The Past Is Always Present: The Revival of the Byzantine Musical Tradition at Mount AthosIn The Past Is Always Present, Tore Tvarnø Lind examines the musical revival of Greek Orthodox chant at the monastery of Vatopaidi within the monastic society of Mount Athos, Greece. In particular, Lind focuses on the musical activities at the monastery and the meaning of the past in the monks' efforts at improving their musical performance practice through an emphasis on tradition. Based on a decade of intense fieldwork and extensive interviews with members of Athos' monastic community, Lind covers a vast array of topics. From musical notation and the Greek oral tradition to CD covers and music production, the tension between tradition and modernity in the musical activity of the Athonite community raises a clear challenge to the quest to bring together Orthodox spirituality and quietude with musical production. The Past Is Always Present addresses all of these matters by focusing on the significance and meaning of the local chanting style. As Lind argues, Byzantine chant cannot be fully grasped in musicological terms alone, outside the context of prayer. Yet because chant is fundamentally a way of communicating with God, the sound generated must be exactly right, pushing issues of music notation, theory, and performance practice to the forefront. Byzantine chant, Lind ultimately argues, is a modern phenomenon as the monastic communities of Mount Athos negotiate with the realities of modern Orthodox identity in Greece. By reporting on the musical revival activities of this remarkable community through the topics of notation, musical theory, drone-singing, and spiritual silence, Lind looks at the ways in which Athonite heritage is shaped, touching upon the Byzantine chant's contemporary relationship with practice of pilgrimage and the phenomenon of religious tourism. Offering unique insights into the monastic culture at Mount Athos, The Past Is Always Present is for those especially interested in sacred music, past and present Greek culture, monastic life, religious tourism, and the fields of ethnomusicology and anthropology. |
Contents
1 | |
Ch02 Musical Blossom | 37 |
Ch03 Sacred Musical Transorthography | 75 |
Ch04 Producing Mount Athos | 121 |
Ch05 The Monks Have Prayer | 151 |
Ch06 Spiritual Silence Sacred Sound | 173 |
Ch07 Conclusion | 199 |
Glossary of Greek Terms | 211 |
215 | |
231 | |
About the Author | 241 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
aesthetics Angelidis argues Athonite Athonite chanting Athonite style authenticity Bohlman Byzantine chant Byzantine music Byzantine musical system Byzantine musical tradition Byzantine—music cantor century cheironomy Cherubic Hymn choir Christian Chrysanthos church contemporary context cultural defined dialogue Divine Liturgy drone ecclesiastical edited ethnographic ethnomusicological example Father Agapios Father Bartholomeos field Field notes fieldwork figure find first Gothoni Greece heritage hesychasm historical Holy Mountain hymn icons influence intonation formulas isokratema Iviron Konstantinou Lingas listening Liturgy manuscripts Martin Stokes means melody mode modern monastery of Vatopaidi monastery’s monastic monasticism monks Mount Athos music revival music theory musical notation musical practice musical signs musicology notational signs notion November ofthe okseia oral tradition Orthodox spiritual orthopraxis Ouranoupolis performance practice petasti pilgrims plagal mode prayer present protopsaltis psaltes recordings reform relation religious ritual sense significance silence sound specific style of chanting syllables teachers tion tourism transcription understanding Vatopaidian vocal voice Western words