Geography in Psalms: Hagiosophitikon Settings of Psalms 1, 2 and 3

The term hagiosophitikon is quite well-known in Byzantine chant, where it occurs in manuscripts from the 14th century onwards: Most often one encounters the designation hagiosophitikon in rubrics of settings of Psalm 1 (Μακάριος ἀνήρ) and Psalm 3 (Κύριε, τί ἐπληθύνθησαν οἱ θλίβοντές με). Nevertheless, neither the exact meaning of hagiosophitikon has ever been clearly determined, nor have the settings themselves been melodically analysed yet. Thus, hagiosophitikon is sometimes explained to denote chants associated with services in the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and in Thessaloniki respectively, and/or to represent hymns rather conservative in outline or to have been composed in a very local style. The present article will aim at both clarifying the term’s meaning itself as well as presenting a detailed analysis of the compositional style by comparing the hagiosophitikon settings of Psalms 1 and 3 among themselves and with melodies named palaion (old) in manuscripts of the 14th and 15th centuries: What kind of compositional style do the hagiosophitikon settings display, do they use formulas and if yes which ones, might their syllabic parts show traces of the old, so-called “simple” psalmody and how are the melismatic parts treated? – These are just some of the questions which will be discussed in the article in order to get closer to resolving the unanswered questions surrounding the term hagiosophitikon.