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572235 bk Markopoulos 11/6/08 2:20 PM Page 12 # Orpheus and the Furies & The Fates GREEK CLASSICS Narration Infinite Fates, beloved children of the dark night, Orpheus, his hair whitened, returned to his homeland, Listen to my prayers, Thrace, and no one ever heard him grieve again over You with the many names death. But he had turned harsh towards life and could who live at the fringes of Yannis not endure paying homage to the Maenads of Thrace Heaven’s lake, so as to pour clear water who filled the valleys with grape-vines and their With a strike of a toe’s nail immodest odes. And because he despised and shunned over a cave with beautiful stones, shady, MARKOPOULOS them, they killed him. Then everything became a wave greasy and wet. on the white sea, echoings of the shipwrecked on dark You have flown to the infinite land shores. of mortal souls. The Liturgy of Orpheus $ The Muses of Pieria * The Temple of Orpheus on ancient Orphic poems Daughters of Mnemosyne and Zeus Narration José Van Dam, Bass-baritone Muses of Pieria, far-famed. No one on Mount Olympus ever forgot Orpheus. In his feeders of soul homeland and on the spot where he died there was a Elena Kelessidi, Soprano • Philip Sheffield, Narrator givers of right judgement temple with his wooden idol. guiding queens of the mighty mind. When Alexander the Great was preparing his Flanders Opera Chorus and Symphony Orchestra Cleo and Euterpe and Thalia expedition, Orpheus’ wooden idol shed sweat and tears. and Melpomene and Terpsichore The poets interpreted this correctly: the achievements and Erato and Polymnia of Alexander would remain without a chronicler. Edwig Abrath and Ourania and Calliope This was the last trace of Orpheus in the whirlpool of with their mighty and pure mother. history. The spirit of the prophet-musician ran in the blood of % In the Manner of Love the Hellenes everywhere. They worshipped him as they later did Christ and accepted him like medicine or ^ O Physis – Hymn to Nature poison. But never again did a rock move on Olympus. Even if a O Physis, O Nature storm moves a huge boulder at night, Apollo returns it Mother of all, resourceful Mother of all to its original place. heavenly, most reverend. O Physis, Mother of all ( Paean – Epilogue may you bring peace, health, growth of all O Physis, O Physis PAEAN, Paean, Paean Mother of all Phoebus Apollo fearless goddess. Titan, Titan, Titan fiery bearer of light Come, come, come. Seer, leader of the Muses. 8.572235 12 572235 bk Markopoulos 11/6/08 2:20 PM Page 2 Yannis Markopoulos (b. 1939) 7 Hyperion 9 Eurydice Awaits The Liturgy of Orpheus Narration Eurydice, Eurydice, Orpheus’ music will bring you to The composer Yannis Markopoulos was born in 1939 in its rapid dances of repeated small motifs, played by Sun, Hyperion, harken to our words and reveal the dawn from the deep darkness. All the flowers blossom Heraklion, Crete. From one of the old families of the local instruments at the town’s weekly festivities, but at sweetness of life. with a cool caress. Orpheus’ song is the immortal island – his father was an attorney and later the Prefect – the same time the sound of the waves, and the water. he spent his childhood in the seaside town of Ierapetra. detonation of land-mines in the aftermath of World War Hyperion, Hyperion In the deep darkness love shows the way and Eurydice The Byzantine liturgy heard regularly from the church II, all these formed part of the accoustic universe of the Heavenly light, Heavenly light, is waiting for the light and Orpheus. Eurydice, Eurydice opposite his family home, Cretan traditional music, with composer as a child. He took his first lessons in music genitor of dawn on the right, … The sun is waging war and the sound gives the soul; theory and the violin at the local conservatory and genitor of night on the left. the trees, the sea and the rivers resurrect life. played the clarinet in the municipal band. Meanwhile Hyperion, Hyperion other musical experiences of decisive importance were you mark the right works, 0 Love has come classical music as well as the music of the wider Eastern youth who feeds the seasons, Mediterranean and, most important of all, that of nearby ruler of the world Love has come, it has come into our hearts, it came into Egypt, which he heard either over the radio or from ever flourishing, immaculate. our souls. Love came just now. The love of the musicians and travellers passing through his hometown. father of time, Hellenes came. Thanks to his father’s extensive private library he had master of Cosmos, immortal When Orpheus came, crowned with flowers, love came, the opportunity to deepen his knowledge, beyond school Hyperion, Hyperion