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Mikis Theodorakis

 

(born July 29, 1925, island of Chios, Greece) Greek composer. He studied at the Athens and Paris conservatories. A member of the wartime resistance, he remained active in politics, serving several times in the Greek parliament. As a Communist Party member, he was arrested during the 1967 military coup and only released in 1970 under international pressure. He is best known outside Greece for his film scores, including Zorba the Greek (1964), Z (1969), and State of Siege (1972), but he also composed much concert music, including seven symphonies, four operas, ballets (including Antigone, 1959), and more than 1,000 songs. He is esteemed in his homeland as a national hero.

For more information on Mikis Theodorakis, visit Britannica.com.

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Music Encyclopedia: Mikis Theodorakis
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(b Khios, 29 July 1925). Greek composer. He was early influenced by Byzantine music and Cretan folk music. He studied at Paris Conservatoire from 1954 and returned to Greece in 1959 when he issued a manifesto attacking the Greek musical establishment. He was imprisoned for his revolutionary doctrines when Greece was under right-wing rule, but released in response to worldwide demand in 1970. He has composed oratorios, ballets and film music (notably for Zorba the Greek), mainly based on Greek subject matter.



Artist: Mikis Theodorakis
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Similar Artists:

Haris Alexiou, Zülfü Livaneli, George Dalaras

Performed Songs By:

Dimitra Manda
  • Born: July 29, 1925, Chios, Greece
  • Active: '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, 2000s
  • Genres: World
  • Instrument: Vocals, Piano, Arranger
  • Representative Albums: "Very Best of Theodorakis," "Poetica," "The Best of Mikis Theodorakis"
  • Representative Songs: "Zorba's Dance," "Mana Mou Ke Panagia," "Beautiful City"

Biography

Mikis Theodorakis is a renowned Greek troubadour and one of his country's greatest composers. He wrote many symphonies, cantatas, several ballets and operas, plus popular songs including "Zorba the Greek," famous from Herb Alpert's instrumental hit. Born in 1925 on the Greek island of Chios, Theodorakis began writing songs quite early. He formed his own choir and gave his first performance at the age of 17. An active resistance fighter during World War II, he studied at the conservatories in both Athens and Paris (the latter with Olivier Messiaen). Theodorakis wrote several symphonies during the late '50s, but later returned to Greece to apply his musical knowledge to the traditional Greek music he'd grown up with. After several years of film scoring, in 1964 he composed the music for the film adaptation of the Nikos Kazantzakis novel Zorba the Greek. When 1967 brought a fascist government into control of the country, Theodorakis went underground and formed a revolutionary group to combat abuses -- including a ban on playing or even listening to his music. He was later arrested, exiled, and sent to an internment camp, though the work of a global solidarity movement -- led by Leonard Bernstein, Dmitri Shostakovich, Arthur Miller, and Harry Belafonte -- helped secure his release in 1970. Still exiled from his country, Theodorakis served as the greatest ambassador of Greek music during the 1970s, playing thousands of concerts across the world. After the government toppled, he served as a member of the new parliament, also working as general musical director of the symphony orchestra and chorus of the Hellenic Radio and Television. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
Discography: Mikis Theodorakis
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Best of Mikis Theodorakis [Koch]

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Ballad of Mauthausen

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Bouzoukis

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Best of Mikis Theodorakis, Vol. 2

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Balkanica

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Olympia Chor

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Iphigenia [Original Soundtrack]

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Electra

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Phaedra

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State of Siege

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Antigone

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Milva

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Sings His Songs

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Songs for Struggle/Arcadia IV

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Eighteen Little Songs for the Bitter Homeland

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Greek Dances: Mikis Theodorakis

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Arcadia I, VII, VIII

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Canto General [EMI]

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Axion Esti

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Zorba

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10 Moving Images

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Oracle

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100%

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12 Tragoudia Me Tin Orhistra Tou Gerald Calvi

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Romiosyni

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16 Spanies Ihografiseis

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7 Kykloi Tragoudion Horodia Trikalon No. 2

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Athina Tou 60 Tragouda

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Balantes - Ta Lyrika - Ta Tragoudia Tou Agona - [Horodia Trikalon - Papastefanou

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Epilogi

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Epitafios - Arhipelagos - Politeia - Epifania/Horodia Trikalon - Terps. Papast

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Horodia Trikalon No. 1

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Horodia Trikalon No. 2

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Horodia Trikalon No. 3

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Horodia Trikalon No. 4

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Synaylia Sto Kentrikon

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Ta Pikrosavvata

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Politia G

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40 Tragoudia Gia Paidakia

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26 Kykloi Tragoudion 1958-1981 Me Ti Horodia Trikalon Tis Terps. Papastefanou

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Very Best of Theodorakis [Koch International]

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Very Best of Mikis Theodorakis, Vol. 2 [FM]

