparion of Kassiani is one of the great hymns of the Eastern Church. The Troparion (a poetic hymn written for a particular feast day) is a meditation in Mary Magdalen’s imagined words, as she pours myrrh over Christ’s head before his Passion. In its unashamed sensuality it sheds light not only on Mary Magdalen’s emotions, but also on those of its author. Kassiani, a 9th century abbess, is the earliest woman composer whose work is still sung.
She came from a wealthy family in Constantinople. According to legend she was presented to the Emperor Theophilos, who was seeking a bride. As he was about to hand Kassiani a golden apple, signifying that she was his choice, he remarked that women were the source of sin, meaning Eve. Kassiani retorted that the Virgin Mary was surely a source of salvation and reproached the Emperor for not knowing better. Theophilos withdrew the golden apple and instead chose another bride. Whatever the truth of the legend, Kassiani retired to a convent and devoted her life to composing chants and epigrams.
For the Greek-Canadian composer Christos Hatzis the Troparion of Kassiani, which is sung late in the evening on Tuesday of Holy Week, is one of the highlights of the church year. When he was a boy growing up in Greece, he sang drones (a prolonged single note underlying Orthodox liturgical chant) in his church choir. For Hatzis the Troparion is quite different to other music in the Greek Orthodox liturgical tradition; it is a test not only of virtuosity but also of expressiveness and endurance. “It literally bursts at the seams with emotion and feminine energy. Kassiani’s Magdalen constantly bounces between the depths of despair and the heights of spiritual passion. Utter darkness and cosmic majesty are depicted often in a single sentence and there is a passionate pleading for mercy and an intense spiritual devotion that borders on the erotic.”
“Take my spring of tears
You who draw water from the clouds,
Bend to me, to the sighing of my heart,
You who bend the heavens
In your secret incarnation,
I will wash your immaculate feet with kisses
And wipe them dry with the locks of my hair.”
Hatzis had long hoped to bring his own creative interpretation to the text and he has now composed a contemporary version of The Troparion of Kassiani. Its world premiere (St Paul’s Cathedral 11th March) will be one of the highlights of this year’s Byzantine Festival in London. Although the music is anchored in Greek Orthodox idioms, Hatzis is eclectic in his reference to other musical traditions, at one point even asking his choir to improvise in the blues style. Far from being a stylistic smorgasbord, Hatzis insists, his musical eclecticism is intended to serve the emotional underpinnings of the text. The act of composition clearly touched Hatzis. “It brought me moments of pure spiritual delight and deep communion with our common source and ultimate destiny.” Intriguingly Hatzis’s version will be performed alongside John Tavener’s The Myrrh-Bearer, also inspired by Kassiani’s chant, which represents Mary Magdalen with a viola solo, rather than with her sung words.
The role of women is the central focus of this year’s London Byzantine Festival, which coincides with the 800th anniversary of the Sack of Constantinople by Christian Crusaders in April 1204. According to the festival’s artistic director, Guy Protheroe, the focus on women brings into relief the social history of Byzantium more effectively than a political focus on a particular dynasty would have done. The figure of Kassiani offered a compelling point of entry. Protheroe was struck by the parallels between her and Hildegard of Bingen, who lived three centuries later. “They were both leading spiritual thinkers. They wrote very personal, powerful, and sensual words in a way that perhaps a man would not have done.”
Byzantine music can claim a continuous tradition from the earliest days of the Christian Church, with even, according to Guy Protheroe, a relationship to Hebrew chant. It also has roots in Greek antiquity, where some evidence suggests women composers were often prostitutes. Because - in part - of this association, music was forbidden to young unmarried women in the early Christian period, even in the context of the liturgy. Although the prohibition was relaxed over time, evidence of Byzantine women liturgical composers is hard to find. Only Kassiani’s music and that of one other (the daughter of Ioannes Kladas - there is no record of her actual name) survives in manuscripts. Because there was a bias against the inclusion of hymns by woman authors on solemn liturgical occasions, they were sometimes reattributed to men, so that they could be performed.
For Judith Herrin, the Professor of Byzantine Studies at King’s College London, her discipline’s recent focus on women’s history has yielded a wealth of evidence about the society and culture of the time. Women exercised great – if indirect - power at the Imperial Court. They were frequently educated to a level, which would have been unusual in the West at the time. However the evidence of their achievements is often indirect. Kassiani for instance, exchanged letters with Saint Theodore of the Studios Monastery. While his letters are meticulously preserved, Kassiani’s are missing, presumably not thought important enough to be kept. Judith Herrin find the clearest hints of women’s authorship of chants in the outpouring of affection for the Mother of God, evidence she says of a feminine empathy with the Theotokos. However Judith Herrin is frustrated by the absence of Kassiani’s manuscripts, in contrast to those of Hildegard of Bingen. Both women wrote from a similar sensibility (although it is almost inconceivable that Hildegard could have known of Kassiani). But while there are rich manuscript sources for Hildegard’s work and thought, there are none for Kassiani.
The Byzantine Festival will run throughout March. Already Guy Protheroe is well pleased with the initial reaction. “We opened a door and discovered so much. There is a tendency to think of Byzantium in terms of ‘the dark ages’, because we were not part of it. But this civilisation continued classical culture and its ideals for a thousand years.”
The Legacy of Kassiani, St Paul’s Cathedral, Thursday 11th March 7.00 pm http://www.byzantinefestival.com
.
A woman of Byzantium
The legacy of one of the earliest known woman composers is honoured at a festival of Byzantine art in London.
