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“Yphos” As Infrapolitical Resistance: Greek Liturgical Music in 19Th Century Ottoman Istanbul

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“Yphos” As Infrapolitical Resistance: Greek Liturgical Music in 19Th Century Ottoman Istanbul “YPHOS” AS INFRAPOLITICAL RESISTANCE: GREEK LITURGICAL MUSIC IN 19TH CENTURY OTTOMAN ISTANBUL ________________________ A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Walsh School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service ________________________ By James Khoury Washington, D.C. April 20, 2020 Table of Contents ________________________ Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………….1 Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………..3 Glossary…………………………………………………………………………………………...4 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..6 Chapter I: The Tanzimat: Greek Orthodoxy and Music in Nineteenth Century Istanbulite Society Overview……………………………………………………………………………………....13 Ottoman Administrative Millets: The Empire’s Politico-Religious Organization…………….15 A “Frontier” Society: A History of Religious Distinction…………………………………….19 “Great” vs. “Little” Cultures: Ingrained Religious and Social Stratification………………….23 The Phanariots: A Bastion of Greekness at the Heart of the Empire………………………….25 “In-Between”: Living Greek Orthodox in Istanbulite Society………………………………...33 Modern Social Experiences: Religious and Lay Leadership of the Istanbulite Greeks……….37 Communal Identity Construction: Liturgical Music as Social Belonging…………………….39 Chapter II: Confronting Western Paradigms of Music, Identity, and Belonging: Intra- vs. Inter- Community Debates Over Legacy and Tradition Overview……………………………………………………………………………………....42 Being Greek in Ottoman Istanbul: The Phanariot Experience During Greek Independence…43 A Storied Tradition: Developing the Role of Cantor in Greek Liturgical Chant……………...45 A Turn Inward: Reexamining and Revisiting Collective Social Histories…………………....48 Westernization and the Status of Greek Liturgical Music and Pedagogy……………………..52 Rejection and Contention: Western Conventions at Odds with Orthodox Traditions………...60 Chapter III: An Ongoing Debate: A Century of Musical Change, The Role of Cantor, and Phanariot Infrapolitical Resistance Overview……………………………………………………………………………………...64 A Prolonged Debate: Notational Changes, Reformation Efforts, and the Patriarchate…….....65 Pedagogue and Performer: The Spiritual and Functional Roles of Cantor……………………71 Reconciling Change in Phanar: Sentiments of Spiritual Loss and Impurity………………….76 Infrapolitical Action: The Phanariots’ Concealed Confrontation and Resistance…………….77 The Phanariot Mind: Visions for a Fundamental Geopolitical Transformation?…………….. 84 Chapter IV: Analyzing Yphos: Liturgical Musical “Style” and its Manifestation as Infrapolitical 1 Overview……………………………………………………………………………………... 89 Defining Yphos: Identifying a “Style” of Liturgical Chant…………………………………... 91 Analysis: Yphos in Comparative Musical Contexts………………………………………….. 97 Yphos as “Microliminality”: Mirroring the Macro “In-Betweenness” of Phanariot Identity...109 Yphos’s Manifestation as Infrapolitical: Rarefied and Exclusive…………………………….113 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………...118 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………………….120 Works Consulted………………………………………………………………………………..123 2 Acknowledgements ________________________ I wish to express my deepest appreciation to my thesis advisor, Professor Anthony R. DelDonna, Ph.D., for his unwavering support, guidance, and mentorship. I am incredibly grateful for his immense historical knowledge and musical expertise as well as his continued encouragement and support of my project. Thank you for exploring together this new scholastic terrain and for helping me grow in my research, writing, and analysis each step of the way. It has truly been a privilege to work together and learn from your exceptional academic professionalism and your admirable personal character and spirit. I would also like to thank Dean Anthony L. Pirrotti for his leadership and counsel over the course of the year. Your communication and supervision allowed us to overcome the unprecedented challenges that we faced this year and ensure the successful completion of all of our projects. We are all grateful for your scholarly assistance and for your cultivating of a supportive and collaborative working environment. 