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Tune / melody family
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Liturgy & Rites

Festal tune

The festal tune, al-faraiḥī, is a Coptic melody type for feasts, weddings, and baptisms, transmitted orally and shaped by traditional musical formulae that permit variation.

Also known as: al-faraiḥī · Joyful tune

Published 10/1/2026Updated 7 revisionsPage history

In brief

The festal tune, called al-faraiḥī, is a Coptic Orthodox melody type used for feasts, weddings, and baptisms. It belongs to a system organized by liturgical occasion rather than the eight-mode Oktoechos. Transmitted orally, it employs traditional musical formulae that identify the occasion while allowing cantors some variation in performance.

Definition and use

The festal tune, called al-faraiḥī, is one of six main melody types identified in Coptic music for ordinary days and special occasions. It is used for feasts, weddings, and baptisms.1

This classification distinguishes al-faraiḥī from the daily melody, the melody for Advent, those for fasting periods and the week before Easter, and al-sha‘anīnī, used on Palm Sunday and feasts of the Cross.1

Kuhn names the daily melody al-sanawī, including Adam and Batos, the Advent melody Kiyahk, the fasting melody al-ṣiyāmī, and the melody for the week before Easter al-ḥazainī.8

This classification of Coptic chant by liturgical occasion differs from the eight-mode system known as the Oktoechos; Coptic melodies were not classified in that system.4

Kuhn also distinguishes this system from the Arabic maqām, while Marian Robertson’s discussion of the term [[Lahn|lahn]] leaves open the possibility of affinities with Byzantine echos and Arabic maqam that require further elucidation.9

Hymnody and terminology

The Arabic term lahn, whose plural is alhan, is used in Coptic liturgical books and manuscripts to specify the music for a text and translates a Coptic term adopted from the Greek ekhos.10 Rendered in English as “air,” “tone,” “melody,” or “mode,” it can designate either a particular melody or a recognizable melody type; Robertson gives Lahn al-Farah, meaning a melody of joy, and Lahn al-Huzn, meaning a melody of sorrow, as examples of descriptive names.11

Another ecclesiastical term for an air, tune, or hymn is waham, properly pronounced woham, with the plurals wahamat or wohamati; derived from Coptic bohem, it is described by Emile Maher Ishaq as occurring only in ritual manuscripts.36

The relationship between text and tune is not necessarily one-to-one: in the broader Coptic repertoire, the same text can be sung to different alhan, and the same lahn can carry different texts.12 A lahn may also have short (qasir), abridged (mukhtasar), and long (tawil) forms.13 Kuhn notes that familiar melodies themselves, not only the formulae within them, serve as memory aids when different hymns are sung to them.14

The naming of alhan is documented in the fourteenth century, with approximately twenty-six listed, most of which are still known; some were designated sanawiyyah and sung throughout the year, while others were reserved for a single occasion.37

Within this broader terminology, hymns labeled Adam are assigned to Sunday through Tuesday and certain specified days, whereas Batos hymns are assigned to Wednesday through Saturday, the evening service, and Holy Week.38 Their names come from the opening words of the Monday and Thursday Theotokias for Kiyahk, respectively referring to Adam and to the bush seen by Moses.39 Adam and Batos differ in verse structure, length, and mood, while their music differs little in contemporary practice and both can occur within one service.40

Liturgical performance and related festal rubrics

The broader liturgical tradition in which the festal tune is performed is monodic and primarily unaccompanied vocal music, sung by men except for certain responses assigned to the whole congregation.41 Small hand cymbals, called sanj or colloquially sajjat, and the metal triangle, called muthallath or colloquially turianta, accompany specified hymns and responses in many Coptic churches.42 Played by deacons and/or the cantor, these percussion instruments provide rhythmic support, signal the congregation to participate, and help unify the singing.43

The core of this musical repertoire is in the Divine Liturgy, whose texts are intended to be sung except for the Creed and the Dismissal.59

Seasonal musical directions also occur in the midnight psalmody: the Tobhat, a litany of saints and intercessions, are sung, like the Doxologies, to a melody type called Watus that varies with the season.44 The Tobhat contain seventy-four verses or prayers during the year and eighty-three in Kiyahk.45 On all feasts of Our Lord, the sequence is shortened to the verse naming Claudius, Theodore, Apa Iskhron, and Apa Isaac, or, according to the ritual manuscript Tartib al-Bi‘ah, to the verse of Saint George, after which the final three verses are added.46