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Laiki Orchestra

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Z

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Songs for the Theatre and the Cinema

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Litany

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Canto General [RCA]

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Ta Tragoudia 1959-1986, Vol. 1

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Ta Tragoudia 1959-1986, Vol. 2

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First Songs

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O Zorbas: A Man & His Music Gold

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Troubadour From Greece

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Litany 2

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Roots of Greek Music, Vol. 5

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Aemata

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Best of Mikis Theodorakis [Delta]

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Greatest Hits

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Serenates

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Sirtakis

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Faces of the Sun - Poetica

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Mikis

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Mikis Theodorakis: A Lifetime of Greece

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Very Best of Mikis Theodorakis [EMI Greece]

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Mauthausen Trilogy

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B.S.O.

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Gold

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Poetica

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Symphony #3, Liturgy #2

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Mikis Theodorakis on the Screen

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Canto Olympico

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Theodorakis Sings Theodorakis

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Portrait of Mikis Theodorakis

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Canto General [Bonus Tracks]

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Zorba the Greek

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Actor: Mikis Theodorakis
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  • Born: Jul 29, 1925 in Chios, Greece
  • Active: '60s-'80s
  • Major Genres: Drama
  • Career Highlights: Serpico, Z, State of Siege
  • First Major Screen Credit: The Barefoot Battalion (1954)

Biography

Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis' best-known film score is that of Michael Cacoyannis' Zorba the Greek (1964). Educated at the Conservatory of Patras, Athens Conservatory, and the Paris Conservatoire, he began his career in Paris writing orchestral music and writing scores for ballets, stage productions, and films. A civil servant's son, he was raised on the island of Khios and began his musical training when he was quite young. The family moved to Tripolis when he was a young teen. Shortly after enrolling at the Athens Conservatory, Theodorakis began what would become a lifetime of political activity when he joined the resistance efforts against invading Germans and Italians. At that time, Theodorakis was a committed leftist and staunch Greek patriot. His efforts in the political arena had a negative effect upon his career. He became no stranger to jail, torture, and exile. It was during his 1953 exile that he moved to Paris. He did not return to Greece until 1961. Once home, he became the leader of the Lambrakis youth movement. He then was elected to Parliament. He was arrested again in 1967 during a military coup and was imprisoned until 1970. Following his release, Theodorakis returned to France. Two years later, he left the Communist party. He returned to Greece and resumed his musical career in 1974. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Wikipedia: Mikis Theodorakis
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Mikis Theodorakis
(Μίκης Θεοδωράκης)

Mikis Theodorakis in 2004
Background information
Born July 29, 1925 (1925-07-29) (age 84)
Origin Greece Chios, Greece
Genres 20th century classical music (Greek)
Occupations Song-writer & composer, Politician
Website http://www.mikis-theodorakis.net

Mikis Theodorakis (Greek: Μίκης Θεοδωράκης) (b. July 29, 1925, Greek island of Chios) is one of the most popular Greek song-writers & composers. He is particularly well known for his songs and for his scores in the films Zorba the Greek (1964), Z (1969), and Serpico (1973).

Politically, he identified with the left until the late 1980s; in 1989, he ran as an independent candidate within the centre-right New Democracy party in order for the country to come out of the political crisis that had been created due to the numerous scandals of the government of Andreas Papandreou[1] and helped to establish a large coalition between conservatives, socialists and leftists. In 1990 he was elected to the parliament (as in 1964 and 1981), became a government minister under Constantine Mitsotakis, and fought against drugs and terrorism and for culture, education and better relations between Greece and Turkey. He continues to make often very harsh statements, especially when peace is in danger: See his statements on Palestine (Official Web Site), or the War in Iraq (Official Web Site), or Greece - Turkey - Cyprus (Official Web Site). He has consistently opposed oppressive regimes and was the key voice against the Greek Junta 1967-1974[2]. He has been mentioned as a candidate for the election as President of Greece, but he has refused to be considered.

Contents

Biography

Early years

Mikis Theodorakis was born on the island of Chios and had to spend his childhood years in different provincial Greek cities such as Mytilene, Cephallonia, Patras, Pyrgos and Tripolis. His father, a lawyer and a civil servant was from Galata (Crete) and his mother from Cesme (Asia Minor).

Theodorakis's fascination with music began in early childhood; he taught himself to write his first songs without access to musical instruments. In Patras[3] and Pyrgos[4] he took his first music lessons, and in Tripolis, Peloponnese,[5] he gave his first concert at the age of seventeen.

He went to Athens in 1943, and became a member of a Reserve Unit of ELAS[6]. During the Greek Civil War, he was arrested, sent into exile on the island of Icaria[7] and then deported to the island of Makronisos, where he was tortured and twice buried alive.[8]

During the periods when he was not obliged to hide, not exiled or jailed, he studied from 1943 to 1950 at the Athens Conservatoire under Filoktitis Economidis,[9]. In 1950, he finished his studies and took his last two exams "with flying colours"[10]. He went to Crete, where he became the "head of the Chania Music School" and founded his first orchestra. [11]. At this time he ended what he has called the first period of his musical writing.

