abstracts
Ioannis
Fulias: Sonata
forms and their theoretical evolution: The fifth sonata type (“sonata-concerto form”)
in the 20th-century theory and nowadays
The twelfth and last part of this extensive survey of the theoretical
evolution of sonata forms from 18th to 20th centuries examines the prevailing
approaches of the fifth sonata type in the music theory since the
beginning of the 20th-century. At first, until the mid-20th-century,
almost all theorists continue essentially to describe the
implementation of the sonata form into the classical concerto genre
in terms of the 19th-century theory. Only in the last third of the
20th-century a critical re-evaluation of both the factual (compositional)
and theoretical data of the 18th-century is successfully attempted
in significant studies by Jutta Ruile-Dronke, Charles Rosen, Konrad
Küster and others, before James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy
recently present the most profound and comprehensive view on the
compound sonata-concerto form, in which they not only restore the
structural autonomy of the orchestral ritornelli, but also redefine
with remarkable accuracy their relationship to the solistic parts in
the wider sonata contexts. Also, two alternative subtypes of sonata-concerto
form – based on binary sonata form and on sonata form without development,
respectively – are becoming more distinct in the music theory from
mid-20th-century onwards, especially when the research interest
focuses on slow concerto movements of the classic period.
Ioannis
Papachristopoulos: Aspects of the compositional work of Dimitri
Terzakis during the last two decades
The main objective of Dimitri Terzakis was until the beginning of the
1990s on the one hand the implementation, on the other hand the
seamless development, innovation and progression of his
compositional technique, which he already has configurated at the end of the 1960s, so that he gradually shaped a strictly personal
and inventive musical language. Yet, in the recent 20 years his
search at the material technique level clearly decreased. Meanwhile,
we can notice a focus in his interests on other aspects of
compositional work, which were not of interest before: intensive
trials and experiments in monophonic writing, introduction of the
keyboard instruments (organ and piano) as well as the preoccupation
with a new kind of musical works, which he himself gave the
superordinate designation “rhapsodia”.
The primary objective of this paper is to categorize the essential
characteristics of the compositional activity of Dimitri Terzakis
since 1990 and to particularize the diverse relations between them.
In addition, we attempt to figure out the possible reasons for the
composer’s artistic decisions, which are –in the most cases–
interrelated directly with his historical, theoretical and
aesthetical musical awareness.
Thanasis
Trikoupis: Comments on the use of the harmonic interval of semitone,
the ultimate conclusive formations and the term stretto
in the whole work for solo piano by Fryderyk Chopin
This essay refers to the whole work of Fryderyk Chopin for solo piano and
focuses on three specific points: the development of conclusive
formations and their evolutionary course in the progress of time in
the composer’s work, the specific characteristics in the use of
the harmonic interval of semitone (diatonic and chromatic) and the
interpretation of the term stretto
in its multiple applications, individually as well as in
combination with other verbal interpretational suggestions.
Regarding the structure of conclusive formations, Chopin experiments,
particularly in the genre of mazurka, reaching to pioneering for his
era characteristics, as e.g. the use of the augmented chord before
its respective application by Liszt. The composer’s restless
nature is outlined through the specific uses of the harmonic
semitone, which, as a rule, enriches in several ways the dominant
seventh, offering additional harmonic “colour” as
well as intensity in the function of the aforementioned chord.
Finally, the study of the application of stretto
shows that its use had been affected by the gradual maturing of
the composer, since, in the early stage of his artistic production,
the term simultaneously contains the notion of structural and
rhythmic denseness, whereas, as the time goes by, its use is chosen
exclusively for the registration of the structural development of
the composition.
Mando
Pyliarou: A Greek tribute to Beethoven in 1927
This
study presents a Greek tribute to Beethoven, published in 1927. The
initiative was taken by Fragkelio’s
publisher, a non-musical periodical of Athens, on the occasion of
the 100th anniversary of the composer’s death.
This
tribute to Beethoven was unique and original, because all previous
references to him, in the field of Greek periodicals, were partial.
It included information about his life, his personality and work, as
well as relative texts and poems by Kostas Sfakianakis, Takis
Papatsonis, Camille Bellaigue, Arthur Schopenhauer, Anastasios
Drivas, Vasilis Rotas, Lefteris Alexiou and G. Stambolis.
Nikos
Tzioumaris: Music
Library of ERT SA: The
history of Music Ensembles of Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation
(1938-2010) – Part I (From the foundation until the 1960s)
This article is the first systematic study on Greek radio orchestras,
namely the current Ensembles of ERT. Our research focused on
official documents, magazines such as Radioprogramma
and Trito Programma, which
were published by Hellenic Broadcasting from time to time,
catalogues of recordings, handwritten scores and concert programs
kept in the archives of ERT SA. Our subject is developed
chronologically in order to compose as adequately as possible the
history of Music Ensembles of ERT. Writing this story it was
necessary to include data about the general history of Greek radio.
This is because the orchestras up to 1993 were an organic part of
radio programs, which means that any of their activity obeys the
general policy adopted by the central management of Hellenic
Broadcasting. From 1993 onwards the Ensembles of ERT constitute a
separate division at the Hellenic Broadcasting.
This article contains many details about the repertoire of orchestras,
conductors who have run them, the concert and radio appearances made
by orchestras, but also about the overall policy and aesthetics
adopted by each administration of the corporation. As a result of
our investigation, the desire of the audience and the aesthetics of
the executives were the main factors shaping hitherto the style of
these ensembles in Greece.
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