Phthora nenano (Medieval Greek: , also ) is the name of one of the two "extra" modes in the Byzantine Octoechos—an eight-mode system, which was proclaimed by a synod of . The phthorai nenano and nana were favoured by composers at the Monastery Agios Sabas, near Jerusalem, while hymnographers at the Stoudiou-Monastery obviously preferred the diatonic mele.
The phthora nenano as part of the Hagiopolitan octoechos Today the system of eight diatonic modes and two ("destroyers") is regarded as the modal system of Byzantine chant, and during the eighth century it became also model for the Latin tonaries—introductions into a proper diatonic eight mode system and its psalmody, created by Frankish cantores during the Carolinigian reform.Peter Jeffery (2001) compared the Greek and the Latin octoechos and found, that a modal classification of Gregorian chant according to the octoechos was analytically deduced a posteriori. While was often called "chromatic", the second was named "nana" (gr. ) and called "enharmonic", the names were simply taken from the syllables used for the intonation (enechema). The two were regarded as two proper modes, but also used as transposition or alteration signs. Within the diatonic modes of the octoechos they cause a change into another (chromatic or enharmonic) genus (metavoli kata genos).See Barbera's entry "Metabolē".
The earliest description of and of the eight mode system (octoechos) can be found in the treatise which is known in a complete form through a fourteenth-century manuscript.Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fonds grec, ms. 360. The treatise itself can be dated back to the ninth century, when it introduced the book of , a collection of troparic and heirmologic hymns which was ordered according to the eight-week cycle of the octoechos.Peter Jeffery (2001), Christian Hannick & Gerda Wolfram (1997). The first paragraph of the treatise maintains, that it was written by John of Damascus.John of Damascus and Cosmas entered the Lavra Agios Sabas about 700, after the reform was already established by a synodal decree in 692, and certain passages paraphrases polemics against the 16 echoi of the Constantinopolitan cathedral rite (Raasted 1983, 16—§8, Jeffery 2001, 186f). The hymns of the provided the melodic models of one mode called echos (gr. ), and models for the appeared in some mele of certain like and .
The author of the treatise wrote obviously during or after the time of Joseph and his brother Theodore the Studite, when the use the mesos forms, phthorai nenano and nana were no longer popular. The word "mousike" () referred an autochthonous theory during the 8th century used by the generation of John of Damascus and Cosmas of Maiuma at Mar Saba, because it was independent from ancient Greek music.In the same way it was used by authors of Arabic treatises who referred to composers who avoided and others who liked the use of certain exotic tunes, while ancient Greek theorists did refer to older methods of composition. But it seems that it was regarded as inappropriate to use these for the hymn melodies composed by Joseph and other hymns composed since the ninth century, since they must have preferred the diatonic octoechos based on the and the instead of the .
The concept of in the Hagiopolites was less concerned that the Nenano and Nana were somehow bridges between the modes. As an introduction of the tropologion it had to integrate the mele composed in these within the octoechos order and its weekly cycles. Since they had their own mele and compositions like the other echoi, they were subordinated to the eight diatonic according to the pitches or degrees of the mode () of their cadences.
They had to be classified according to a certain echos of the eight-week cycle by adding the intonation "nenano" to the intonation of the main diatonic echos (usually abbreviated by a modal signature). For example, the intonation formula of (E) could be followed by the intonation of which leads to the (a), as a kind of "", which lies in between the finalis of the kyrios (b natural) and the one of its (E). Usually the diatonic (a) could end on its (D) in the diatonic genus, but the chromatic makes it end in the (E).
The use of phthora nenano in the psaltic art
In the period of the psaltic art (gr. ψαλτικὴ τέχνη, "the art of chant", 1261–1750) the Late Byzantine Notation used four additional phthorai for each mode, including the eight diatonic , in order to indicate the precise moment of a transposition (metavoli kata tonon).See Barbera's entry "Metabolē" (New Grove Dictionary). The former system of sixteen echoi (4 , 4 , 4 , and 4 ) which was still used in the old books of the cathedral rite (asmatikon, kontakarion, etc.), was replaced by the Hagiopolitan octoechos and its two . The new book which replaced the former book and established a mixed rite in Constantinople, introduced into eight diatonic echoi and two phthorai. In rather soloistic chant genres, the were turned into the chromatic genus by an abundant use of the .Eustathios Makris (2005). Hence, it became necessary to distinguish between the proper echos and its phthora, nenano and nana as "extra modes", and their use for temporary changes within the melos of a certain diatonic echos.
The use of six phthorai for all of the ten Hagiopolitan echoi
In his theoretical treatise about psaltic art and in response to the "wrong ideas" that some singers already had some years after the conquest of Constantinople (1458), the famous Maïstoros Manuel Chrysaphes introduced not only into the two and nana, but also into four which bind the to the diatonic echoi of , and .
