page_title: John Koukouzelis
section_title: His contribution as a master of psaltic art
hierarchical_section_title: John Koukouzelis / His contribution as a master of psaltic art
caption_attribution_description: English: Demonstration at the Koukouzelian Wheel Trochos of a Papadike manuscript
context_page_description: John Koukouzelis or Jan Kukuzeli was a Byzantine medieval Orthodox Christian composer, singer and reformer of Orthodox Church music. He was recognized as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church after his death. His music is held in high esteem by Albanians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Macedonians, Romanians and Serbs.
context_section_description: Koukouzelis received his education at the Constantinople court vocal school and established himself as one of the leading authorities in his field during the time. A favourite of the Byzantine emperor and a principal choir chanter, he moved to Mount Athos and led a monastic way of life in the Great Lavra. Because of his singing abilities, he was called "Angel-voiced".
  Koukouzelis established a new melodious ("kalophonic") style of singing out of the sticherarion. Some years after the fall of Constantinople Manuel Chrysaphes characterised the sticheron kalophonikon and the anagrammatismos as new genres of psaltic art which were once created by John Koukouzelis. Despite his innovations, Manuel assured that John Koukouzelis never contradicted the traditional method of the old sticherarion, not even in his anagrammatismoi.
  ἀλλὰ μηδὲ τὸν δρόμον, ὦ οὗτος, τῆς μουσικῆς ἁπάσης τέχνης καὶ τὴν μεταχείρησιν ἁπλῆν τινα ωομίσῃς εἶναι καὶ μονοειδῆ, ὥστε τὸν ποιήσαντα στιχηρὸν καλοφωνικὸν μετὰ θέσεων ἁρμοδίων, μὴ μέντοι γε καὶ ὁδὸν τηρήσαντα στιχηροῦ, καλῶς ἡγεῖσθαι τοῦτον πεποιηκέναι καὶ τὸ ποιηθὲν ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ καλὸν ἁπλῶς εἶναι καὶ μώμου παντὸς ἀνεπίδεκτον· ἐπεὶ εἰ καὶ μεταχείρησιν στιχηροῦ τὸ ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ γινόμενον οὐκ ἕχει, τῷ ὄντι οὐκ ἔστιν ἀνεπίληπτον. μὴ τοίνυν νόμιζε ἁπλῆν εἶναι τὴν τῆς ψαλτικῆς μεταχείρησιν, ἀλλὰ ποικίλην τε καὶ πολυχιδῆ καὶ πολὺ τι διαφέρειν ἀλλήλων. [...] ἔνθεντοι κἄν τοῖς καλοφωνικοῖς στιχηροῖς οἱ τούτων ποιηταὶ τῶν κατὰ τὰ ἰδιόμελα μελῶν οὐκ ἀπολείπονται, ἀλλὰ κατ’ ἴχνος ἀκριβῶς ἀκολουθοῦσιν αὐτοῖς καὶ αὐτοῖς μέμνηνται. ὡς γοῦν ἐν μέλεσι διὰ μαρτυρίας καὶ τῶν ἐκεῖσε καιμένων μελῶν ἔνια παραλαμβάνουσον ἀπαραλλάκτως, καθάπερ δὴ καὶ ἐν τῷ στιχηραρίῳ ἔκκειντο, καὶ τὸν ἐκεῖσε πάντες δρόμον παρ’ ὅλον τὸ ποίημα τρέχουσιν ἀμετατρέπτει, καὶ τῷ πρωτέρῳ τε τῶν τοιητῶν ἀεὶ ὁ δεύτερος ἕπεται καὶ τοῦτο ὁ μετ’ αὐτόν, καὶ πάντες ἁπλῶς ἔχονται τῆς τέχνης ὁδοῦ. [...]
  Ὁ γὰρ χαριτώνυμος μαΐστωρ, ὁ Κουκουζέλης, ἐν τοῖς ἀναγραμματισμοῖς αὐτοῦ τῶν παλαιῶν οὐκ ἐξισταται στιχηρῶν, ἀλλὰ κατ’ ἴχνος τούτοις ακολουθαῖ, δυνάμενος ἄν πάντως καὶ αὐτός, ὡς οἱ νῦν, καὶ πολὺ μᾶλλον εἴπερ οὗτοι, μέλη μόνα ποιεῖν ἴδια, μηδέν τι κοινωνοῦντα τοῖς πρωτοτύποις αὐτῶν στιχηροῖς. ἀλλ’ εἰ οὕτως ἐποίει, οὔτε καλῶς ἂν ἐποίει, οὔτε ἐπιστήμης προσηκόντως ἐπαΐειν ἐδοκει. διὸ καὶ κατ’ ἀκρίβειαν τοῦ τῶν παλαιῶν στιχηρῶν ἔχεται δρόμου καὶ αὐτῶν οὐ πάνυ τοι ἐξίσταται, τοῖς τῆς ἐπιστήμης νόμοις πειθόμενος
  .
  But, O my friend, do not think that the manner of the whole musical art and its practice is so simple and uniform that the composer of a kalophonic sticheron [the soloistic sticheron kalophonikon (στιχηρὸν καλοφωνικὸν)] with appropriate theseis who does not adhere to the manner of old sticheron [the conventional simple way to perform a sticheron with two choirs] can think that he has done well and that which he has written quite good and free from every condemnation – since, if what he has composed does not include the method of the old sticheron, it is not correct. Do not think therefore, that the performance of chant is simple, but rather that it is complex and of many forms. [...] Thus even in the kalophonic stichera the composers of these do not depart from their original melodies [τὰ ἰδιόμελα] but follow them accurately, step by step, and retain them. Therefore, they take over some melodies unchanged from tradition and from the music thus preserved (as it is recorded in the old Sticherarion [the simple sticherarion according to the redaction and its variants since the 14th century]), and they all follow the path unaltered throughout the entire composition. The second composer always follows his predecessor and his successor follows him and, to put it simply, everyone retains the technique of the art. [...]
  Ioannes Koukouzeles, the maistor, does not alter the stichera in his anagrammatismoi [the more deliberate compositions of a sticheron kalophonikon about the final section of a certain sticheron which usually also changed its text and reworked its melodic structure], but follows them step by step, although, like composers now, he was entirely able (indeed h
caption: The wheel (trochos) known as "the solfège of Master John Koukouzelis" (ἡ παραλλαγὴ ποίημα κυρίου Ἰωάννου μαΐστορος τοῦ Κουκουζέλη)
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