WOMEN COMPOSERS IN BYZANTIUM

BY:
Diane Touliatos-Miles, Ph.D.
It is only in recent studies of Byzantine music that composers of medieval
Byzantine chant have been examined. Not unlike composers of Western
medieval music such as Leonin, Perotin, and Machaut, little is known about
most Byzantine musicians. Nevertheless, renowned Byzantine musicians and
composers of the late Middle Ages did exist, even though a majority of these
musicians will forever remain only as names in the folios of the musical
manuscripts. A few of the composers most frequently mentioned are Ioannes
Koukouzeles, Ioannes Kladas, Xenos Korones, and Manuel Chrysaphes. As
might be expected of medieval times, the composers from both the East and
the West were predominantly men. However, women
composers did exist.
From antiquity there was a legacy of Greek women
composers. Although many of the women were
hetairai (the highest class of prostitutes in ancient
Greece), there were also respectable women, such as
Pythia of Delphi; Telesilla of Argos; Sappho of
Lesbos; Polygnota, daughter of Socrates of Thebes;
and the daughter of Aristocrates of Cyme. A
respectable woman musician was distinguished from
hetairai by the occasional citation of her name and
by the obligatory citation of her patronymic
(father's name) and city of origin. The participation of respectable women
performing and composing music was short-lived. The beginnings of
Christianity brought great change to Greek culture. In the period of early
Christianity in Byzantium, when men dominated all aspects of religious,
political, and social philosophies, Byzantine women were considered to be
intellectually and spiritually inferior to men.
It can only be surmised that the involvement of Byzantine women in music was
minimal during the early centuries of the Empire.Because of its association
with prostitution, performance on musical instruments was forbidden to
young, unmarried women in the early period of Christianity. This attitude was
obviously transmitted from the former role of the hetairai in Antiquity.
Furthermore, women of all ages were forbidden to participate in any type of
liturgical choir singing. (This attitude had been voiced by the apostle Paul to
the Corinthian Greeks in I Corinthians 14:34-35.) Contrary to the position
held by the early church, documentation proves that women did participate in
congregational singing between the second and fourth centuries in such locales
as Samosata, Syria, Jerusalem, and Edessa; this trend probably reached
Byzantium as well.

Next to nothing is known about the role of women in

liturgical music during the early centuries of the
Empire. Most of our information on secular music in
the early centuries of the Empire comes from the
admonishments of the Church Fathers. In
Byzantium we know that there was music for the
accompaniment of theatrical performances and
other public shows, ballets, and pantomimes in
which women participated alongside men in song,
dance, and instrumental performance. These
activities are documented in chronicles by the
Church Fathers who regarded them with contempt
for all profane music. During these early centuries
female musicians were referred to by the Church Fathers as prostitutes.
The Byzantine Empire existed for more than a thousand years, from its
beginnings in the fourth century until its fall in 1453. Throughout this time,
there were constraints on the participation of women in all aspects of life.
Some of these constraints were legal edicts, while others were implied. From
the ninth century until the end of the Empire, the Byzantines were unusually
conservative in aspects of relations concerning women, leading to theseclu
sion, or at the very least segregation, of women from men. For example,
women of the Imperial court were known to be housed in private quarters of
the palace away from the men; urban women who attended the large
cathedrals of Constantinople were seated on the left side of the cathedral
(facing the altar) to separate them from the men seated on the right side. It is
from these centuries of constraint that very few names of Byzantine women
composers-musicians have survived.
The Byzantine woman composer-musician is much harder to discover than her
Western counterpart. In the area of secular music very little has survived and
hence no names of women composers have been given. Manuscript sources of
liturgical music have survived in great number, but anonymity was so honored
in Byzantium that composers' names were often omitted, especially in early
sources. For female composers, anonymity was perhaps observed in later
periods as well, since they probably wished to be measured by the merit of
their music and not by their gender. The absence of compositions attributed to
or signed by women might also result from the reticence of Greek scribes.
Throughout the Eastern and Western medieval periods, Greek scribes rarely
included names or information about themselves. In Byzantium the women
composers' names that have survived were associated exclusively with
liturgical chant. These women were all literate and of middle- to upper-class
social status. With the exception of one they were all nuns: Martha, mother of
Symeon the Stylite; Theodosia; Thekla; Kassia; Kouvouklisena; and

