Article received on: September 1st 2017 Article accepted on: November 13th 2017 UDC: 78(495)”17/19” 782.1(495)”18” Alexandros Charkiolakis * The Friends of Music Society THE NOTION OF THE ENEMY IN THE GREEK OPERATIC WORLD OF THE 19th A N D 20th C E N T U R IE S *1 Abstract: Opera has been a major and vital element contributing to the firm establishment of the Greek National School during the first decade of the 20th century, following the trends of other national schools appearing around or before that time. The national ele ment has been present in several cases and although the Greek National School was firmly established in 1908 with a manifesto that was presented by Manolis Kalomiris, the Greek operatic world dealt with the patriotic sentiment long before that. During several periods in the 19th and 20th centuries, historical circumstances gave composers the opportunity to express themselves through the notion of the heroic, directing the subjects of their works towards the awakening of national pride, contributing to the nationalistic ideas that were developing during each period. Heroism and heroic deeds of the past were the perfect materials for this purpose. Key words: nationalism, Greece, heroism, Balkan history, Ottoman Empire, national school As odd as it might seem to some of the readers, Greek opera and the equivalent operatic world is actually a vast subject, at least to my eyes, especially when one puts it in a European perspective. During the past decades, Greek musicol ogy was a truly self-contained discipline. Most of the subjects were discussed between Greek musicologists, most of the resources existed only in Greek, a large number of new articles and papers presented were presented only at Greek * Author contact information:
[email protected] 1 Sound examples are available online at the official New Sound YouTube channel.