The singular tubh is an Egyptian Arabic ecclesiastical term derived from Coptic tobh, meaning prayer or to pray; the prayers in this midnight litany begin with an appeal to pray to the Lord, tobh amebshays.60

Musical structure

Magdalena Kuhn describes al-faraiḥī as one of the less well-known melodies whose use of musical formulae can vary, contrasting it with the more consistently arranged formulae of the daily and Advent melodies.2

In Kuhn’s account of Coptic melodic practice, formulae are clusters of notes that can be repeated or placed at different points in a chant. They allow cantors to lengthen or shorten vocalises. The opening formula identifies the melody for a particular feast day and is fixed by tradition, while subsequent formulae allow greater freedom of selection and placement.3

Kuhn adds that the opening formula is shared by professional and lay singers alike, and that an experienced cantor can recognize a melody from it just as a chant can be recognized from its opening word.15

These formulae also serve as memory aids for cantors learning the large repertoire of liturgical melodies.5 A group of notes can recur at a higher or lower pitch or in sequences, and a single formula can be used in different melodies.6 Kuhn emphasizes that a formula’s significance comes from its position in the melody rather than from any special character of its own.7

In her general description of Coptic melodies, Kuhn observes that intervals—the distances between successive notes—are normally small.16 The high, middle, or low placement of a chant within a vocal register has no symbolic meaning in this account; it is chosen for vocal convenience and can be adapted to the individual singer.17

Vocalises and meditative purpose

Kuhn’s discussion of the formulae used in festal and other melodies belongs to a wider account of Coptic vocal ornamentation, in which a melismatic melody places a group of notes on one syllable of an important word.18 Vocalises, called al-hazzāt in Arabic, meaning “vibration,” are an especially extended form of melismatic singing and a characteristic specialty of Coptic music.19

Kuhn also distinguishes neumatic melodies, in which one or two notes are placed on an important syllable in the middle or at the end of a verse.61

A vocalise is placed on one or two vowels of an important word, while other words may be bound together; Kuhn reports that cantors regard vowels, rather than the grammatical construction of the text, as the essential element in these passages.20 In this practice, the vowels “i” and “e” usually become “ei,” whereas “a,” “o,” and “u” become “aw” or “ow.”21

Kuhn gives a general duration of between one and twenty minutes for a vocalise, depending on the day, occasion, and liturgical feast, but particularly on the cantor’s knowledge and skill.22 She identifies the purpose of vocalises as inducing a deep meditative state.23 Such ornamentation is nevertheless governed by traditional rules and performed within a particular musical structure and metric rhythm, rather than as unrestricted embellishment.24

Oral transmission and variation

The wider tradition in which the festal tune is transmitted relies on oral teaching and rote learning from person to person and generation to generation; the manuscripts and books surveyed preserve texts and rubrics rather than a notation designed specifically for Coptic music.25 Cantors know their melodies by heart, and mnemonic support can be found in chant texts as well as in musical structures.26

A concrete example of textual mnemonics in the broader repertoire is provided by the Psalis, metrical hymns accompanying a Theotokia or hos: their strophes are often arranged alphabetically in Coptic or Greek, sometimes as double or reverse acrostics, to help singers perform the complete hymn without omissions.47 Most Psalis are assigned to Adam or Batos according to the weekday, but some instead name another familiar Psali or hymn whose melody is to be used.48

Arabic names for the Psali include absaliyyah and madih, plural mada’ih, the latter meaning praise or laudation.62 Each Psali has between twenty-six and forty-six strophes, each a rhymed quatrain, although the rhyme schemes vary.63 A characteristic contributing to their popularity is the refrain, usually a repetition of the fourth line, but sometimes of both the third and fourth lines—a feature rare in the ritual pieces of the liturgies and canonical hours, the hos, and the Theotokia.64

Psalis, apart from a few paraphrases reserved for Kiyahk, are the only pieces of Coptic music whose authors are identified within their texts.65 An author’s name may be embedded in a strophe together with a plea for mercy and forgiveness and a humble description of the writer as a poor servant or sinner.66 In the paraphrases, names may instead appear through the initial letters of successive strophes or of a series of hymns.67 Detailed editions using manuscripts from the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries demonstrate the authors’ skill in Coptic rhyme and rhythm.68 Musically, the Psalis are rhythmic and syllabic, with little melisma or improvisation, a range usually spanning four or at most five tones, and a quasi-parlando, or speech-like, style.69