Palaeologina. The one for whom we have no knowledge is referred to as the

daughter of Ioannes Kladas.
Of these women whose names are documented in sources as composers of
Byzantine chant, only the music of Kassia and the daughter of Ioannes Kladas
is preserved in manuscripts. Since music by only these two of the women
hymnographers survives, one might ask whether the other women wrote music
as well as the texts for their liturgical poems. Most of these female
hymnographers were nuns who wrote their liturgical compositions for use in
their nunneries.

It is believed that these liturgical compositions were chanted, since liturgical

rites were sung throughout in medieval Byzantium. Male Byzantine
hymnographers, such as Romanos Melodos and John of Damascus,
traditionally wrote both words and music. However, whether women
composed their own music or employed contrafacta (preexisting music) is a
point for debate.
The surviving information concerning the female composers is easily
summarized. Martha was the mother of Symeon the Stylite, a Byzantine saint.
Little is known about her: she lived toward the end of the ninth century and
was the abbess of a nunnery at Argos. It is assumed that most of her musical
works were composed for the nuns of her convent.
Theodosia, a devout abbess of a convent near the Imperial city of
Constantinople, also lived during the ninth century. She is known for her

composition of Kanons, a poetical form comprising nine odes and found in the
Byzantine Morning Office known as Orthros. Another ninth-century composer
is Thekla, who was also probably an abbess of a convent near Constantinople.
Thekla has been described as a self-confident woman, proud not only of
herself, but also of her sex. Her only surviving hymn is a Kanon in honor of
the Theotokos (the Byzantine attribution for the Virgin Mary). Since this
composition praises the Virgin Mary, it has also been called an encomium, or
hymn of praise. In the millennium years of existence of the Empire, this Kanon
is the only preserved hymn to the Theotokos by a woman. An examination of
Thekla's literary skills in this complex Kanon attests to the fact that she was
educated in literature as well as in Scriptures. In the several themes presented
in the Kanon, the most significant is Thekla's premise that the Theotokos has
emancipated Byzantine women from the guilt of Eve and has given women
respect and honor in the Byzantine church. In addition to lauding the
Theotokos, the woman most revered in Byzantium, Thekla shows her feminist
traits by praising female martyrs, saints, and consecrated virgins of the
Eastern Orthodox Church.
A later Byzantine woman musician is
Kouvouklisena, a thirteenth-century
precentor identified in Lavra MS Gamma
71, a manuscript in the largest monastery
of Mount Athos. The citation in the
manuscript pertains to the date of her
death. More important, it identifies her as a
domestikena or chantress and leader of a
woman's choir. Although there were other
female singers of chant, the
acknowledgement of her musical role by a
Greek male scribe from a monastery
indicates her extraordinary vocal abilities
and importance for the period. There is no
clear indication that Kouvouklisena was a composer, but since many leading
male precentors of the period were composers or at least arrangers of
traditional chant, she also probably composed and improvised.
A Byzantine woman composer for whom we have a single musical reference is
identified only as "the daughter of Ioannes Kladas." The sole musical
composition and inscription in reference to this composer appears in Athens
MS 2406, folio 258v. (A published musical transcription by this writer is
available in College Music Symposium, volume 24, (Spring, 1984), p. 64.) The
composer is identified by the patronymic and the relationship of the composer
to the patriarch of the family, following the ancient Greek tradition of
identifying respectable women. It is interesting that in the single reference to
this female composer no given or Christian name is indicated. In instances

