Nenano
Encyclopedia
Phthora Nenano is the name of one of the two "extra" modes in the Byzantine
Octoechos
—an eight mode system, which was created by a reform of the Monastery Agios Sabas
, near Jerusalem, during the seventh century. Today the system of eight diatonic modes and two phthorai ("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. While φθορά νενανῶ was often called "chromatic", the second phthora was named "nana
" (gr. φθορά νανὰ) and called "enharmonic", the names were simply taken from the syllables used for the intonation (enechema). The two phthorai were regarded as two proper modes, but also used as modulation
or alteration signs. Within the diatonic modes of the octoechos
they cause a change into another (chromatic or enharmonic
) genus (metavoli kata genon).
) can be found in the Hagiopolites treatise which is known in a complete form through a fourteenth-century manuscript. The treatise itself can be dated back to the ninth century, when it introduced the book of tropologion, a collection of troparic
and heirmologic hymns which was ordered according to the eight week cycle of the octoechos
. The first paragraph of the treatise maintains, that it was written by John of Damascus
. The hymns of the tropologion provided the melodic models of one mode called echos (gr. ἦχος), and models for the phthora nenano appeared in some meloi of certain echoi like protos and plagios devteros.
The concept of phthora in the Hagiopolites was concerned that the Nenano and Nana
were somehow bridges between the modes:
Nevertheless 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 echos plagios devteros (E) could be followed by the intonation of nenano which leads to the echos protos (a). Usually the diatonic kyrios protos (a) could end on its plagios (D) in the diatonic genus, but the chromatic phthora nenano makes it end in the plagios devteros (E).
(1458), the famous Maïstoros Manuel Chrysaphes
introduced not only into the two phthorai nenano and nana, but also into four phthorai which bind the melos to the diatonic echoi of protos, devteros, tritos, and tetartos. All six phthora could dissolve the former melos and bind it to the melos of the following echos defined by the next medial signature, the phthora was no longer the destruction of the diatonic modes and their genus, it could change each mode and its finalis into another echos, its melos, its genus, and its tonal system:
Quţb al-Dīn al-Shīrīz distinguished two ways of using the chromatic genus in parde hiğāzī, named after a region of the Arabian Peninsula. 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
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 phthora nenano.
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 was excluded according to Latin theorists:
During the seventies of the thirteenth century Jerome met the famous singers in Paris who were well skilled in the artistic performance of ars organi
, 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 of 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 psaltes, they obviously felt free enough to use both during the improvisation of organum
— 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 an unallowed "confusion" between monophonic and polyphonic performance style. Whatever was his opinion about the performance style of Parisian cantores, the detailed description fit well to the use of the phthora nenano as an "echos kratema", as it was mentioned in the later Greek treatises after the end of the Byzantine Empire.
, and so they can make up a whole kratema:
Kratemata were longer sections sung with abstract syllables in a faster tempo. As a disgression used within other forms in papadikan or kalophonic chant genres—soloistic like cherubim chant or a sticheron kalophonikon. From the point of view which is concerned about the modal structure, a kratema could not only recapitulate the modal structure of its model, but also create a change from the diatonic to the chromatic genus, used within a model composed in the echos protos, the phthora nenano will always end the form of the kratema in echos plagios devteros, and then change back to the echos protos. In the later case the kratema was composed so perfectly in the proper melos of phthora nenano, that it could be performed as a separate composition of its own, as they were already separated compositions in the simpler genres like the troparion and the heirmologic odes of the canon since the 9th century.
Gabriel Hieromonachus (mid fifteenth century) already mentioned that the "nenano phone" — the characteristic step (interval) of nenano — seemed to be in some way halved. On folio 5 verso of the quoted treatise (IEE 899), the author gave a similar description of the intervals used with the intonation formula νε–να–νὼ, 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 protos, has a slightly different intonation with respect to the melodic movement, at least according to the practice among educated psaltes 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 melos of phthora nenano:
(modulation sign) of nenano in manuscripts makes it clear that it is associated with the main form of the second plagal mode as it survives in the current practice of Byzantine (Greek Orthodox) chant. Furthermore, the phthora sign of nenano has survived in the nineteenth-century neo-Byzantine notation system which is still in use today, as the sign for the chromatic tetrachord of the second plagal mode. Simply speaking, if a phthora of nenano is placed on δι, which in Western terms corresponds to the tone "G" (sol), then it indicates a chromatic tetrachord, approximated by the notes: D-E flat-F sharp-G. This is similar to the upper part of a G minor harmonic scale, or of the "Zigeunermoll" (gipsy-minor) scale. In other words, nenano is the prototype of the scale structure that includes an augmented second
between two minor second
s and that is nowadays one of the most well known clichés commonly associated with near eastern or middle eastern "oriental" musical color.