it came again just now, into our souls came the love of education, in literature, philosophy, history and the arts. heavenly light, heavenly light. the Hellenes. All the children run to the corner. All the He began composing music during his adolescence and children light a fire, the fire of love, the fire of dew two melodies of this time would later become songs that 8 Orpheus in Hades upon the flowers in the fields and in the universe. have enjoyed great popularity throughout Greece. Brothers of the Hellenes, the Hellenes’ love, love came, In 1956 Markopoulos moved to Athens to further Narration it came again just now, the love of the Hellenes is in his music studies at the Athens Conservatory under the Orpheus loved Eurydice and he was loved by Eurydice our souls. composer Yiorgos Sklavos and the violin teacher Joseph above everything mortal. While nature was preparing Love has come. Bustidui, while studying philosophy and sociology at their harmonious union, a little snake bit the nymph. the Panteion University. While a student he composed She died and descended to the Underworld. ! Curetes – Corybants music for the theatre, for the cinema and for dance For Orpheus it was the end of the world he knew. How performances. When he was 24 he was awarded the could he restore his love back to the light? Curetes with your copper cymbals. Music Prize of the Thessaloniki Film Festival for Nikos Orpheus wandered far and wide and reached the Immortal Curetes, Koundouros’ film Young Aphrodites and subsequently Underworld, his lyre his only weapon. feeders of souls, feeders of seasons. his works Theseus (dance-drama), Hiroshima (ballet The souls were soothed by the heavenly strains of his Lords Curetes, suite) and Three Dance Sketches were performed by music. Persephone, the embittered goddess, yielded and guides Curetes, avant-garde dance groups. In 1967 a military allowed Orpheus to return to the light with his beloved. feeders of souls, feeders of seasons dictatorship was imposed in Greece. Markopoulos left But there was one condition: Eurydice should see the heavenly Curetes for London, where he enriched his knowledge under the back of her beloved until she ascended to light, and not guides Curetes English composer Elizabeth Lutyens, while his his face. approachable Curetes. acquaintance with the composers Janis Christou and Then near the exit Orpheus yielded and looked back to Iannis Xenakis played an important rôle in the see the shadow that followed him. Immediately, @ Bacchic Dance deepening of his contact with the most pioneering Eurydice turned into what she had always been: musical figures. In London he composed the secular unrecognisable and invisible. cantata Ilios o Protos (Sun the First) on the poetry of 8.572235 211 8.572235 572235 bk Markopoulos 11/6/08 2:20 PM Page 10 The Liturgy of Orpheus 5 Hymn to the Sky Odysseus Elytis (Nobel Prize 1979) and completed the selection of the indestructible sources of our living musical ceremony Idou o Nymphios, a work the traditions in combination with selected contemporary art Selection of poems and two original verses (Nos. 9 & 10) Narration composer still wishes to keep unreleased with the forms and elements”: the outcome was an exceptionally by the composer. Narrative texts translated from the In the time of Orpheus, two generations before the exception of one part, the song Zavara-Katra-Nemia, a original sound emerging from the unique tone colours Greek: Panos Theodoridis (b. 1948) Trojan War, there were two distinct ways of living: vocal composition of Dionysian character, that was stemming from the unaccustomed blends of instruments those who lived a life of travel on the sea and those who released in 1966 and became one of his best known and voices. In 1976 he composed the popular liturgy 1 Orpheus on Olympus did not travel but lived out their lives with the storm pieces. Also in London he composed Chroismoi The Free Besieged, based on the poem by Greece’s and the herds and with stone weapons, fearful of every (Oracles) for symphony orchestra and the Pyrrichioi national poet Dionysius Solomos, that he conducted in 2 Paean – Ode to Apollo turn of the weather. Dances A, B, C (the first three of the 24 Dances he the crowded Panathenean Stadium, and which was completed in 2001) that were performed in 1968 by the presented in London in 1979. In 1977 he composed the Narration Heaven genitor, Heaven genitor, Cosmos’ father London Concertante Orchestra at the Queen Elizabeth music for the BBC television series Who Pays the Orpheus was born in a shadowy place at the foot of Mount like a ball you rotate Hall. During the same year he was commissioned to Ferryman? The musical theme topped the British charts Olympus.