Basic Facts
Born: c. 810, Constantinople
Died: c. 867, Greece
Type of Performer: Composer, poet, hymnographer
Genre: Religious music
About Kassia
Kassia was born into a wealthy family in Constantinople around the year 810. She was considered as a potential bride for the emperor at the time, Theophilus, but she refused to marry him and instead became a nun. In 843, she founded a convent in the west of Constantinople and became its abbess. She was one of the first composers in history, and she is the first female composer whose works survived into present day. Moreover, she is the only female composer of the time whose works were incorporated into the official books used in worship services. She is credited with about fifty liturgical compositions, but one of her most well-known works is a hymn for Holy Wednesday. In it, she gives a voice to a nameless woman who appears in the gospels and imagines the woman's lament when she meets Christ. She also wrote secular poetry, and hundreds of those verses survive today.
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Doxazomen sou Christie
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