Kassia

Kassiani wrote many hymns which are still used in the Byzantine liturgy to this day. She became known to the great Theodore the Studite, while she was still a young girl, and he was impressed by her learning and literary style.[9] She not only wrote spiritual poetry, but composed music to accompany it. She is regarded as an "exceptional and rare phenomenon" among composers of her day[11] At least twenty-three genuine hymns are ascribed to her.[9] Her oeuvre as a whole demonstrates influence from classical Greek literature, which she studied early in life.[1]

The most famous of her compositions is the eponymous Hymn of Kassia (also known as the Troparion of Kassiani), which is chanted each year for Great and Holy Wednesday as a doxastichon occurring at the end of the aposticha of orthros and the lamp-lighting psalms of the Presanctified Liturgy.[12]

Tradition says that in his later years the Emperor Theophilus, still in love with her, wished to see her one more time before he died, so he rode to the monastery where she resided. Kassia was alone in her cell, writing her Hymn when she realized that the commotion she heard was because the imperial retinue had arrived. She was still in love with him but was now devoted to God and hid away because she did not want to let her old passion overcome her monastic vow. She left the unfinished hymn on the table. Theophilus found her cell and entered it alone. He looked for her but she was not there; she was hiding in a closet, watching him. Theophilus, overcome with sadness, cried and regretted that moment of pride when he rejected such a beautiful and intellectual woman; then he noticed the papers on the table and read them. When he had finished reading, he sat and added one line to the hymn; then he left. The line attributed to the Emperor is the line "those feet whose sound Eve heard at dusk in Paradise and hid herself for fear." Legend says that as he was leaving he noticed Kassia in the closet but did not speak to her, out of respect for her wished privacy. Kassia emerged when the emperor was gone, read what he had written and finished the hymn.

The music for the hymn is slow, sorrowful and plaintive, lasting about ten to twenty minutes, depending on tempo and style of execution. It requires a very wide vocal range, and is considered one of the most demanding pieces — if not the most demanding one — of solo Byzantine chant, and cantors take great pride in delivering it well. It is also sung by choirs in unison, often underpinned by Byzantine vocal bass drone. The faithful make a point of going to church specifically "to listen to Kassiani" that evening.

Among the other hymns she composed are the following:

• The Doxastichon chanted at the Vesperal Divine Liturgy on Christmas Eve [13]
• Numerous hymns in honor of saints found in the Menaion (fixed cycle of the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar), such as Feast of the Nativity of the Forerunner, 24 June.
• Among her hymns in the Triodion (liturgical book used during Great Lent) are the irmoi for the Matins Canons of Great and Holy Thursday and Great and Holy Saturday.[14]
• Her longest composition is a Canon for the Departed, consisting of 32 strophes, to be chanted at a Parastas (memorial services).

261 works of secular literature are attributed to Kassia, consisting of epigrams and gnomic verses.[15] Never set to music, they were written during the reigns of Theophilos and Michael III.[15] Akin to the rest of her oeuvre, her writings demonstrate influence from classical Greek literature, which she studied early in life.[1] These literary genres were chiefly dominated by men, so her contributions would have been unusual; Byzantinist Andrew Mellas noted that "perhaps this was an advantage for Kassia and accounts for her originality".[3]

The genre of epigrams had existed from classical antiquity and into the Byzantine empire,[15] being defined as somewhere in between the scope of lyric and epic poetry.[15] Their exact organization was unformalized, ranging from the use of couplets to iambic pentameter, among others.[15] The works are generally rooted in the long tradition,[15] though they include her own unique innovations.[16] In this genre, she is credited with first synthesizing secular and sacred values.[3] While the works are secular in character, they promoted ethical teachings for the lives of Christians.[3] Byzantinist Marc Lauxtermann described this approach as "An osmosis of ancient wisdom and monastic truth".[3] Kassia abandoned typical themes found in Greek prosody, preferring to discuss more individual and personal issues.[16] In addition to ethnical ideals, the themes Kassia covers include ethnical ideals and weaknesses (her examples include 'foolishness' and 'friendship');[16] social structures;[17] femininity (particularly 'beauty');[16] and the defense of women's rights.[18] This approach would have made the genre more relevant and accessible to the Byzantine people,[3] though the extent of her epigrams' circulation remains unclear.[17] Her epigrams are particularly reminiscent of similar works by her colleague Theodore the Studite, and are characterized by a concise and straight forward presentation,[15] often including witty or humorous elements.[18] According to Mellas, it is probable that they were "a form Catechism for her nuns and perhaps any friends of the monastery."[17]

Kassia's gnomic verses were much shorter, usually a single-verse teachings. They often include moral adages and like the epigrams, were succinct.[15]