Studies in Paris

In 1954 he travelled with his young wife Myrto Altinoglou to Paris where he entered the Conservatory and studied musical analysis under Olivier Messiaen[12] and conducting under Eugene Bigot.[13] His time in Paris, 1954–1959, was his second period of musical writing and a time of intense artistic creation.

His symphonic works: a Piano concerto, his first Suite and his first Symphony, as well as his scores for the ballet: Greek Carnival, Le Feu aux Poudres, Les amants de Téruel, received international acclaim. In 1957, he won the Gold Medal in the Moscow Music Festival; President of the Jury was Dmitri Shostakovitch. In 1959, after the successful performances of Theodorakis's ballet Antigone at Covent Garden in London, the French composer Darius Milhaud proposed him for the American Copley Music Prize - an award of the "William and Noma Copley Foundation"[14], which later changed its name to "Cassandra Foundation" - as the "Best European Composer of the Year". His first international scores for the film Ill Met by Moonlight and Honeymoon, directors: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, were also very successful: The Honeymoon title song became part of the repertoire of The Beatles.

Notable works up to 1960

  1. Chamber Music: Four String Quartets; Trio four piano, violin, cello; Little Suite for piano; Sonatina for piano; Sonatinas No.1 and No.2 for violin and piano;
  2. Symphonic music: Assi-Gonia (symphonic movement; Piano Concerto "Helicon"; Symphony No.1 (Proti Simfonia); Suites n° 1, 2 et 3 for orchestre; La Vie et la Mort / Live and Death (for voice and strings); Œdipus Tyrannos (for strings; later for quartet and symphony orchestra); Piano Concerto;
  3. Ballets: Greek Carnival; Le Feu aux Poudres; Les amants de Téruel; Antigone;
  4. Filmscores: The Barefoot Battalion (Greg Tallas); Ill Met by Moonlight and Honeymoon (Powell and Pressburger); Faces in the Dark (David Eady).

Back to Greek roots

Mikis Theodorakis shortly after his return to Greece, 1961.

In 1960, Theodorakis returned to Greece and his roots in genuine Greek music: With his song cycle Epitaphios he started the third period of his composing and contributed to a cultural revolution in his country.[15] With his most significant and influential works based on the greatest Greek and world poetry – Epiphania (Giorgos Seferis), Little Kyklades (Odysseas Elytis), Axion Esti (Odysseas Elytis), Mauthausen (Iakovos Kambanellis), Romiossini (Yannis Ritsos), and Romancero Gitano (Federico García Lorca) – he attempted to give back to Greek music a dignity which in his perception it had lost. In developing his concept of "metasymphonic music" (symphonic compositions that go beyond the "classical" status and mix symphonic elements with popular songs, Western symphonic orchestra and Greek popular instruments), he quickly became recognised internationally, and won acclaim as "Greece's greatest living composer".

He founded the Little Orchestra of Athens and the Musical Society of Piraeus, gave many, many concerts all around Greece and abroad... and he naturally became involved in the politics of his home country. After the assassination of Gregoris Lambrakis in May 1963 he founded the Lambrakis Democratic Youth ("Lambrakidès") and was elected its president.[16] Under Theodorakis's impetus, it started a vast cultural renaissance movement and became the greatest political organisation in Greece with more than 50.000 members.[17] Following the 1964 elections, Theodorakis became a member of the Greek Parliament, associated with the left-wing party EDA. Because of his political ideas, the composer was black-listed by the cultural establishment; at the time of his biggest artistic glory, a large number of his songs were censored-before-studio or were not allowed on the radio stations.[18]

During 1964, he wrote the music for the Michael Cacoyiannis film Zorba the Greek, whose main theme, since then, exists as a trademark for Greece. It is also known as 'Syrtaki dance'; inspired from old Cretan traditional dances.

Main works of this period

  1. Song cycles: Epitaphios (Yannis Ritsos); Archipelagos (Songs of the Islands), Politia A & B (Songs of the City), Epiphania (Giorgos Seferis, Nobel Prize 1963), Mauthausen (Iakovos Kambanellis), Romiossini (Yannis Ritsos)
  2. Oratorio: To Axion Esti[19] (Odysseas Elytis, Nobel Prize 1979), cf. Theodorakis on Axion Esti[20]
  3. Music for the Stage: The Hostage (Brendan Behan); Ballad of the Dead Brother (Theodorakis); Omorphi Poli (Beautiful City); Maghiki Poli (Magical City); I Gitonia ton Angelon(The Angels' Quarter, Iakovos Kambanellis)
  4. Film scores: Phaedra (Jules Dassin), The Lovers of Teruel (Raymond Rouleau), Five Miles to Midnight (Anatole Litvak), Electra and Zorba the Greek (Michalis Cacoyannis)

