Rebetiko and Aristophanes

RevisitingthePast,RecastingthePresent:
TheReceptionofGreekAntiquityinMusic,19thCenturytothePresent.ConferenceProceedings
RebetikoandAristophanes:
TheMusicComposedbyTheofrastosSakellaridis
forTheEcclesiazusae(1904,NeaSkn,Athens,Greece)
ManolisSeiragakis
UniversityofCrete,DepartmentofPhilology,Greece
ABSTRACT: The performance of Aristophanes The Ecclesiazusae in 1904 by the Nea Skn theatre
groupisoneofthemostimportantinmodernGreekTheatre.Itproved,however,tobeabigscandal.
AstheyoungcomposerTheofrastosSakellaridis(18831950)triedtoupdatetheancientcomicdance
kordax (cordax), he was criticised for using a certain modern Greek dance form named zeibekikos,
whichwasreputedlyofTurkishorigin,andwasusedbytheGreekunderworldinitsurbanfolksongs
1
named rebetika. Thus, the press rated that Sakellaridis spoiled the spirit of the ancient comedian.
Researchintothereviewspublishedinthenewspapersoftheperiodrevealsthatthecomposerhad
actually not been given any other choice. The decision for the kind of music which was to be
composed and finally played during the performance was taken by the director Knstantinos
Chrstomanos. Under the directions of Chrstomanos, the incidental music for the performance of
TheEcclesiazusaecombinedWagnerianelementswiththoseoftheGreekfolkmusicaltradition,both
rural and urban, something that Greek critics and intellectuals could not accept. Adding to the
provocation, he also presented the Sacred Rock of the Acropolis with the ruins of the Parthenon
includingPlakashumblehousesof1904asabackdrop.Thisuseofantiquitywasoneofthemost
radicalinmoderntheatre.ThemusicinAristophanesperformancewouldbecomeanissuerelatedto
national cultural identity in contemporary Greece, as there was a controversy over the
appropriatenessofEasternorWesterninfluences.
In1900KnstantinosChrstomanos(18671911)arrivedfromViennaandsettledinAthens.
Asascholar,poetandplaywrighthewasalreadyfamousforanumberofreasons.Hehad
experienced firsthand the legendary Vienna of the findesicle; he was coeditor of a
quarterlyreview,withcontributionsbyKarlKraus,AdolfLoosandOscarWilde.2Aplayofhis
had been published there with a cover by Gustav Klimt;3 some of his Orphische Lieder
1
The rebetika are Greek songs associated with an urban lowlife milieu frequented by rebetes, or manges,
streetwisecharactersofshadyrepute,manyofwhomsmokedhashish.Thegenreoccupiesasimilarplacein
GreekculturetothatofthetangoinArgentinaortoflamencoinSpain.[]Influencedbythepopularmusicof
thelateOttomanEmpire,therebetikaareconsideredtohavereachedtheircharacteristicformafteramassive
influxofrefugeesfollowingtheexchangeofpopulationsattheendoftheTurkishGreekWarof191922.[]
Mostrebetikasongswerecomposedinoneofthreedancerhythms:thezeibekiko,asolomaledance(2+2+2
+3);thehasapikoorbutchersdancein2/4or4/4;andthetsifteteli,orbellydance,in2/4or4/4.Gail
HolstWarhaft, Rebetika, in Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (eds.), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians,xx(2ndedn.,London:MacMillan,2001),906907.
2
Wiener Rundschau, Zeitschrift fr Kultur und Kunst (Vienna Review: Newspaper for Culture and Art). The
othercoeditorwasFelixRappaport.Thisquarterlyreviewranforfiveissuesbetween1896and1901.
3
KnstantinosChrstomanos,DiegraueFrau(TheGrayWoman)(Vienna:Konegen,1898).
