Also called "Tone 6," and called the Hypolydian by the ancient Greeks, the Plagal of the Second Mode is a variant of one of the chromatic modes of Byzantine Chant music. It is generally considered one of the hardest Byzantine modes to learn, but has a sweetly hopeful and emotionally restorative quality which makes it particularly popular in Byzantine music. It has several variants of which note is treated as the ison (tonic and concluding) pitch, but most commonly it treats the note Zo (corresponding to Do in solfege) as ison, making it functionally equivalent to a modern Major Scale (Ionian Mode). Its second most common variant features the note Vou (corresponding to Fa in solfege) as ison, which corresponds to a modern Lydian Mode; in this variation, the mode arrives at this tonic through a phthora, a "corruption" resulting in the modulation from one scale to another, beginning on Zo. Under certain conditions for specific songs, the Plagal Second sometimes also lowers the pitch Ke by a half tone, equivalent to Te in solfege, or else it lowers either or both of Ni and Di by a half tone, equivalent respectively to Re and Le in solfege. These chromatic tone changes are least often used in the Eirmological (Syllabic - one syllable per one pitch) variant of the mode, and they are used most often in the Sticheraric (Pneumatic - two to three notes per syllable) and Papadic (Melismatic - many notes per syllable) variants, which may also feature both chromatic options for a given tone (which in Western music would be depicted as an accidental outside the key).

According to the Byzantine musicologist Savas I. Savas, the character of the Plagal Second Mode "is distinguished by its funeral-like character and in general its sorrowful tone," demonstrating just how varied the capabilities of this mode are, because in the Paraklitike, the primary textual source of Byzantine liturgical music, Plagal of the Second is characterised in this manner:

Sixth mode in order, but by far the first, you rank as second in the second group. Double-compounded the delights you bear, though only second in the second rank. O dulcet-moded cidada, honey-sweet, can any then not love you, fair Mode Six?

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, music using Tone 6 is performed on "Bright Friday" (skipping over Tone 7, the Varys Mode, due to its excessively funereal quality) near the end of Bright Week that follows the Sunday of Pascha, and the mode is also used on every sixth Sunday liturgical service, in rotation with the other seven Byzantine modes.

Some hymns which commonly or solely use the Plagal Second include the Kontakion of Palm Sunday: Ton throno en ourano, the Resurrection Service Response: Tin Anastasin Sou Christe Sotir, the Kathismata: Theotokion, and the 15th Antiphon of Holy Friday Orthros.

Pronunciation of each note in the scale is given first in Greek, then in English in parentheses, followed by its corresponding tone in solfege.
Ascending:
ΖΩ (Zo, Do) - ΝΗ (Ni, Re or Ra) - ΠΑ (Pa, Mi) - ΒΟΥ (Vou, Fa) - ΓΑ (Ga, Sol) - ΔΗ (Di, La or Le) - ΚΕ (Ke, Ti or Te) - ΖΩ (Zo, Do)

Descending:
ΖΩ (Zo, Do) - ΚΕ (Ke, Ti or Te) - ΔΗ (Di, La or Le) - ΓΑ (Ga, Sol)- ΒΟΥ (Vou, Fa) - ΠΑ (Pa, Mi) - ΝΗ (Ni, Re or Ra) - ΖΩ (Zo, Do)


Iron Noder 2022, 9/30

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