This preservation has been interpreted as a sacred trust, with the music deliberately not transcribed lest it fall into the wrong hands.27 Musical instruction is strict and rigid.28

Undeciphered signs in Coptic manuscripts probably dating from the tenth or eleventh centuries are held in the Rylands Library at Manchester and the Insinger Collection at the Leiden Museum of Antiquities; their possible identification as an abandoned form of ekphonetic notation remains tentative.49

Marian Robertson investigated the reliability of oral transmission by comparing transcriptions of the same piece made decades apart by different scholars, finding indications that simpler melodies may have remained intact for centuries.29 Comparisons of recordings made years apart at the Institute of Coptic Studies similarly showed unchanged basic melodies and embellishments occurring in the same positions despite slight variation, especially in choral compositions.30 Solo performances, by contrast, showed variation and improvisation particularly in embellishments and melismata.31

Language and melodic continuity

The Arab conquest of 642/643 introduced a new religion and language without changing Coptic rituals.70 Coptic remained in general Christian use as late as Patriarch Zacharias’s reign (1004–1032), and although the Gospels and other church books had been translated into Arabic under Patriarch Philotheus (979–1003), Cyril II continued to celebrate the Divine Liturgy entirely in Coptic.71 Manuscripts from the seventh through nineteenth centuries preserve ancient hymn texts in Greek, Greco-Coptic, and Coptic with little or no alteration, a continuity tentatively suggesting that their music also remained essentially intact.72

Hymn titles and rubrics sometimes identify linguistic origins, at least for the texts: many are designated Rumi, referring to Byzantium or New Rome.73 Other designations include Beheiri for northern Egypt, Sa‘idi for southern Egypt, and Masri for central Egypt, regions with distinctive dialects.74

Arabic versions of Coptic liturgical texts tend to have simpler, shorter, and less ornamented melodies, raising concerns particularly about the preservation of extended vocalises.50 Nevertheless, the few comparative studies available indicated that basic melodic lines and rhythms remained intact and that ornamentation was retained to a remarkable degree, although firmer conclusions required much more comparison.51

A specific example from the Holy Week repertoire is the hymn whose opening means “Remember me, O Lord” [aripamevi o pachois; mnésthetí mou kyrie], sung at the Sixth Hour on Good Friday first in Coptic and then in Greek without a change of music.75 The Maundy Thursday song “Judas, Judas” [Ioudas, Ioudas; Yahudha, Yahudha], sung in Greek and Arabic, is likewise cited as an example supporting melodic continuity across languages.76

Modern preservation and documentation

A major figure in the preservation of the broader chant tradition was Mu‘allim Mikha’il Jirjis (1873–1957), the blind master chanter of Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo, who learned from older masters and transmitted the repertoire through his pupils.32 When the Higher Institute for Coptic Studies was founded in 1954, he collaborated with Raghib Muftah, the head of its Coptic music department.33

The account of Mikha’il’s training particularly names Mu‘allim Armaniyus and Mu‘allim Salib as earlier specialists in tunes he learned, and emphasizes the role of ancient monasteries in maintaining the conservative traditions from which his repertoire developed.52 From 1879 to 1881 he attended the Coptic elementary school of Abu al-Sa‘d in Cairo’s Azbakiyyah quarter, studying Psalms, hymns, Coptic, and Arabic.53 He subsequently attended the Coptic Clerical College under Yusuf Manqariyus, graduated in 1893, and was appointed a teacher of church music there.54 In 1895 he was asked to teach ritual, religion, Coptic, and Arabic at the school for the blind in Zeitoun, where he taught Arabic through Braille and adapted the same method to the Coptic alphabet.55 His work also included translating the Coptic service into Arabic with the cathedral priest Qummus Philuthawus Ibrahim and correcting Coptic pronunciation through the teaching of elocution.56

Cyril V selected Mikha’il as the cathedral’s church singer and as a teacher of church music at the Clerical College.77 Some of the pupils who continued his legacy through his classes for religious cantors were themselves blind.78

