The Deep Interconnection between Text Meaning and Compositional Devices in Panagiotes Chrysaphes’ “Όταν τίθονται θρόνοι”

This paper briefly analyzes the use of rich compositional devices, both traditional and innovative for its era (the period of the New Embelishment) by Chrysaphes the younger in the Doxastikon of the Meatfare Sunday “Όταν τίθονται θρόνοι”. The main focus is on how the composer uses musical resources such as melodic contour, pitch orientation and intervallic differentiation (the interchange between diatonic and chromatic genre) in order to highlight the text meaning, not in a superficial manner, but in a way that shows deep understanding of the more subtle theological nuances of the hymn. Crucial in this endeavor is also the attempt to understand how the composer uses the traditional long melismatic formulas (Θέσεις), such as kolafismos and ouranisma, in conjunction with more modern formulas, written more analytically. In order to understand them more thoroughly, there is a brief introduction for the general characteristics of the Sticheraricon genre of composition. Finally, the paper suggests that there might be a new aesthetic ideal that comes to the fore in the period of the New Embellishment, aiming at a higher expressional density within shorter amounts of musical time. Comparisons are made to the expressional devices of “Musica Poetica” and some striking similarities are being discussed.