George Rhaedestenos II


George Rhaedestenos II (Greek: Γεώργιος Ραιδεστηνός Β΄; Georgios Rhaeestenos II; 1833 in Rhaedestus – 1889 in Constantinople) was acting Lambadarios of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, when Stephen the Lambadarios was old and weak. He was an unimmitable performer of psaltic art, and second to none of his contemporary cantors; he was especially renowned for his ancient-like patriarchal chanting style.

George Rhaedestenos II
Γεώργιος Ραιδεστηνός Β΄
Portrait of George Rhaedestenos II.
Born1833
Rhaedestus, Ottoman Empire
Died1889
Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
Occupationcantor
Lambadarios of Ecumenical Patriarchate
In office
1863–1871
Arch-cantor of Ecumenical Patriarchate
In office
1871–1875

Biography

He was born in 1833 at Rhaedestus,[1] where his first learned music; but later became proficient in Constantinople by the Archcantor of the Great Church Constantine Byzantios, at the proposal of the retired in Antigone former Patriarch of Constantinople Constantine I from Sinai.[2]

He served as a cantor in various churches of the Greek Orthodox Archbishopric of Constantinople. In 1863, under Patriarch Sophronios III,[3] he was made Lambadarios of the Great Church, when Archcantor was John Byzantios. On 2 February 1871, under the patriarchy of Gregory VI, he became Archcantor in succession of Savrakes Gregoriades. He stayed at this service until 1875.

In October 1876, he retired from the patriarchate and lead the choir of the church of St John of Chios in Galata, of St. Nicholas and the Saviour Christ, the church of the Holy Trinity at Peran, and towards the end of his life in the church of St. Nicholas at Tzivali.

For four years (1880 to 1884), he presided over the Hellenic Musical Association, which was based in Galata, and directed and taught at this Musical School (1882). He had few, but distinguished students. He died at Constantinople in August 1889.

Works

George Rhaedestenos II beautified and metered all the lessons of the yearly service. He composed several hymns which stand out for their honey-sweetness. He published two music books, in which one can find the chanted services of the Holy Week and the Pentecostarion together with remarks from the Typikon.

Some of his beautiful hymns were published in the "Music compilation"[4] by Demetrios Kyphiotes (1894), and by Agathangellos Kyriazides in the 1896 book "One blossom for our church music",[5] as well as in "Forminga"[6] an Athenian musical newspaper.

gollark: (or a big fraction, I guess)
gollark: Do you think that everyone who accidentally has children just doesn't know that they might accidentally have children?
gollark: How, exactly, do you intend to make everyone have really good executive function and whatever?
gollark: I see.
gollark: That has basically never worked because, weirdly enough, people don't seem to be good at dealing with complex long-term consequences when doing sex things.

References
  1. Rhaedestus: current name Tekirdağ (Turkish: Tekirdağ).
  2. Before being elected Patriarch was Archbishop of Sinai.
  3. According to source of Apostoliki Diakonia, the Patriarch was Sophronius II of Amasya, but according to the List of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Patriarch in 1863 was Sophronius III.
  4. Δημήτριος Κυφιώτης, "Μουσικὸν Ἀπάνθισμα" (1894)
  5. Αγαθάγγελος Κυριαζίδης, "Ἕν ἄνθος τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς μουσικῆς" (1896)
  6. Φόρμιγγα: Musical volume of the 1st year, pages 3 and 129.
  • Ymnografoi of Byzantine music. Apostoliki Diakonia. p. 104. Archived from the original on 22 November 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2013. Biographies
  • Rhaedestenos II, George. Politika Anoixantaria (Greeks: Πολίτικα Ανοιχαντάρια) (PDF). cymVolon.com: Great Church. pp. 191–201. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2013. Byzantine music sheet
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