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Ever since antiquity, music transcription has been the intrinsic way of visual representation of sound, sometimes in detail and sometimes in the form of a guide. Throughout time, the visual capture of music has been the only way to store and preserve it over time, but also the exclusive means of reproducing it. In any case, visual transfer should be considered as an auxiliary tool, since oral dissemination and storage in the memory of artists have been the most timeless techniques for the diffusion of music through time and space. During Europe's so-called "classical" musical period, with its most powerful centers of production, such as today's Austria, Germany, France and Italy, and especially in its path towards Romanticism, music transcription, that is, the musical score, was considered by some composers as the very embodiment of their work.
Understandably, in the modern capitalist world, music transcription, as the primary tool for the substantialization of music, brought under its purview repertoires that were not connected, were not disseminated, and did not function on the basis of their transcription. This offered to the music product sales centers an additional tool to expand their action network: non-scholar musics acquired a convenient way of circulating them, enhancing their popularity, even in places very far from those of their original creation. At the end of the 19th century, however, the phenomenon of sound recording and reproduction rearranged relationships and disrupted the status quo of publishing houses, claiming a share of the market, offering a product that was extremely complete and immediate. The publishing houses tried to react with legal measures, but it became impossible to stop the dynamics of the new phenomenon: the prevalence of commercial discography was now a fact, for most of the 20th century.
As far as non-scholar music is concerned, commercial printed musical scores were publications of the musical texts of songs or instrumental pieces (for the publishing activity in Greece see Lerch-Kalavrytinos, 2003: 4-5). For the needs of musical scores, the songs were arranged mainly (but not only) for piano or for piano and voice, generally without complex performance requirements. Multi-instrumental or technically demanding orchestrations were systematically avoided. The lyrics were printed below the notes of the melodic development of the singing parts and, sometimes, their translations into other languages. For the most part, the musical scores were two or four pages long, and came with a themed front and back cover.
This four-page musical score contains the songs "Kapoio mystiko" set to music by Kostas Giannidis (nickname for Giannis Konstantinidis) and lyrics by Panagiotis Papadoukas and Vasilis Spyropoulos. It comes from the revue "Siloueta", by the above authors, which premiered on May 21, 1938 at the Samartzis Theater by the Miliadis-Kyriakos troupe.
On the monochrome cover, on which there is a photograph of Sofia Vempo, the title of the song, the authors, the publisher, "Valse", "Apo tin epitheorisi siloueta, To megalo souxe tis Sofias Vempo" (From the revue "Siloueta", The great success of Sofia Vempo) and "Timi Dr. 14" (Price 14 drachmas) are inscribed. On the second page there’s an advertisement for the "5 nea succés" (5 new hits) and the third page (bottom left) reads "Rich. Fretsa". Finally, there is an advertisement of Gaitanos music publishing house on the monochrome back cover.
The musical text of the song is included in a musical score with a system of three staffs (two for piano and one for singing).
In Greek historical discography, the song was recorded in Athens in 1938 by Sofia Vembo, accompanied by an orchestra conducted by Kostas Giannidis (“Kapio mystiko”, His Master's Voice OGA 764-1 – AO 2473 and RCA Victor 26-8092, Orthophonic S-434-A), as well as by Koula Nikolaidou (“Kapio mystiko” Columbia GO 3091 – GA 7137).
The song is also found in the French repertoire. It was recorded in 1938 in Paris under the title "Mon secret", with French lyrics by Georges Zarifi and Rose Noël [Rose Henriette Grosjean], performed by Suzy Solidor. She was accompanied by a choir and orchestra conducted by G. Briez (Pathé CPT 4493-1 – PA 2051, and reissued by Columbia CO 41547 – M 495 B).
Ever since antiquity, music transcription has been the intrinsic way of visual representation of sound, sometimes in detail and sometimes in the form of a guide. Throughout time, the visual capture of music has been the only way to store and preserve it over time, but also the exclusive means of reproducing it. In any case, visual transfer should be considered as an auxiliary tool, since oral dissemination and storage in the memory of artists have been the most timeless techniques for the diffusion of music through time and space. During Europe's so-called "classical" musical period, with its most powerful centers of production, such as today's Austria, Germany, France and Italy, and especially in its path towards Romanticism, music transcription, that is, the musical score, was considered by some composers as the very embodiment of their work.
Understandably, in the modern capitalist world, music transcription, as the primary tool for the substantialization of music, brought under its purview repertoires that were not connected, were not disseminated, and did not function on the basis of their transcription. This offered to the music product sales centers an additional tool to expand their action network: non-scholar musics acquired a convenient way of circulating them, enhancing their popularity, even in places very far from those of their original creation. At the end of the 19th century, however, the phenomenon of sound recording and reproduction rearranged relationships and disrupted the status quo of publishing houses, claiming a share of the market, offering a product that was extremely complete and immediate. The publishing houses tried to react with legal measures, but it became impossible to stop the dynamics of the new phenomenon: the prevalence of commercial discography was now a fact, for most of the 20th century.
As far as non-scholar music is concerned, commercial printed musical scores were publications of the musical texts of songs or instrumental pieces (for the publishing activity in Greece see Lerch-Kalavrytinos, 2003: 4-5). For the needs of musical scores, the songs were arranged mainly (but not only) for piano or for piano and voice, generally without complex performance requirements. Multi-instrumental or technically demanding orchestrations were systematically avoided. The lyrics were printed below the notes of the melodic development of the singing parts and, sometimes, their translations into other languages. For the most part, the musical scores were two or four pages long, and came with a themed front and back cover.
This four-page musical score contains the songs "Kapoio mystiko" set to music by Kostas Giannidis (nickname for Giannis Konstantinidis) and lyrics by Panagiotis Papadoukas and Vasilis Spyropoulos. It comes from the revue "Siloueta", by the above authors, which premiered on May 21, 1938 at the Samartzis Theater by the Miliadis-Kyriakos troupe.
On the monochrome cover, on which there is a photograph of Sofia Vempo, the title of the song, the authors, the publisher, "Valse", "Apo tin epitheorisi siloueta, To megalo souxe tis Sofias Vempo" (From the revue "Siloueta", The great success of Sofia Vempo) and "Timi Dr. 14" (Price 14 drachmas) are inscribed. On the second page there’s an advertisement for the "5 nea succés" (5 new hits) and the third page (bottom left) reads "Rich. Fretsa". Finally, there is an advertisement of Gaitanos music publishing house on the monochrome back cover.
The musical text of the song is included in a musical score with a system of three staffs (two for piano and one for singing).
In Greek historical discography, the song was recorded in Athens in 1938 by Sofia Vembo, accompanied by an orchestra conducted by Kostas Giannidis (“Kapio mystiko”, His Master's Voice OGA 764-1 – AO 2473 and RCA Victor 26-8092, Orthophonic S-434-A), as well as by Koula Nikolaidou (“Kapio mystiko” Columbia GO 3091 – GA 7137).
The song is also found in the French repertoire. It was recorded in 1938 in Paris under the title "Mon secret", with French lyrics by Georges Zarifi and Rose Noël [Rose Henriette Grosjean], performed by Suzy Solidor. She was accompanied by a choir and orchestra conducted by G. Briez (Pathé CPT 4493-1 – PA 2051, and reissued by Columbia CO 41547 – M 495 B).
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