The choral group Cappella Romana made a splash with a striking, digitally realized recording exploring the sound environment of the Hagia Sophia in Turkey, Lost Voices of Hagia Sophia. Hymns of Kassianí also has a "hook": it contains music by Kassianí, also known as Saint Kassia, a Byzantine abbess who is arguably history's first named female composer. Her priority may be disputed; the poetry of Greek female poets (and before that the Mesopotamian Enheduanna) may well have had musical aspects susceptible to reconstruction, ...
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The choral group Cappella Romana made a splash with a striking, digitally realized recording exploring the sound environment of the Hagia Sophia in Turkey, Lost Voices of Hagia Sophia. Hymns of Kassianí also has a "hook": it contains music by Kassianí, also known as Saint Kassia, a Byzantine abbess who is arguably history's first named female composer. Her priority may be disputed; the poetry of Greek female poets (and before that the Mesopotamian Enheduanna) may well have had musical aspects susceptible to reconstruction, but she did compose hymns and notate them and was probably the first to do so. She has been called a Byzantine counterpart of Hildegard of Bingen, although her music seems to the untutored ear a bit less individual within its tradition than Hildegard's does. Some of Kassianí's music is still in use in Byzantine liturgy after 1,200 years, most famously, the so-called Hymn of Kassiani here, the lament of a sinful woman who throws herself at Christ's feet. This intersects intriguingly...
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