A Brief Introduction to Armenian Sacred Music:
When we think about the music of the Armenian Church, we think about the history of our church, the very foundation of Armenia, and being the first Christian nation.
However, it may surprise you that the liturgy we know today is not that old! While the core hymns stem from melodic lines engraved in our historical and liturgical records, the liturgy as we hear it played on the organ or sung by local church choirs was arranged in the 19th century.
A pioneering figure in the sacred music of the Armenian Apostolic Church was a woman named Amy Apgar. She was instrumental in preserving our melodies in the far corners of Calcutta. While we often see our church as a patriarchal foundation, it’s important to remember Amy Apgar’s significant role in our sacred music history.
From modern-day India to present-day Venice, the St. Lazarus Mekhitarist monks commissioned the Italian composer Pietro Bianchini to arrange a version of our divine liturgy. Although the works of Apgar and Bianchini are noted in our history, they are not actively sung or celebrated due to their harmonic and lyric structure. It was not until 1893 that Magar Yegmalian arranged the version of the liturgy we now recognize worldwide.
Later, Gomitas Vartaped began his own arrangements for male chorus of the divine liturgy. As a leading musician in our cultural and sacred history, he studied previous works and continued to refine our melodies, ensuring they adhered to accurate modal structures, whether sacred or secular.
Magar Yegmalian
Born: February 2, 1856 (Vagharshapat, Armenia)
Died: March 6, 1905 (Tiflis, Georgia)
- Schooled in theology and religious studies at Etchmiadzin.
- Furthered his musical education in Russia.
- Divine Liturgy composition completed in 1893, sung for two years at the Tiflis Cathedral (Georgia).
- June 7, 1895: Catholicos Mgurdich I announces encyclical approval.
- Liturgical Publication: 3 Part Male Chorus; Mixed SATB
Gomidas Vartaped
Born: October 8, 1869 (Kütahya, Ottoman Empire)
Died: October 22, 1935 (Paris, France)
- Schooled in theology and religious studies at Etchmiadzin.
- Furthered his education in Germany, Armenia, and across Europe.
- Began work on the Divine Liturgy in 1892.
- Multiple iterations of his works exist but were never truly completed due to his deportation, imprisonment, and later illness.
- Musical Father to Armenian music as we know it, with a thriving collection of cultivated music and notation.
The Armenian Apostolic Church is home to a wealth of rich history, consisting of sacred music, a unique alphabet, and a myriad of music notation, compositions, and resources.
The Armenian khaz notation consists of two systems: Prosodic and Musical.
The prosodic analysis of khaz in the context of musical intonation relates to speech intonation, as noted by Gomitas Vartabed. He stated, “Songs undergo a number of transformations: long and short; metric-rhythmic changes; changes in diapason, range and pitch; melodic variation; ornamentation; and changes in the location of half-step or augmented intervals that alter the basic modality.”
The artistic expressions of speech intonation, its meaning, and inherent emotion are characteristic features of a melody. The relationship between musical intonations and speech affects the placement of khaz above the text. This interdependence manifests in two ways:
- Musical notation influenced by intonation.
- Social attitudes toward music affecting speech organization, which in turn affects the musical notation system.
If rhythm and intonation relate directly to speech, we should also consider the varying dialects in different regions. Gomitas observed that both language and music evolved into what he called “local dialects,” stating, “The Armenians knew their own musical dialect as well as the language dialect they spoke.”
He offered several reasons for the emergence of musical dialects. On the theory that music was movement, the externalization of tradition—whether the initial impulse was psychological or physiological—helped shape melodic-rhythmic motifs. For example, tunes from the mountains developed rugged, vigorous, passionate, and martial motives, reflecting the struggle against natural disasters, while tunes from the plains were more placid, mild, and gentle.
There are eight types of sharagans within our Armenian Church that strictly deal with the text and not the musical content:
- Orhnootiun – Praise the Lord for He has triumphed.
- Hartz – Blessed are Thou, oh Lord, God of Fathers.
- Medzatzoutse – My soul shall magnify the Lord, and my spirit.
- Voghormia – Lord, have mercy on me, and forgive thy transgressions.
- Der Hergnetz – Praise the Lord from the Heaven.
- Mangoonk – Praise, oh servants of the Lord.
- Jashoo – I love the Lord because He has heard my voice.
- Hampartzee – I lifted my eyes to the mountain.
In addition to these sharagans, other forms of hymns developed, such as the dagh, kandz, avedis, and megheti.
- Dagh (verses) are hymns that tell stories of the teachings of Jesus Christ.
- Kandz (treasure) are florid style hymns sung on feast days and, in the 14th and 15th centuries, over the dead as their confession of sins.
- Avedis (tidings) are sung at Christmas.
- Megheti (melody) are forms of sacred music used as background melodies.
Like the eight types of sharagan, the Armenian modal system is structured into a system of modes known as octoechos. These modes are divided into two halves, with four modes designated as TSAYN (voice) and four as GOGHM (side). The conventional arrangement follows the order of the Armenian alphabet.
Mode 1 – ATP TZA (First Voice)
Mode 2 – AYP GEN (First Side)
Mode 3 – PEN TZA (Second Voice)
Mode 4 – PEN GEN (Second Side)
Mode 5 – Keem Tza (Third Voice)
Mode 6 – Keem Gen (Third Side)
Mode 7 – Ta Tza (Fourth Voice)
Mode 8 – Ta Gen (Fourth Side)
Reference Works:
Theory and Method in Historical Ethnomusicology
by Jonathan McCollum (Editor, Contributor), David G. Hebert (Editor, Contributor), Keith Howard (Foreword, Contributor), Judah M. Cohen (Contributor), Ann E. Lucas (Contributor), Chris Goertzen (Contributor), Diane Thram (Contributor), Daniel Neuman (Contributor)
Personal Research & Teachings of Sevag Derderian
Doctrines of the Armenian Apostolic Church