During the dictatorship

On 21 April 1967 a right wing junta (the Regime of the Colonels) took power in a putsch. Theodorakis went underground and founded the "Patriotic Front" (PAM). On 1st June, the Colonels published "Army decree No 13", which banned playing, and even listening to his music. Theodorakis himself was arrested on 21 August,[21] and jailed for five months. Following his release end of January 1968, he was banished in August to Zatouna with his wife Myrto and their two children, Margarita and Yorgos.[22] Later he was interned in the concentration camp of Oropos.[23] An international solidarity movement, headed by such personalities as Dmitri Shostakovich, Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Miller, and Harry Belafonte demanded to get Theodorakis freed. On request of the French politician Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, Theodorakis was allowed to go into exile to Paris on 13 April 1970. Theodorakis's flight left very secretly from a Onassis owned private airport outside Athens. Theodorakis arrived to Le Bourget Airport where he met Costa Gavras, Melina Mercouri and Jules Dassin. Theodorakis was immediately hospitalized because he suffered from lung tuberculosis.[24] Myrto Theodorakis, Mikis's wife and two children joined him a week later in France. They arrived from Greece to France via Italy by a boat.[25]

Main works under the dictatorship

  1. Song cycles: Ta Laïka (The Popular Songs, Manos Elefteriou)[26]; O Ilios ke o Chronos (Sun and Time, Theodorakis); Songs for Andreas (Theodorakis); Arcadies I-X; Nichta Thanatou (Nights of Death, Manos Elefteriou);
  2. Oratorios: Ephiphania Averoff Giorgos Seferis, State of Siege (Marina = Rena Hadjidakis), March of the Spirit (Angelos Sikelianos), Raven (Giorgos Seferis, after Edgar Allan Poe);
  3. Film score: Z (Costa-Gavras).

Resistance in exile

While in exile, Theodorakis fought during four years for the overthrow of the colonels. He started his world tours and gave thousands of concerts on all continents as part of his struggle for the restoration of democracy in Greece. He met Pablo Neruda and Salvador Allende and promised them to compose his version of Neruda's Canto General. He was received by Gamal Abdel Nasser and Josip Broz Tito, Igal Alon and Yasser Arafat, while François Mitterrand[27], Olof Palme and Willy Brandt became his friends. For millions of people, Theodorakis was the symbol of resistance against the Greek dictatorship.[28]

Main works written in exile

  1. Song cycles: Lianotragouda (18 Songs for the Bitter Fatherland, Yannis Ritsos); Ballades (Manolis Anagnostakis)
  2. Oratorio: Canto General (Pablo Neruda)
  3. Film scores: The Trojan Women (M. Cacoyannis); State of Siege (Costa-Gavras); Serpico (Sydney Lumet)

Return to Greece

Theodorakis on a visit in East Germany, May 1989.

After the fall of the Colonels, Mikis Theodorakis returned to Greece on 24 July 1974 to continue his work and his concert tours, both in Greece and abroad.[29] At the same time he participated in public affairs. In 1978, through his article For a United Left Wing, he had "stirred up the Greek political life. His proposal for the unification of the three parties of the former United Left - which had grown out of the National Liberation Front (N.L.F.) - had been accepted by the Greek Communist Party which later proposed him as the candidate for mayor of Athens during the 1978 elections." (Andreas Brandes)[30]. He was later elected several times to the Greek Parliament (1981–1986 and 1989–1993) and for two years, from 1990 to 1992, he was a minister in the government of Constantine Mitsotakis. After his resignation as a member of Greek parliament, he was appointed General Musical Director of the Choir and the two Orchestras of the Hellenic State Radio (ERT), which he reorganised and with which he undertook successful concert tours abroad.[31]

Theodorakis has always combined an exceptional artistic talent with a deep love of his country. He is also committed to heightening international awareness of human rights, of environmental issues, and of the need for peace. It was for this reason that he initiated, together with the renowned Turkish author, musician, singer and filmmaker Zülfü Livaneli[32], the Greek–Turkish Friendship Society.[33]

From 1981, Theodorakis had started the fourth period of his musical writing, during which he returned to the symphonic music, while still going on to compose song-cycles. His most significant works written in these years are his Second, Third, Fourth and Seventh Symphony, most of them being first performed in the former German Democratic Republic between 1982 and 1989. It was during this period that he received the Lenin Peace Prize. He composed his first opera Kostas Kariotakis (The Metamorphoses of Dionysus) and the ballet Zorba the Greek, premièred in the Arena of Verona during the Festival Verona 1988, a ballet which has a tremendous success worldwide. During this period, he also wrote the five volumes of his autobiography: The Ways of the Archangel (Οι δρόμοι του αρχάγγελου).

