The great Mikis Theodorakis passed away

The great composer died at the age of 96

mikis theodorakis Mikis Theodorakis

At the age of 96, the great composer Mikis Theodorakis passed away on Thursday (2/9).

The news of his death was announced by Elena Akrita in a post.

Who was the great Mikis Theodorakis - The great work of a great man

Mikis Theodorakis was born in Chios on July 29, 1925, but he came from Crete. His childhood was divided into various cities in the province. Mytilene, Ioannina, Pyrgos, and others. He spent most of his childhood in Tripoli.

From a young age it seemed that music would be one of his great loves and the struggle for "Man" the other.

At the age of just 17 he gave his first concert in Tripoli. There he presented his work Cassiani and took part in the resistance against the conquerors. On March 25, 1943, during a large demonstration, he was first arrested by the Italians and tortured.

The struggle against the German occupiers and studies

Mikis Theodorakis managed to escape from Tripoli to Athens. He organized in the EAM and fought against the German occupiers while at the same time he began his studies at the Athens Conservatory with Professor Philoktiti Economidis.

The pursuit of the police authorities

After the release, the civil war broke out and Mikis Theodorakis, due to his progressive ideas, came into the spotlight of the police authorities. He does not stop his revolutionary action, but lives with the constant fear of arrest and hides. Eventually he was arrested and sent into exile, first to Ikaria and then to Makronisos. In 1950 he graduated from the Conservatory with a degree in harmony, counterpoint and fugue.

Mikis Theodorakis Mikis Theodorakis

The first prize

In 1954 he is in Paris on a scholarship. There he enrolled at the Conservatoire and studied music analysis with Olivier Messiaen and conducting with Eugène Bigot.

Until 1960, a restless spirit, Mikis Theodorakis, has intense activity in the field of European music. He composes music for Ludmila Tcherina's ballet, the Covent Garden, the Stuttgart Ballet and for the cinema.

He received his first prize in 1957 and comes from the Moscow Festival and specifically from Schostakovitch for his work, Suite No. 1 for piano and orchestra.
At the same time he composes many works of symphonic music and chamber music.

The return to Greece

Mikis Theodorakis returns to Greece in 1960. He has already set to music "Epitaph" by Giannis Ritsos and this is the beginning of his turn to folk song. The Greek people learn about Mikis Theodorakis and enjoy him through their song cycles. Then he founded the Small Symphony Orchestra of Athens and gives many concerts all over Greece.

The murder of Lambraki and the new arrest

After the assassination of Grigoris Lambrakis, in 1963, the "Lambrakis Youth" was founded. Mikis Theodorakis was elected President while at the same time he is elected Member of the EDA. In 1967, and specifically on April 21, he addressed the first call for Resistance against the Dictatorship on April 23 and in May 1967, together with others, he founded the first resistance organization against the Dictatorship, the PAM, and was elected president.

In August 1967 he was arrested and placed in solitary confinement, in prison, under house arrest, deported with his family to Zatouna, Arcadia, while he also went to the Oropos camp.

His artistic nature does not stay aside though. He composes continuously, without stopping. He has found a way and sends his works abroad. Maria Farantouri and Melina Mercouri sing his sounds.

His health is being shaken during his stay in Oropos and there are strong protests from abroad. Important personalities from abroad form committees and demand its release. Eventually they succeed and in April 1970 he is released from prison.

Tours, concerts, interviews are on his schedule. In his face and through his concerts, the people find a step to claim the restoration of democracy.

Mikis Thodorakis' contribution to Israel-Palestine

In 1972 he is in Israel and gives concerts. There he meets with Arafat and conveys the message of the Israeli government and tries to persuade him to start talks with the other side.

Finally, after many meetings, in 1994 the agreement between Israelis and Palestinians was signed and celebrated with the presentation of Mauthausen which has become the "national song" of Israel and the Anthem for Palestine and of course is written by Mikis Theodorakis. In 1974 he returns to Greece.

Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

The role of the informal ambassador of peace in many cases of states but also his action on sensitive issues give him the nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000. The political and intellectual world of Greece and Cyprus support him.

Main works of Mikis Theodorakis

Song Cycles: The children, Epitaph, Surface, State AD, NW, DG and DW, Deserters, Small Cyclades, Golden Green Leaf, The Ballad of Mauthausen + Farantouri Circle, Romiosyni, Romancero Gitano, Sea moons, time The sun Twelve folk, Night of death, Arcadia, The songs of the Struggle, The songs of Andreas, Eighteen minor singers of the Bitter Homeland, Ballads (in poetry by Manolis Anagnostakis), In the East, The lyric (in poetry by Tasos Eiretis, Leita, Dionysos, Phaedra, Karyotakis, The faces of the sun, Memory of the stone, As an ancient wind, Do we live in another country ?, A sea full of music, Beatrice on Miden Street, Asikiko Poulaki, Lyrikotera, Lyrikotata, Serirota

Music for theater: Beautiful city, The song of the dead brother, Magic city, A hostage, Enemy people, Betrayed people, Kapodistrias, Christopher Columbus, Pericles, This tree was not called patience, The beast of the bull, Macbeth.

Music for ancient drama: Oresteia (Agamemnon, Choifori, Eumenides), Antigone, Ippis, Lysistrata, Promitheus Desmotis, Oedipus the Tyrant, Hecabe, Iketides, Trojans, Phoenicians, Ajax, Medea.

Music for cinema: Dream district, Zorbas, Z, Serpiko, Iphigenia, Electra, The blockade, When the fish went ashore, Soutieska (Tito), Biribi, Phaedra, Siege, Actas de Marusia.

Oratories: Axion esti, Margarita, Averof Surface, Siege Status, Spiritual Invasion, Requiem, Canto General, Divine Liturgy, Liturgy for the children killed in the war.

Symphony Works and Chamber Music: 1st, 2nd, 3rd 4th, 7th Symphony, Against the Sadducees, Canto Olympico, Trio, Sextet, The Festival of Asi-Gonia, Greek Carnival, Circle, Sonata for piano, Suite no. 1, 2 and 3, Sonatina no. 1 and no. 2 for violin and piano, Oedipus the Tyrant, Concerto for piano, Rhapsody for cello and orchestra, Sinfonietta, Adagio.

Ballet: The Lovers of Teruel, Antigone, Zorbas. άξιον εστί.canto general.
Operas: Karyotakis (The Transfigurations of Dionysus), Medea, Electra, Antigone, Lysistrata.
Ergography (books)

Mikis Theodorakis has written many books, several of which have been translated into various languages. Among other things, his published works include:

  • For Greek music, Kastaniotis, 1986.
  • Anatomy of music, Alfeios, 1990.
  • The Roads of the Archangel. Autobiography (5 vols.), Kedros, 1990-1996; (AD + BD), University Publications of Crete, 2009.
  • Where to find my soul (vol. AD-GD), Lebanon - New Borders, 2002-2003; (AD + BD), IANOS, 2016-2017.
  • The manifesto of the Lambrakis. Who we are - What we want - Why they are fighting us, Greek Letters, 2003.
  • On art, Papazisis, 2003.
  • Manou Hadjidaki praise, IANOS, 2004.
  • The symphonic Theodorakis. From Cassiani to Lysistrata, Patakis, 2008.
  • Hellenism and intellect (written by George Kontogiorgis), IANOS, 2007,
  • Spark. For an independent and strong Greece, IANOS, 2011.
  • Mikis Theodorakis: My life (conversations with G. Archimandritis), Patakis, 2011.
  • Dialogues at twilight. 90 interviews, IANOS, 2016.
  • Where to find my soul… Volume I - Music, IANOS, 2016.
  • Monologues in Lykavges, IANOS, 2017.
  • Where to find my soul… Volume II - Art & Culture, IANOS, 2017.
  • Where to find my soul… Volume 2018 - Ideas, IANOS, XNUMX.