Twenty-Seven Songs by Nikēphoros Kantouniarēs in Poetry by Athanasios Christopoulos
Twenty-Seven Songs by Nikēphoros Kantouniarēs in Poetry by Athanasios Christopoulos

Summary/Abstract: During the first decades of the 19th century, Byzantium was still strong in the collective consciousness and memory, and remained a powerful influence in the lives, the attitudes and the cultural creations of the people of South Easter Europe. In this environment two important personalities emerged: Athanasios Christopoulos in letters and politics, and Nikēphoros Kantouniarēs in music. Their paths crossed in the cultural environment of the Phanariot society and the result of this relationship gave birth to a series of works of art that are the subject of this paper. More specifically, we are presenting twenty-seven (27) songs composed by Nikēphoros on lyrics by Athanasios Christopoulos. The article makes a brief reference to the musical context, gives brief biographical information and proceeds to a topical, rhythmic and morphological analysis. It’s noteworthy that the musical arrangements are in sixteen (16) modal entities and their names pointed out by using both the terminology of Byzantine music and the maqam music one. From a rhythmic standpoint, most of them are in the simple and understandable pattern of one 4-beat usul sofian and two songs in peculiar 10-beat rhythms.

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