Because of its early status as one of the two mysterious extra modes in the system, nenano has been subject of much attention in Byzantine and post-Byzantine music theory. Both the above named EBE 899 and other contemporary late Byzantine manuscripts associate nenano with the enharmonic genus
(Jerome of Moravia who had probably been in contact with Greek theorists, already mentioned it during the thirteenth century), one of the three genera of tuning of Classical antiquity
that fell into early misuse because of its complexity. This theory or myth has persisted amongst Greek music theoreticians such as Simon Karas
up to the end of the twentieth century. Such theoreticians — including the anonymous author of EBE 899 — maintain that one or both of the minor seconds in the tetrachord of nenano should be smaller than a tempered semitone, approaching the interval of a third or a quarter of a tone. The banishment of instrumental musical practice and its theory from the tradition of Byzantine chant has made it very difficult to substantiate any such claims experimentally. The only possible conclusions can be drawn indirectly and tentatively through comparisons with the tradition of Ottoman instrumental court music, which important church theoreticians such as the Kyrillos Marmarinos, Archbishop
of Tinos
considered a necessary complement to liturgical chant. However, Ottoman court music and its theory are also complex and diverging versions of modes exist according to different schools, ethnic traditions or theorists. There, one encounters various versions of the "nenano" tetrachord, both with a narrow and with a wider minor second either at the top or at the bottom, depending on the interval structure of the scale beyond the two ends of the tetrachord.
Byzantine music
Byzantine music is the music of the Byzantine Empire composed to Greek texts as ceremonial, festival, or church music. Greek and foreign historians agree that the ecclesiastical tones and in general the whole system of Byzantine music is closely related to the ancient Greek system...
Octoechos
Octoechos
Oktōēchos is the name of the eight mode system used for the composition of religious chant in Syrian, Coptic, Byzantine, Armenian, Latin and Slavic churches since the middle ages...
—an eight mode system, which was created by a reform of the Monastery Agios Sabas
Mar Saba
The Great Lavra of St. Sabbas the Sanctified, known in Arabic as Mar Saba , is a Greek Orthodox monastery overlooking the Kidron Valley in the West Bank east of Bethlehem. The traditional date for the founding of the monastery by Saint Sabas of Cappadocia is the year 483 and today houses around 20...
, near Jerusalem, during the seventh century. Today the system of eight diatonic modes and two phthorai ("destroyers") is regarded as the modal system of Byzantine chant
Byzantine music
Byzantine music is the music of the Byzantine Empire composed to Greek texts as ceremonial, festival, or church music. Greek and foreign historians agree that the ecclesiastical tones and in general the whole system of Byzantine music is closely related to the ancient Greek system...
, and during the eighth century it became also model for the Latin tonaries
Tonary
A tonary is a liturgical book in the Western Christian Church containing various chants which is organized according to the eight psalm tones of Gregorian chant. It may include antiphons from the Mass and Offices, as well as responsories and other chants...
—introductions into a proper diatonic eight mode system and its psalmody, created by Frankish cantores during the Carolinigian reform. While φθορά νενανῶ was often called "chromatic", the second phthora was named "nana
Nana (echos)
In the theory and notation of byzantine music nana is the name of a special sign that denotes one of three things - depending on the historical period of the notation that it is used in or on the context:...
" (gr. φθορά νανὰ) and called "enharmonic", the names were simply taken from the syllables used for the intonation (enechema). The two phthorai were regarded as two proper modes, but also used as modulation
Modulation (music)
In music, modulation is most commonly the act or process of changing from one key to another. This may or may not be accompanied by a change in key signature. Modulations articulate or create the structure or form of many pieces, as well as add interest...
or alteration signs. Within the diatonic modes of the octoechos
Octoechos
Oktōēchos is the name of the eight mode system used for the composition of religious chant in Syrian, Coptic, Byzantine, Armenian, Latin and Slavic churches since the middle ages...
they cause a change into another (chromatic or enharmonic
Tetrachord
Traditionally, a tetrachord is a series of three intervals filling in the interval of a perfect fourth, a 4:3 frequency proportion. In modern usage a tetrachord is any four-note segment of a scale or tone row. The term tetrachord derives from ancient Greek music theory...
) genus (metavoli kata genon).
