“Historical Anthology of Music by Women”
The most important woman composer of medieval Byzantine chant is Kassia, who is also identified in manuscripts by other forms of her name (Kασία, Kασσία, E’ɩκασία, and ’Iκασία). Besides being a gifted composer and poet, she is an important historical figure. According to the chronicles of the Byzantine empire, Kassia, a beautiful and highly educated woman, was brought to the brideshow of Emperor Theophilos, where he would select his bride-to-be with the token of a golden apple. Theophilos first screened his candidates by testing their intelligence and wit. Kassia’s response to his question displayed a mind far superior to his, which displeased and embarrassed the proud Emperor. Although Kassia captured Theophilos’ heart, her greater wisdom lost her the opportunity to become empress, and she spent the rest of her life in a convent.
Kassia is mostly known as a composer of sacred poems, although she also wrote secular epigrams and moral sayings. She is credited with having written 49 liturgical compositions; however, 26 are of doubtful authorship, and the authenticity of some of her melodies has been questioned. Specifically, it has been debated whether Kassia wrote the music as well as the text for her liturgical poetry; but according to the tradition of the period, early hymnographers composed both text and music. Kassia also composed music to the text of other writers of the period.
The majority of Kassia’s music falls under the category of the Sticheron, a lengthy verse chanted in various parts of the morning and evening office throughout the liturgical year. In one of her most popular melodies, the Sticheron “Augustus, the Monarch,” Kassia compares the rule of Augustus with that of Christ. Besides the parallelism of textual themes, the metrical rhyming scheme corresponds to the parallelism in the music, for the melody consists of three phrases, each immediately repeated and followed by a fourth unrepeated phrase. This melodic structure, aabbccd, is one of several sequence forms. Although it is difficult to prove that the sequence is of Eastern origins, at least Kassia’s composition substantiates the use of the sequence form in Byzantium as well as in the West.
Kassia’s most famous composition is her Troparion “The Fallen Woman,” which is sung in the morning office of Holy Wednesday. It was written after Kassia entered the convent and is considered autobiographical in part. Having regretted not choosing Kassia for his bride, Emperor Theophilos later attempted to meet her to express his sorrow and love. Although Kassia avoided the Emperor, in her heart she felt she had returned his love and had become a “fallen woman.” With the exception of verse eight of the poem, which is attributed to Theophilos, the melody and text are Kassia’s. According to legend and documentation, Kassia was in the process of writing this composition when Theophilos made one of his state visits to her monastery. On seeing him unexpectedly, Kassia fled and left the unfinished poem on her desk. Her departure inspired Theophilos to write the verse “Thy feet, whereof when Eve in Paradise heard the sound, she hid herself for fear.” Although this line is not consistent with the theme of a fallen woman, it was retained. It is perhaps this incident that made the hymn so well known.
The setting of this chant is primarily syllabic with a few neumatic sections. The melody has an unusually wide ambitus of an octave and a fourth: c’ to f”. The linking device throughout this lengthy hymn is the motive B-A-G and its variants, which occur throughout the chant and are marked with brackets in the score. No recordings exist of Kassia’s works, but because of its fame, “The Fallen Woman” has been arranged by many composers during Byzantine times as well as recently.
Further Reading
Touliatos-Banker, Diane. “Women Composers of Medieval Byzantine Chant,” College Music Symposium XXIV/I (1984):62-80.
——. “Medieval Women Composers in Byzantium and the West,” Acta Scientifica “Musica Antiqua” 1982:687-712.
These articles contain a complete catalogue of Kassia’s compositions, including types, incipits, modes, and occasions on which the chants were performed.
“When Augustus became monarch upon earth,
The multitude of kingdoms among men was ended.
And when Thou wast incarnate of the Holy One,
The multitude of divinities among the idols was put down.
Beneath one universal empire have the cities come,
And in one divine dominion the nations believed.
The folk were enrolled by the decrees of the emperor,
We, the faithful, have been inscribed in the name of Deity.
Oh, Thou our incarnate Lord,
Great is Thy mercy, to Thee be glory.”
“Augustus, the Monarch” and “The Fallen Woman” reprinted by permission of the publisher, The College Music Symposium.
“Lord, the woman fallen in many sins, seeing Thy Divinity,
Taking the part of myrrh-bearer, wailing bringeth to Thee myrrh
against Thy burial.
Alas, she crieth, for that night is to me the wildness of sin, dusky
and moonless, even the love of transgression.
Accept the springs of my tears, who with clouds partest the
waters of the sea:
Bend to the groanings of my heart, who hast brought down Heaven
by Thine ineffable humiliation.
I will kiss again Thy stainless feet,
I will wipe them then with the hair of my head—
Thy feet, whereof when Eve in Paradise heard the sound, she
hid herself for fear.
The multitude of my sins, and the depths of Thy judgment who
shall explore, Savior of souls, my Redeemer.
Forget not me Thy servant, Thou, whose mercy is infinite.”
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