16
(Orphic Songs) poems had been set to music.5 But the perfect passport for a triumphant
entryintothesecularandliterarysalonsofAthenswasabookthathehadwritten,which
hadprovokedascandalwithaninternationalimpacttoo.DuringthelifetimeofElisabethof
AustriathelonelyEmpress,morepopularlyknownasSissyhewasoccasionallyofservice
toherasatutor,readingancientGreekpoetsanddramatiststoher.Afterherassassination
in1898hepublishedhisTagebuchbltter,akindofdiaryofthesemoments.6Thedetailsof
her life and of the Habsburg Royal Court rattled the Austrian authorities who asked the
young artist to leave the country and to forget his plans of having the second volume of
thesediariespublished.
InFebruaryof1901,ChrstomanosinvitedagroupofartistsandauthorstotheDionysus
Theatre in Athens, and in his manifesto he presented them his vision: the renaissance of
Greek theatre and drama.7 The same autumn a theatre group under his direction started
performingandtheeffectofitsactivitieswasstronglyfeltatonce.Threeyearslater,during
August1904,ChrstomanospresentedAristophanesTheEcclesiazusae(Assemblywomen).
Inthispaper,afterashortdiscussionoftheothertwoancientdramaperformancesofhis
NeaSkntroupe,wewillfocusonthisperformanceandtheroleofmusicinit,highlighting,
more specifically, the use of music and of antiquity in general, as a provocative and
modernisticoptioninancientdramastaging.
The group began its career in ancient drama in November 1901 with a promising
production of Euripides Alcestis. That production revealed many of the directors
perspectives on a strong relationship between ancient tragedy and European art music, a
combinationthatseemednecessaryforstagingthiskindoftheatre.Theimpactoftheideas
of Richard Wagner is obvious; the figure of the composer of the homeland of the North
had already made its presence felt, in the abovementioned Chrstomanoss manifesto,
somemonthsearlier.8ForAlcestis,ChrstomanosusedpartsofGluckseponymousopera.
He employed a Wagnerian orchestra, rich in brass wind instruments; he restricted the
violinstotheroleofliveninguptheatmosphere,justbeforevigorousandplethoricHercules
arrives.9Furthermore,hecombinedthisorchestrawithasoloorganplayingfrombackstage,
assignedtounderscoretheintensesentimentalfluctuations,withpiecesliketheReligious
4
KnstantinosChrstomanos,OrphischeLieder(OrphicSongs)(Vienna:Konegen,1899).
5
Hans Schmitt, Lieder fr verschiedene Stimmen Op. 69 N. 2. Das innere Schweigen. Gedicht von
Christomanos(FrtiefemittlereStimme)(Vienna:Doblinger,n.d.).
6
Constantin Christomanos, Tagebuchbltter, i (Wien: Perles, 1899) <http://anemi.lib.uoc.gr/php/pdf_pager.
php?rec=/metadata/2/1/9/metadata1940000095.tkl&do=199863.pdf&pageno=5&width=371&height=
496&maxpage=295&lang=el>,accessed11May2011.
7
Knstantinos Chrstomanos, Eisgsis pros tous en t theatr tou Dionysou synelthontas idrytas ts Nas
Skns (Prelection to the Founders of the Nea Skn Theatre Troupe Summoned in the Dionysus Theatre),
NeaEstia,70/826(1961),16261627
<http://www.ekebi.gr/magazines/ShowImage.asp?file=98578&code=0180>,accessed21May2011.
8
Ibid.1627.
9
prttsNeasSkns,epitychiatsAlkstes,metaphrasis,ypokrisis,moysik(ThePremiereof
NeaSkn,AlcestisSuccess;Translation,Acting,Music),ToAsty,23November1901,1.
4
17
MarchfromGlucksAlceste(ActIsceneiii)andaPassacaglia.10Thepresenceoftheorgan
moredominantduringthesceneofthemainheroinesdeathonstagesetapeculiartone
in the show, totally unprecedented in Greece until then, although Wagners music and
thought had begun to make their impact strongly felt in Athens in the early twentieth
century.
