Music of the Armenian Liturgy
The chants and melodies of the liturgy of the Armenian Church date from its earliest days. These were first transmitted through oral tradition and then by an Armenian system of musical notation called “khaz.” Using European musical notation, Malachia Yekmalian in the nineteenth century and Komitas Vardapet in the twentieth century transcribed and published the two versions of the liturgy commonly in use today. However, in 1877 the Mkhitarist fathers in Venice had published the first Europeanized transcription of the Armenian liturgy for four-part mixed choir by the composer, artist, teacher, and conductor Pietro Bianchini. These two pages are from a manuscript that Bianchini, the “Maestro of the Mkhitarist Congregation of San Lazzaro,” copied and dedicated to the unnamed Armenian Catholic Patriarch on his name day, December 26, 1887. The text to the music, set in five parts, is chanted by the celebrant at the beginning of the liturgy.
The chants and melodies of the liturgy of the Armenian Church date from its earliest days. These were first transmitted through oral tradition and then by an Armenian system of musical notation called “<em>khaz</em>.” Using European musical notation, Malachia Yekmalian in the nineteenth century and Komitas Vardapet in the twentieth century transcribed and published the two versions of the liturgy commonly in use today. However, in 1877 the Mkhitarist fathers in Venice had published the first Europeanized transcription of the Armenian liturgy for four-part mixed choir by the composer, artist, teacher, and conductor Pietro Bianchini. These two pages are from a manuscript that Bianchini, the “Maestro of the Mkhitarist Congregation of San Lazzaro,” copied and dedicated to the unnamed Armenian Catholic Patriarch on his name day, December 26, 1887. The text to the music, set in five parts, is chanted by the celebrant at the beginning of the liturgy.