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44 MUSIC OF THE EASTERN CHURCHES
of that mode. 1 The same formulas can be used at the beginning, in the
middle, and at the end of a melody. The accented notes coincide with
the main accents of the line of the stanza. If one or more unaccented
syllables precede the accented one, one or more unaccented notes will
precede
Ex.8
'A - At -
the accented note of the formula: 2
The hymn-writers developed great skill in adapting words to music.
Ornaments, as in plainchant, were mostly set to words which could
for the
be emphasized but which were not of primary importance
understanding of the phrase. Thus the ornament had the function of
preparing a tension by means of which the listener's attention was
directed to the words which were important for the understanding of
the text. In some instances, however, the coincidence of ornament and
important word was essential both for musical and poetical reasons,
as can be seen from the beginning of the Christmas sticheron '
Christ-bearing people, let us look upon
thought and holds it bound': 3
En. 9
dtv
Come,
the marvel which confounds
A n n A >. n n
m
E*
Aa - i
dim.
* * '
J Ji CJ ^^
Tra - crav v - vot - av - TOV ral ow -
Now that a steadily increasing number of hymns from the Heirmo-
logion and Sticherarion is being made accessible in modern staff
notation we can study Byzantine chant more closely than has hitherto
been possible, and compare the achievement of Byzantine hymnographers
with that of the anonymous monks who gave Western chant
1
Cf. the list ofthe formulas of the first mode in Wellesz, A History ofByzantine Music
and Hymnography, pp. 272-3.
2
3
Ibid,, pp. 274-7.
Codex Dalassinos, fo. 91 v . For the full text cf. A History of Byzantine Music and
Hymnography, pp. 309-10.