Loudovikos Spinellis

Loudovikos Spinellis

Loudovikos Spinellis ( Greek Λουδοβίκος Σπινέλλης , * 1871 or 1872 in Syros ; † 1904 in Athens ) was a Greek conductor and composer of classical music. He was one of the leading composers of the entertaining theater music of the Belle Époque in Greece, whose style already points to the National School of Greece.

The biographical material on Spinellis, who died early, is scanty. He was born on Syros, the son of a conductor who was his first teacher and who sent him to Milan for further studies . In 1890 concerts in Constantinople are occupied with him as conductor, from 1892 he lived in Athens, where he first appeared as the composer of the music for seven musical comedies (Komidyllia) and later wrote revues, drama music on ancient Greek tragedies as well as some songs and choral compositions . In his compositions for the popular genre of Komidyllio , a clear turn to motifs from Greek folklore is evident from an early musical point of view. In 1900 Spinellis founded the opera company Ellinikon Melodrama ( Ἑλληνικὸν Μελόδραμα ) together with Dionysios Lavrangas , at the opening of which he conducted Puccini's La Bohème on April 26, 1900 . Apparently he was rejected by the teachers of the Athens Odeion and quickly fell into oblivion after his death. Only six smaller printed works have survived, including an elegy for piano and a quadrille from the music to the Komidyllio O Genikos Grammatefs ( Ὁ Γενικὸς Γραμματεύς , "Der Generalsekretär", 1893).

literature

• Giorgos Leotsakos : Light under a bushel, Piano works by Greek composers 1847–1908 . Crete University Press, Heraklion 1999, ISBN 960-524-069-2 .