Abstract
The main objective of this Doctoral Thesis is the critical edition of Dionysios Rodotheatos’s seven-part symphonic work for wind orchestra, "Athalia" ("Atalia"). Apart from the self-evident value of a new scientific critical edition, which aspires to give Greek music research a new presumption of one of the major Greek composers of the 19th century, the practical side of this thesis is equally important, i.e. the performance of the finished work, thus expanding the original repertoire of contemporary bands in our country. The issue of the existence and promotion of a quality band repertoire in Greece is extremely important. The research on the original repertoire of the Greek composers for wind orchestra could not start otherwise than from the historical place of creation of this repertoire. The wind bands of the Ionian Islands grace the band events of our country with their presence, while their establishment goes back to the middle of the 19th century, making their historical music r ...
The main objective of this Doctoral Thesis is the critical edition of Dionysios Rodotheatos’s seven-part symphonic work for wind orchestra, "Athalia" ("Atalia"). Apart from the self-evident value of a new scientific critical edition, which aspires to give Greek music research a new presumption of one of the major Greek composers of the 19th century, the practical side of this thesis is equally important, i.e. the performance of the finished work, thus expanding the original repertoire of contemporary bands in our country. The issue of the existence and promotion of a quality band repertoire in Greece is extremely important. The research on the original repertoire of the Greek composers for wind orchestra could not start otherwise than from the historical place of creation of this repertoire. The wind bands of the Ionian Islands grace the band events of our country with their presence, while their establishment goes back to the middle of the 19th century, making their historical music records particularly valuable. However, as will be shown in the relevant chapter, this research did not yield the expected results. Nevertheless, the findings of this search led to an "informal" early evaluation of the existing musical material, from which the work "Atalia" by Rodotheatos was selected as the main subject of study and critical edition of this thesis. In this paper, a historical review of wind music creation in the Ionian Islands is attempted, with the Corfu Philharmonic Society as a central point of reference, for three specific reasons: a) Corfu P.S. is the oldest complete music education institution in our country, which had a band in its bosom since its foundation, b) Dionysios Rodotheatos, not only studied music in Corfu, with Nikolaos Halikiopoulos - Mantzaros, but later, after his return from Italy, he served at the Corfu P.S. from the position of Artistic Deputy Director of the Company, and c) the original score of the work was located in the historical music archive of the Philharmonic. The thesis includes also historical information regarding the valuable contribution of Nikolaos Mantzaros to the music education of the newly established Corfu P.S., which, under his guidance, was systematized for the first time and was the first music school of the new Greek state, even though the Ionian Islands were then still under British Protection. Many of the features of this "informal" music education process laid the foundations for music education in Greece in the second half of the 19th century. The thesis includes also detailed biographical details about Dionysios Rodotheatos, who like many other Heptanesian composers, studied in Italy, Naples. An analytical table of his works is also listed. Regarding "Atalia", the orchestration of the work for wind orchestra by the composer himself and the instruments used, give the opportunity for a brief historical review of major original works for wind ensembles, combined with the evolution of the form of wind ensembles, with reference to the band for which Rodotheatos composed "Atalia", i.e. the band of the "Corfu" Philharmonic Society of the second half of the 19th century. The score of the work is accompanied by a detailed critical commentary with the corrections and interventions in the composer's original score, while special mention is made of the transcription of the work from its original version for symphony orchestra to the version for wind orchestra. The thesis concludes with some conclusions regarding the necessity for scientific research, highlighting, dissemination and recording in digital media of important original works of Greek composers for wind orchestra and formulates proposals for issues that require further research. In the appendix of the thesis, the full score of the critical edition is presented, with a standard modern wind orchestra (concert band) instrumentation. This practice follows the methodology of modern reissues of other original works for wind orchestra.
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