Achive of the Byzantine Music Tradition

Lessons of Elder Dionysios Firfiris

The initiative of the Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi in the field of church music, and specifically the Athonite tradition, and in the fields of learning, understanding and performance thereof, is an innovative action through the image (musical notation) and the sound (orality) in every tone, every step of the journey of the musical compositions-lessons of Fr. Dionysios Firfiris (1912-1990) presented here.

These recordings, made about years ago, are a valuable and unique tool in the initiation of those interested, with the dual approach to hymns, through the variation and the melo. This is the safest route to lead someone to the "becoming" of chanting and is completed with the application of the oral tradition to the musical text.

Choosing to delve into the Athonite chant tradition, one is effortlessly led to the model-paradigm, which is the performance of the hymns by Fr. Dionysios Firfiris, the distillation of a sixty-year applied music, that of the Protopsaltos of the Protaton of Karya and the festivals of Mount Athos, “of which there is no number”. A performance that was fermented in long services and incalculable hours of musical study, through which the deacon Dionysios made psalmody his property and managed to perform it as it suited his vocal data, with an insurmountable majestic humility: “These few things that I learned, I cultivated as much as I could. "Beyond that, I have no claim to be called a chief cantor, just a humble cantor, as long as I can get the priest out of the church."

There are numerous audio recordings of the Athonite fathers over the past six decades. The audio documents of this publication differ from the general Athonite audio recordings, as it focuses specifically on the teaching of church hymns and should be considered as “tools” to help students/monks approach, learn and internalize Athonite psalmody.

Contains a USB digital card