Manuel Chrysaphes

Not to be confused with the 17th-century composer Chrysaphes the Younger.

Manuel Doukas Chrysaphes (Greek: Μανουὴλ Δούκας Χρυσάφης, fl. 1440–1463) was the most prominent Byzantine musician of the 15th century. He was a singer, composer and musical theoretician.

Little is known of his life, except that he held the office of lampadarios at the Constantinopolitan Court, and received commissions from the last two Byzantine emperors, John VIII Palaiologos and Constantine XI Palaiologos. Two of his own autographs survive, one from July 1458 in the Iviron Monastery in Mount Athos, and one from July 1463 in the Topkapi Palace collection. He is also one of the few Byzantine musicians to write on theoretical issues. His surviving treatise, On the Theory of the Art of Chanting and On Certain Erroneous Views That Some Hold about It, is an invaluable guide to Byzantine music and the evolution of Byzantine singing in the late Palaiologan period.

See also

• Chrysaphes the Younger
• John Kukuzelis