Ioannis Fulias, “Theoretical writings on European music in Psachos Library: a first presentation”, in: Achilleas G. Chaldæakes (ed.), In Memoriam Dimitrios Balageorgos († 2 June 2023). Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference on Byzantine Musicology (Athens, 1-4 July 2024, Amphitheatre of the Library of the School of Philosophy), Editions of the “Laboratory of Byzantine Musicology” of the Department of Music Studies at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 2025, p. 37-69.
Among the hundreds of volumes of the printed collection in Konstantinos A. Psachos Music Library, a not inconsiderable number of publications on European music can be traced. From these, the present paper selectively refers to handbooks of elementary music theory written in Greek (by Henning, Ioasaf the Cantor, Vigentini, Doukas, Polykratis, Pachtikos, Palladino, Lavrangas and Argyropoulos), either independent or included in anthologies of educational songs, which span from 1875 to 1914, but also to similar publications in foreign languages of approximately the same period, to few manuals of harmony and dictionaries published in Greek at the end of the first decade of the 20th century, as well as to volumes of history of music and various studies of the systematic branch of musicology published in Greek, German, French and Italian during the period 1869-1933. The focus is on the examination of the Greek textbooks of theory and harmony, with many correlations both among them and to their sources, and with more specific references to publishing issues and matters of musical terminology as well. Furthermore, the extent of Psachos’ engagement with these selected books of his collection is investigated and some previously unknown evidence of his multifaceted activity is brought to light through handwritten notes and dedications found in the material studied for the needs of this research.
© Ioannis
Fulias