In 1989, he started the fifth period, the last, of his musical writing: He composed three operas (lyric tragedies) Medea, first performed in Bilbao (01.10.1981), Elektra, first performed in Luxembourg (02.05.1995) and Antigone, first performed in Athens's Megaron Moussikis (07.10.1999). This trilogy was complemented by his last opera Lysistrata, first performed in Athens (14.04.2002): a call for peace... With his operas, and with his song cycles from 1974 to 2006, Theodorakis ushered in the period of his Lyrical Life.

Theodorakis is Doctor honoris causa of several universities, including Montreal, Thessaloniki, and Crete, and was nominated by the Greek people for the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2000.

Now he lives in retirement, reading, writing, publishing arrangements of his scores, texts about culture and politics. On important occasions he still takes position: in 1999, opposing NATO's Kosovo war and in 2003 against the Iraq War. In 2005, he was awarded the Sorano Friendship and Peace Award, the Russian International St.-Andrew-the-First-Called Prize, the insignia of Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of Luxembourg, and the IMC UNESCO International Music Prize, while already in 2002 he was honoured in Bonn with the Erich Wolfgang Korngold Prize for film music at the International Film Music Biennial in Bonn.[34], (cf also: Homepage of the Art and Exhibition Hall Bonn[35]). In 2007, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the distribution of the World Soundtrack Awards in Ghent.[36]

A final set of songs entitled: Odysseia on poems by Costas Kartelias was created in 2007[37], achieving one of the largest works by any composer of any time.

Main works after 1974

  1. Song cycles: Ta Lyrika; Dionysos; Phaedra; Beatrice in Zero Street; Heretismi (Greetings); Mia Thalassa (A Sea Full of Music); Os archaios Anemos (Like an Ancient Wind); Lyrikotera (The More-Than-Lyric Songs); Lyrikotata (The Most Lyric Songs); Erimia (Solitude); Odysseia;
  2. Music for the Stage: Orestia (dir.: Spyros Evangelatos); Antigone (dir.: Minos Volanakis); Medea (dir.: Spyros Evangelatos)
  3. Film scores: Iphigenia (M. Cacoyannis), The Man with the Carnation (Nikos Tzimas)
  4. Oratorios: Liturgia 2; Missa Greca (Thia Liturgia); Requiem;
  5. Symphonic music and cantatas: Symphonies no 2, 3, 4, 7; According to the Sadducees; Canto Olympico; Guitar Rhapsody; Cello Rhapsody; Trumpet Rhapsody;
  6. Operas: Kostas Karyotakis; Medea; Elektra; Antigone; Lysistrata.

A lifetime's work: synopsis

Songs and song cycles

Theodorakis has written more than 1,000 songs and song-cycles, whose melodies have become part of the heritage of Greek music: Sto Perigiali, Kaimos, Aprilis, Doxa to Theo, Sotiris Petroulas, Lipotaktes, Stis Nichtas to Balkoni, Agapi mou, Pou petaxe t'agori mou, Anixe ligo to parathiro, O Ipnos se tilixe, To gelasto pedi, Dendro to dendro, Asma Asmaton, O Andonis... His song cycles are based on poems by famous Greek authors, as well as by Lorca and Neruda: Epitaphios, Archipelagos, Politia A-D, Epiphania, The Hostage, Mykres Kyklades, Mauthausen, Romiossini, Sun and Time, Songs for Andreas, Mythology, Night of Death, Ta Lyrika, The Quarters of the World, Dionysos, Phaedra, Mia Thalassa, Os Archaios Anemos, Ta Lyrikotera, Ta Lyrikotata, Erimia, Odysseia. Theodorakis released two albums of his songs and song cycles on Paredon Records and Folkways Records in the early seventies, including his Peoples' Music: The Struggles of the Greek People (1974).[38]. For a complete discography, see the Official Homepage[39] of the composer.

Symphonic works

  • 1952: Piano Concerto "Helikon"
  • 1953: Symphony No 1 ("Proti Simfonia")
  • 1954–1959: 3 Orchestral Suites
  • 1958: Piano Concerto
  • 1981: Symphony No 2 ("The Song of the Earth"; text: Mikis Theodorakis) for children's choir, piano, and orchestra)
  • 1981: Symphony No 3 (texts: D. Solomos; K. Kavafis; Byzantine hymns) for soprano, choir, and orchestra
  • 1983: Symphony No 7 ("Spring-Symphony"; texts: Yannis Ritsos; Yorgos Kulukis) for four soloists, choir, and orchestra
  • 1986–87: Symphony No 4 ("Of Choirs") for soprano, mezzo, narrator, choir, and symphonic orchestra without strings
  • 1995: Rhapsody for Guitar and Orchestra
  • 1996: Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra
  • 2008: Rhapsody for Trumpet and Orchestra

