Ionian school (music)
The Ionian School ( Greek Επτανησιακή Σχολή Eptanisiakí Scholí ) is a group of 19th-century composers from the Ionian Islands , which, under the influence of Italian music, forms the earliest expression of modern Greek art music . At the same time it was groundbreaking for the development of a national Greek art music.
The Italian musical tradition of the Ionian Islands
The history of the Ionian Islands has been shaped by Western European influence since the Middle Ages, from 1215 to 1797 they were owned by the Republic of Venice , then after a short French period from 1815 until they were incorporated into Greece in 1864 as the independent United States of the Ionian Islands under British protectorate .
As early as the 18th century, a lively Western European, bourgeois musical culture established itself in Corfu and Zakynthos , which was mainly determined by Italian musical traditions. The oldest building of the Teatro San Giacomo, the opera house of the island's capital Corfu , was completed in 1690 and initially housed traveling actors with comedies such as the works of Goldoni and performances of the Commedia dell'arte . Since 1733 ( Hierone Tiranno di Siracusa by Bernardo Sabadini ) the house has also served as a guest venue for Italian opera companies. The musical life of the Ionian Islands itself was dominated by immigrants from Italy, who were mainly active as instrumental teachers.
The first Greek music school was founded in the city of Zakynthos in 1815, in 1816 as the Philharmonic Society (Φιλαρμονικός Σύλλογος Ζακύνθου) under the Italian Marco Battagel, the first wind orchestra, in 1843 finally the forty-piece orchestra of the Zakynthos Philharmonic Orchestra (ιλαρμοναυκοτΕτιλκαραναynthos.
First generation
The first genuinely Greek composer is considered to be the Corfiot composer Nikolaos Mantzaros , who studied with Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli in Italy and taught in Corfu from 1823. In addition to the music for the later Greek national anthem , Il crepusculo (1815), the oldest opera by a Greek composer, came from him. His friendship with one of the early explorers and advocates of the Greek vernacular Dimotiki , the poet Dionysios Solomos , whose poems he set to music, also led to the first modern compositions in Greek.
After founding the Conservatory of the "Philharmonic Society of Corfu" (Φιλαρμονικὴ Ἑταιρεία Κερκύρας) in 1840 Mantzaros became its first director. Almost all other Ionic composers were trained by him, such as Frangiskos Domeneginis (1809–1874), Spyridon Xyndas , the brothers Andonios and Iosif Liveralis , possibly also Pavlos Carrer from Zakynthos , who is considered the most important opera composer of the early Ionic school. Some of these composers were descended from musicians who immigrated from Italy, and almost all of them spent part of their studies at Italian conservatories.
The compositions of this first generation of composers of the Ionian School placed the emphasis on vocal music - similar to Italian music of the 19th century - and were clearly in the bel canto tradition of composers such as Mercadante , Bellini , Rossini and Verdi . At the same time the cautious examination of Greek and especially Ionic folk music began, which was expressed primarily in song and piano compositions. A large number of opera compositions were written for the theaters in Corfu and Zakynthos. Events of the Greek struggle for independence of the 1820s were also brought to the stage, with Xyndas' opera O ypopsifios (υ υποψήφιος 'The Candidate') from 1867, the first complete opera composition in Greek came on the stage.
Second generation
With the establishment of the Athens Conservatory in 1871 as the first university for music in the capital, the Ionian music tradition was for the first time opposed to a national Greek tradition in the capital. Spyridon Xyndas was one of the first teachers there, among his students the Corfu-born Spyros Samaras (1864-1935), who represented the second generation of the Ionian School, which was oriented towards the late Romantic period. He no longer only studied in Italy, but also in Paris with Léo Delibes , and was successful as a composer in Italy for a long time during the emerging verismo , but also performed his works in Corfu and Athens. Dionysios Lavrangas (1860–1941) was also trained in France from Kefalonia . His opera I dyo adelfia ('The Two Brothers') is considered the first Greek national opera . The brothers Napoleon (1864–1932) and Georgios Lambelet (1875–1945), who were born in Corfu, turned more to the research of Greek folk music and thus became pioneers of a Greek National School that gradually broke away from and in which Italian influence Smyrna originating Manolis Kalomiris should find their most prominent representatives, who in 1908 postulated the national Greek art music for the first time in a manifesto.
literature
- The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians . London 2001, ISBN 0-333-60800-3
- Stanley I. Sadie: The New Grove dictionary of Opera . London 1992, ISBN 0-333-48552-1
- Friedrich Blume (Ed.): Music in the past and present . Munich / Kassel 1989, ISBN 3-7618-5913-9
Web links
- Opera history of Corfu on the pages of the prefecture of Corfu
- Music history of Zakynthos on "Zakynthos 4 Seasons"
Individual evidence
- ↑ Music history of Zakynthos ( Memento of the original from March 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Italian)
- ↑ Text of the manifest ( Memento of the original from September 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (French)