Documentation of the services associated with festal singing includes The Coptic Marriage Service, edited by Ragheb Moftah and recorded at the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies in Cairo in 1984.34 The institute also recorded The Ritual for the Feast of the Resurrection, edited by Moftah, in Cairo in 1974.35

Related documentation of the psalmody includes Moftah’s editions of The Order of Evening Prayers (1976), The Order of Midnight Prayers (1978), and Doxologies and Their Hymns for the Virgin Mary and the Saints (1984), all recorded at the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies in Cairo.79

Comparative documentation of the broader repertoire included a 1976 master’s thesis on Coptic music and its relation to Pharaonic music, which transcribed and analyzed one hymn as performed by several choirs; its author was a violin teacher in Helwan University’s Faculty of Music Education and a member of the Arabic Classical Music Ensemble.57 Western notation was not designed for Coptic music, but comparison among scholars’ transcriptions provides a means of appreciating the tradition’s complexity and variety.58

Distinction from nonliturgical songs

The term alhan is also applied to a modern nonliturgical Sunday-school repertoire, within which thirteen songs composed in honor of the Virgin Mary are designated taranim, singular tarnimah.80 These songs are stylistically distinct from Coptic liturgical melody and influenced by Western music, with violin, piano, and/or organ accompaniment, rudimentary harmony, and occasional borrowings from familiar Western melodies.81 Their praise and worship texts are strophic, and men and women sing them antiphonally or in unison in a monophonic vocal line.82 They appealed to young people and drew criticism from Coptic purists who considered them lacking in the dignity and spirituality of the ancient liturgical tradition.83

Questions

Frequently asked questions

When is the festal tune used?
Al-faraiḥī is used for feasts, weddings, and baptisms; Palm Sunday and feasts of the Cross have a separately named melody type, al-sha‘anīnī.
Is the festal tune part of the eight-mode Oktoechos?
No. Kuhn classifies Coptic melodies by liturgical occasion rather than by the eight-mode Oktoechos.
How much freedom does a cantor have in performing it?
The opening formula is fixed by tradition and identifies the melody, while later formulae allow greater freedom of selection and placement.
Why can Coptic vocalises be so long?
Their length depends on the occasion and the cantor’s knowledge and skill; Kuhn describes their purpose as inducing a deep meditative state.
How has the chant tradition been preserved?
Through oral teaching, rote learning, and mnemonic patterns, supplemented in modern times by recordings and scholarly transcriptions.

