Byzantine Music

views updated May 18 2018

Byzantine Music. Christian liturgical song (often highly ornamented) of the E. Roman Empire (capital Byzantium = Constantinople = Istanbul), founded AD 330 by Constantine the Great and destroyed 1453 with the Fall of Constantinople. It appears to derive from an ancient source common to it and to the plainsong of the W. Church. The various forms of notation are also a subject for special study.