Interview with Haig Utidjian (EMS) regarding the book The Materiality of Sound in Chant Manuscripts in the East
The interview is from August 25 and can be consulted here. As it was published in Armenian, a few excerpts have been translated.
More information about the book “The Materiality of Sound in Chant Manuscripts in the East” is available here.
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“The two-volume work The Materiality of Sound in Chant Manuscripts is part of the Musicalia Antiquitatis et Medii Aeviseries published by Brepols. The first volume, dedicated to the Western tradition, was published last year, while the second volume, covering the Eastern traditions, was released last week. The aim of the two-volume work is to address research questions related to both the Eastern and Western traditions of liturgical chant, discussing general issues while maintaining broad geographical scope and including specific local and national features and concerns. The discussions encompass repertoires, manuscripts, and the specific activities and practices of scribes and singers, with a proper focus on the relationships between these elements. The main emphases are materiality, context, and function. The only precedent of comparable scope is Constantinos Floros’s monumental 1970 work, Universale Neumenkunde. However, the current publication differs in many respects and certainly incorporates the fruits of research from the past fifty years. Although the ten chapters of the volume were written by ten different specialists, all went through the same editorial process. The aim is to enable theorists and performers from the various branches of East and West to better understand each other’s traditions, share useful methodological experiences, identify parallels or comparable phenomena, and thus contribute to future research.”
About Haig Utidjian’s article (Early Music Studies Group):
“I firmly believe that our [Armenian] musicology can benefit enormously from the involvement of specialists studying sister traditions and from their experiences. Personally, I have already greatly profited from such exchanges. We must not forget that we were severely harmed by the Armenian Genocide and by the Soviet collapse, losing our monastic musical traditions (with few and partial exceptions), and were strongly influenced by Westernization trends. Unlike the Middle Byzantine neumatic system, our medieval neumes remain largely incomprehensible. Moreover, our musical sources remain, for the most part, inaccessible, especially to foreign specialists and to members of the Armenian diaspora.”
