Biographical Note
Ragheb Moftah was born on December 21, 1898, in Egypt, the son of Habashi Moftah. He was a musicologist, scholar, and a pioneer of the preservation of the Coptic liturgical music heritage. This heritage of the Coptic Orthodox Church springs from perhaps the oldest musical tradition in the world. Ragheb Moftah’s recordings of the orally transmitted Coptic Liturgical chants were collected from authoritative cantors throughout most of the twentieth century.
Moftah traveled to England where he met Ernest Newlandsmith, who was a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Newlandsmith became intrigued with Moftah’s idea of transcribing the music of the Coptic Orthodox Liturgical chants. Moftah and Newlandsmith collaborated together from 1927 - 1936.
In 1931 they again traveled to England to lecture on Coptic liturgical music at Oxford, Cambridge, and London Universities. Thereafter, Moftah and Newlandsmith made their way back to Cairo, and were more determined than ever to finish their goal of transcribing this unique tradition.
In those pre-tape-recording days, Newlandsmith took down the notation from live performances of the liturgies that were chanted by the great master cantor Mikhail Girgis al-Batanouni, who was chosen by Ragheb Moftah and Newlandsmith for his rich baritone voice, and accurate rendition of the Coptic Orthodox liturgical chants. The legendary great master cantor Mikhail Girgis al-Batanouni worked assiduously with Ragheb Moftah from 1928 – 1957.
Newlandsmith compiled some 16 folios of music notation, including the Liturgy of St. Basil (used in the Coptic Church throughout the year except during the feasts), the Liturgy of St. Gregory (used during the four major feasts of Nativity, Epiphany, Resurrection and Pentecost), and a number of special services like the ordaining of new priests, festivals, weddings, funerals and many other Coptic Orthodox occasions.
In 1932 Moftah was chosen by the Egyptian government to present the Coptic Music in the Arab Music Conference that was held in Cairo, and was sponsored by King Fuad. Bela Bartok, the composer and ethnomusicologist who visited Egypt to attend the Conference, was intrigued by Moftah’s endeavors, and promised to work with him, but he was unable to do so as he was called away to a more urgent project in Turkey.
In 1945, Moftah established a center to teach Coptic chant melodies. By 1954, Moftah was among the founders of the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies, and established the Music Division. From 1954 until his death in 2001, Dr. Moftah recorded the entire corpus of Coptic Orthodox Liturgical chants and hymns in the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies (HICS). The Collection includes the St. Basil’s Liturgy, the St. Gregory’s Liturgy, parts of the St. Cyril’s Liturgy, and many other hymns and chants for various occasions. He was also responsible for training cantors at the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies (HICS), as well as students at the Coptic Clerical College. Each summer he ran a camp in Alexandria for additional instruction, which was all by rote memorization.
In 1970, Ragheb Moftah commissioned Margit Toth to transcribe the music notation of the Coptic Orthodox Liturgy of St. Basil, which was published by the American University in Cairo Press in 1998Ragheb Moftah collected and recorded the orally transmitted chants of the Liturgy of St. Basil that were transcribed by Toth from authoritative cantors, including cantors Sadek Attallah and Farag Abdel Messih. The work contains a full text of the Liturgy in Coptic and Arabic, together with an English translation.
Moftah’s work is of interest not only for spiritually engaged people both within and without the monotheistic tradition, but also to Egyptologists, Coptologists, historians of religion, and ethnomusicologists. Moftah died on June 16, 2001.
By Laurence Moftah (niece of Dr. Moftah)