Petros Peloponnesios

Life

Petros was born at Tripolis (Morea) between 1730 and 1740. According to Georgios Papadopoulos he was educated in the monastic communities of Smyrna. In 1764 he came to Constantinople to study with Ioannes Trapezountios, the Archon Protopsaltes, while Daniel like Ioannes student of Panagiotes Halacoğlu was Lampadarios at the Great Church of Constantinople. Petros could serve there as second domestikos who was usually in charge to notate the versions sung by the cantors with the higher ranks. Between 1770 and 1778 he served as lampadarios (leader of the left choir), until he became ill.

Together with Iakovos the Protopsaltes, the first domestikos between 1764 and 1776, he followed the first Archon Protopsaltes Daniel as official teacher of the New Music School of the Patriarchate in 1776. He also taught Petros Byzantios he chose as second domestikos after being announced as lampadarios, and composed many exercises (mathemata) for his students. The term "mathemata" usually referred to the kalophonic way to embellish the old stichera (sticheron kalophonikon, anagrammatismos), the old heirmoi (heirmos kalophonikos), certain theotokia or kontakia. Its method was usually taught by John Koukouzeles' «Mega Ison».

Within other musical traditions of the Ottoman Empire Petros had a very exceptional knowledge of makamlar, probably even of Armenian chant, and even if he did not invent the new analytical way to use Middle Byzantine notation, he had the reputation to have a very profound understanding of music which enabled him to notate music after just have listened to it once, even music which was not composed according to the octoechos. He also had the reputation of being a rather intrigant musician. On the one hand, Hafiz invited him and were very eager to learn even makam melodies from him (probably rather a Greek way of developing them), on the other hand, he was called "Hırsız" (thief) and "Hoca Petros" (teacher), because he had many students coming from a different traditional background. Since he could easily memorise compositions and he liked to change them and perform them in such a convincing way, that some musicians asked for his "permission", before they published them. Petros was also strongly associated with the Mevlevi tekke in Peran. But he was not the first Archon Protopsaltes of the Great Church who had an interest in makam music documented by neume transcriptions of makam music, already Panagiotes Halacoğlu who preceded Ioannes as Archon Protopsaltes (ca. 1726-1736), had it. Halacoğlu's student Kyrillos Marmarinos transcribed makamlar into Byzantine neumes and both wrote treatises about it.

Petros was in his forties, when he died during a plague in Constantinople which killed a third of its population.

Petros' contribution to church and makam music

His reputation as an important teacher and composer is mainly based on his vast contributions concerning the Heirmologion (Katavaseion or Heirmologion argon, printed the first time in transcription in 1825) and the short or simple Sticherarion (Doxastarion syntomon, printed the first time in transcription in 1820). These innovations of Orthodox chant had been written during his last years and parts of it were likely continued by his second domestikos Petros Byzantios who followed him as lampadarios, but also as teacher at the New Music School of the Patriarchate. According to Chrysanthos Petros Peloponnesios' realisations for the Anthology of the Divine Liturgies (like the Papadic cherubikon, and koinonikon cycles) were already written, while he was still second domestikos and not supposed to contribute with own compositions. Petros composed two cycles of cherubika for the weekdays, unlike other composers who composed in all eight echoi, his cycles follow the order of the weekly koinonika (protos for Monday, varys for Tuesday, tetartos for Wednesday, plagios tetartos for Thursday, and plagios protos for Friday). Later as lampadarios, Petros did not simply transcribe and contribute to the new hyphos created by his masters Ioannes and Daniel, he also studied the Byzantine tradition as well as innovative Protopsaltes of the Ottoman period like Petros Bereketis. Although it is not clear, whether Georgios Papadopoulos was right that Petros stole makam music, since the author rather compiled earlier Ottoman anecdotes in his biography of Petros, the latter had a certain reputation to usurp the contribution to the hyphos by other composers like Ioannes the Protopsaltes and Daniel the Protopsaltes as his own work, especially of those he was charged to transcribe as a second domestikos. Sometimes he simply pointed at the hyphos project he shared with Daniel the Protopsaltes and other students of Ioannes. He did not write down the background of a traditional melos as was the traditional synoptic use of notation, but also details of a personal realisation like in case of the doxastikon of Kassia's troparion, which he specified “in imitation of Daniel the Protopsaltes”.

