From the ritual of the matins service: The insertion of poetic texts in the chant of the Polyeleos

Abstract

In this paper I will examine the practice of inserting non-psalmic poetic texts in the compositions of the Polyeleoi. It is a process of adding or interpolating a poem the content of which is always related to a particular theme from the church calendar into the usual psalmic verses of a given composition. This technique is related (first and foremost) to the Polyeleoi compositions (especially to the first section of the so-called Latrinos Polyeleos, to which it must undoubtedly be connected), but it also appears occasionally in the antiphons (in the so-called Antiphons for the feasts of the Theotokos, but mainly in the Antiphons for the feast of All Angels). The role of these inserted texts will be commented from the viewpoint of liturgy and ritual and from the musicological point of view.

Keywords

• ritual
• music
• Matins service
• Polyeleos
• antiphons
• ekloge
• enkomia
• allagmata
• insertion of non-psalmic poetic texts