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MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS /  The lyric theater in Greece

Article by Giorgos V. Monemvasitis, Music Critic and Historian

Opera, that is, the lyrical theater, the most popular form of performing arts, since it combines music with theater, was presented in modern Greece at the end of the 18th century. It was in the Ionian islands, which were under Venetian occupation at the time, that the opera appeared for the first time; this was the beginning of Greek scholar music.
... It was in 1791 when the now lost comic opera Gli amanti confusi ossia Il brutto fortunato (The confused lovers or The ugly lucky one) by Stefanos Pogiagos (1768-1826) was staged at the theater of San Giacomo in Corfu. There, in the Ionian Islands, the first organized native musical movement of modern Hellenism, which essentially shaped Greece’s musical landscape during the 19th century, flourished. Inevitably, due to the long Venetian occupation, but also the proximity to Italy, it was directly influenced by the bel canto, whose main exponent was the opera. Thus, in 19th century Greece, opera dominated either in the form of popular Italian melodramas or in the form of lyrical dramas created by heptanesian composers, whose leader, at least in this category, was Spyridon Samaras (1861-1917).
With the advent of the 20th century, the musical center of gravity was transferred from the Heptanese to Athens with Dionysios Lavragkas (1860-1941) as the pioneer, who was also the founder of the Greek Melodrama.
The lyric theater in 20th century Greece was more or less a traveling companion of the international musical developments, adapting them of course to the domestic situation (National Music School, etc.). Foreign operas were often presented in the first half of the 20th century with their poetic text (libretto) in Greek, in order to be more accessible to the Greek audience.
It is worth noting that the lyric theater in Greece has highlighted and is still highlighting great monodists-performers who have also worked (and are still working) abroad. Apart from world-renowned Maria Callas (1923-1977), the baritone Giannis Angelopoulos (1881-1943), the tenors Kostas Mylonas (1889-1948) and Odysseas Lappas (1890-1971), the soprano Eleni Vlachopoulou (1876-1935), the baritone Titos Xirellis (1900/03-1985) and the basso Nikos Moschonas (1907-1975) are mentioned, for example, by the elders; their art was captured in 78 rpm discography.

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