FWF-Individual project
Head of Project: Nina-Maria WANEK
e-Mail: nmwanek@wvnet oder nina-maria.wanek@univie.ac.at

Project start: 1.3.2015
Project end: 29.2.2020

The term ‘Missa graeca’ refers to chants (Gloria/Δόξα [Doxa], Credo/Πιστεύω [Pisteuo], Sanctus/Αγιος [Hagios] and Agnus Dei/Αμνός τού θεού [Amnos tu theu] of the Roman Ordinarium missae with Greek text in Latin transliteration or translation. translation, which can be found in Western Coral manuscripts from the 9th to 11th century. In addition to the Missa graeca, there are a large number of other bilingual Greek-Latin chants that are contained in Western manuscripts and have not yet been related to it. These include the chants for the veneration of the cross on Good Friday, the Hodie antiphons for Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, the bilingual Alleluia verses for Christmas, the antiphons of the so-called Veterem hominem cycle for the Epiphany octave and the Cherubimhymnus (‘Cherubikon’). 

The aim of the project is to come a significant step closer to resolving the numerous questions and contradictory theories on the origin, development and formation of the so-called Missa graeca and those bilingual Greek-Latin chants that are also found in Western manuscripts in a neumatic form: Specifically, the project aims to provide a direct comparison of liturgical chants from the East and West, which has been lacking for a long time, in order to gain new insights into the common roots and forms of liturgical music in Byzantium and the West and to reveal new perspectives on the transfer between two different cultures in the Middle Ages. 

On the basis of its own transcriptions and analyses, the project will for the first time - as there have only been studies on individual aspects of this subject area to date - provide an overall view of the Missa graeca and the bilingual chants in a separate monograph, which will serve as a starting point and well-founded reference work for further research. 

The aim of the project is also to scrutinise and re-evaluate the relevant questions on Greek chants in Latin manuscripts from a Byzantine perspective and using Byzantine sources for the first time - until now, this research has been conducted almost exclusively from a Western perspective. With the help of this new approach, the project also aims to prove that research into Byzantine music can provide significant insights into Western liturgical music. The project is therefore of great importance insofar as it will make an important contribution to integrating Byzantine musicology, which still occupies a marginal position, more strongly into the canon of European historical musicology.