Songs for Voice and Piano of Greek Composers of the 19th and the Beginning of the 20th Century

During the 19th century, Greek Art Music flourished mainly in the Ionian Islands. The Ionian Islands (Eptanisa) were the only part of Greece that didn’t come under Ottoman occupation. Instead, it successively was under Venezian (1386-1797), French (1797-1800 and 1807-1814), Russian-Turkish (1800-1807), and English rule (1814-1864). In 1864 the Ionian Islands were united with the liberated mainland Greece. Due to these historical circumstances, music in the Ionian Islands was influenced by musical development, mainly in Italy and the rest of Western Europe. Most of the Eptanisian composers studied in Italy, and many emigrated to Athens after 1864. Regarding mainland Greece, after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and until the beginning of the 19th century, most of Greece was under Ottoman rule. The circumstances of slavery left no chance for cultural interaction with Western Europe. The Greek War of Independence of 1821 was the beginning of the gradual liberation of Greece and its connection with the West-European culture. Due to these historical circumstances, the Greek National School of Music flourished at the beginning of the 20th century. Almost all Greek composers of the 19th and 20th century composed songs for voice and piano, setting into music mostly Greek poems of well-known poets. In this study, Art songs of Eptanisian composers andthe Greek National School of Music will be examined. In the first songs, the national element is occasionally used whereas, in the later songs, folk-like melodies, meters, and modes of the Greek folk songs are used