Chamber music

  • 1942: Sonatina for piano
  • 1945: Elegy No 1, for cello and piano
  • 1945: Elegy No 2, for violin and piano
  • 1946: To Kimitirio (The Cemetery), for string quartet
  • 1946: String Quartet No 1
  • 1946: Duetto, for two violins
  • 1947: Trio, for violin, cello and piano
  • 1947: 11 Preludes, for piano
  • 1947: Sexteto, for piano, flute and string quartet
  • 1949: Study, for two violins and cello
  • 1952: Syrtos Chaniotikos, for piano and percussion
  • 1952: Sonatina No 1, for violin and piano
  • 1955: Little Suite, for piano
  • 1955: Passacaglia, for two pianos
  • 1959: Sonatina No 2, for violin and piano
  • 1989: Choros Assikikos (Galant Dances) for violoncello solo
  • 1996: Melos, for piano
  • 2007: East of the Aegean, for cello and piano

Cantatas and oratorios

  • 1960: Axion Esti (text: Odysseas Elytis)
  • 1969: The March of the Spirit (text: Angelos Sikelianos)
  • 1971–82: Canto General (text: Pablo Neruda)
  • 1981–82: Kata Saddukaion Pathi (Sadducean-Passion; text: Michalis Katsaros) for tenor, baritone, bass, choir, and orchestra
  • 1982: Liturgy No 2 ("To children, killed in War"); texts: Tassos Livaditis, Mikis Theodorakis) for choir
  • 1982–83: Lorca, for voice, solo guitar, choir, and orchestra (based on Romancero Gitano)
  • 1992: Canto Olympico, for voice, solo piano, choir, and orchestra

Hymns

  • 1970: Hymn for Nasser
  • 1973: Hymn for the Socialist Movement in Venezuela
  • 1973: Hymn for the Students. dedicated to the victims of Polytechnical School in Athens (18.11.)
  • 1977: Hymn of the French Socialist Party
  • 1978: Hymn for Malta
  • 1982: Hymn of P.L.O.
  • 1991: Hymn of the Mediterranean Games
  • 1992: "Hellenism" (Greek Hymn for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games of Barcelona)

Ballets

  • 1953: Greek Carnival (choreography: Rallou Manou)
  • 1958: Le Feu aux Poudres (choreography: Paul Goubé)
  • 1958: Les Amants de Teruel (choreography: Milko Sparembleck)
  • 1959: Antigone (choreography: John Cranko)
  • 1972: Antigone in Jail (choreography: Micha van Hoecke)
  • 1979: Elektra (choreography: Serge Kenten)
  • 1983: Sept Danses Grecques (choreography: Maurice Béjart)
  • 1987–88: Zorba il Greco (choreography: Lorca Massine)

Operas

  • 1984–85: Kostas Karyotakis
  • 1988–90: Medea
  • 1992–93: Elektra
  • 1995–96: Antigone
  • 1999–01: Lysistrata

Music for the stage

Classical tragedies

  • 1959–60: Phinisses (Euripides)
  • 1960–61: Ajax (Sophocles)
  • 1965: Troades (Euripides)
  • 1966–67: Lysistrata (Aristophanes)
  • 1977: Iketides (Aeschylus)
  • 1979: Ippies (Aristophanes)
  • 1986–88: Oresteia: Agamemnon, Choephores, Eumenides (Aeschylus)
  • 1987: Ekavi (Euripides)
  • 1990: Antigone (Sophocles)
  • 1992: Prometheus Desmotis (Aeschylus)
  • 1996: Oedipus Tyrannos (Sophocles)
  • 2001: Medea (Euripides)

Modern plays

  • 1960–61: To Tragoudi tou Nekrou Adelfou (Ballad of the Dead Brother), Musical Tragedy (text: Mikis Theodorakis)
  • 1961–62: Omorphi Poli (Beautiful City), revue (Bost, Christodoulou, Christofelis, et al.)
  • 1963: I Gitonia ton Angelon (The Quarter of Angels), Music-drama (Iakovos Kabanellis)
  • 1963: Magiki Poli (Enchanted City), revue (Theodorakis, Pergialis, Katsaros)
  • 1971: Antigoni stin Filaki (Antigone in Jail), drama (Yannis Ritsos)
  • 1974: Prodomenos Laos (Betrayed People), music for the theatre (Vangelis Goufas)
  • 1975: Echtros Laos (Enemy People), drama (Iakovos Kabanellis)
  • 1975: Christophorus Kolumbus, drama (Nikos Kazantzakis)
  • 1976: Kapodistrias, drama (Nikos Kazantzakis)
  • 1977: O Allos Alexandros ("The Other Alexander"), drama (Margarita Limberaki)
  • 1979: Papflessas, play (Spiros Melas)

International theatre

Principal film scores

See the complete list on the Official Homepage[40] of Mikis Theodorakis

Reference: Guy Wagner. Chairman of the International Theodorakis Foundation FILIKI. List of works based on the research of Asteris Koutoulas, published in O Mousikos Theodorakis.