References

Sources

  1. 1.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 3)
    In Coptic music, six main types of melody are used for ordinary days or special occasions: al-sanawī daily melody (ADAM and Batos) al-faraiḥī for feasts, weddings, baptisms, etc. Ⲭⲟⲓⲁⲕ (Kiyahk) during Advent al-ṣiyāmī during fasting periods al-sha‘anīnī on Palm Sunday and feasts of the Cross al-ḥazainī in the week before Easter
  2. 2.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 2)
    Very well-known melodies, such as the daily melody al-sanawī, or the ADVENT melody Ⲭⲟⲓⲁⲕ (Kiyahk in Arabic), are largely constructed by tradition. In these chants, we find formulae sung by different cantors in identical positions. Less well-known melodies, such as the al-sha‛ānīnī melody for Palm Sunday, or the al-faraiḥī melody used for weddings and special feasts, can vary in their use of formulae.
  3. 3.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 2)
    All three kinds of improvisation melodies are composed in clusters of notes, called modus or formulae. One group of notes can be repeated once or multiple times in a chant. ... Formulae permit a cantor to lengthen or shorten vocalises, both in daily use and on special feast days. ... The first formula serves to identify the melody for a certain feast day. This formula is fixed by tradition and is the same for every singer, whether professional or lay people. ... A cantor is more or less free to select other formulae in different positions in the same melody, whether in the middle or at the end
  4. 4.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 2)
    In contrast to Byzantine and Gregorian melodies, Coptic melodies were not classified in Oktoechos, but are divided into melodies for liturgical events
  5. 5.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 2)
    Yet, from time to time, every cantor will also need a memory support or a kind of structure to help memorize the large number of different liturgical melodies. Such mnemonics can be found in the texts of the chants, but also in the musical formulae.
  6. 6.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 2)
    One formula can also be used in different melodies.
  7. 6.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 2)
    Moreover, a group can be repeated in a higher or lower pitch, or even in sequences (sets of notes that follow each other in a particular order).
  8. 7.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 3)
    A formula itself does not have a special character; it is a formula’s position in the melody which imbues it with significance.
  9. 8.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 3)
    al-sanawī daily melody (ADAM and Batos) al-faraiḥī for feasts, weddings, baptisms, etc. Ⲭⲟⲓⲁⲕ (Kiyahk) during Advent al-ṣiyāmī during fasting periods al-sha‘anīnī on Palm Sunday and feasts of the Cross al-ḥazainī in the week before Easter
  10. 9.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 184)
    Lahn may have some affinities yet to be elucidated with the Byzantine echos and the Arabic maqam.
  11. 9.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 2)
    This system is very different from the Arabic maqām or the Byzantine, Syrian, or Jewish melody types called Oktoechos
  12. 10.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 184)
    LAHN (plural alhan), Arabic translation of Coptic /,oc, adopted from Greek ekhos, a term used in Coptic liturgical books and manuscripts to specify the music to be sung to a given text.
  13. 11.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 184)
    Sometimes translated into English as "air," "tone," "melody," or "mode," it refers basically to either a certain melody or melody type that is readily recognized by the people and known by a specific, often descriptive name, such as Lahn al-Farah (. . . of joy) and Lahn al-Huzn (. . . of sorrow).
  14. 12.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 78)
    The same text may be sung to different alhan, and conversely, the same lahn may have different texts.
  15. 13.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 78)
    Furthermore, the same lahn may have three forms: short (qasir), abridged (mukhtasar), and long (tawil).
  16. 14.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 3)
    Different hymns are sung to well-known melodies that are used as a kind of memory aid.
  17. 15.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 2)
    This formula is fixed by tradition and is the same for every singer, whether professional or lay people. However, an experienced cantor recognizes a melody from the first formula, as he is able to identify a chant by the first word of the text.
  18. 16.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 3)
    The intervals (the distance from one note to the next) are normally small.
  19. 17.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 3)
    The level of the melody of a chant—high, low, or middle of a vocal register—has no symbolic meaning. It has to be convenient for the human voice and can be adapted to the voice of every singer.
  20. 18.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 2)
    Melismatic melodies: a group of notes is performed on a single syllable of an important word.
  21. 19.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 2)
    Vocalises: (Arabic: al-hazzāt, vibration): This variation of a melismatic melody includes extremely long vocalises, mostly constructed by formulae. It is a common characteristic, and indeed a kind of specialty, of Coptic music.
  22. 20.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 2)
    A vocalise is always placed on one or two vowels of an important word in a text, whereas other words can be bound together. Coptic cantors claim that the grammatical constructions of the texts are not important in vocalises. The vowels are the most important part in these kinds of chants.
  23. 21.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 2)
    The vowels “i” and “e” in a word usually become “ei,” while the vowels “a,” “o,” and “u” become “aw” or “ow.”