where male members of a family are cited, a given name is usually included in
addition to a family relationship. From this reference, it appears that the
daughter of Ioannes Kladas was probably known as a singer and composer.
Her fame, however, is not as great as that of her father, who was a leading
composer of Byzantine chant of the late fourteenth century as well as "The
Lampadarios" or maistor of the
Hagia Sophia of Constantinople.
Based on the known lifespan of
Ioannes Kladas, the composition by
his daughter would have originated
during the late fourteenth or early
fifteenth century. The composition is
included in a section of the
manuscript that contains a collection
of compositions by Ioannes Kladas.
The selection attributed to the
daughter is a memorial chant
honoring the memory of her late
father.
A later Byzantine woman
hymnographer that might have lived
in the fifteenth century is identified as Palaeologina. This hymnographer was
obviously a well-educated, aristocratic woman from the Imperial family and
dynasty Palaeologus that ruled from 1259 to 1453. Palaeologina is thought to
have been a nun in one of the convents of Constantinople. It was for the
convent that she composed Kanons, for which only the texts have survived.
The composer who is the most prominent woman composer and
hymnographer in the history of Byzantine music and who has overshadowed
the fame of other women composers of the Empire is Kassia. Kassia has the
distinction of being the earliest woman composer for whom there is preserved
music! She precedes her Western musical counterparts by over two centuries.
Much is known about Kassia, who was born around A.D. 810, probably in
Constantinople, and died sometime between 843 and 867. Kassia is known by
the various forms of her name found in manuscripts and service books: Kasia
(Kasia), Kassia (Kassia), Eikasia (Eikasia), Ikasia (Ikasia), and Kassiane
(Kassianh).
Over fifty liturgical chants are attributed to Kassia. (These musical
compositions have been transcribed into Western staff notation by this writer
and are available through Hildegard Press. ) As a gifted poet, Kassia wrote 261
secular verses in the forms of epigrams, gnomic verses, and moral sentences.

Kassia's fame and importance is documented by Nikephoros Kallistos

Xanthopoulos (a hymnographer and priest in the church of St. Sophia in
Constantinople) in his fourteenth-century catalogue of important Byzantine
hymnographers, in which she is the only woman composer acknowledged.
Kassia is the only woman pictured in the frontispiece of a Triodion, a Lenten
liturgical service book, printed in Venice in 1601, which also included pictures
of the Byzantine churches leading hymnographers.
Kassia was from a wealthy family in Constantinople.
Her father had the title of candidatos at the Imperial
Court, which was a military title given to members
of the aristocracy. Because of the honor given to her
father, it is assumed that Kassia and her family were
members of the Imperial Court. Like other
aristocratic young girls of the court, Kassia, received
a private education that was influenced by Classical
Greek studies and which can be observed in her
verse and writings.
During her teenage years Kassia became involved in the iconoclastic
controversy of the Byzantine Empire. This was a controversy involving the use
and abolishment of icons in churches. Kassia, along with other women, clergy,
and monks, fought against the imperial edict abolishing the use of icons in
churches. Because of her actions, Kassia was persecuted and lashed for helping
imprisoned monks and iconodule exiles. It was during this time that Kassia
also came under the influence of Theodore the Studite (759-826), abbot of the
Studite Monastery of Constantinople, who was also a defender of icons. The
correspondence between Kassia and Theodore the Studite reveals her
inclination to become a nun, although he tried to dissuade her from such a
decision so early in her life. Kassia also sent to Theodore examples of her
writings, to which he responded with compliments
on her literary skills.
Kassia's documentation in Byzantine chronicles and
the popularity that has made her a legend in
Byzantine folklore is a result of her participation in
the bride-show of Emperor Theophilos, who reigned
from 830 to 842. Bride-shows, in which the bride
was selected in the ancient Greek classical manner,
with a token of a golden apple, were very popular in
Byzantium during the eighth and ninth centuries
and were also used in oriental empires. The story of
the beautiful noblewoman's participation in the
bride-show for Theophilos (ca. A.D. 830) has been told many times, and there
is proof and authentic documentation of the verbal exchange between Kassia