See also

References

  1. ^ Theodorakis: Οι δρόμοι του αρχάγγελου V / The Ways of the Archangel, Autobiography, Volume V, p. 331 sq
  2. ^ Theodorakis: Journal of Resistance
  3. ^ Theodorakis: Οι δρόμοι του αρχάγγελου Ι / The Ways of the Archangel, Autobiography, Volume I, p. 72 sq.
  4. ^ Theodorakis, op. cit., p. 82 sq.
  5. ^ Theodorakis, op. cit., Chapter II, p. 95 sq.
  6. ^ Theodorakis: Οι δρόμοι του αρχάγγελου ΙI / The Ways of the Archangel, Autobiography, Volume II, Ch. 3, p. 11 sq
  7. ^ Theodorakis, op. cit., Ch. 4, p. 95 sq, cf. also p. 174sq.
  8. ^ Theodorakis: Οι δρόμοι του αρχάγγελου IIΙ / The Ways of the Archangel, Autobiography: Read the complete, deeply moving Volume III ("The Nightmare")
  9. ^ http://en.mikis-theodorakis.net/index.php/article/articleview/120/1/44/
  10. ^ George Giannaris: Mikis Theodorakis. Music and Social Change, p. 81
  11. ^ Theodorakis: Οι δρόμοι του αρχάγγελου IV / The Ways of the Archangel, Autobiography, Volume IV, p. 259 sq
  12. ^ Jean Boivin, 'Messiaen's Teaching at the Paris Conservatoire: A Humanist Legacy', in Siglind Bruhn, Messiaen's Language of Mystical Love (New York, Garland, 1998), p.10
  13. ^ George Giannaris, op. cit., p. 90 sq
  14. ^ http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0n39q01q/
  15. ^ George Giannaris, op. cit., p. 118 sq
  16. ^ Gail Holst: Mikis Theodorakis. Myth & Politics in Modern Greek Music, p. 74 sq
  17. ^ Mikis Theodorakis: Journal of Resistance, (Dictionary), p. 328
  18. ^ Gail Holst, op. cit., p. 78
  19. ^ cf. http://www.upress.pitt.edu/BookDetails.aspx?bookId=34445
  20. ^ http://en.mikis-theodorakis.net/index.php/article/articleview/203/1/46/
  21. ^ Mikis Theodorakis: Journal of Resistance, p. 71 sq
  22. ^ Mikis Theodorakis, op. cit., p. 169 sq
  23. ^ Mikis Theodorakis, op. cit., p. 263 sq
  24. ^ Mikis Theodorakis, op. cit, p. 280sq
  25. ^ The story of this rescue in French, cf. Guy Wagner: Mikis Theodorakis. Une vie pour la Grèce, p. 387 sq.; in German, cf. Guy Wagner: Mikis Theodorakis. Ein Leben für Griechenland, p. 420 sq
  26. ^ http://en.mikis-theodorakis.net/index.php/article/articleview/359/1/56/
  27. ^ François Mitterrand: Je peux me dire son ami (Preface to: Mikis Theodorakis: Les Fiancés de Pénélope
  28. ^ Gail Holst, op. cit, p. 206 sq
  29. ^ Gail Holst, op. cit, p. 271 sq
  30. ^ http://en.mikis-theodorakis.net/index.php/article/articleview/379/1/67/
  31. ^ http://en.mikis-theodorakis.net/index.php/article/articleview/31/1/8/
  32. ^ see his homepage: http://www.livaneli.net/
  33. ^ http://www.loizidis.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=147&Itemid=116&lang=en
  34. ^ http://www.andante.com/article/article.cfm?id=17497&highlight=1&highlightterms=&lstKeywords=
  35. ^ http://www2.kah-bonn.de/filmmusik/mikise.htm
  36. ^ http://en.mikis-theodorakis.net/index.php/article/articleview/493/1/71/
  37. ^ http://www.hri.org/news/greek/apeen/2007/07-03-20_1.apeen.html
  38. ^ Theodorakis Discography at Smithsonian Folkways
  39. ^ http://en.mikis-theodorakis.net/index.php/article/articleview/87/1/58/
  40. ^ http://int.mikis-theodorakis.net/index.php/article/static/15/