Thus, the director also revealed the erratic way in which the ideas and music of the
German composer were used during the premiere of his rival group, the conservative if
not retrograde Royal Theatre, which made its opening night less than a week after
Alcestispremiere.11However,themainfunctionofmusicinAlcestiswastoremove,oreven
neutralise,everyspacetimedimensionfromtheframeoftheplay,accordingtothedictates
ofSymbolism.TheplaydoesnottakeplaceinancientThessalyanymore,butinanowhere
landoutoftime.ThescenedepictsaMycenaeanpalacewiththreegates.Locatedonthe
right,thewellknownLionsGateofMycenaewasalsodepictedonstage.Analley,witha
cypress among other real trees, completed the set. With the exception of one or two
reviews,12 which wondered how Admetos in Thessaly could have had the famous gate of
Mycenae in his court and how the lions could have lain there with their heads worn or
broken,thewaytheyactuallywerein1901,thecriticsacceptedChrstomanossdirectorial
innovation.This,however,didnotmeantheywerealsoreadytoaccepthisgeneralliberal
point of view. Their wish was to see on stage a magnificent representation of the ancient
world,theworldoftheirancestors,evenatthepriceofsacrificinghistoricalaccuracyand
truth.
Grgorios Xenopoulos, a major young critic and, at the same time, secretary of
administrationofthetroupe,suggestedthatitwouldhavebeenbetterifthedirectorhad
adoptedtheFrenchadaptationoftheplaybyAlfredGassierthathadbeenpresentedinthe
OdeonTheatreinParisduringtheyears18891890.Thatperformance

.
,

13
.
ItisunknownifitwasGlucksPassacaglia,theonefromOrfeoedEuridiceforexample,oranyotheronelike
the extremely popular Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582, by Johann Sebastian Bach, which was
suitable,beingwrittenforanorgan.
11
The playbill of the Royal Theatres opening night is indicative: First Part: 1. National Anthem, by Nikolaos
Mantzaros (Orchestra); 2. Flora Mirabilis, by Spyridon Samaras (Orchestra, fragment); 3. Maria Doxapatr,
MonologuefromthefifthactofDmtriosVernardakssdrama;4.Lohengrin,byRichardWagner(Orchestra,
fragment). Second Part: 1. Carmen, by Georges Bizet (Orchestra, fragment); 2. O thanatos tou Perikleous
(Pericles Death), comedy, by Dmtrios Koromlas; 3. Songe damour aprs le bal (Liebestraum nach dem
Balle)Intermezzo(LoveDreamaftertheBall),Op.356,byAlfonsFrieherrvonCzibulka(Orchestra);4.Danse
des heures (Dance of the Hours) from La Gioconda, by Amilcare Ponchielli (Orchestra). Third Part: Zteitai
yprtes(ServantWanted)comedy,byCharalampsAnninos.
12
Pikman, Apo ta parasknia (From the Backstage), Nykteris, /30, 23 December 1901, 2; N. Ep. [Nikolaos
Episkopopoulos],NaSkn(TheNaSkn),NeonAsty,30July1902,n.p.n.
13
Eph Vapheiad, O Grgorios Xenopoulos kai Alkstis ts Neas Skns (Grgorios Xenopoulos and the
Performance of Alcestis by the Nea Skn Troupe), in Nikphoros Papandreou and Eph Vapheiad (eds.),
10
18
presented Alcestis dying without her husbands knowledge of her sacrifice for him and,
finally, against his will. The savage scene between father and son becomes even crueler
through the adaptation of Chrstomanos, while the Frenchman [Gassier] has limited its
scopeinsomegentleverses.