The Phthora Nenano as Part of the Hagiopolitan Octoechos
The earliest description of phthora nenano and of the eight mode system (octoechosOctoechos
Oktōēchos is the name of the eight mode system used for the composition of religious chant in Syrian, Coptic, Byzantine, Armenian, Latin and Slavic churches since the middle ages...
) can be found in the Hagiopolites treatise which is known in a complete form through a fourteenth-century manuscript. The treatise itself can be dated back to the ninth century, when it introduced the book of tropologion, a collection of troparic
Troparion
A troparion in Byzantine music and in the religious music of Eastern Orthodox Christianity is a short hymn of one stanza, or one of a series of stanzas. The word probably derives from a diminutive of the Greek tropos...
and heirmologic hymns which was ordered according to the eight week cycle of the octoechos
Octoechos (liturgy)
The Octoechos —literally, the book "of the Eight Tones"—contains an eight-week cycle, providing texts to be chanted for every day at Vespers, Matins, the Divine Liturgy, Compline and the Midnight Office...
. The first paragraph of the treatise maintains, that it was written by John of Damascus
John of Damascus
Saint John of Damascus was a Syrian monk and priest...
. The hymns of the tropologion provided the melodic models of one mode called echos (gr. ἦχος), and models for the phthora nenano appeared in some meloi of certain echoi like protos and plagios devteros.
The concept of phthora in the Hagiopolites was concerned that the Nenano and Nana
Nana (echos)
In the theory and notation of byzantine music nana is the name of a special sign that denotes one of three things - depending on the historical period of the notation that it is used in or on the context:...
were somehow bridges between the modes:
They were called Phthorai (i.e. destroyers), because they begin from their own Echoi, but their endings and cadences are on notes from other Echoi.
Nevertheless 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 echos plagios devteros (E) could be followed by the intonation of nenano which leads to the echos protos (a). Usually the diatonic kyrios protos (a) could end on its plagios (D) in the diatonic genus, but the chromatic phthora nenano makes it end in the plagios devteros (E).
The Use of Phthora Nenano in the Psaltic Art
In the period of the psaltic art (gr. ψαλτική τέχνη, "the art of chant", 1261-1750) the Late Byzantine Notation used four additional phthorai for each mode, including the eight diatonic echoi, in order to indicate the precise moment of a transposition (metavoli kata tonon). The former system of sixteen echoi (4 kyrioi, 4 plagioi, 4 mesoi, and 4 phthorai) which was still used in the old books of the cathedral rite (asmatikon, kontakarion, etc.), was replaced by the Hagiopolitan octoechos and its two phthorai in the new book akolouthiai, which replaced the former book and established a mixed rite in Constantinople. In rather soloistic chant genres, the devteros echoi were turned into the chromatic genus by an abundant use of the phthora nenano. 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 ConstantinopleConstantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
(1458), the famous Maïstoros Manuel Chrysaphes
Manuel Chrysaphes
Manuel Doukas Chrysaphes was the most prominent Byzantine musician of the 15th century. He was a singer, composer and musical theoretician.Little is known of his life, except that he held the office of lampadarios, and received commissions from the last two Byzantine emperors, John VIII...
introduced not only into the two phthorai nenano and nana, but also into four phthorai which bind the melos to the diatonic echoi of protos, devteros, tritos, and tetartos. All six phthora could dissolve the former melos and bind it to the melos of the following echos defined by the next medial signature, the phthora was no longer the destruction of the diatonic modes and their genus, it could change each mode and its finalis into another echos, its melos, its genus, and its tonal system:
Whenever it stands in the melody [μέλος] of another mode, it creates its own melody [μέλος] and cadence [κατάληξις] which the other phthorai cannot do, and its resolution never closes into another mode apart from the second plagal. If one uses this phthora and it does not resolve [θήσει] into the second plagal mode but into another mode, this is not artistic [ἔντεχνον]; for we said before that this is the first mode by parallage [παραλλαγή].
The early Persian and Latin reception
Already in the thirteenth century, there were intervall descriptions in Latin and Arabic treatises which proved, that the use of the chromatic phthora was not only common among Greek psaltes.Quţb al-Dīn al-Shīrīz distinguished two ways of using the chromatic genus in parde hiğāzī, named after a region of the Arabian Peninsula. The exact proportions were used during changes to the diatonic genus. In both diatonic and chromatic divisions the ring finger fret of the oud
Oud
The oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
keyboard was used. It had the proportion 22:21 — between middle and ring finger fret — and was called after the Baghdadi oud
Oud
The oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
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
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 phthora nenano.
