Thrasyvoulos Stanitsas ( el, Θρασύβουλος Στανίτσας; 1910–1987) was a '' protopsaltes'' (leading cantor) in the

Great Church of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( el, Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit=Oikoumenikón Patriarkhíon Konstantinoupóleos, ; la, Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constanti ...

from 1960 until 1964. In this position, he succeeded Konstantinos Pringos.

Musical career

Stanitsas became a ''

lampadarius A lampadarius, plural ''Lampadarii'', from the Latin ''lampada'', from Ancient Greek "lampas" λαμπάς (candle), was a slave who carried torches before consuls, emperors and other officials of high dignity both during the later Roman Republic ...

'' for Pringos in 1939. At that time he also received tutoring from Anastasios Michaelides, who served as a First Domestikos for

Iakovos Nafpliotis image:Iakovos Nafpliotis.jpg, 200px, Iakovos Nafpliotis Iakovos Nafpliotis, (or Nafpliotis or Naupliotis or Naupliotes: ) (1864 in Naxos Island, Naxos – December 5, 1942 in Athens) was the Archon psaltis, Protopsaltis (First cantor (church), can ...

.Biography of Stanitsas at the page of Ecumenical Patriarchate
text by Protopresbyter Seraphim Farasoglou. In 1960 he succeeded Pringos as "''

Archon ''Archon'' ( gr, ἄρχων, árchōn, plural: ἄρχοντες, ''árchontes'') is a Greek word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem αρχ-, mean ...

Protopsaltes''" for the

Ecumenical Patriarchate The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( el, Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit=Oikoumenikón Patriarkhíon Konstantinoupóleos, ; la, Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constanti ...

. In 1964, Stanitsas was expelled from Turkey by the Turkish authorities, along with many other Greeks living in Constantinople. He lived and chanted on the island of Chios for a year, moved to Beirut, and finally chanted in Athens in the church of St Demetrios from 1966 until his retirement in 1981.

Legacy

Although the first recordings of the

Patriarchal School Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males ...

Byzantine chant Byzantine music (Greek: Βυζαντινή μουσική) is the music of the Byzantine Empire. Originally it consisted of songs and hymns composed to Greek texts used for courtly ceremonials, during festivals, or as paraliturgical and liturgical ...

were made by

, and some recordings exist of Konstantinos Pringos, Thrasyvoulos Stanitsas was the first Patriarchal style chanter to be recorded extensively, in some cases with professional studio quality. As a result, chanters in modern practice who prefer orienting to the Patriarchal school of chant base their performances primarily on recordings and interpretations of Stanitsas, sometimes to the extent of attempting to copy his personal style. The "Stanitsas school" may thus be called one of two most recognizable schools of Byzantine chanting,Stanitsas School
at analogion.com the other being the Simon Karas school.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanitsas, Thrasyvoulos 1910 births 1987 deaths Performers of Byzantine music 20th-century Greek male singers Singers from Istanbul Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople Constantinopolitan Greeks People from Fatih