  24. 22.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 2)
    A vocalise can last between one and twenty minutes. Its length depends on the day, the occasion, and the liturgical feast, but especially on the cantor’s knowledge and skill.
  25. 23.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 2)
    The purpose of vocalises is to induce a deep meditative state.
  26. 24.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 2)
    In Coptic hymns, traditional rules govern these kinds of ornaments. They take a special form and are thus not free, unbounded embellishments without structure. They are sung in a special musical structure in a metric and compelling rhythm.
  27. 25.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 88)
    All the manuscripts discovered and books compiled to date record only texts and rubrics. There is no known notation now in existence designed specifically for Coptic music, though manuscripts bearing ancient Greek notation have been found in Egypt (see History, below). From the beginnings of the church, the music has passed from one person to another, from one generation to the next, by oral teaching and rote learning.
  28. 26.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 2)
    They know their melodies by heart. Yet, from time to time, every cantor will also need a memory support or a kind of structure to help memorize the large number of different liturgical melodies. Such mnemonics can be found in the texts of the chants, but also in the musical formulae.
  29. 27.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 88)
    According to Hans Hickmann (see Musicologists, below), this music was held as a sacred trust by those who learned it, and indeed, was purposely not transcribed lest it fall into the wrong hands.
  30. 28.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 88)
    For the most part, the instruction must have been very strict and rigid, as it is today (see Cantors, below).
  31. 29.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 88)
    To study the reliability of this tradition, Marian Robertson has compared transcriptions of the same piece of music written decades apart by different scholars. These studies indicate that the simpler melodies may have remained intact for centuries.
  32. 30.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 88)
    Other comparisons of recordings made years apart at the Institute of Coptic Studies also show that the basic melodies have remained unchanged, and that even the embellishments, though varying slightly, occur in the same places throughout the melody in question. This is especially true for those compositions sung by the choir.
  33. 31.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 88)
    In the case of solo performers, variation and improvisation are to be found, particularly in the embellishments and melismata, as may be expected.
  34. 32.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 685)
    MIKHA’IL JIRJIS, MU‘ALLIM (1873-1957), master chanter of the Cathedral of Saint Mark in Cairo and described as the figure in whom the Coptic church's vocal music was preserved and from whom its immortal chants were transmitted through his pupils. He was a blind man whose intense sensitivity for Coptic chanting and church hymnology impressed upon his inborn musical genius the fullest record of traditional Coptic musicology as he had heard it from the older priestly masters of that art.
  35. 33.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 685)
    When the Higher Institute for Coptic Studies was founded in 1954, he collaborated with Raghib Muftah, head of the department of Coptic music at the Institute.
  36. 34.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 118)
    The Coptic Marriage Service, ed. Ragheb Moftah. Recorded at the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies. Cairo, 1984.
  37. 35.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 119)
    The Ritual for the Feast of the Resurrection, ed. Ragheb Moftah. Recorded at the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies. Cairo, 1974.
  38. 36.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 678)
    WAHAM (plural wahamat or wohamati), from Coptic bwhem (bohem), song, air, tune, hymn, LAHN. This is an ecclesiastical term found only in ritual manuscripts. Waham is properly pronounced woham
  39. 37.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 78)
    in the fourteenth century, IBN KABAR named some twenty-six alhan, most of which are still known today. Some, designated sanawiyyah (annual), are sung throughout the year, whereas others may be reserved for one occasion only.
  40. 38.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 78)
    Hymns labeled Adam are to be sung Sunday through Tuesday, and also on certain specified days, while hymns labeled Batos are reserved for Wednesday through Saturday, for the evening service, and for Holy Week.
  41. 39.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 78)
    The two names derive from the Theotokia for Kiyahk (see below), in which Adam is the first word of the Theotokia for Monday
  42. 40.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 78)
    Although they are distinct from each other in verse structure, length, and mood, their music differs little in contemporary practice, and both may be heard in the same service.
  43. 41.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 72)
    It is monodic, vocal, and sung a cappella solely by men, with the exception of some responses assigned to the whole congregation.
  44. 42.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 106)
    Today, two percussion instruments are used in the rites of many of the Coptic churches: the small hand cymbals (Arabic: sanj, or colloquially sajjat), and the metal triangle (Arabic: muthallath, or colloquially turianta)
  45. 43.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 106)
    each played by one of the deacons and/or the cantor. Providing a rhythmic accompaniment to specified hymns and responses sung by the choir and/or congregation, they signal the congregation to participate and unify the singing.