In his voluminous music treatise Jerome of Moravia
Jerome of Moravia
Jerome of Moravia was a medieval music theorist. He was a Dominican friar. His origin is unknown, but he is believed to have worked in Paris at the Dominican convent on the Rue Saint-Jacques...
described that "Gallian cantores" used to mix the diatonic genus with chromatic and the enharmonic, despite the use of the two latter was excluded according to Latin theorists:
Especially when they mix the eclesiastical chant with the organumOrganumOrganum is, in general, a plainchant melody with at least one added voice to enhance the harmony, developed in the Middle Ages. Depending on the mode and form of the chant, a supporting bass line may be sung on the same text, the melody may be followed in parallel motion , or a combination of...
mode, they like not only to abandon the first mode [simple plainchant in monophonic realization?], but the confusion of both [plainchant and ars organi] includes another [confusion of the diatonic] with the other geni, because they associate the enharmonic diesis and the chromatic trihemitonium with the diatonic genus. They replace the semitonium by the tonus and vice versa, in doing so they differ from the other nations, as far as chant is concerned.
During the seventies of the thirteenth century Jerome met the famous singers in Paris who were well skilled in the artistic performance of ars organi
Organum
Organum is, in general, a plainchant melody with at least one added voice to enhance the harmony, developed in the Middle Ages. Depending on the mode and form of the chant, a supporting bass line may be sung on the same text, the melody may be followed in parallel motion , or a combination 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
Notre Dame school
The group of composers working at or near the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris from about 1160 to 1250, along with the music they produced, is referred to as the Notre Dame school, or the Notre Dame School of Polyphony....
. Despite of 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 psaltes, they obviously felt free enough to use both during the improvisation of organum
Organum
Organum is, in general, a plainchant melody with at least one added voice to enhance the harmony, developed in the Middle Ages. Depending on the mode and form of the chant, a supporting bass line may be sung on the same text, the melody may be followed in parallel motion , or a combination 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 an unallowed "confusion" between monophonic and polyphonic performance style. Whatever was his opinion about the performance style of Parisian cantores, the detailed description fit well to the use of the phthora nenano as an "echos kratema", 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 papadike treatise in a sixteenth century manuscript (Athens, National Library, Ms. 899 [IEE 899], fol.3f), the anonymous author even argues that phthorai nenano and nana are rather independent modes than phthoraiPhthora
Phthora is a genus of fungi in the Ascomycota phylum. The relationship of this taxon to other taxa within the class is unknown , and it has not yet been placed with certainty into any class, order, or family...
, and so they can make up a whole kratema:
There are two phthorai which can be sung as those [of the Octoechos]: νανὰ and νενανὼ. There are also phthorai which derived from the the other [kyrioi echoi], but those are not as perfect [they have no proper melos like nana and nenano?], because they cause just cause a temporary transition [ἐναλλαγή μερική] from one to another echos, while the former have been used by composers of various epochs to create kratemata like they were [independent] kyrioi echoi. Hence, it is justified to call them rather "perfect echoi" than just "phthorai".
Kratemata were longer sections sung with abstract syllables in a faster tempo. As a disgression used within other forms in papadikan or kalophonic chant genres—soloistic like cherubim chant or a sticheron kalophonikon. From the point of view which is concerned about the modal structure, a kratema could not only recapitulate the modal structure of its model, but also create a change from the diatonic to the chromatic genus, used within a model composed in the echos protos, the phthora nenano will always end the form of the kratema in echos plagios devteros, and then change back to the echos protos. In the later case the kratema was composed so perfectly in the proper melos of phthora nenano, that it could be performed as a separate composition of its own, as they were already separated compositions in the simpler genres like the troparion and the heirmologic odes of the canon since the 9th century.
Gabriel Hieromonachus (mid fifteenth century) already mentioned that the "nenano phone" — the characteristic step (interval) of nenano — seemed to be in some way halved. On folio 5 verso of the quoted treatise (IEE 899), the author gave a similar description of the intervals used with the intonation formula νε–να–νὼ, and it fitted very well to the description that Jerome gave 300 years ago while he was listening to Parisian singers:
Please note, what is called "phthora": phthora is called, if you make a half phonic step [of the "great tone" = tonus] in descending [direction], (or more precisely a third of it, while [the second interval] has one and a half [of the whole tone] in ascending [direction],) as you do in nenano. Please listen:
νε - να [small tone] - να [one and a half of the great tone] - νὼ [diesis or quarter tone]
This is the intonation of phthora which is ascending. Concerning the final phonic step [which was a third of tonus in a descending melos], half of it is now part of the [second] να sound and the rest [interval is sung] on νω!
