Όπερα

The comic opera "The Parliamentary Candidate" is the earliest opera using libretto in Greek, as well as extensive material of rural music, both from Ionian Islands and the mainland. It was premiered in Corfu in 1867 and does not glorify the ancient or the recent historical past, but on the contrary offers a realistic view of its current social and political situation. Due to its political critic against the corrupted politicians and their supporters after 1888 the structure of the opera has changed considerably. This fact contributed to the total misunderstanding of its aims and ideas until today. The Corfu Philharmonic Society, honouring the 150 years since its premiere and the 200 years since the birth of its composer , published for the first time the original 1867 vocal score in a bilingual (Greek and English) volume. More information and subscriptions in:
http://www.fek.gr/the-news/anakoinos/65-nea/850-epeteioi-2017?lang=el

Published by Ionian University-Music Department-Hellenic Music Research Lab and Corfu Philharmonic Society (ISBN 978-960-7260-63-5).
2017 marked for opera in Greece four anniversaries: the centenary since the passing of Spiros Samaras (1861-1917), the bicentenary since the birth of two important Greek opera composers, Spiridon Xyndas (1817-1896) and Domenikos Padovàs (1817-1892), as well as the 150 years since the premiere of the opera O ypopsifios [The Parliamentary Candidate] (1867, music by Xyndas and libretto by Ioannis Rinopoulos), which was both the first full-scale opera in Greek and the pivotal point for the emergence of opera in Greek language. Actually, this opera was revived by the Corfu Philharmonic Society in November 2017 in its original version honouring thus both the birth of its composer and the anniversary of its premiere.
The Hellenic Music Research Lab of the Music Department of the Ionian University and Corfu Philharmonic Society on the occasion of the aforementioned anniversaries organized the international conference entitled Opera and the Greek World during Nineteenth Century, which took place in Corfu, Greece, on 17, 18 and 19 November 2017.
Corfu, the seat of the Ionian University, was the birthplace of the three aforementioned composers. The San Giacomo theatre of Corfu, the earliest theatrical stage of the region, hosted opera performances already since 1733, contributing decisively to the dissemination of opera within the Greek world during 19th century. Moreover, Xyndas, Padovàs and Samaras presented in the same theatre their operas. Xyndas in 1840 was also one of the initial founders and professors of the Corfu Philharmonic Society and he dedicated to it certain of his operas. Padovàs also taught harmony and music theory in the Philharmonic, in 1857 he dedicated to it his opera Dirce and since 1884 he was appointed the Society’s artistic director. Samaras, a student of Xyndas during his early music training, had multiple connections with the Philharmonic Society and had been its honorary artistic director since 1889.
Given the above, the conference was not confined solely to the lives and the works of the aforementioned composers, but focused on matters regarding the place, the reception, the importance and the formative factors of the operatic activity within the Greek world during the “long nineteenth century”. This volume includes sixteen selected contributions covering areas such diverse as opera in the Ionian Islands, Athens and the Greek diaspora, analytical approaches and matters of reception both in Greece and abroad, and offers to the readers a wealth of information regarding opera activity in such places as Ermoupolis (Syros) and Smyrna, as well as aspects of the operatic “micro-history” of the Greek world.
Most of the texts of this volume are in English, but for those that are in Greek, extended abstracts can be found in the “Summaries” section.

Haris Xanthoudakis,
“The Olympic Anthem and its premiere:
A Greek demonstration of musical forces”

The organisation of the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 was the outcome of efforts and initiatives that went on for sixty years and were carried out by intellectuals and politicians. They strived –either consciously or subconsciously, but in any case objectively– to ensure that the newly founded Greek state would prove at an international level its direct links to the ancient Greek legacy and, consequently, its historical continuity. Such a claim would never achieve its purpose and would bear no practical benefits should Greece –and in particular the Greek organisation of the Olympic Games– not manage to link the glory of the Antiquity to the fin-de-siècle Greek culture.
In this framework, the celebrations organized for the revival of the Olympic Games were primarily used to illustrate the progress achieved after almost seven decades since the declaration of the Greek independence and the founding of its institutions. Music, as a multidimensional activity (referring not only to composing, but also to performance), had the most direct advantages in Greece in 1896 for two reasons; first, the nature of the Olympic Games was the perfect scene to host music performances. Second, the art of the sounds, without the burden of the language barrier, featured numerous important Greek musicians of international merit, both as composers and as performers. In addition, music had influenced deeply the Greek society and its institutions. Hence, the Olympic Committee commissioned Spiros Samaras, an outstanding Greek composer who had pursued an exquisite career abroad, as well as Kostis Palamas, a rewarded young poet, for the composition of the Olympic Anthem at such high standards that could utilize and set off the most distinguished musical forces of the Greek capital.
Based on historical evidence and records, the present essay explores the ideological background and presents the facts that led to the commission and the performance of the Olympic Anthem. It also outlines the available musical forces in Greece of that time, as well as the preparation for the anthem’s performance and ends up to the description of the majestic premiere, in which two symphony orchestras, three wind bands and four choirs joined their forces.

