Petros Bereketis

Petros Bereketis (Greek: Πέτρος Μπερεκέτης) or Peter the Sweet (Πέτρος ο Γλυκής) was a prolific Byzantine musician of the 17th century. He, together with Panagiotes the New Chrysaphes, Balasios the Priest and Germanos Bishop of New Patra was one of the most influential figures in the evolution of the Byzantine musical art following the fall of Constantinople in 1453. For many years, he served as the protopsaltis (first cantor) of St. Constantine Ypsomatheion.

During his lifetime, the protopsaltes of the Great Church of Christ were Panagiotis Halatzoglou and John Trapezountios.

Education

Petros Bereketis began his musical studies in his home city of Constantinople, but later visited Mount Athos for a considerable length of time to study under the noted teacher of the Constantinopolitan musicians, Monk Damian of Vatopaidi.

Compositional output

The surviving compositional corpus left by Bereketis is extensive, spanning works across all ecclesiastical genres including communal chants (for both Sundays and weekdays), asmatic doxologies, cherubic hymns, kratemata, pasapnoaria, polyelea, doxastica and katavasies for various feast days. Among the more notable of his compositions is the eight-mode setting of "O Theotokos and Virgin" for two alternating choirs, most commonly chanted in all-night vigils on Mount Athos.

In particular, his musical settings of the eirmoi (unsurpassed both in quality and in quantity by his contemporaries) gave rise to a style of paraliturgical chant that came to be known as the kalophonic eirmological style, named for its beautiful melodic theses. For this reason he is sometimes referred to as the "father of kalophonic eirmoi."[1]

In fact, the name "Bereketis" is derived from the Turkish word "bereket" (literally, abundance) with which he was known to reply to his students' eager requests for more kalophonic compositions to study.

The surviving works of Bereketis were transcribed from the old system of Byzantine parasemantic notation largely by Gregory the Protopsaltis and his colleague Chrysanthos of Madytos near the beginning of the 18th century. These transcriptions are currently being typeset and republished in several volumes by Charalambos Karakatsanis ("The Complete Works of Petros Bereketis") as part of his series "Βυζαντινή Ποταμιής."

Use of modulation

The eight-mode, two choir structure format employed by Bereketis in his notable setting of "O Theotokos and Virgin" was inspired by a similar composition ("More Honourable than the Cherubim") by Constantine of Aghialos, written several centuries earlier. After Bereketis, this style became more common and was used several times by later composers, including Nikolaos of Smyrna (in two works entitled "We Have Seen the True Light" and "Unfading Rose"), Monk Ioasaph of the monastery of Dionysiou on Mount Athos (very slow apolytikia of the despotic feasts of the Church), John the Protopsaltis, Theodore Phokaeus, Stephanos the Lambadarios, and Chourmouzios the Archivist of the Great Church.

Bereketis also composed two large cycles of the papadic genre (cherubic hymn and Sunday koinonikon) that are formulaically valid in, and can be chanted in any of the eight Byzantine modes without alteration of the actual neumes, varying only the starting pitch and modulatory symbols.

List of Works

It should be noted that this list is incomplete.

Troparic and psalmodic compositions of the octoechos

Polyeleos compositions

Sticheraric compositions

Triodion

Kontakia

Papadic compositions

Cherubikon cycles

Koinonika (week, annual and mobile Cycle)

Variable Koinonika

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.apostoliki-diakonia.gr/byzantine_music/ymnografoi/ymnografoi.asp

Manuscripts

Print editions

External links

Recordings