Spiro Samara
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One largely accepted conviction about the Modern Greek Musical History is that the Art Music actually never took roots in Greece, as the so called Classical Music did not interest but the higher class of the society. Researching at the... more
One largely accepted conviction about the Modern Greek Musical History is that the Art Music actually never took roots in Greece, as the so called Classical Music did not interest but the higher class of the society. Researching at the Athens Conservatoire Archives inevitably leads us to plenty of evidence that prove this conviction to be false. The foundation of Athens Conservatoire, in 1871, aimed to the musical cultivation of the middle and lower classes of the society, as one can deduce from the institution’s registries of the time: next to high-school pupils and university students one finds pupils originated from the middle and lower class (merchants, engineers, tailors, bookbinders, printers, land-surveyors, cabinet-makers, clock-makers, blacksmiths), who, thanks to the free of charge classes that the Conservatoire offered, could learn to play music. The musical activity of the Conservatoire gradually improved in quality and the Athens Conservatoire very soon became a musical centre of Greece. When Camille Saint-Saëns visited Greece in 1920, said that the Conservatoire’s orchestra could stand anywhere. Some years later, the musical activity of the orchestra, under Dimitri Mitropoulos’ direction (former student of the Conservatoire), proved to be pioneering, presenting modernist music quite early. The example of Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale, which made its Greek premiere on January 1926 (that is only a few years after the Swiss (1918) and French (1924) premieres) is quite significant, since its warm reception by the Athenian audience, can prove that Art Music actually took roots in Greece.
The first volume of the Publications of the Museum of Music “Nikolaos Halikiopoulos Mantzaros” consists of six essays by Kostas Kardamis, which either examine aspects of the history of the Corfu Philharmonic Society (CPS) or refer to... more
The first volume of the Publications of the Museum of Music “Nikolaos Halikiopoulos Mantzaros” consists of six essays by Kostas Kardamis, which either examine aspects of the history of the Corfu Philharmonic Society (CPS) or refer to people, who were related to the Society.
The first essay entitled “Corfu Philharmonic Society: An overview of its history” attempts to offer a documented approach regarding the conditions that led to the Society’s foundation in 1840, the ideas that formulated its organization according to the prototypes of the music academies of the era, as well as those priorities that ‘gave the tune’ to its perspectives and activities during 19th century. Moreover, it is demonstrated that CPS did not have as its sole aim the creation and maintenance of a wind-band, as it is widely believed. On the contrary, it is made obvious that its founders and organizers actually succeeded (at least during 19th century) in setting up a fully-functional, high-standard music academy, in which music theory (from the basics to composition), as well as wind, string and keyboard instruments and vocal music were taught. Thus CPS gave the earliest plausible (and maybe most successful) solution to the professional musical training in 19th-century Greece.
The diversity, importance and richness of the Society’s music archive is the subject of the second essay, “Ionian musical repertoire: The case of the Corfu Philharmonic Society’s music archive”. Ranging from late 18th-century until nowadays the archive keeps an important number of works by Ionian composers, as well as methods, programmes and “international” repertory (from opera to piano or chamber music, from wind-band repertory to diverse vocal compositions). All these allow, through a series of brief case studies, a revealing look into the development of musical creation, preferences and instruction during the last two centuries in Ionian Islands and often beyond them.
“An unknown obituary by Nikolaos Halikiopoulos Mantzaros (Niccolo Calichiopulo Manzaro) for Antonio Liberali” pays tribute to the first bandmaster of the Society’s band, who died prematurely in 1842. The extended commentary of the text presents several unknown aspects of Liberali’s activities, as documented by his teacher and Society’s artistic director, Nikolaos Mantzaros. Born in 1814 Liberalis was among the founding members of CPS and was appointed as its bandmaster only a few months before his death. This appointment, however, virtually eclipsed his life and activities before 1841. Mantzaros’s obituary reveals important information regarding, not only Liberali’s dedication to the causes of the Society, but foremost his earlier, unknown, qualities. Thus, Liberali is unveiled as one of Mantzaros’s earliest disciples (already during 1820s), a piano virtuoso, a competent flute player, a bandmaster in the “service of Her Britannic Majesty”, as well as a productive composer, who is also responsible for the earliest compositions of what was going to be later described as “national music” (L’orfano di Sulli, Corfu, 1837). Finally, Mantzaros’s text offers an insight of the music life and education of Ionian Islands during the first half of 19th century, as well as information for its writer.