Bibliography

  • Jean Boivin, Messiaen's Teaching at the Paris Conservatoire: A Humanist Legacy, in Siglind Bruhn, Messiaen's Language of Mystical Love (New York, Garland, 1998), 5-31: 10
  • George Giannaris: Mikis Theodorakis. Music and Social Change, Foreword by Mikis Theodorakis. G. Allen, London, 1972
  • Gail Holst: Myth & Politics in Modern Greek Music, Adolf M. Hakkert, Amsterdam, 1980
  • Mikis Theodorakis: Journals of Resistance. Translated from the French by Graham Webb, Hart-Davis MacGibbon, London, 1973
  • Mikis Theodorakis: Music and Theater, Translated by George Giannaris, Athens, 1983
  • Asteris Koutoulas: O Mousikos Theodorakis / Theodorakis the Musician (in Greek). "Nea Synora - A. A. Livami, 1998. ISBN 960-296-216-7
  • Guy Wagner: Mikis Theodorakis. Mia Zoi yia tin Ellada. Typothito - Giorgos Dardanos, 2002. ISBN 960-402-008-0 (The biography exists also in French: Mikis Theodorakis. Une Vie pour la Grèce. Editions Phi, Luxembourg, 2000; and in German: Mikis Theodorakis. Ein Leben für Griechenland. Editions Phi, Luxembourg, 1995)
  • George Logothetis: Mikis Theodorakis: the Greek soul, translated from the Greek by Phillipos Chatzopoulos, Agyra editions 2004, ISBN 960-422-095-0. The Chinese version has been published by Shanghai Baijia Publishing House in 2008, ISBN 978-7807038610.

External links

Bibliography - His own published written works

  • In Greek by Theodorakis [1]
  • Μελοποιημένη Ποίηση Ι Τραγούδια
  • Μελοποιημένη ποίηση ΙΙ
  • Οι δρόμοι του αρχαγγέλου V
  • Οι δρόμοι του αρχαγγέλου ΙΙΙ
  • Οι δρόμοι του αρχάγγελου IV
  • Οι δρόμοι του αρχάγγελου Ι
  • Οι δρόμοι του αρχαγγέλου ΙΙ
  • Μελοποιημένη ποίηση ΙΙΙ
  • Για την ελληνική μουσική
  • Ζητείται αριστερά
  • 20 τραγούδια για πιάνο και αρμόνιο
  • Να μαγευτώ και να μεθύσω
  • Ανατομία της μουσικής
  • Πού να βρω την ψυχή μου... A'
  • The best of M. Theodorakis
  • Αντιμανιφέστο
  • Πού πάμε;
  • Το τραγούδι του νεκρού αδελφού
  • Ο κύκλος
  • Η Βεατρίκη στην οδό Μηδέν
  • Μια θάλασσα γεμάτη μουσική
  • Μπαλάντες
  • Πού να βρω την ψυχή μου... Β'
  • Χαιρετισμοί
  • Les Eluard
  • Τα λυρικώτερα
  • Τα λυρικώτατα
  • Τα πρόσωπα του Ήλιου
  • Φαίδρα
  • Λιποτάκτες
  • Θαλασσινά φεγγάρια
  • Ασίκικο πουλάκη
  • Romancero Gitano (για πιάνο - φωνή)
  • Τα Λυρικά
  • Ταξίδι μέσα στη νύχτα
  • Μικρές Κυκλάδες
  • Διόνυσος
  • Επιφάνια
  • Πνευματικό Εμβατήριο
  • Επιτάφιος
  • Πνευματικό Εμβατήριο (Δεμένο) (Oratorio Full Score)
  • Αξιον Εστί (Δεμένο) (Oratorio Full Score)
  • Ζορμπάς (Δεμένο) (Suite - Ballet Full Score)
  • Καρναβάλι (Δεμένο) (Suite - Ballet Full Score)
  • Adagio (Full Score) - Sinfonietta (Full Score) (Δεμένο)
  • Επιφάνια Αβέρωφ (Cantata) (δεμ.)
  • Canto Olympico (Oratorio) (Δεμένο)
  • Adagio. Sinfonietta
  • Zorbas. Suite-Ballet: Full score
  • Λιποτάκτες
  • Μπαλάντες. Κύκλος τραγουδιών για πιάνο και φωνή
  • Πνευματικό εμβατήριο. Ορατόριο
  • Χαιρετισμοί. Κύκλος τραγουδιών για πιάνο και φωνή
  • Το μανιφέστο των Λαμπράκηδων
  • Τα λυρικώτατα
  • Τα λυρικώτερα
  • Τα πρόσωπα του ήλιου
  • Δημοκρατική και συγκεντρωτική αριστερά
  • Οι μνηστήρες της Πηνελόπης
  • Περί τέχνης
  • Που να βρω την ψυχή μου... Γ'
  • Ραψωδία για βιολοντσέλο και ορχήστρα
  • Επιφάνια Αβέρωφ
  • Ένα όμηρος - Εικαστικά εξώφυλλα δίσκων
  • Όπως στον Πινόκιο
  • I had three lives
  • Μάνου Χατζιδάκι εγκώμιον
  • The Gates of Eden

 
 

 

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