  46. 44.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 594)
    It is an ecclesiastical term used in the plural for the litany of intercessions in the midnight psalmody consisting of a listing of saints
  47. 45.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 594)
    The Tobhat in the midnight psalmody for the whole year consist of seventy-four verses or prayers, but for the month of Kiyahk they consist of eighty-three verses or prayers.
  48. 46.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 594)
    On all feasts of Our Lord, the Tobhat are sung only as far as the verse "Pray to the Lord for us, Lord Claudius and Theodore and Apa Iskhron and Apa Isaac, that He may forgive us our sins" or the verse of Saint George according to the ritual manuscript Tartib al-Bi‘ah, (The Order of the Church), after which are added the last three verses of the Tobhat.
  49. 47.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 83)
    The strophes are often arranged in acrostic order according to the Coptic or Greek alphabet by the first letter of each strophe. Some are even in double acrostic, and others in reverse acrostic. Such patterns serve as mnemonic devices, enabling the singers to perform the hymns in their entirety with no omissions.
  50. 48.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 83)
    Most Psalis are to be sung either to the melody-type Adam or Batos, depending on the day of the week, and are thus designated as Psali Adam or Psali Batos. However, certain ones specify the title of another familiar Psali or hymn to whose melody they may be sung.
  51. 49.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 99)
    Coptic manuscripts, probably dating from the tenth or eleventh centuries (Rylands Library at Manchester; Insinger Collection, Leiden Museum of Antiquities) contain unusual signs as yet undeciphered. Some scholars have tentatively suggested that they may be a sort of ekphonetic notation
  52. 50.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 90)
    Scholars have observed that, with the translation of the liturgies and numerous hymns into Arabic, those melodies put to an Arabic text have tended to become simpler, shorter, and less ornamented than the original Coptic version. Fear has been expressed that the Coptic melodies sung in Arabic may lose their genius and character, especially where extensive vocalise is concerned.
  53. 51.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 90)
    the few studies made of pieces sung interchangeably in Coptic (or Greek) and Arabic seem to show that the basic melodic lines and rhythms are kept intact, and that even the ornamentation is maintained to a remarkable degree.
  54. 52.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 685)
    This evolved especially from the ancient monasteries where unbroken conservative traditions handed the singing of liturgical texts from generation to generation. From his early youth he showed an outstanding aptitude to learn the tunes in which only two chanters specialized before him: Mu‘allim Armaniyus and Mu‘allim Salib.
  55. 53.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 685)
    joining the Coptic kuttab, or lowest elementary school, of Abu al-Sa‘d, in the Azbakiyyah quarters. There he remained for two years, from 1879 to 1881 during which time he studied the Psalms and hymns as well as the Coptic and Arabic languages.
  56. 54.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 685)
    Later he joined the Coptic Clerical College, which was then under the administration of Yusuf Manqariyus. He graduated in 1893 and was appointed teacher of church music there.
  57. 55.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 685)
    In 1895 he was asked to teach church ritual, religion, Coptic, and Arabic in the school for the blind, set up at Zeitoun, a suburb of Cairo. He used the Braille method in teaching Arabic, and designed the Coptic alphabet after the same method for teaching Coptic.
  58. 56.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 686)
    His most important achievement was the translation of the Coptic service into Arabic, in collaboration with the qummus PHILUTHAWUS IBRAHIM, who was a priest at the cathedral under CYRIL V.
  59. 57.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 117)
    In 1976, Nabil Kamal Butros, violin teacher in the Faculty of Music Education at Helwan University and a member of the Arabic Classical Music Ensemble, completed a master’s thesis, “Coptic Music and Its Relation to Pharaonic Music,” in which he made a comparative transcription and analysis of one hymn as sung by several different choirs.
  60. 58.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 117)
    Although Western notation was not designed for transcribing Coptic music, it may be the form in which this ancient music from the Near East will at last be written. By comparing the various transcriptions of dedicated scholars, one may at least glimpse the complexity and variety of the Coptic musical tradition.
  61. 59.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 72)
    The core of Coptic music lies in the Divine Liturgy (Arabic: quddas), whose texts are all meant to be sung, excepting the Creed and the Dismissal.
  62. 60.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 594)
    TUBH, an Egyptian Arabic term (plural tobhat) meaning "prayer," from Coptic twbh (Tobh, pray, prayer).
  63. 61.Coptic Melodies: Structure and Significance — Magdalena Kuhn (p. 2)
    Neumatic melodies: one or two notes are placed on an important syllable in the middle or at the end of a verse.
  64. 62.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 83)
    Arabic: ABSALIYYAH, or madih, pl. mada’ih, “praise, laudation”
  65. 63.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 83)
    Every Psali has from twenty-six to forty-six strophes, each of which is a rhymed quatrain; the rhyming schemes may vary.
  66. 64.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 83)
