At the beginning of the 20th century, Europe is living in peace and prosperity. The “Belle Époque” is an outgrowth of previous important historical events and developments. The networks that are created and which evolve funnel both people and their products, tangible and intangible. It is within this multi-layered world that sound recording and sound reproduction is invented. Early record labels send mobile crews literally all over the world to record local musicians. The range of the repertoire is endless. Cosmopolitanism in large urban centers favors polystylisms and polymorphisms. Colonialism, revolutions, conflicts, refugee flows; the theater, cinema, radio, photography, orchestras’ tours, but also circulations in all kinds of commercial channels in a world that evolves dynamically and anisotropically, form a complex network of “centers” and “peripheries” in alternating roles setting musical idioms in motion, both literally and figuratively. The network in which the Greek-speaking urban popular song participates, constantly conversing with its co-tenants, is magnificent. Discography has already provided important tools in understanding the relationships that developed between “national” repertoires. The result of this ongoing research is “Cosmopolitanism in Greek Historical Discography”.

There was no previous management model in the early period of discography. Each company creates their own networks, something that will allow them to take a dynamic lead in the market. New specialties and professions are created and new conditions emerge, or the need to update older facts, with the most serious being intellectual property. The latter, until then, concerned mostly printed commercial musical scores and the publishers’ rights. Discography is not only embedded in this context, but also plays a key role in its transformation. This time, the network is adjusted in a programmatic manner, under different terms and via new paths. The circulation of musics is already a reality before the 20th century with theatrical and musical performances tours, but also with the networks of music publishing houses. Although popular repertoires play a very important part in the vital issue of the movement of musical tunes from place to place, and in their appropriation, recording and often complete incorporation into the repertoires of other ethno-cultural groups, scholar musical forms also participate in this transportation network: symphonic or soloistic pieces, arias, duets and trios from all kinds of operas, but also songs by composers such as Schubert, are translated and recorded in other languages, often with diversified orchestral ensembles. “Classical” music, originating mainly from the German-speaking, Italian-speaking and French-speaking world, through the new diffusion tools offered by discography, seek not only to penetrate international markets as a new medium, but to enter, in fact, into people’s own homes.

This recording is an adaptation with Greek lyrics of the Barcarolle "Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour" from the third act of the opera "Les contes d'Hoffmann" (The Tales of Hoffmann) set to music by Jacques Offenbach and libretto in French by Paul Jules Barbier.

The libretto is based on the play by Paul Jules Barbier and Michel Carré "Les contes fantastiques d'Hoffmann", presented in 1851 at the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe in Paris. The basis for the play and the libretto were stories by the German writer and composer Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, whom the librettist Paul Jules Barbier turned into the protagonist of the play.

The composer passed away on October 5, 1880 before he could complete the opera. Its completion was undertaken by the composer Ernest Guiraud and this version was presented for the first time at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, on February 10, 1881.

The main theme of the Barcarolle, duet for soprano and mezzo-soprano, performed by the heroines Giulietta and Nicklausse, was originally used by the composer in the "Song of the Elves" (Chant des Elfes) in the third act of the opera "Les fées du Rhin" (Die Rheinnixen, see here at 1:20:52''). The opera, with a libretto in French by Charles-Louis-Étienne Nuitter, premiered on 4 February 1864 at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna.

It has been recorded and arranged countless times in historical discography, in various forms, languages and locations.

For the performances, see here, here, here and here, in the database that emerged from Alan Kelly’s research as well as on Yuri Bernikov's archive website. Some of the earliest recordings are the following:

- "Skazki Hofmana: Barkarola", ORK LEIB-GVARDY KONNAGO POLKA (A V RUZHEK), Saint Petersburg, 1901 (Gramophone 390x - 20217)
- K.u.K. INFANTERIE REGIMENT Nr 8 ERZHERZOG KARL STEPHAN, Vienna, 1902 (Gramophone 1034x - 40271)
- BERTHA FÖRSTER-LAUTERER, HERMINE KITTEL, Vienna, 1903 (Gramophone 853l - 44222)
-"Barcarole aus 'Hoffmanns Erzählungen'", Hermina Bosetti - Margarethe Preuse-Matzenauer, Munich, July 1906 (Gramophone 4453l - 2-44132)
- Victor Concert Orchestra, New York, December 13, 1907 (Victor B 4963 - 17311-B)
- Geraldine Farrar and Antonio Scotti, Camden, New Jersey, October 6 1909 (Gramophone Α 8274 - 7-34000)

In Greek historical discography, it was recorded by Michalis Thomakos (this recording), Aliki Epitropaki - K. Iordanou (Vienna, 1928, HMV BM 538-1 - AO 545) and others.

The Greek musical score with lyrics by Giannis Prineas was published in Athens in 1923 by the Stefanos Gaitanos music publishing house, and with lyrics by someone unknown by the Konstantinidis music publishing house.

The label of the record reads "Varkarolla" (Barcarolle).

Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis