“Hymns of Kassiani” = Hymns for Christmas, Hymns from the Triodion and Holy Week – Cappella Romana/ Alexander Lingas – Cappella Records multichannel SACD CR422, 76:40 *****:
Who is Kassiani, or Kassia, you might ask? Probably the world’s first known female composer! This is not to say that there were not other women composing somewhere at some time someplace in the world (Enheduanna, the Sumerian woman from 2300 BC is the first person of either sex to write poetry intended for music, yet we are unclear as to whether she was a composer) but as far as history goes, Kassia is the first woman composer of consequence. Most people in the western world think instead of Hildegard of Bingen, the 12th century German Benedictine abbess who was a renaissance women before there was any such thing, a composer and poet of great importance, and easily the most-recorded composer of the medieval era. But Kassia has her beat in one significant respect: she is the only woman composer whose efforts remain in the churchly repertory of the Orthodox communion, one of the few women to have engaged in such efforts. Hildegard’s music does not enjoy a similar enthronement in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church.
Kassia herself was born in Constantinople in the early 9th century to a wealthy family, and enjoyed beauty, intelligence, and great piety. According to at least three separate sources, she was involved in a “bride show”, something done in those days when an emperor or high-ranking official needed to find a wife. In this case the prospective bridegroom was none other than the emperor-to-be Theophilus, who would become a fierce iconoclast, only to be defeated in his ideas by the prayers of his ultimate choice, Theodora, responsible for the eventual defeat of a lingering and detrimental heresy that afflicted church and empire for around 100 years. In this case his choice was fortuitous for everyone involved, as Kassia’s quick wit and theologically impactful answer to his statement “to a woman came forth the baser things” (and through a woman came forth better things) was enough to make him realize that she was more than he wanted to deal with, despite his undenied attraction to her. Ultimately, she founded a convent and became its abbess, reposing about 890 AD.
Portrait of St Kassia
The period of her life saw a great many liturgical and musical developments, spurred on in the later years by the flowering that took place after the defeat of iconoclasm. Kassia suffered persecution herself for her iconodule beliefs, and no less a personage than St. Theodore the Studite (a main figure in the battle against iconoclasm) corresponded with and considered her an important and significant church figure. Her music found currency in Italy, Greece, Mount Athos, Russia, and many other locales, today enjoying universal appeal in the Orthodox church, where her veneration increases yearly as more details about her life are discovered by the faithful.
Kassia is especially known for one particular piece, the Hymn of Kassiani, so-called because of its placement in the orthros (matins) service of Holy Wednesday. It is a masterly composition of great pathos, commemorating the harlot who anointed the feet of Jesus and washed his hair with her tears, found in the gospel of Matthew. The piece is lengthy and difficult, a showpiece for the best Byzantine cantors, though it has been simplified to make it more accessible to churches with less stellar resources. There are also different versions, and Cappella Romana gives us two on this SACD. But Kassia may have nearly 50 hymns in the repertory, with some attributed to other composers. This disc seeks to correct the perception that her only contribution is this holy week effort, and presents her work from Christmas, other holy week music, and the liturgical book called the Triodion (“three odes”), the resource used from the four preparatory Lenten weeks to the office immediately before the Easter service. The music itself has undergone many changes over the years according to the time and place of its use, but the beauty and obvious devotional qualities are very easy to apprehend. Those interested in something liturgically unique and different from the multitudinous bad recordings of Gregorian chant will find this refreshing and eye-opening. Kassia is definitely a composer to be reckoned with.
Cappella Romana continues to turn out sensational recordings that are state-of-the-art in sound quality. This one has breadth, depth, warmth, and a phenomenal surround quality resonating with a physically palpable and penetrating effect that places you in the middle of an acoustically marvelous church. Alexander Lingas offers excellent, in-depth notes on many aspects of the life of Kassia and her music, and directs the ensemble (men, women, both together) in a performance of clarity and technical wizardry. This is a landmark recording that will still retain its importance for many years to come.
—Steven Ritter
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