Elements of Greek musical tradition: a case study in Yiannis Constantinides' Five Songs of Anticipation Online publication date: Mon, 13-Dec-2021
by Alexi Harkiolakis
International Journal of Teaching and Case Studies (IJTCS), Vol. 12, No. 4, 2021
Abstract: The music of Greek composer Yiannis Constantinides (1903-1984) has clear connections to traditional Greek folk music. Although various works explicitly demonstrate this connection, can certain works of his showing a more musically ambiguous character still yield a connection to Greek musical tradition? This question features prominently in the song cycle five Tραγoύδια της Πρoσμoνής (Five Songs of Anticipation), the text of which was not written by a Greek poet but India's Rabindranath Tagore. This paper first examines the compositional elements of Greek musical tradition and evidence of non-musical 'hellenicity' within the text of the song cycle in question. Analysis of the five songs reveals evidence of certain elements of the Greek musical tradition and at least one example of hellenicity. Although not one of his most 'Greek' works, the findings strongly underline Constantinides' classical influences in Five Songs of Anticipation and confirm some form of connection to Greek musical tradition.
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