Syriac Hymnody

Syriac sacral music is music in the Syriac language as used in the liturgy of Syriac Christianity. Historically it is best known from and important for its part in the development of Christian sacred music since Antiquity.

The Syriac Churches have a musical system based on ancient principals today known as maqam, there are eight maqams used in the church and these are known as kadmoyo (maqam bayati, maqam ussak), trayono (maqam huseini), tlithoyo (maqam segah, maqam nahawand, maqam kurd), rbi'oyo (maqam rast), hmishoyo (maqam huzam), shtithoyo (maqam ajam), shbi'oyo (maqam saba) and tminoyo (maqam hijaz) (in order from one to eight). The most predominant works of the Syriac Church's music was collected in an anthology named Beth Gazo (Psalms of the Treasury of Maqams). There are also musical psalms other than this repertoire of 700 psalms, among them are the Fenqitho of the Syriac Orthodox and Maronite Churches, as well as the Khudra of the Church of the East.

To the general considerations on Hymnody and Hymnology must be added some bearing particularly on the structure and liturgical use of hymns (madrashe), exclusive of poetical homilies or discourses (mimre), which belong to the narrative and epic class, while the hymns are lyrical.

The chief basis of Syriac metre is fixed number of syllables of the verses, without distinction of long and short syllables, as in several modern languages. Verses of all lengths from two to twelve are known, but the metres most used in hymnody are dodecasyllabic verses of twelve syllables formed of three equal measures (4+4+4), heptasyllabic verses of seven syllables formed of two measures (4+3 or 3+4), and pentasyllabic verses of five syllables also formed of two measures (2+3 or 3+2). These verses may be employed alone or grouped in strophes, the latter form being most frequent in hymns composed of verses of five and seven syllables. A strophe is generally composed of equal verses, but it sometimes happens that the first of the last verse is in a different measure from the other verses of the strophe. All the strophes of a hymn are usually of the same construction.

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