    One feature which makes the Psalis very popular is the refrain, an element rarely found in the ritual pieces of the liturgies and canonical hours, or in the hos and Theotokia of the service of Psalmodia. Usually the refrain is made by repeating only the fourth line of the strophe, but sometimes both the third and fourth lines are repeated.
  67. 65.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 83)
    except for a few paraphrases reserved for Kiyahk, these are the only pieces of Coptic music whose authors are identified in the texts.
  68. 66.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 83)
    The writer’s name may be found embedded in a strophe, with a plea for mercy and pardon from sin, and with mention of him as “the poor servant” or “a poor sinner.”
  69. 67.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 83)
    In the paraphrases, the author’s name may be given in acrostic form as the first letter of each strophe of the hymn, or as the initial letter of each of a set of hymns arranged seriatim.
  70. 68.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 83)
    Muyser and YASSA ‘ABD AL-MASIH have published detailed editions of certain Psalis, using manuscripts dating from the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries. Their articles serve to demonstrate the high level of technique in handling Coptic rhymes and rhythms attained by Psali authors.
  71. 69.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 83)
    These melodies are rhythmic and syllabic, that is, the notes match the texts with little trace of melisma or improvisation; their range usually covers four, or at most, five tones; they swing along in quasi-parlando style
  72. 70.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 99)
    After the Arab Conquest (642/643) When the Arabs entered Egypt, they brought a new religion and language, but this made no change in the Coptic rituals.
  73. 71.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 99)
    Coptic still remained in general use among the Christians even as late as the reign of Patriarch ZACHARIAS (1004-1032) and though the Gospels and other church books had been put into Arabic under the rule of Patriarch PHILOTHEUS (979-1003), Cyril II continued to conduct the Divine Liturgy entirely in Coptic.
  74. 72.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 99)
    Manuscripts dating from the seventh through the nineteenth centuries show that the texts of the ancient hymns—the Theotokia, Psalis, turuhat, and so on (See Description of the Corpus, above)—were kept in Greek, Greco-Coptic, and Coptic with little or no alteration. It seems logical to assume that the music also remained essentially intact.
  75. 73.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 90)
    The titles and rubrics for many hymns designate various linguistic origins (for the texts at least), with most being noted as Rumi, that is, from Byzantium, or “the New Rome,” as it was once known.
  76. 74.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 90)
    Other hymns are designated as Beheiri, from northern Egypt, Sa‘idi, from southern Egypt, or Masri, from the central part of the country. Each region has its own distinctive dialect.
  77. 75.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 90)
    in the Easter hymn, “Remember me, O Lord” (performed on Good Friday during the Sixth Hour), which is sung first in Coptic (aripameui w pa[c aripamevi o pachois) and then in Greek, (mn»sqht… mou kÚr…e, mnésthetí mou kyrie) the music does not change with the language.
  78. 76.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 90)
    The Easter song reserved for Maundy Thursday, “Judas, Judas ...” (Greek: ’IoÚdaj, ’IoÚdaj ..., Ioudas, Ioudas ...; Arabic: Yahudha, Yahudha ...) may be cited as an example.
  79. 77.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 685)
    He was chosen by CYRIL V as church singer of the cathedral and as teacher of church music at the Clerical College.
  80. 78.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 686)
    His legacy continued with his pupils, some of them blind like himself, who attended his classes of religious cantors.
  81. 79.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 118)
    Doxologies and Their Hymns for the Virgin Mary and the Saints. ed. Ragheb Moftah. Recorded at the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies. Cairo, 1984. The Holy Week Services, ed. Ragheb Moftah. Recorded at the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies. Cairo, 1972. The Liturgy of St. Basil, sung by Mu‘allim Sadiq, ed. Ragheb Moftah. Recorded at the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies. Cairo, 1968. The Order of Evening Prayers (Taqs Tasbihat ‘Ashiyyah), ed. Ragheb Moftah. Recorded at the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies. Cairo, 1976. The Order of Midnight Prayers (Taqs Tasbihat Nisf al-Layl), ed. Ragheb
  82. 80.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 117)
    In recent years, strictly nonliturgical songs have been developed for use in the Sunday schools. They bear the general title alhan, but thirteen, composed especially in honor of the Virgin Mary, are designated taranim (sing. tarnimah).
  83. 81.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 117)
    Quite distinct in style from both Arabic chanting of the Qur’an and Coptic liturgical melody, they betray much Western influence, for example, the singing is always accompanied by the violin, piano, and/or organ; this instrumental accompaniment has rudimentary harmony; and some songs borrow phrases from well-known Western melodies
  84. 82.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 117)
    Both the alhan and taranim have texts of praise and worship, strophic in form. Sung antiphonally or in unison by both men and women, they are monophonic.
  85. 83.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 117)
    They may be described as light-hearted, charming, and attractive to youth. However, Coptic purists decry their existence and maintain that they have neither the dignity nor the spirituality of the ancient liturgical tradition.

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