Modern edition of a treatise on music and notation by the Mxit'arist scholar Minas Bžškean
(1777-1851), with an introduction and notes by Aram Kʿērovbēan. The treatise was completed in
1812 and is the earliest exposition of the modern system of Armenian notation, or Hampartsum
notation (Tr. Hamparsum notası). It was intended to be published in 1815 (the date borne on
the original title page), but remained unpublished until the appearance of the present
edition. The treatise also contains musical examples, including a peşrev and a saz semâîsi. A
manuscript draft and a fair copy (both autographs) are housed in the archive of the Armenian
monastery of San Lazzaro, Venice.
