International Conference on “Modus – Modis – Modality”
With the Participation of the Director of the Department of Psaltic Art
The international musicological Conference “Modus – Modis – Modality” was successfully completed in Nicosia, Cyprus, from Sept. 5th to Sept 10th, 2017. The Conference was organized by the European University of Cyprus, in collaboration with the IMS Regional Association for the Study of the Music of the Balkans. The Conference had great significance for Byzantine Musicology, as it included special sessions devoted to the Psaltic Art, as well as for traditional music, with many interesting presentations by researchers from Greece, Cyprus and other countries. The Department of Psaltic Art and Musicology of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies was represented by its Director, Dr. Konstantinos Ch. Karagounis, Assistant Professor of the Supreme Ecclesiastical Academy of Athens, with the presentation An “exegesis” of the Xenos Koronis’ “Dynamis – Hagios o Theos” by the composer and “exegetis” Reginos from Zagora (Pelion) . This topic, in addition to its musicological importance, has also a special significance for the region of Magnesia and the Holy Diocese of Demetrias, as Reginos was an important exponent of the chanting art in Pelion, a remarkable composer and “exegetis” (transcriber) of the older notation and, last not least, he was one of the pupils of the great composer of the 18 th century Petros Lambadarios Peloponnessios at the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The abstract of the presentation is following
An “exegesis” of the Xenos Koronis’
“Dynamis – Hagios o Theos”
by the composer and “exegetis”
Reginos from Zagora (Pelion)
Reginos from the town of Zagora in mountain Pelion was one of the students of Petros Peloponnessios, the Lampadarios of the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople († 1778). Reginos has a multifaceted work as a composer of church music, “exegetis” (transcriber of the older notation), abbreviator and copyist of musical manuscripts. Unfortunately, his work is not widely known. Information about Reginos can be found in his only known manuscript, the codex Koutloumoussiou 441, a manuscript which he completed in the first decade of the 19th century. His relation with Petros Peloponnessios is mentioned at the very beginning of his manuscript: Fol.1r,“Old Kekragaria in order of Echos (Mode), transcribed by my teacher, the master Petros Lambadarios, for the benevolence of studious pupils”, as well as in several other places of the codex. Reginos’ compositional work is considerably large, and he has also dealt with abbreviations of earlier music compositions (e.g. “Cheruvika in order of Echos by the master Petros Protopsalits Vyzantios” specifying right after “in my own abbreviation”). However, the topic of my presentation is Reginos’ “exegesis” (transcription) of the composition “ Dynamis. Hagios o Theos” by the earlier composer Xenos Koronis, which is included in the above codex with the following note:“in my own transcription for the benevolence of the studious people”. What exactly is it about? What is the relation of Reginos’ “exegesis” with the earlier ones by the famous teachers Petros Vyzantios and Petos Peloponnessios? What it reveals about Reginos as an “exegetis”? What insights on the problem of the “exegesis” of byzantine musical compositions result from the comparative study of earlier “exegesises” to that of Reginos?
