Το χειρόγραφο Ραιδεστηνού
Part of : Δελτίο Κέντρου Μικρασιατικών Σπουδών ; Vol.13, 1999, pages 97-110
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Pages:
97-110
Parallel Title:
The Raidestenos manuscript
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Articles
Abstract:
This article deals with a Greek musical collection, so-called the Raidestenosmanucript, after its last occupant, George Raidestenos, a Greek cantor andmusic-teacher in late 19th century Constantinople, and is now held in theMusic Folklore Archives, Centre of Asia Minor Studies, Athens. The collectioncontains 123 Greek secular songs, so-called Phanariot, after the Phanariots,residents of the Phanar district, Constantinople (seat of the GreekOrthodox Patriarchate), who formed the Greek social elite in the 18thcenturyOttoman Empire. These songs were written in neo-Byzantine notation, andemploy Turkish modal and rhythmic principles (makam and usui respectively)with Greek text.As it is usual with the Phanariot collections at large, the Raidestenosmanuscript is untitled, undated, and anonymous. It consists of two parts,each one written by a different scribe: the first one (pp. 1-26, 20 songs) hasbeen identified by this author with Nikephoros Nautouniares, a Greekarchdeacon and music teacher who lived in the early 19th century, and is thecompiler of (at least) one more collection of the sort (1818) and otheranthologies of Greek church music. The second part (pp. 17-64), whilesharing quite a few items with the first, cannot be assigned to a particularauthor, since its scribe has commited serious (grammatical) mistakes thusleaving the impression that he must have been of origin other than Greek.The importance of the Raidestenos manuscript is twofold: i) it addsdecisively to our knowledge about Phanariot musical production of the time,by showing the popularity and stability of this repertoire, since all 123compbsitions are contained in other contemporary manuscripts with minoralterations (with regard to notation rather than melody), and ii) it enrichesthe extant number of Phanariot musical collections (10 complete items),most of which are held in Romania, which was governed by the Phanariotsas Turkish-appointed officials between 1709 and 1821.
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