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Constantine Psachos

Konstantinos Psachos
Born c. 1866
Mega Revma, Ottoman Empire
Died 1949
Athens, Greece
Nationality Greek
Occupation Scholar and musicologist
Known for Invention of Panarmonio

Konstantinos Psachos (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Ψάχος; c. 1866 – 1949) was a Greek scholar, educator, musician, composer, cantor and musicologist.

Born in the village of Mega Revma near Constantinople at some point between the years 1866 and 1876, Konstantinos Psachos' exact date of birth is uncertain. In an autobiographical text, he mentions his birthdate as May 19, 1876. However, his most important biographer and publisher, George Hadjitheodorou, claims that he must have been born in 1866.

He was the son of Irene-Erifylli and Alexander Psachos, descended from Cephalonia.

A few years later he entered the Central Seminary of Constantinople as a supernumerary. In the Central Seminary, Psachos completed the circular education and was also taught chanting by the responsible teacher and housekeeper of the School, Archimandrite Theodore Matzouranis.

In May 1887, he became a cantor (domestikos) at the Church of the Transfiguration in Galata, serving there until 1891. In 1892, he became archcantor at the Saint Charalampos Greek Hospital of Smyrna. He returned to Constantinople and in 1895 was appointed as archcantor at the of the Holy Sepulchre, where he was given the opportunity to study many manuscripts in the library of the Metochion.

He also served as teacher of Greek language and religion in various schools, such as the Girls' School at the Metochion, to which he was appointed in 1896. In 1898, he helped establish the "Ecclesiastical Music Association of Constantinople", of which he was special secretary and where he actively served until 1902, when he resigned. He also served as archcantor at the churches of Saint Theodore of Vlanga (1901 to 1903) and Saint Nicholas of Galata (1903 to 1904).

In the early 20th century, Theocletus, the Archbishop of Athens, and George Nazos, director of Athens Conservatory, decided to establish a school of Byzantine music and wrote to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, requesting suggestions for the school's first director. Patriarch Anthimus VII responded to their request by suggesting that Konstantinos Psachos was a suitable person for this post. In 1904, by order of the King George I of Greece, a warship sailing to Constantinople took Psachos to Athens, where he arrived in September 1904. On September 23, 1904 the School began its operation.


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