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Stella Kourbana,
“Flora Mirabilis and its premiere in Greece”

The outstanding success of Flora Mirabilis, composed by Spyridon Filiskos Samaras  and premiered in Milan in May 1886, as well as its subsequent glamorous orbit both in European and in American opera stages, did not necessarily mean that the opera would meet an equally illustrious reception in the composer’s homeland. It was a common wish to perform the opera also in Greece from very early on. However, it would take three years and numerous unsuccessful attempts in order the world famous Flora Mirabilis to be heard in Greece. Apart from Corfu, Samaras’s hometown, Flora Mirabilis was planned to be staged also in Zakynthos, in Patras, and of course in Athens, but the premiere was always put off. It was finally performed in Corfu in February 1889 (and eight months later in Athens). As concerns Greece of that time, it is obvious that good intentions were not enough to make up for the lack of suitable means and people who could appreciate and give prominence to the work of such an important composer that his country should have been very proud of.
When Flora Mirabilis finally had its Greek premiere in Corfu, the composer was actively involved in the production and was totally satisfied by the conditions. The audience gave a warm applaud to the opera and enjoyed not only the simple, but also the most demanding of its parts. It was a unique reward for the efforts of Samaras, who stated that he was proud to be a Corfiot.

*  *  *

Kostas Kardamis,
“Samaras and the Corfu Philharmonic Society”

Until recently, the only link between Samaras and the Corfu Philharmonic Society was the Olympic Anthem, since it was performed by the Society’s wind band during the closing ceremony of the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. However, the administrative and musical archives of the Society along with articles from the press of that time offer a different aspect of the relationship between the composer and the Philharmonic Society, much more interesting and important.
Indirect links to the Philharmonic date back to 1870s, the most characteristic of which is the fact that Samaras was taught music privately by the composer Spyridon Xyndas, who was among the Society’s founders. However, the unprecedented success of Flora Mirabilis in 1886 led to closer contacts between the Philharmonic and the composer, who in that year was elected Honorary Fellow of the Society.
The Greek premiere of Flora Mirabilis in Corfu in 1889 gave the composer the opportunity to return to his hometown after fifteen years. It was also a great opportunity for the Corfu Philharmonic Society to honour the composer. The president of the Society’s Committee, Reverend Konstantinos Voulgaris (who was also a close friend of Samaras), seems to have played the most important role in this case. During Samaras’s stay in Corfu –in the margin of the hectic atmosphere caused by the performance of Flora Mirabilis– the Philharmonic Society offered the composer a silver wreath, they organised a formal dinner and the composer was elected Honorary Artistic Director of the Society. Beyond those symbolic acts, Samaras was asked by the Committee to give his opinion on the issue of the reorganisation of the musical and educational structures and aims of the Philharmonic. Using the connections he had in Italy, Samaras was asked to suggest the suitable teachers in order to staff the Society’s music ensembles and classes.
The Corfu Philharmonic Society followed closely Samaras career in the following years mainly through his operas. Even in the spring of 1907, when Samaras stayed in Corfu only for a few hours, the Society honoured him accordingly. After Samaras’s death, the Society continued to pay homage to him by arranging for wind band selections from his most famous operas and by including Samaras’s works in the concerts of its wind band and its orchestra.
The Society took also the initiative in honouring Samaras in the autumn of 1961, at the celebrations for the centenary since the composer’s birth. The Society organized lectures, concerts and an exhibition of artifacts related to Samaras. Hence, the Corfu Philharmonic Society continued to be one of the few institutions that, actively and in very difficult periods in Greek history, honoured the first Greek composer who had gained international merit and gave him constant acknowledgement.

*  *  *

Giorgos Leotsakos,
“Tracing Samaras for a quarter of a century”

Samaras and his work gradually fell into oblivion after the composer’s death. This was an expected result of a continuous disparagement in Greece of his creative output and personality, which begun already since the composer’s permanent return to Greece in 1911. Only some of Samaras’s works reached the audience after 1940s, whereas the adoption in 1958 of his 1896 Olympic Anthem as the official anthem of the Olympic Games further distorted the views for the composer.
During mid-1980s Giorgos Leotsakos begun his active involvement with Samaras and gradually became his prinicipal champion. Leotsakos was going to rediscover Samaras’s importance for the fin-de-siècle melodrama, his early career in the 1870s Athens and the 1880s Paris, and the ill-fated reception of the composer’s work in interwar and postwar Greece. In this autobiographical account Leotsakos offers a glimpse into certain aspects of his personal experiences during his research for Samaras in archives and libraries, both in Greece and abroad. He also raises new research questions regarding Samaras, mainly regarding the role of his widow, Anna Samaras, the fate of the composer’s archive, as well as the identity of the Parisian opera singer Clotilde Samara.