and Emperor Theophilos. The earliest chronicler to have documented the

incident is Simeon the Logothete of the tenth century. The following
description of the incident was written by the historian Edward Gibbon.
With a golden apple in his hand he [Theophilos] slowly walked between two
lines of contending beauties; his eye was detained by the charms of Icasia,
and , in the awkwardness of a first declaration, the prince could only observe
that in this world, women had been the occasion of much evil [in reference to
Eve, the first created woman]; "And surely. Sir," she [Kassia] pertly replied,
"they have likewise been the occasion of much good" [in reference to the
Virgin Mary]. This affectation of unseasonable wit displeased the imperial
lover; he turned aside in disgust; Icasia concealed her mortification in a
convent, and the modest silence of Theodora was rewarded with the golden
apple.
Kassia's pertinent and bold response to Theophilos was in defiance to the
Byzantine tradition of silence and obedience to male supremacy. The
Byzantine saying addressed to women was "Silence is an ornament." Kassia
paid dearly for her boldness and quickness of wit by losing the opportunity to
become empress. It is ironic that Theophilos's choice, Theodora, after the
death of her husband, was the empress who restored icons, bringing the final
end to the iconoclastic controversy.
In Byzantine society single women could not function easily and freely; as a
result, the choices for proper women were either marriage or the monastery.
Since Kassia had forfeited her chance to marry and become empress, she
accepted the monastic life. In 843 she was said to have founded hew own
monastery, named after her, on the seventh hill of Constantinople, the
Xerolophos, near the Constantinian Wall. There she spent the remainder of
her life as the abbess, composing music for the services in her monastery and
writing her liturgical and secular verses.
Known mostly as a hymnographer and composer of sacred poems, Kassia was
a comtemporary of the famous Byzantine composers, Theodore of Studite,
Joseph of Thessalonika, and St. Theophanes. Her compositions were not
acknowledged until recent times. Furthermore, besides composing music to
her own liturgical poetry, Kassia also composed music to the poetry and prose
of Byzantios, Georgios, Kyprianos, and Marcos Monachos.
Of the over fifty compositions attributed to Kassia, only about twenty-four are
considered to be genuine compositions, while the remaining are of doubtful
authorship. For the compositions that are of doubtful authorship, it is believed
that the original melodies and texts of these were by Kassia but that other
composers either embellished or varied her preexisting melodies with their
own interpretation.

Most of Kassia's liturgical compositions are Stichera and performed in the

evening and morning Office throughout the liturgical year. Although all of
Kassia's compositions are notated monophonically, in accord with
performance practice of medieval Byzantine liturgical music, it was usually
sung by two choirs, one sang the monophonic notated melody, the other
provided an unwritten improvisatory drone accompaniment called the
isokratema.
Kassia's most famous musical composition which is still in use today is her
troparion "The Fallen Woman," sung in the Morning Office of Holy
Wednesday but technically celebrated at the end of the Vespers service of Holy
Tuesday. This hymn is about Mary Magdalene, a "fallen woman," who washed
Christ's Feet, anointed them, and wiped them with her long hair (St. Luke
7:36-50). The hymn is also considered to be in part autobiographical. Emperor
Theophilos later regretted his decision not to choose Kassia as his bride, and
he attempted to meet with her to express his sorrow and love. Although Kassia
avoided him, in her heart she felt she had returned his love and had become a
"fallen woman."
The melody and text of this hymn is by Kassia, but
verse eight is attributed, according to legend, to
Theophilos. Kassia was in the midst of writing this
poem when the Emperor was making one of his
unexpected stately visits to her monastery. Seeing
Theophilos from afar, Kassia fled and left the poem
on her desk. When the Emperor entered her
monastery cell and saw her unfinished poem, he
added the lines:
The feet whose sound
Eve heard in Paradise
In the afternoon
And hid in fear.
After his departure Kassia returned to complete her poem and found the
addition with its double meaning: Eve hiding from God, or Kassia hiding from
Theophilos. Although out of context with the theme of a fallen woman, Kassia
retained the Emperor's addition. It is this legendary element that has made
this hymn so well known.
The next most popular hymn of Kassia's after "The Fallen Woman" is her
famous sticheron idiomelon doxastikon "Augustus, the Monarch."
In this picture you see Kassia's "Augustus, the monarch" as it appears in a
musical manuscript. On the lower right corner of the manuscript, you can see

