Αύρα Ξεπαπαδάκου

During the 19th century, exoticism and folklorism, two aesthetic tendencies which originate in the common matrix of nationalism, enjoy pan-european appeal. Especially in the field of music, folklorism was connected to the romantic discovery of elements of “national spirit” in the folk tunes of the country, while exoticism prepared the ground for the constitution of national schools of music in Europe.
The first national school of music in Greece was developed outside the borders of the Modern Greek State, by the western-bred musicians of the Ionian Islands. Pavlos Carrer of Zakynthos, one of the mainstays of the Ionian school of music of the 19th c., is in essence the first Greek music composer to put forward a complete collection of vocal works with national subjects, Greek-language libretti and lyrics and melodies inspired by the folk, as well as the urban popular tradition of Greece.
This article examines the double function of the national element in two Greek-inspired operas by Carrer, Marco Bozzari and Kyra-Frossini. In these two works, the composer, through his manipulation of language and music, exploits folklorism and exoticism in order to inaugurate his musical “system”, to advertise his nationalistic expressive pursuits and to create a national imagery of sound and scenery.

""The Greek Melodramatic Troupe was founded by the art-loving tailor Ioannis Karayannis and the comic bass Antonios Landis. During its short period of activity (1888–1892) it created a real breakthrough in the art life of its era by daring to translate and present the contemporary operatic repertoire in Greek language. Moreover, the troupe included in its repertoire operas by Greek composers, something that contributed decisively to their popularity in a wider audience.

The earliest Greek melodramatic troupe was the case for the cooperation of significant artistic personalities of the era, such as Napoleon Lambelet, Spiridon Bekatoros, Spiridon Xindas and Pavlos Karrer. Elpida Kaouki-Lambelet is of significant importance, since she was the first female orchestra conductor in the Greek theatres. The Karayannis’s troupe through its meticulous productions achieved the wobble of the usually statefunded monopoly of the imported melodramatic troupes that exclusively exploited the audience of the Greek opera lovers.
Meanwhile, the Greek Melodramatic Troupe became a unifying net by connecting by means of art the Greek places which were geographically divided. During its long tours in Greece, Europe and the East, especially due to the performances of Greek operas, the troupe excited the Greeks and aroused the foreigners’ interest.""

The present paper deals with the unhappy fate of the Greek opera Marathon-Salamis, written by Paolo (Pavlos) Carrer from Zante, and the tribulations of its constantly postponed performance. On the basis of the historical sources of the 19th c., and especially the local press in Athens and other Greek cities, we shall follow Carrer's arduous efforts to have his play performed at the Municipal Theatre in Athens, and at the same time draw a not-so-flattering picture of the Greek cultural scene of the period.
The composition of the opera Marathon-Salamis (libretto by Agamemnon Martzokis) begins in 1886 in Zante, which sees the performance of two musical excerpts from the fourth scene in early 1887. In the same year, the athenian newspapers announce the first performance of the new opera, which is scheduled for the opening night of the new Municipal Theatre of Athens. A series of unfortunate events will keep the play away from the musical stages from October 1888 until February 2003, when the world premiere of the opera Marathon-Salamis takes place at the Greek National Opera.

"This article deals with the first years of operation of the Athens Municipal Theatre, which was designed in 1886-1887 by E. Ziller, grandly inaugurated in 1888 and demolished in 1940-41 by K. Kontzias. It was the first monumental theatre house of modern Athens, funded by the so-called “national benefactor” Andreas Syngros.

The acquisition of a national theatrical scene had been the insistent demand and ardent desire of the new Athenian bourgeoisie already since King Otto's times. Athens, in order to stand on a par with any other European capital, required its own civil architectural jewel, a monumental theatrical building, which would constitute the meeting place of high society and would testify to the new europeanised face of the Modern Greek state. The Athenian municipality and its art-loving citizens dreamed of a majestic theatre, whose scene would host brilliant performances of modern repertoire - mainly Italian and French opera and operetta - as well as choice samples of the Modern Greek opera and drama production.

It was with great gratitude, therefore, that the Athenian public received the news of the rich Andreas Syngros’ decision to assume the construction costs of the municipal theatre. However, this apparently generous benefaction seems to have benefited the benefactor himself more than anyone else: A. Syngros presented the municipality of Athens with a dysfunctional, extremely costly and lucrative for himself only enterprise. Furthermore, the edifice in its final form, being very far removed from Ziller’s initial architectural plans, due to Syngros’ consecutive economic cuts, was nothing more than a cheap and faulty construction, which failed to meet even the basic specifications of a theatre, let alone the most elementary safety standards.

