Свети Йоан Кукузел
St. John Koukouzeles

Summary/Abstract: St. John Koukouzeles is one of the most famous medieval musicians of Bulgarian origin. According to sources, he lived approximately from 1280-1341. Koukouzeles’ reformative work adapted Orthodox music to the rituals of the revised Jerusalem liturgical order, which started to be introduced in the Balkan Orthodox countries during the 13th century. This paper argues that Koukouzeles participated actively in the establishment of the new resurrectional worship: the great Master succeeded in “reading” the tradition of Orthodox music in its depth, richness, and variety. He also succeeded in generalizing much of the past theory and practice of Orthodox music, shifting it onto the level necessary for the needs of the time. Indoing so, Koukouzeles made the theory and practice of Orthodox music viable for centuries to come. His activity is linked to the great spiritual movement of the 14th-century Orthodox East - isychasm. The isychast circle of musicians around him is outlined: Philothei Kokinos, Grigorios Pa lamas, Theoleptos of Philadelphia, Irina Agiopetritis, etc. At the end, one of Koukouzeles’s pieces is analyzed: “Alleluia” from the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostomos. The version studied is found in the 18th-century manuscript D.gr.327 from the library of the Center for Slavo-Byzantine Studies at the University “St. Clement of Ohrid” in Sofia. The piece reveals the musical “vocabulary” used by the great medieval Master.

• Details
• Contents