“Greece and symphonism: Τhe case of Dionysios Rodotheatos through his symphonic poem Atalia (for wind band), 1879” is the only text in English of these miscellanea. Dionysios Rodotheatos (1849-1892), who was vice artistic director of PSC, is an obscure, though extremely important, figure of the late 19th century music in Greece. Apart from Corfu and Naples, Rodotheatos continued his studies in Milan during early 1870s, a move that facilitated his contact with the “beyond-the-Alps” music, as it was filtered, introduced and received in Italy at that time. Apart from operas and vocal music Rodotheatos composed symphonic works and was considered as the earliest symphonicist and a “prominent Wagnerian expert” in late-19th-century Greece. However, his two “poemi sinfonici” and his Rapsodie seems to have been composed before 1874 during his studies in Italy, a fact that possibly gives particular importance to these compositions also beyond Ionian Islands. The essay focuses on Rodotheatos’s 1879 wind-band arrangement of his symphonic poem Atalia and briefly presents the composition’s qualities, as well as the composer’s attempt to ‘import’ in Corfu the Italian symphonic genre of the period through the Society’s wind band. Finally, a possible explanation for Rodotheatos’s creative re-orientation roughly at the same time towards more simplistic and “Greco-centric” patriotic vocal compositions is proposed. After all, this creative change, despite being in complete contrast with the cosmopolitan character of his symphonic compositions, it had been already heralded in mid-1870s and it was perfectly justifiable within the conditions that started to prevail in the Ionian Islands’ after their annexation to Greece in 1864.
The essay entitled “‘Incriminating evidence; A book of music’. A bandsman of the Philharmonic is being accused” brings up, possibly for the first time, the so-called “minor protagonists” of music in Greece. The focal point of the text is a brief (and rather grotesque) legal adventure in 1849 of the Phiharmonic’s ophicleide player, Filippo Devari. Material from Corfu’s Magistrate’s Court complemented by other archival sources reveal, among others, several details regarding the organization and administration of the San Giacomo theatre, its personnel, the employment of certain CPS’s bandsmen in its orchestra, the governmental intervention in it and the educational and professional activities of the Society. Moreover, it offers a glimpse into the morality of the era, since Devari had been accused of possessing a score, which had in its frontispiece the words “Il bravo” and “serpan”. Both of these words were not considered from the spectators of the theatre’s first-row boxes (and Devari’s accusers) as, respectively, the title of the opera performed and the name of the bandsman’s instrument (as it would have been evident to any musician), but as references to “a murderer” and “the satan”. Devari’s case also allows an extended comment regarding the types of basses (serpents, “corni bassi”, “cimbassi”, valved or keyed ophicleides), which were (or could have been) used then in both CPS’s wind band and San Giacomo’s orchestra. It is in vain to deny that the writer’s tuba playing decisively contributed to this unofficial homage to the 19th-century bandsmen of the Ionian Islands, who dedicated themselves to the heavy (from every aspect) responsibilities of the bass line!
In February 2007 the 150th anniversary since the death of the Zakynthian poet Dionysios Solomos (1798-1857) offered the occasion for the writing of the last essay of the volume. On the very day of the poet’s passing the Administrative Board of the Philharmonic met in order to decide the ways that CPS would participate in the public mourning for Solomos and in his funeral the next day. The proceedings’ text, which is here presented for the first time, gives several information regarding the high estimation of CPS towards Solomos and his work, and offers a glimpse into the Society’s internal organization. Moreover, based on archival sources a further commentary regarding Solomos’s relations with CPS is presented, since even before the Society’s foundation the poet had close relations with several individuals of the Philharmonic’s administration (e.g., Nikolaos Mantzaros, Petros Vrailas-Armenis, Georgios Markorás) and teachers (e.g., Giuseppe Liberali, Spyridon Xyndas). Furthermore, Solomos was highly respected among CPS bandsmen, who frequently performed the music of his poetry’s settings. All the above are approached in relation to the social and political conditions of the period, since they coincide with both an era of particular movement in regard to the Ionian Island’s “question of national reinstatement”, as well as the aftermath of the Crimean War.
The first essay entitled “Corfu Philharmonic Society: An overview of its history” attempts to offer a documented approach regarding the conditions that led to the Society’s foundation in 1840, the ideas that formulated its organization according to the prototypes of the music academies of the era, as well as those priorities that ‘gave the tune’ to its perspectives and activities during 19th century. Moreover, it is demonstrated that CPS did not have as its sole aim the creation and maintenance of a wind-band, as it is widely believed. On the contrary, it is made obvious that its founders and organizers actually succeeded (at least during 19th century) in setting up a fully-functional, high-standard music academy, in which music theory (from the basics to composition), as well as wind, string and keyboard instruments and vocal music were taught. Thus CPS gave the earliest plausible (and maybe most successful) solution to the professional musical training in 19th-century Greece.
The diversity, importance and richness of the Society’s music archive is the subject of the second essay, “Ionian musical repertoire: The case of the Corfu Philharmonic Society’s music archive”. Ranging from late 18th-century until nowadays the archive keeps an important number of works by Ionian composers, as well as methods, programmes and “international” repertory (from opera to piano or chamber music, from wind-band repertory to diverse vocal compositions). All these allow, through a series of brief case studies, a revealing look into the development of musical creation, preferences and instruction during the last two centuries in Ionian Islands and often beyond them.
