A Historical Overview of Musical Worship & Culture in Sardinia 441
contains the euphemía, is still very problematic: “une sort de pandemonium.” 29
It is possible that the cult of Saint Constantine (not recognized by the Latin
Church) dates back to Constantine Porphyrogenitus. Saint Constantine, the
emperor, is still revered in Sardinia, especially in Sedilo, with the Ardia race
and gosos singing.30
Another glimpse of the Byzantine liturgy in Sardinia is found in the etymol-
ogy of the term used to refer to the music of the oral tradition in Gallura: taya,
tázha, tasa, tasi (Greco-Byzantine, táksis), which is taken from phrases like
“psállein táksin (to sing [the songs that compose] the Divine Office).”31 As for
the etymology of condaghe—a register that recorded the patrimonial memo-
ries, but also the foundation of monasteries or churches—it also has a Greco-
Byzantine connection: the word kontákion, kontós, meaning “the rod around
which the parchment was rolled.”32 However, in its more widespread use, the
word kontákion indicates the book of the Greek cult, par excellence.33 It is
likely that in Byzantine Sardinia, kontákia circulated with their original liturgi-
cal-musical meaning. The Sardinian term, condaghe, can be traced back to the
legacy of the ancient sacred codes containing kontákia. It should be added that
the condaghi were also surrounded by a liturgical aura, in order to make them
inviolable, even referring to curses, as is the case of the condaghe camaldolese
of Santa Maria of Bonarcado.34
These indirect historical traces of Byzantine chants on the island should
not lead to misguided musicological speculations. It is not possible to assume
a Byzantine influence on Sardinian songs from an elusive oral tradition, which
is not sufficiently documented. During the high Middle Ages, various liturgi-
cal families (not solely of Roman origin), with their songs, were alive in Latin
29 Mele, “Il canto delle ‘laudes regiae’,” p. 222, n. 47.
30 Giampaolo Mele, “Santu Antine—Costantinu Magnu.’ Note su culto e canti devozionali
per San Costantino Imperatore in Sardegna tra Oriente e Occidente,” Rivista Liturgica
100:2 (2013), pp. 420–427.
31 Paulis, Lingua e cultura, pp. 171–174.
32 Giampaolo Mele, “I condaghi: specchio storico di devozione e delle tradizioni liturgiche
nella Sardegna medievale,” in La civiltà giudicale in Sardegna nei secoli XI–XIII: fonti e doc-
umenti scritti: atti del convegno nazionale, Sassari, Aula Magna dell’Università, 16–17 marzo
2001; Usini, chiesa di Santa Croce, 18 marzo 2001 (Italy, 2002), pp. 143–149.
33 On Byzantine liturgical books, see Egon Wellesz, A History of Byzantine Music and
Hymnography (Oxford, 1961 [1949]). On the Kontakion and the “canons” of the ninth
century, see Egon Wellesz, “Byzantine Music,” Proceedings of the Musical Association 59
(1932/1933), p. 13.
34 Maurizio Virdis, ed., Il Condaghe di Santa Maria di Bonarcado (Sassari, 2002); Mele,
“I condaghi,” pp. 170–171.