The upper small tone leading to the final note of the protos, has a slightly different intonation with respect to the melodic movement, at least according to the practice among educated psaltes of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
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 melos of phthora nenano:
Because when we sing a nenano melody, we don’t end on the tone, from which we started, but if you look at it closer, you will find that we come down to a somewhat lower pitch. The reason for this is the nenano interval; for it seems to be in some way halved, even if we are not aware of it; in other words, we perform the nenano intervals weakly [=flattened] in upward direction, in order to give the characteristic colour of nenano, but in downward direction [we perform them] correctly, and this causes the melody to get out of tune.
Actual usage and meaning
Later use of the enechema (initial incantation formula) of nenano as well as the phthoraPhthora
Phthora is a genus of fungi in the Ascomycota phylum. The relationship of this taxon to other taxa within the class is unknown , and it has not yet been placed with certainty into any class, order, or family...
(modulation sign) of nenano in manuscripts makes it clear that it is associated with the main form of the second plagal mode as it survives in the current practice of Byzantine (Greek Orthodox) chant. Furthermore, the phthora sign of nenano has survived in the nineteenth-century neo-Byzantine notation system which is still in use today, as the sign for the chromatic tetrachord of the second plagal mode. Simply speaking, if a phthora of nenano is placed on δι, which in Western terms corresponds to the tone "G" (sol), then it indicates a chromatic tetrachord, approximated by the notes: D-E flat-F sharp-G. This is similar to the upper part of a G minor harmonic scale, or of the "Zigeunermoll" (gipsy-minor) scale. In other words, nenano is the prototype of the scale structure that includes an augmented second
Augmented second
In classical music from Western culture, an augmented second is an interval produced by widening a major second by a chromatic semitone. For instance, the interval from C to D is a major second, two semitones wide, and both the intervals from C to D, and from C to D are augmented seconds, spanning...
between two minor second
Minor second
In modern Western tonal music theory a minor second is the interval between two notes on adjacent staff positions, or having adjacent note letters, whose alterations cause them to be one semitone or half-step apart, such as B and C or C and D....
s and that is nowadays one of the most well known clichés commonly associated with near eastern or middle eastern "oriental" musical color.
Because of its early status as one of the two mysterious extra modes in the system, nenano has been subject of much attention in Byzantine and post-Byzantine music theory. Both the above named EBE 899 and other contemporary late Byzantine manuscripts associate nenano with the enharmonic genus
Enharmonic genus
The enharmonic genus has historically been the most mysterious and controversial of the three Greek genera of tetrachords. Its characteristic interval is a major third, leaving the remainder of the tetrachord to be divided by two intervals smaller than a semitone...
(Jerome of Moravia who had probably been in contact with Greek theorists, already mentioned it during the thirteenth century), one of the three genera of tuning of Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
that fell into early misuse because of its complexity. This theory or myth has persisted amongst Greek music theoreticians such as Simon Karas
Simon Karas
Simon Karas was a Greek musicologist, who specialized in Byzantine music tradition.Simon Karas studied paleography of Byzantine musical notation, was active in collecting and preserving ancient musical manuscripts, collected performances of folk Greek songs and of Byzantine chant from different...
up to the end of the twentieth century. Such theoreticians — including the anonymous author of EBE 899 — maintain that one or both of the minor seconds in the tetrachord of nenano should be smaller than a tempered semitone, approaching the interval of a third or a quarter of a tone. The banishment of instrumental musical practice and its theory from the tradition of Byzantine chant has made it very difficult to substantiate any such claims experimentally. The only possible conclusions can be drawn indirectly and tentatively through comparisons with the tradition of Ottoman instrumental court music, which important church theoreticians such as the Kyrillos Marmarinos, Archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
of Tinos
Tinos
Tinos is a Greek island situated in the Aegean Sea. It is located in the Cyclades archipelago. In antiquity, Tinos was also known as Ophiussa and Hydroessa . The closest islands are Andros, Delos, and Mykonos...
considered a necessary complement to liturgical chant. However, Ottoman court music and its theory are also complex and diverging versions of modes exist according to different schools, ethnic traditions or theorists. There, one encounters various versions of the "nenano" tetrachord, both with a narrow and with a wider minor second either at the top or at the bottom, depending on the interval structure of the scale beyond the two ends of the tetrachord.