Music Traditions in Dialogue:
Dhrupad, Hildegard von Bingen,
and Byzantine Kalophonia

Musicians

Johannes Schmelzer-Ziringer, Tanpura & Ison

Martin Profittlich, Ison

Oliver Gerlach, Western & Byzantine Chant

>> concerts

Programme: Three Dialogues in Music

The concert is based on a rather experimental idea: Two singers who studied three traditions, have chosen one model for each tradition. While they are listening to each other, their perception is following the given modal framework of the represented tradition. Through this exchange they will meet in an intimate conversation, and inspire each other. Something new happens which probably only exist for this very moment.

Three songs come into this dialogue:

dialogue 1: The cherubim chant (cheruvimskij pēsn) in the chromatic ēchos devteros (tvorij glas) of the Bulgarian Orthodox tradition joins a dialogue with raga ahir bhairav
dialogue 2: An improvisation of alap (slow introduction) in raga yaman joins a dialogue with a teretismos in ēchos varys (the “heavy mode”), taken from a heirmologion kalophonikon and intoned according to a very traditional school of 18th century Istanbul
dialogue 3: Hildegard von Bingen's antiphon «O virtus sapientiae» in the church mode autentus deuterus joins a dialogue with raga bhairav

Cherouvikon

First Dialogue: ēchos devteros (Tvorij Glas, ἦχος δεύτερος) — Raga Ahir Bhairav

Οἱ τὰ χερουβὶμ μυστικῶς εἰκονίζοντες καὶ τῇ ζωοποιῷ Τριάδι τὸν τρισάγιον ὕμνον προσάδοντες πᾶσαν τὴν βιοτικὴν ἀποθώμεθα μέριμναν, ὡς τὸν βασιλέα τῶν ὅλων ὑποδεξόμενοι,	Let us who mystically represent the Cherubim and sing the thrice-holy hymn to the life-giving trinity, lay aside all worldly cares, that we may receive the King of all
Ταῖς ἀγγελικαῖς ἀοράτως δορυφορούμενον τάξεσιν. Ἀλληλούϊα	invisibly escorted by angelic hosts. Alleluia
	Iže Heruvimyj tajnō ōbrazujušte i životvorjaštej troicē trisvjatuju pēsn pripēvajušte. Vsjakoe nyjnē žitejskoe ōtložim popečenie. Jakō da Carja vsēh podimem, Angelskimi nevidimō dorynosimačinmi. Alliluïa.

Nektarios Ieromonachos (ed.): 'Μουσικός θησαυρός τῆς λειτουργίας', Athos 1930; vol. 1, p. 145.

Manasij P. Todorov (ed.): 'Psaltikijna Liturgija', Sofia 2001; p. 71.

2 & 3: Cherouvikon in the Greek and in the Bulgarian Songbook

α: dialogue between raga ahir bhairav and glas 2 (ἦχος δεύτερος)

β: teretismos of the cherouvikon (singing with abstract syllables)

>> Das byzantinische Cherouvikon (Cherubimhymnus)

Model of Raga Yaman

Second Dialogue: Raga Yaman (Alap) — Teretismos in the „heavy ēchos“ (ἦχος βαρύς)

Kesara ghola ke ranga bano hai
aba tuma lala kahan jaiyo bhaag

abira gulala ki dhooma machi hai
hori khelata braja raja

γ: ālāp in raga yaman in dialogue with a teretismos in ēchos varys (glas 7)

>> Über die Bedeutung des Singens über abstrakte Silben

Hildegard von Bingen — Antiphon <O virtus sapientiae>

Third Dialogue: Autentus deuterus — Raga Bhairav

O virtus sapientie
que circuiens circuisti
comprehendendo omnia
in una via que habet vitam.
Tres alas habens
quarum una in altum volat
& altera de terra sudat
& tercia undique volat.
Laus tibi sit
te decet, o sapientia.

O virtue "sapientia" (of wisdom)!
Thou have turned turning
while thou are comprehending everything
in once which has life.
Thou have three wings:
One of them is directing to the high,
the second down to the earth,
and the third anywhere.
Praise to Thee
that is worth of Thee, alas sapientia!

1: Rupertsberger Riesencodex (um 1175/1190) - Wiesbaden, Hessische Landesbibliothek, Hs. 2, fol. 466

δ: dialogue between raga bhairav and autentus deuterus

>> Hildegard von Bingen und die christliche Kirche im 12. Jahrhundert