the attribution to Kassia. This melody was so well known during Byzantine
times that it was documented in the chronicles of Byzantium. This hymn was
sung during the Vespers service of December 25th, for it glorifies the birth of a
new King, Jesus Christ. In this hymn Kassia displays her genius as both a poet
and musical composer, for the text interweaves and influences the structure of
the melody. In the text Kassia parallels and contrasts the reign of the first
Roman Emperor Augustus (27 B.C. -A.D. 14) with the rule of Jesus Christ.
Besides the parallelism of the themes, there is a parallel metrical rhyming
scheme in the text that corresponds to the parallelism in the music. The
sequential structure of this sticheron has led some scholars to believe that the
sequence was brought from
Byantium to the West.
Kassia's over fifty musical
compositions exhibit her talent
and originality as a poet and an
a composer. Her poetry guides
the structure of her musical
compositions. Her compositions
are far more original than most
of her contemporaries';
otherwise, her music might not
have been documented in the
Byzantine chronicles of the time. Most hymnographers of the period were far
less imaginative; their poetry was more verbose and their compositions longer.
They gave little attention to musical structure. Kassia's music is concise; her
texts set syllabically. Her musical inventiveness and wit is demonstrated by the
form of her compositions, which often parallels or contrasts with the text; in
musical motives that symbolize and reflect the text (an early use of tone
painting); and in her poetic play with words. Furthermore, Kassia is
historically important as the only hymnographer who wrote a penitential
hymn on the "fallen woman," Mary Magdalene, a subject that no male
hymnographer deemed worthy of attention.
These few names of women composers in Byzantium is evidence of women
who contributed to the culture of music. Since the participation of women in
secular music was condemned, respectable women, with no other outlet for
musical participation, turned to sacred music and created new works for the
nunneries of Byzantium. These convents served as cultural retreats for those
aristocratic, wealthy, and educated women who did not marry. It was for the
convents of Byzantium that the few known women composers and
hymnographers wrote their compositions, to be chanted in liturgical services
by their female peers. Some of these, such as Kouvouklisena, possessed
outstanding vocal abilities that were admired by their male counterparts-an
extraordinary measure of success. There is no doubt that the convents were

centers for much musical activity and productivity by Byzantine

women. However, few of the typika from nunneries have survived. More
importantly, misogyny taints much of the documentation of Byzantine
women's participation in music. Women were measured by the standard
Byzantine phrase: ] Ivm=hn de p`antos kef`alhn t=hs gunaik-os ton }andra
["Ismen de pantos kefalin tes gynaikos ton andra"] (Women are always under
the head of the man).
Bibliography
Touliatos, Diane. "Kassia (ca. 810-ca.867)," Women
Composer: Music Through the Ages, vol. I
Composers Born Before 1599, eds.Martha Furman
Schleifer and Sylvia Glickman. New York: G.K.
Hall,1996, pp. 1-24.
Idem., "The Traditional Role of Greek Women in
Music from Antiquity to the End of the Byzantine
Empire," Rediscovering the Muses: Women's
Musical Traditions, ed. Kimberly Marshall (Boston: Northeastern University
Press, 1993), pp. 111-23 and notes 250-53.
Idem., "Medieval Women Composers in Byzantium and the West,"
Proceedings of the VIth International Congress of Musicology "Musica
Antiqua Europae Orientalis" (Bydgoszcz, Poland, 1982) pp. 687-712.
Idem., "Women Composers of Medieval Byzantine Chant," College Music
Society Symposium, vol. 24, pt. 1 (Spring, 1984), 62-80.
Kassia's "Using the Apostate Tyrant As His Tool," Transcription and
Arrangement by Diane Touliatos for the Kronos String Quartet's Early Music
(Lachrimae Antiquae) CD, 3' 51", released September, 1997.