Simon Karas ( Greek Σίμων Καράς ; June 3, 1903 , Strovici (now Lepreon , Mr. Elida ) - January 26, 1999 , Athens ) - Greek musicologist, researcher of Byzantine church music , source critic , folklorist, teacher. One of the most controversial personalities in the Greek musical world of the XX century. Representatives of the Karas school (for example, L. Angelopoulos , Ioannis Arvanitis, Nektarios Thanos, etc.) evaluated his contribution to the study of Byzantine music as unique and grandiose. His opponents (Vasilios Katsifis, Konstantinos Zarakovitis, Dimitrios Ioannidis and others) completely denied the scientific contribution of Karas, considering him an “impostor” and “heretic” who betrayed the tradition of Greek church singing.
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Content
A Brief Biography
From 1921 he lived in Athens, in 1925 he graduated from the Law Faculty of the University of Athens. Professional music education did not receive. In the years 1927-30. singing in the Athenian church of Elijah the Prophet (on Plaka ). In 1929 he founded the Athens Distribution Society in Athens. music (Σύλλογος προς Διάδοσιν της Εθνικής Μουσικής, since 1957 the State School of Folk Music, since 2009 - the Center for the Study and Promotion of Folk Music (inaccessible link) ) - an educational institution and a concert institution, where I considered work to be a matter of my whole life (I taught there before 1995 of the year). In 1938 he founded and until 1971 he headed the department (editorial office) of the national music of Greek Radio .
For many years, Karas devoted to collecting and thoroughly researching ancient manuscripts of church singing. In their search in 1939, he went to Constantinople. The most valuable find was the collection of autographs of Hurmusius (one of the Three DiDaskals [1] ), which Karas transferred to the National Library of Greece .
Karas repeatedly traveled throughout Greece on folklore expeditions . He recorded about 18,000 folk songs in his own notation, actively performed these songs with the choirs of the School of Folk Music (Athens). For the conservation of Greek folklore, the Athens Academy awarded Karas a prestigious award in his later years.
Teaching
According to Karas, the notation proposed in the XIX century. three di-dascals (aka “Chrysanthus notation” or “The New Method”) inaccurately conveys the oral tradition of singing. In his transcriptions of traditional church chants, Karas introduced a number of graphemes, endowing them with special meaning, for a detailed written fixation of “oral” ornamentation (including ornamental microchromatic ). The most controversy was caused by the interpretation of the so-called “qualitative nevmas ” (των ποιοτικών σημαδιών) [2] , which Karas borrowed directly from ancient Byzantine manuscripts.
The final scientific work of Karas was the eight-volume Method of Greek Music ( Greek Μέθοδος της Eλληνικής Mουσικής ), published in Athens in 1982-1996. [3]
Notes
- ↑ In the first half of the XIX century. the so-called Three Dydaskals (church singing teachers) - Chrysanthus of Madith (c. 1770-1846), Gregory Protopsalt (c. 1778 - c. 1821) and Hurmuziy Archivist (Χουρμούζιος Χαρτοφύλακας, died in 1840) - suggested Byzantine manuscripts, which became the main one in the practice of modern Greek worship. Other notations of the most important reform are “Chrysanf's notation” and “New method”.
- ↑ This is how modern Greeks collectively call nevmas, pointing to various ornamental formulas of "improvisational" performance.
- ↑ 1982 (Theoreticon, 2 volumes), 1984, 1985, 1996 (Practicon, 6 volumes).
Literature
- Αγγελόπουλος Λ. Η σημασία του έργου του Σίμωνος Καρά // Σύναξη, τ / χ.16 (1985), σελ.55-58.
- Angelpoulos L. The Importance of Simon Karas' Research and Teaching Regarding the Taxonomy and Transcription of the Effect of the Signs of Cheironomy . Communiqué to the Delphi Musicological Conference, 4-7 September 1986. Athens: Hellenic Byzantine Choir, 1988; English translation: Psaltiki Journal 2 (2009).
- Αγγελόπουλος Λ. Η σημασία της έρευνας και της διδασκαλίας του Σίμωνος Καρά. Αθήνα, 1998.
- Angelpoulos L. Angelopoulos. Simon Karas and Byzantine music in Greece of the XX century . Report at the International Conference of Byzantine Music (Bucharest, 2002)
Links
- Information about S. Karas on the portal “Analogion” (English)
- Chronograph S. Karas (inaccessible link) (Greek)
- Biography of Karas on the portal of the Center for the Study and Promotion of Greek Folk Music (inaccessible link) (Greek)