The Troparion of Kassiani is one of the great hymns of the Eastern Church. The Troparion (a poetic hymn written for a particular feast day) is a meditation in Mary Magdalen’s imagined words, as she pours myrrh over Christ’s head before his Passion. In its unashamed sensuality it sheds light not only on Mary Magdalen’s emotions, but also on those of its author. Kassiani, a 9th century abbess, is the earliest woman composer whose work is still sung.
She came from a wealthy family in Constantinople. According to legend she was presented to the Emperor Theophilos, who was seeking a bride. As he was about to hand Kassiani a golden apple, signifying that she was his choice, he remarked that women were the source of sin, meaning Eve. Kassiani retorted that the Virgin Mary was surely a source of salvation and reproached the Emperor for not knowing better. Theophilos withdrew the golden apple and instead chose another bride. Whatever the truth of the legend, Kassiani retired to a convent and devoted her life to composing chants and epigrams.
For the Greek-Canadian composer Christos Hatzis the Troparion of Kassiani, which is sung late in the evening on Tuesday of Holy Week, is one of the highlights of the church year. When he was a boy growing up in Greece, he sang drones (a prolonged single note underlying Orthodox liturgical chant) in his church choir. For Hatzis the Troparion is quite different to other music in the Greek Orthodox liturgical tradition; it is a test not only of virtuosity but also of expressiveness and endurance. “It literally bursts at the seams with emotion and feminine energy. Kassiani’s Magdalen constantly bounces between the depths of despair and the heights of spiritual passion. Utter darkness and cosmic majesty are depicted often in a single sentence and there is a passionate pleading for mercy and an intense spiritual devotion that borders on the erotic.”
“Take my spring of tears
You who draw water from the clouds,
Bend to me, to the sighing of my heart,
You who bend the heavens
In your secret incarnation,
I will wash your immaculate feet with kisses
And wipe them dry with the locks of my hair.”
Hatzis had long hoped to bring his own creative interpretation to the text and he has now composed a contemporary version of The Troparion of Kassiani. Its world premiere (St Paul’s Cathedral 11th March) will be one of the highlights of this year’s Byzantine Festival in London. Although the music is anchored in Greek Orthodox idioms, Hatzis is eclectic in his reference to other musical traditions, at one point even asking his choir to improvise in the blues style. Far from being a stylistic smorgasbord, Hatzis insists, his musical eclecticism is intended to serve the emotional underpinnings of the text. The act of composition clearly touched Hatzis. “It brought me moments of pure spiritual delight and deep communion with our common source and ultimate destiny.” Intriguingly Hatzis’s version will be performed alongside John Tavener’s The Myrrh-Bearer, also inspired by Kassiani’s chant, which represents Mary Magdalen with a viola solo, rather than with her sung words.
The role of women is the central focus of this year’s London Byzantine Festival, which coincides with the 800th anniversary of the Sack of Constantinople by Christian Crusaders in April 1204. According to the festival’s artistic director, Guy Protheroe, the focus on women brings into relief the social history of Byzantium more effectively than a political focus on a particular dynasty would have done. The figure of Kassiani offered a compelling point of entry. Protheroe was struck by the parallels between her and Hildegard of Bingen, who lived three centuries later. “They were both leading spiritual thinkers. They wrote very personal, powerful, and sensual words in a way that perhaps a man would not have done.”
Byzantine music can claim a continuous tradition from the earliest days of the Christian Church, with even, according to Guy Protheroe, a relationship to Hebrew chant. It also has roots in Greek antiquity, where some evidence suggests women composers were often prostitutes. Because - in part - of this association, music was forbidden to young unmarried women in the early Christian period, even in the context of the liturgy. Although the prohibition was relaxed over time, evidence of Byzantine women liturgical composers is hard to find. Only Kassiani’s music and that of one other (the daughter of Ioannes Kladas - there is no record of her actual name) survives in manuscripts. Because there was a bias against the inclusion of hymns by woman authors on solemn liturgical occasions, they were sometimes reattributed to men, so that they could be performed.
For Judith Herrin, the Professor of Byzantine Studies at King’s College London, her discipline’s recent focus on women’s history has yielded a wealth of evidence about the society and culture of the time. Women exercised great – if indirect - power at the Imperial Court. They were frequently educated to a level, which would have been unusual in the West at the time. However the evidence of their achievements is often indirect. Kassiani for instance, exchanged letters with Saint Theodore of the Studios Monastery. While his letters are meticulously preserved, Kassiani’s are missing, presumably not thought important enough to be kept. Judith Herrin find the clearest hints of women’s authorship of chants in the outpouring of affection for the Mother of God, evidence she says of a feminine empathy with the Theotokos. However Judith Herrin is frustrated by the absence of Kassiani’s manuscripts, in contrast to those of Hildegard of Bingen. Both women wrote from a similar sensibility (although it is almost inconceivable that Hildegard could have known of Kassiani). But while there are rich manuscript sources for Hildegard’s work and thought, there are none for Kassiani.
The Byzantine Festival will run throughout March. Already Guy Protheroe is well pleased with the initial reaction. “We opened a door and discovered so much. There is a tendency to think of Byzantium in terms of ‘the dark ages’, because we were not part of it. But this civilisation continued classical culture and its ideals for a thousand years.”
The Legacy of Kassiani, St Paul’s Cathedral, Thursday 11th March 7.00 pm http://www.byzantinefestival.com
.
posted by Brendan McCarthy at 11:52 AM
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