The present research, based on material from primary sources of the period, attempts to investigate the causes of the adversity that doomed the Athens Municipal theatre during its short lifespan, from its foundation to its inglorious demolition. Among the string of bitter events which form its history, the investigation focuses on the first, not-so-well known years of its turbulent operation, which are marked by the ambiguous role of Andreas Syngros."

"“Musical menagerie”, “art’s flotsam and jetsam, wandering in the East”, “gang of Frenchmen and Frenchwomen”, “drama caravan” “musical dust” are a few of the characterisations that have been attributed to the notorious French theatre company Lassalle and Charlet by the Athenian press. The two French impressarios, also termed “twin gods of deceit”, “goblins”, “tricksters” and “arch-procurers” introduced unheard-of show business methods to Athens during their stay in 1887-1888, since then known as “lassalisme”.

The present paper deals with the activities of one of the most disreputable troupes which toured in Greece in the 19th c., and hopes to contribute to the research on opera, operetta and musical theatre in Modern Greece. It gives an account of their presence in Athens in 1887 and 1888, and of the dealings of the two impressarios with the newly-built Municipal Theatre of Athens during its first season (Autumn 1888). Particular attention is paid to the composition of the company, its members and its repertoire, as well as to the unprecedented scandals caused by it."

Οι γάμοι του διαδόχου του ελληνικού θρόνου Κωνσταντίνου Α΄ και της αδελφής του αυτοκράτορα της Γερμανίας, πριγκίπισσας Σοφίας Χόεντσολλερν, οι οποίοι τελέστηκαν στην Αθήνα στις 15 (27) Οκτωβρίου 1889, υπήρξαν ένα πολιτικό γεγονός κορυφαίας σημασίας για την παγίωση της θέσης του ελληνικού κράτους στην Ευρώπη.
Συγχρόνως, όμως, απετέλεσαν ένα πρωτοφανές σε λαμπρότητα και κοσμικότητα κοινωνικό γεγονός που θάμπωσε και απασχόλησε για μήνες τους κατοίκους των Αθηνών, αλλά και τους υπόλοιπους Έλληνες.
Στη μελέτη αυτή προσπαθούμε να ανασυνθέσουμε την πανηγυρική ατμόσφαιρα της εποχής, δίνοντας ιδιαίτερη έμφαση στις καλλιτεχνικές εκδηλώσεις που πραγματοποιήθηκαν κατά τους γαμήλιους εορτασμούς.
Ανάμεσά τους, ξεχωρίζουν εκδηλώσεις-σταθμοί για την ιστορία της ελληνικής μουσικής και του ελληνικού θεάτρου, όπως η αθηναϊκή πρεμιέρα της όπερας Flora Mirabilis του Σπυρίδωνος Φιλίσκου Σαμάρα, η παράσταση των Περσών του Αισχύλου πλαισιωμένη από την –πρωτοποριακή για τα τότε δεδομένα– μουσική του περιώνυμου πρίγκιπα Βερνάρδου του Saxe-Meiningen, η πανηγυρική συναυλία της Φιλαρμονικής Αθηνών που επέβαλε επισήμως το γερμανίζον ρεπερτόριο στην ημιμαθή και αισθητικά κακοποιημένη Αθήνα του καιρού.

“Beckett’s work, like music itself, endeavors to express what cannot be spoken”. This utterance belongs to Luciano Berio, an Italian composer who, inspired by Samuel Beckett’s writings, wrote avant-guarde music. The function of the musical element in Beckett’s literary opus can be summarized as exactly this endless effort to express that which cannot be spelt out with the conventional use of written speech.

All of Beckett’s readers and viewers / spectators have sensed the musicality of his texts. The blending of speech and sound in his work often attains perfection; musicality derives from the original use of language, the segmentation of words, the long pauses, the meaningful silences and in general the creation of a rhythmical whole. A very large variety of sounds can be heard in Beckett’s plays: special music, songs, strident outside noises, repeated mechanical sounds, the human voice being tested in novel areas of expression, and the internal, cover-all sound of his text itself. Moreover, in many of his plays there are specific references to musical pieces.

Of particular import is the place of music in Beckett’s two radio plays, Words and Music and Cascando. Beckett gives music the leading role, demoting speech. In these works, Music with a capital “M” is one of the dramatis personae, and comes into conflict with Words (in Words and Music) or with Voice (in Cascando).

The musical score for Words and Music, which forms the main topic of this paper, was written by one of the most important minimalist composers of the last decades of the 20th c., Morton Feldman.

The rest of the paper is dedicated to the examination of:
- Sinfonia, a concert by the Italian composer Luciano Berio, which draws its linguistic material from Beckett’s novel The Unnamable.
- Neither, an anti-opera by Morton Feldman, whose libretto is Beckett’s poem of the same name.
- For Samuel Beckett, Morton Feldman’s swan song, an orchestral composition dedicated to Beckett.