3 Glossary ________________________ Ekphrasis* Musical expression or inflection. Ektelesis* Lit. “execution.” Interpretive melodic realization of written neumes. Form the organizational structure of a given composition Melos* Fully realized melody, as chanted. Modality the use of ancient derivations of melodic scales, often to express different qualities or affects Phanar* The neighborhood immediately surrounding the Patriarchate. Known to the Rum as “Phanar” (Turkish “Fener”). During the time it was occupied by Rum, its inhabitants were known as “Phanariots.” Phrasing a complete musical passage; melodic episodes Protopsaltis* First cantor or psalmist of the Orthodox Christian church. The protopsaltis of the Church of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the church of St. George, is officially known by the title “Archon Protopsaltis of the Great Church of Christ.” Psaltiki* Commonly referred to as “Byzantine Chant,” this term refers to the vocal tradition of the Byzantine-rite Orthodox Church. Psaltis* (pl. psaltes) A chanter or psalmist of the Orthodox Christian church Rum* Meaning “Roman.” The term Greek-speaking peoples in Turkey, and Orthodox Christians in Arabic-speaking countries, use to refer to themselves. Texture used to describe the harmonic, melodic, and/or rhythmic relationship between voices (either vocal or instrumental): monophonic, homophonic, polyphonic, heterophonic Théseis* (sing. Thésis) Melodic formulae of varying lengths specific to accent pattern, form, rhythmic genre, and mode. Yphos* (lit. style). The term yphos has come to represent many of the oral and less 4 tangible aspects of psaltiki. *Definitions from: Khalil, Alexander Konrad. “Echoes of Constantinople: oral and written tradition of the psaltes of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.” Ph.D. diss., University of California San Diego, 2009: 1-264. ProQuest ID: Khalil_ucsd_0033D_10120. Merritt ID: ark:/20775/bb4403758b. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6r2794cz. 5 Introduction ________________________ The Tanzimat Era of the Ottoman Empire began in 1839 and ended with the First Constitution of 1876, distinguishing a period of unprecedented sociopolitical reform. Attempting to modernize Ottoman society and model legislative, social, and political trends in Western Europe, the Ottoman ruling bodies instituted a series of sweeping edicts, aimed collectively at transforming civil society throughout incorporated lands of the Ottoman Empire. The Rum Millet (the Greek Orthodox, Christian administrative district) remained an area that retained semi-autonomous political control and the ability to dictate religious policy for its self-contained religious community. Nevertheless, it was directly impacted by the expansive social changes. Music as an integral component of worship was exposed to the atmosphere of reform, and adopted a unique position as a pivotal source of identity, belonging, and expression during the period of modernization. In the larger 19th century, new waves of philosophy, ideology, and new encounters with religiosity swept from West to East, eventually arriving at the doorstep of Istanbul. During this era of nation building, ethnic groups turned inward, reconceiving their collective history and lived experience in the hopes of realizing a new state, built upon the foundational tenets of their nationality. Amidst this rise of nationalism, ethnic groups increasingly looked at their music as a marker of national identity and “self-image”.1 For various ethnic groups, their unique music history and music style was emblematic of their distinct identity, and they sought to promote this narrative as a means of legitimizing their national 1 Merih Erol, Greek Orthodox Music in Ottoman Istanbul: Nation and Community in the Era of Reform, (Indiana University Press, 2015), http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt18z4hb3, 41. “During the period [...], in numerous multiethnic and multiconfessional societies in Europe, minority groups considered reforming their liturgical musics, which they saw as part of their national selfimage. Also, it must be mentioned that in industrializing Europe both the essence of religious worship and the relationship of the various social strata with regard to religion were continuously being reinterpreted. In the context of these developments in Europe, but also as the direct and indirect result of the mid-century reforms, in this era religious identities began to be asserted in the Ottoman public space through new media, and more pompously than before.” 6 cause. In the case of the Phanariots, the Greek Orthodox community in Istanbul, the combination of the sweeping ideological sentiments from Western Europe and the onset of the Tanzimat sparked renewed interest in their national identity. To solidify their communal narrative, they turned to the longstanding religious and artistic tradition of Orthodox chant as a durable and deep-rooted emblem of their unique national identity, living and being Greek within the Ottoman structure. In the early nineteenth century, as romantic nationalism made music the natural representative and identifier of the nation, urban bourgeois groups and nationalist intelligentsias sought to rectify what they saw as the nation’s musical heritage, which became closely linked with the latter’s reputation. The rising concern of Istanbul’s Greek Orthodox
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