Petros Peloponnesios' abridged Doxastarion was one of the first transcriptions of idiomela according to a new simple "hyphos"-style which was created by Ioannes Trapezountios. The necessity for such an abridgement followed a request by Patriarch Cyril V in 1756, after the melos of the old sticherarion in the tradition of 17th-century composers like Georgios Raidestinos, Panagiotes the New Chrysaphes, and Germanos of New Patras had become too elaborated. Petros' Doxastarion and its rhythmic style was very controversially discussed among the other teachers at the New Music School of the Patriarchate, especially by Petros' rival Iakovos. The dispute was followed by alternative editions, and the hyphos was continued as an oral tradition among traditionalist protopsaltes like Konstantinos Byzantios, Georgios Raidestinos II, Iakovos Nafpliotes, and Konstantinos Pringos.

Petros' reputation was not limited to the field of Orthodox chant, he also "composed" and transcribed other genres of Armenian and Turkish music (even composers of the 14th century), including Ottoman makam genres like Peşrev, Taksim and Saz semai which were usually included in cyclic compositions known as Fasıl, but also makam compositions following usul rhythms over Greek texts (Tragodia rhomaïka). According to Kyriakos Kalaitzidis between three and five manuscripts with Makam transcriptions written by Petros' hand have survived, where Petros did also suggest their cyclic organisation as Fasıl. With the Codex Gritsanis 3 Petros created one of the most important collections of classical Ottoman music between the 14th and the 18th centuries.

Works

The following list refers to the common ascription of the largest repertoire of monodic Orthodox chant to Petros, except the Anastasimatarion syntomon, ascribed to Petros by Chrysanthos and contemporary scribes, but nowadays regarded as a contribution by Daniel the Protopsaltes. Concerning the Koinonikon cycle, some Anthologies present two different cycles, one of them is supposed to be composed by Petros. The ascription of such a big part to Petros is still a controversial issue, even if his contribution can hardly be underestimated. He obviously had a key role as a notator of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, but this became the charge of the Second Domestikos who had to transcribe the first realisations of the hyphos as it was performed by the first domestikos, the lampadarios, and the archon protopsaltes.

Books

Hesperinos

Mesonyktikon and Orthros

Great Compline (Lenten period)

Triodion of the Doxastarion argon

Divine Liturgy

Cherubim chant

Communion chant

Older psaltic compositions

Mathemata and kratemata

Heirmologion kalophonikon

Sticherarion kalophonikon

Makam music

The recent research by Kyriakos Kalaitzidis has analysed 72 manuscripts which have makam music transcribed into Greek neumes between the 15th and the 19th centuries. Within this repertoire more than 100 compositions are ascribed to Petros, among them about 14 Phanariot songs. He also transcribed many other Ottoman composers. Although there are no contributions by Panagiotes Halacoğlu, Ioannes' teacher, his school together with Kyrillos Marmarinos' transcription of makam seyirler seems to be an essential contribution which encouraged other Phanariotes to follow his example. In comparison, 2 makam compositions by Kyrillos survived, 2 others by Ioannes. There is no composition ascribed to Daniel, but the music manuscripts written by himself had been burnt in its library, and most of the makam music transcribed by Petros have no ascriptions at all. 12 compositions are ascribed to Iakovos the Protopsaltes, 10 to Petros' student Petros Byzantios, even Gregorios the Protopsaltes who was a student of the Mevlevi composer Dede Efendi, left not more than 31 compositions in sources with Greek neumes. The very truth behind Petros' reputation as Hırsız ("thief") as it was documented by Georgios Papadopoulos, is that Petros had a crucial role as a notator of the Patriarchate, despite his short lifetime and his early announcement as lampadarios, he must have continued to fulfill his former duties as a second domestikos even as lampadarios. But the difficult question of authorship has to be revealed by further research.

Reception

In the current tradition of Orthodox chant, known as "Psaltike" (the heritage of Byzantine psaltic art), the contributions of Petros Peloponnesios (his Katavasies for the Heirmologion, his Doxastarion and many of his compositions for the Anthology of the liturgies) are dominant in the neumed editions of Orthodox chant in Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Serbia and Greece.