“An unknown obituary by Nikolaos Halikiopoulos Mantzaros (Niccolo Calichiopulo Manzaro) for Antonio Liberali” pays tribute to the first bandmaster of the Society’s band, who died prematurely in 1842. The extended commentary of the text presents several unknown aspects of Liberali’s activities, as documented by his teacher and Society’s artistic director, Nikolaos Mantzaros. Born in 1814 Liberalis was among the founding members of CPS and was appointed as its bandmaster only a few months before his death. This appointment, however, virtually eclipsed his life and activities before 1841. Mantzaros’s obituary reveals important information regarding, not only Liberali’s dedication to the causes of the Society, but foremost his earlier, unknown, qualities. Thus, Liberali is unveiled as one of Mantzaros’s earliest disciples (already during 1820s), a piano virtuoso, a competent flute player, a bandmaster in the “service of Her Britannic Majesty”, as well as a productive composer, who is also responsible for the earliest compositions of what was going to be later described as “national music” (L’orfano di Sulli, Corfu, 1837). Finally, Mantzaros’s text offers an insight of the music life and education of Ionian Islands during the first half of 19th century, as well as information for its writer.
“Greece and symphonism: Τhe case of Dionysios Rodotheatos through his symphonic poem Atalia (for wind band), 1879” is the only text in English of these miscellanea. Dionysios Rodotheatos (1849-1892), who was vice artistic director of PSC, is an obscure, though extremely important, figure of the late 19th century music in Greece. Apart from Corfu and Naples, Rodotheatos continued his studies in Milan during early 1870s, a move that facilitated his contact with the “beyond-the-Alps” music, as it was filtered, introduced and received in Italy at that time. Apart from operas and vocal music Rodotheatos composed symphonic works and was considered as the earliest symphonicist and a “prominent Wagnerian expert” in late-19th-century Greece. However, his two “poemi sinfonici” and his Rapsodie seems to have been composed before 1874 during his studies in Italy, a fact that possibly gives particular importance to these compositions also beyond Ionian Islands. The essay focuses on Rodotheatos’s 1879 wind-band arrangement of his symphonic poem Atalia and briefly presents the composition’s qualities, as well as the composer’s attempt to ‘import’ in Corfu the Italian symphonic genre of the period through the Society’s wind band. Finally, a possible explanation for Rodotheatos’s creative re-orientation roughly at the same time towards more simplistic and “Greco-centric” patriotic vocal compositions is proposed. After all, this creative change, despite being in complete contrast with the cosmopolitan character of his symphonic compositions, it had been already heralded in mid-1870s and it was perfectly justifiable within the conditions that started to prevail in the Ionian Islands’ after their annexation to Greece in 1864.
The essay entitled “‘Incriminating evidence; A book of music’. A bandsman of the Philharmonic is being accused” brings up, possibly for the first time, the so-called “minor protagonists” of music in Greece. The focal point of the text is a brief (and rather grotesque) legal adventure in 1849 of the Phiharmonic’s ophicleide player, Filippo Devari. Material from Corfu’s Magistrate’s Court complemented by other archival sources reveal, among others, several details regarding the organization and administration of the San Giacomo theatre, its personnel, the employment of certain CPS’s bandsmen in its orchestra, the governmental intervention in it and the educational and professional activities of the Society. Moreover, it offers a glimpse into the morality of the era, since Devari had been accused of possessing a score, which had in its frontispiece the words “Il bravo” and “serpan”. Both of these words were not considered from the spectators of the theatre’s first-row boxes (and Devari’s accusers) as, respectively, the title of the opera performed and the name of the bandsman’s instrument (as it would have been evident to any musician), but as references to “a murderer” and “the satan”. Devari’s case also allows an extended comment regarding the types of basses (serpents, “corni bassi”, “cimbassi”, valved or keyed ophicleides), which were (or could have been) used then in both CPS’s wind band and San Giacomo’s orchestra. It is in vain to deny that the writer’s tuba playing decisively contributed to this unofficial homage to the 19th-century bandsmen of the Ionian Islands, who dedicated themselves to the heavy (from every aspect) responsibilities of the bass line!
In February 2007 the 150th anniversary since the death of the Zakynthian poet Dionysios Solomos (1798-1857) offered the occasion for the writing of the last essay of the volume. On the very day of the poet’s passing the Administrative Board of the Philharmonic met in order to decide the ways that CPS would participate in the public mourning for Solomos and in his funeral the next day. The proceedings’ text, which is here presented for the first time, gives several information regarding the high estimation of CPS towards Solomos and his work, and offers a glimpse into the Society’s internal organization. Moreover, based on archival sources a further commentary regarding Solomos’s relations with CPS is presented, since even before the Society’s foundation the poet had close relations with several individuals of the Philharmonic’s administration (e.g., Nikolaos Mantzaros, Petros Vrailas-Armenis, Georgios Markorás) and teachers (e.g., Giuseppe Liberali, Spyridon Xyndas). Furthermore, Solomos was highly respected among CPS bandsmen, who frequently performed the music of his poetry’s settings. All the above are approached in relation to the social and political conditions of the period, since they coincide with both an era of particular movement in regard to the Ionian Island’s “question of national reinstatement”, as well as the aftermath of the Crimean War.
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... more
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.
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.
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... more
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.
* * *
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.
“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.
* * *
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.
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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.
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