Ἰδιαίτερο ἐνδιαφέρον παρουσιάζει ἡ συνοπτική θεωρητικὴ συγγραφὴ Ἰωάννου τοῦ Λάσκαρη, ἕνα κείμενο ποὺ παραδίδεται ὑπὸ τὸν ἀκόλουθο τίτλο: «Ἑτέρα παραλλαγὴ τῆς μουσικῆς τέχνης, σοφωτέρα καὶ ἀκριβεστέρα εἰς ἄκρον, πονηθεῖσα δὲ καὶ συνταχθεῖσα παρὰ κὺρ Ἰωάννου τοῦ Λάσκαρη τοῦ Καλομισίδου καὶ μαΐστορος· ἐναντία μὲν τοῖς πρώτοις καὶ οὐκ ἐναντία· ἐναντία γάρ, πρὸς τοὺς μὴ εἰδότας ὡς γέγραπται· εἰς δὲ τοὺς ἐντέχνως κατέχοντας αὐτὴν ἀκριβῶς, βεβαίωσίς τε μᾶλλον καὶ ἀναπλήρωσις καὶ μεγίστη ἡδύτης ἐντεῦθεν ἀναφανεῖσα τῇ τέχνῃ καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς ἰδιώματα σαφέστερα καταγγέλλουσα, ἀποδεικνύουσα δὲ ἅπασαν τῶν τεσσάρων κυρίων ἤχων τὴν ὑπόστασίν τε καὶ κίνησιν καὶ τῶν τεσσάρων πλαγίων ἤχων αὐτῶν, ἔν τε ἀναβάσει καὶ καταβάσει».
Στὸ θεωρητικογράφημα περιγράφεται, πράγματι, ἀφενὸς μὲν ἡ ἀνιούσα κίνηση ἀπὸ τοὺς πλαγίους ἤχους (καὶ ἡ ἐξ αὐτῆς δημιουργία διφώνων, τριφώνων καὶ τετραφώνων ἤχων), ἀφετέρου δὲ ἡ κατιούσα κίνηση ἀπὸ τοὺς κυρίους ἤχους (καὶ ἡ ἐξ αὐτῆς δημιουργία μέσων, παραμέσων, πλαγίων καὶ παραπλαγίων ἤχων): «ἐν μὲν τῇ ἀναβάσει τοῦ ἤχου ἐκ τῶν πλαγίων, διφώνους τε τριφώνους καὶ τετραφώνους ἀποτελοῦσι καὶ εἰς τοὺς πλαγίους αὐτῶν καὶ υἱοὺς καταλήγουσιν· ἐν δὲ τῇ καταβάσει αὐτῶν ἐκ τῶν κυρίων, εἰς μέσους ἐκπίπτουσι καὶ παραμέσους, εἰς πλαγίους τε καὶ παραπλαγίους καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν θεμέλιον καταλήγουσι».
Τὰ παραπάνω θεωρητικὰ δεδομένα ὑποστηρίζονται καὶ ἀπὸ ἕνα πολὺ ἐνδιαφέρον σχετικὸ ἐποπτικὸ σχεδιάγραμμα, μὲ τὴν ἐπεξήγηση καὶ ἀνάλυση τοῦ ὁποίου ἀσχολούμαστε στὴν παροῦσα μελέτη. Προετοιμάζοντας, κατὰ τὸ τελευταῖο διάστημα, μιὰν κριτικὴ ἔκδοση τῆς ἐν λόγῳ θεωρητικῆς συγγραφῆς (ἐγχείρημα μὴ ἐπιχειρηθὲν ὣς τώρα) εὐελπιστοῦμε ἡ παρούσα συμβολὴ ὄχι μόνον νὰ συμβάλει στὴ διασάφηση δυσνόητων σημείων τῆς πραγματείας, ἀλλὰ καὶ νὰ ὑποβοηθήσει τὴν οὐσιαστικὴ κατανόηση τῆς συνολικῆς μουσικῆς φιλοσοφίας τοῦ συντάκτη της.
The short Music Theory written by John Laskaris is a Theoretical Treatise of particular interest; it is entitled: “This is another modulation of the musical art, more wisely devised and more exact in every detail, worked out and drawn up by John Laskaris the Kalomisides and Maestor. It is both contrary to the first one and not contrary. It appears contrary to the first one for those readers who did not understand it as it was written; but for those who possess full artistic and exact knowledge of it, it is rather a verification and a supplement, as it revealed itself as a great delight by virtue of a command of its skill, having clearly indicated its peculiarities by showing the whole essence and movements of the four Main Modes and of their four Plagal Modes, both in ascent and descent”.
Indeed, John Laskaris’s aforementioned Theoretical Treatise describes both the ascending movements of the Plagal Modes and the descending movements of the Main (Authentic) Modes and therefore the creation of some peculiar versions [: Idioms] of the same Modes; such as, on the one hand, the di-phonic, tri-phonic and tetra-phonic Idioms and, on the other hand, the Mediant, para-Mediant, Plagal and para-Plagal ones: “In the ascent of a Mode from the Plagal ones, one obtains the di-phonic, tri-phonic and tetra-phonic ones and these terminate into their Plagal ones, being like the ‘sons’ of the Main Modes. In descent from the Main Modes, these result in Mediant and Para-Mediant Modes, Plagal and Para-Plagal ones, and these terminate on their own fundamentals”.
The Theoretical Treatise of John Laskaris is accompanied by a very interesting Diagram that actually is a kind of a Modality Schema. This Schema is a typical example of the educational and tutorial schemas of the Theory of Byzantine Music’s pedagogy: A Schema formed as a rectangle of all eight modes of Byzantine Music (together with their Idioms), usually described in the Greek language as a “Kanonion” (meaning “theoretical norm”).
Needless to say, the effort of studying (and most of all understanding) this Diagram is undoubtedly a tempting and exciting one – it should also be noted that presently this effort remains an open academic challenge – but, as the present author is currently working on a new critical edition of John Laskaris’s aforementioned Theoretical Treatise (an undertaking that has never been attempted until now), it is now necessary to point out some crucial musicological remarks, arising from the aforementioned Modality Schema; these are remarks through which one may not only understand some misunderstood points of the Treatise, but also – and more significantly – comprehend the entire (theoretical and practical) musical philosophy of its writer.
