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About the "body" and "ornamentation" in the Byzantine singing tradition

The report examines the "picture of the world" in the Byzantine singing tradition and its connection with the principles of musical thinking. Studying Byzantine church music, one can discover two important semantic fields in which the "striving for meaningfulness" manifests itself in different ways. Byzantine church chants from the tenth century were recorded using notation, in which "sign" and "signified" had no direct connection. Specific features of scientific thinking can be seen in the language of music description and the method of classifying graphic elements of musical writing. One of the groups of notational signs was called "bodies" (σώματα), thus referring to the various meanings of this concept. The "body" can be considered not as a "part" or "element" of a person, but as a "way of existence" (H. Yannaras) of a person, or directed to the outside The world is a manifestation of the energies of human nature in all its fullness and integrity. It is no coincidence that, after composing his kontakion to the Most Holy Theotokos, St. Roman the Sweet Singer ate a scroll with a melody and text: his bodily substance "accepted" the sacred melody in order to embody it in performing practice. This understanding of notation is consistent with the formation of a kalophonic, or extensive interpretation of individual "bodies" as signs of musical writing. Theoretically, the latter indicate individual intervals, whereas in live sound they are always ornamented. In other words, oral practice expands and destroys the boundaries set by written language.
The report will demonstrate examples from singing manuscripts of the X-XVII centuries and the oral practice of performing Byzantine chant of the XX-XXI centuries.