Nikos skalkottas compositions

Nikos Skalkottas () is a leading figure in Greek music (with Manolis Kalomiris [], the founder of a 'modernist national school'). Skalkottas and Dimitri Mitropoulos--later to establish himself as a world-renowned conductor--were the first Greek composers to adopt atonality and the twelve-tone method in the s.

Biography definition and examples Such apparent variety could have been intensified by a love of Greek folk music. His willingness to experiment with form and harmony, as well as his incorporation of folk music, paved the way for future generations of Greek composers to explore new musical possibilities. A member of the Second Viennese School , he drew his influences from both the classical repertoire and the Greek tradition. In the mids he worked at the Folk Music Archive in Athens, and did transcriptions of Greek folk songs into Western-music scores for the musicologist Melpo Merlier [ de ].

Skalkottas also explored 20th-century tonal idioms.

Nikos Skalkottas was born on March 8, in Halkis (island of Eubea, Greece). His great-grandfather, Alexander Skalkottas, from Pyrgos (island of Tinos) was a renowned folk singer, violinist and composer; his father, Alexander Skalkottas, was a flutist. A child prodigy himself as a violinist, Nikos pursued his studies first in his hometown with his uncle Costas, later at the Athens Conservatory, graduating with the First Prize Gold Medal in In , on a series of scholarships, he left for Berlin where he stayed until , first taking violin master courses with Willy Hess at the Berlin Hochschule, then in the winter of turning definitely to composition, for which his main teachers were Phillipp Jarnach (), Paul Juon, Kurt Weill and Arnold Schoenberg ().

He composed prodigiously, in a personal atonal idiom, using the twelve-tone system rather seldom and somewhat reluctantly at that time.

Skalkottas nikos biography definition ap However, he suffered a nervous breakdown and his passport was confiscated by the Greek authorities Thornley apparently because he had never done military service [ citation needed ] and in fact remained in Greece for the rest of his life. Outside her work, she enjoys playing the piano and exploring local music festivals with her family. He did secure some performances, especially of some of the Greek Dances and a few of his more tonal works, but the vast bulk of his music went unheard. Initially, he continued his violin studies under Willy Hess.

When the mounting wave of Nazism made life for exponents of new music difficult, Skalkottas returned to Athens in May , the same month that Schoenberg left Germany. In Greece, unfortunately, Skalkottas met with a great deal of incomprehension and enmity, and was obliged to accept a position as one of the last violins in the State Orchestra of Athens.

He isolated himself, refusing to talk about music to all but a few people who, he thought, appreciated contemporary music, all the while composing feverishly until his death on September 19, in Athens as a result of a neglected constricted hernia. Practically his entire output remained unknown, unpublished and unperformed during his life.

In he turned to a new, quite complex but highly concise version of the twelve-tone system of his own invention, which he used extensively until his death, parallel with, beginning around , a non-serial method that sounds only slightly different from the other technique.

Skalkottas nikos biography definition wikipedia Although during the period —34 Skalkottas did not compose anything, he resumed composing in Athens and continued until his death. He also produced a sizeable amount of tonal music in the last phase of his musical creativity. The following year a scholarship from the Averoff Foundation enabled him to study abroad. From emerging artists to timeless classics, embark on a musical journey that transcends genres and captivates your senses.

His main innovations consist of creating an entirely new sound world by developing formal structures operating at multiple concurrent levels, and by the intensity and directness with which he used harmony, counterpoint, rhythm, and articulation to serve maximum expressive purposes. Another important feature of Skalkottas's music is the presence of Greek folk material in his works.

For a period, he professionally transcribed and analyzed Greek folksongs. Of particular interest is his integration of folk elements in his atonal composition, most notable in his famous collection of Greek Dances for orchestra.

Skalkottas nikos biography definition By the age of five, Skalkottas began learning the violin, quickly mastering the instrument. He continued studying violin with Tony Schultze [ de ] at the Athens Conservatory , from which he graduated in with a diploma of high distinction. In a short documentary 60 mins about his life and work was filmed with funding from the local authorities of Skalkottas' birthplace the isle of Euboea as well as the Greek Ministry of Culture. His most impressive tonal works in this last period of creativity are his Classical Symphony in A , the astonishingly atmospheric The Sea , a ballet suite, which even includes a musical reference to the legendary sister of Alexander the Great, who roams the sea as a mermaid; a Sinfonietta in B Flat Major ; and the programmatic Four Images , which comes from the dance suite The Land and the Sea of Greece for solo piano.

In his year long career, Skalkottas composed more than works, often short, but sometimes of "gigantic" dimensions and of remarkable sophistication and complexity. Manuscripts for over works are gathered at the Skalkottas Archives in Athens, representing more than 80% of his work (since the missing ones are generally quite short).

BIS has recently released three recordings of his orchestral and chamber music (BIS CD, BIS CD, BIS CD). His three Piano Concertos, Concerto for Violin, Viola and Wind Orchestra, Greek Dances, Symphony in One Movement ("The Return of Ulysses") and Symphonic Suite are among his key works. Gunther Schuller is currently recording Skalkottas's Piano Pieces Volumes I--III.

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