Teleutaion or tremble vs. treble

May 12th, 2023

Again, I don't know if that is the actual word — teleutaion. It is a part of the title of a song I found recently. And furious searching — since I don't like not knowing the meaning of something I like — got me nowhere. All I got was the same song I had heard but on different music platforms and a short note telling me it meant last, as in the last psalm sung for cathedral vespers on Pentecost.

Still, it is an amazing song and my collection of religious choir music got another gem.

I am not religious by any means or measures. And yet, over the last months, I’ve been listening almost exclusively to choral music which, by definition has at least some religious undertones. And that music brings me peace of mind and relaxation and respite from the drudgery of everyday life. And I constantly find it amazing how versatile and complete a gift the human voice is. Especially in unison with harmonies or monophonic. I like the minimalism of the voice when it is not used in exaggeration showing off the range or colorature, but only to highlight the internal beauty and order that is possible only in preordained chanting.

I think there is a connection — in music and religion or spirituality — between trembling and treble. Both come from within the deep recesses of our minds and bodies. Both send a shiver through one who is lucky to experience any one of them. Both bring ecstasy and fulfillment to our beings. And both can be combined into a natural high rapture and carnal experience of wholeness with the singularity of humanity.