All six , two of them belonged to the (the phthora of and the one of ), could dissolve the former melos and bind it to the of the following echos defined by the next medial signature. The diatonic was no longer the destruction of the diatonic modes and its genus, , and its tonal system, it could change each mode and its into another echos by a simple transposition. Hence, the list of mentioned in each Papadikai, was simply a catalogue of transposition signs, which were written over that where the transposition has to be done.
Phthora nenano and the plagal second echos
In that respect , as well as , stuck out, because within their own they were both directed to certain other :
It was the psaltic art itself which moved the of to the one of . It is possible, that the of was needed to change again into diatonic genus. According to the New Method (since 1814) was always chromatic and based on the of , memorised as . This was Chrysanthos' way to understand Manuel Chrysaphes—probably a contemporary way, since the 17th-century Papadike introduced a seventh for .
According to the rules of psaltic art could connect the and as well as and , as can be seen from the solfège diagram called the "parallage of John Plousiadenos" (see the first X in the first row around the centre of the enechema of ).
Despite this possibility Manuel Chrysaphes insisted, that and its chromatic has always to be resolved as , any other echos would be against the rules of psaltic art. The living tradition today still respects this rule, since of the () has become the same like (): (D).
The early Persian and Latin reception
Already in the thirteenth century, there were interval descriptions in Latin and Arabic treatises which proved that the use of the chromatic was common not only among Greek singers.
Quţb al-Dīn al-Shīrīz distinguished two ways of using the chromatic genus in , named after a region of the Arabian Peninsula.Iannis Zannos (1994, 105f). The exact proportions were used during changes to the diatonic genus. In both diatonic and chromatic divisions, the ring finger fret of the oud keyboard was used. It had the proportion 22:21—between middle and ring finger fret—and was called after the Baghdadi oud player Zalzal. These are the proportions, presented as a division of a tetrachord using the proportions of 22:21 and 7:6:
12:11 x 7:6 x 22:21 = 4:3 (approximate intervals in cents: 151, 267, 80 = 498)
This Persian treatise is the earliest source which tried to measure the exact proportions of a chromatic mode, which can be compared with historical descriptions of .
In his voluminous music treatise Jerome of Moravia described that "Gallian cantores" used to mix the diatonic genus with chromatic and the enharmonic, despite the use of the two latter were excluded according to Latin theorists:Oliver Gerlach (2010, 130) in his discussion of the earliest sources for the practice of pointed out, that Jerome who had an exceptional knowledge of Greek music theory, described the use of chromaticism among Parisian singers as a kind of .
During the 1270s Jerome met the famous singers in Paris who were well skilled in the artistic performance of , which is evident by the chant manuscripts of the Abbey Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, of the Abbey Saint-Denis, and of the Notre Dame school. Despite the fact that no other Latin treatise ever mentioned that the singers were allowed to use enharmonic or chromatic intervals, and certainly not the transposition practice which was used sometimes by Greek singers, they obviously felt free enough to use both during the improvisation of —and probably, they became so familiar with the described enharmonic chromaticism, that they even used it during the monophonic performance of plainchant. Jerome as an educated listener regarded it as a "confusion" between monophonic and polyphonic performance style. Whatever his opinion about the performance style of Parisian cantores, the detailed description fit well to the use of the as an , as it was mentioned in the later Greek treatises after the end of the Byzantine Empire.
The phthora nenano as kyrios echos and echos kratema
According to a treatise in a sixteenth-century manuscript (Athens, National Library, Ms. 899 [EBE 899], fol.3f), the anonymous author even argues that and are rather independent modes than , because singers as well as composers can create whole out of them:
were longer sections sung with abstract syllables in a faster tempo. As a disgression used within other forms in papadic or kalophonic chant genres—soloistic like cherubim chant or a . From a composer's point of view who composed within the of the octoechos, a could not only recapitulate the modal structure of its model, but also create a change into another (chromatic or enharmonic) genus. If a composer or realised a traditional model of a or within the of , the will always end the form of the in , only then the singer could find a way back to the main . In the later case the was composed so perfectly in the proper of , that it could be performed as a separate composition of its own, as they were already separated compositions in the simpler genres like the and the heirmologic odes of the canon since the 9th century.Listen to Chourmouzios' transcription of John Koukouzeles' .
Gabriel Hieromonachus (mid fifteenth century) already mentioned that the ""—the characteristic step (interval) of —seemed to be in some way halved. On folio 5 verso of the quoted treatise (EBE 899), the author gave a similar description of the intervals used with the intonation formula , and it fitted very well to the description that Jerome gave 300 years ago while he was listening to Parisian singers:
The upper small tone leading to the final note of the , has a slightly different intonation with respect to the melodic movement, at least according to the practice among educated singers of the Ottoman Empire during the eighteenth century. But Gabriel Hieromonachos described already in the fifteenth century, that the singers tend to stray away from their original intonation while they were singing the of :
Actual usage and meaning