Inthesamespirit,therewerelivelyreactionstotheappearanceofthefigureofDeath,
which some critics would have preferred to have seen closer to depictions of ancient
pottery14andothersclosertotherespectiveChristianicons.15
The figure of Death with his black wings and his mortal spear, dominated the
performance. The source of inspiration for the director was, however, extremely different
from the realm suggested to him by the critics. A few weeks before Alcestis premiere,
ChrstomanoswroteanarticleinaGreekartjournalonGustavKlimtandhiswork,focusing
on his famous Faculty Paintings (19011907), particularly Medicine (1901), whose main
themeisthedipoleDeathandLife.16AndtheLionsGateheusedinhisset,refersdirectlyto
theplayLaCittMorta(TheDeadCity,1896),byGabrieleDAnnunzio,launchingastrange
stage intertextuality.17 In the drama of the Italian aesthete the action unfolds in
contemporaryArgos,andtheLionsGateofancientMycenaeisclearlypresentedaspartof
the scenery in the background. This sounds natural, as the main plot of the play is
associatedwiththeexcavationsinthenecropolisofMycenaeandthestrangerelationship
between an archaeologist and three more persons, who follow him to Greece for the
excavations. The LifeDeath dipole is underlined by the corresponding ancientmodern
Greece contrast, as for the Italian author the ancient city remains alive while modern
Greeceseemsdead.
Although Chrstomanos had already classified Athens of his time a dead city in an
articleofaboutthesameperiod,18itisobviousthatboththespectatorsandthecriticsdid
notevendiscusssuchaninterpretationofeitherDAnnunziosdramaortheperformanceof
AlcestisdirectedbyChrstomanos.Theaudiencewasratherpleased,ifnotflattered,bythe
magnificentandhistoricallyaccuraterepresentationoftheancientGreekworld.In1903,for
the staging of Sophocles Antigone Chrstomanos used Felix Mendelssohns well known
incidental music Antigone, Op. 55, a work that had been considered an inviolable rule for
theGreekstageuntilthen.Theperformancemadeastrongimpressionasthedirectorused
theheroinesgraveasasettingforpartoftheperformance,somethingthatwasconsidered
disrespectfultotheclassicisingrulesofthepresentationoftragedy.
Ztmataistoriastouneoellnikoutheatrou,MeletesaphiermenesstonDmtrSpath(HistoricalIssuesof
theNewHellenicTheatre.StudiesinHonourofDmtrsSpaths)(Hrakleion:CreteUniversityPress,2007),
255256.
14
Xenopoulosagainwasoneofthem.Ibid.
15
SmeiseisAthnaiou,OThanatos(NotesofanAthenian,Death),ToAsty,23November1901,n.p.n.
16
K.Ch.Eikastikaitechnai(VisualArts),Panathnaia,1/16(1901),160.
17
Additionally,thebalancedcombinationofextensivepartsofmusicwithequallyextendedscenesandactsin
prose in Alcestis seems to follow the corresponding experiments of Gabriele DAnnunzio with plays such as
FrancescadaRimini,creatingahybridgenre.
18
KnstantinosChrstomanos,ToChaos(Chaos),ToAsty,3July1901,1.
19
ThenextyearChrstomanospresentedTheEcclesiazusaeofAristophanes,forthefirst
time in contemporary Europe. Provocative again, he was blamed for a courageous
innovationwhichhiscriticsseemedunwillingtoaccept:inordertorepresentandrevivean
ancientcomicdance,thekordax(cordax),heused,amongotherkindsofmusic,urbanfolk
music,includingrebetikasongs.Althoughextremelypopularamonglowerclasses,rebetika
werenotwidelyacceptablesocially.Theirexistence,afteraperiodofborderlinetolerance,
hadthenintheearlytwentiethcenturybeenfacedwithgreatdisapprovalorcontemptby
newspaper editors. Their use as stage music for ancient drama was, of course, out of the
question.
Uptothen,therehadbeenthreemainlegitimatefieldsfromwhichtodrawinspiration,
inordertocomposestagemusicforancientdrama.ThefirstonewasancientGreekmusic,
littleknown,however,throughfragmentaryinscriptions.Thesecondonewasthepantheon
of Western classical music. The schema became tripartite during the last decades of the
nineteenth century, when a third pole was added: Byzantine music.19 But, as a conscious
effortwasevolvingtoformapureanddistinctnationalidentity,thetermByzantinemusic
wasstartingtobroadentoincludeGreektraditionalmusictoo,inasenseofcontinuitywith
antiquity.Ifthisdidnotseemveryconvincing,traditionalmusiccouldatleastserveasan
additionallinkintheprocessofconnectingmodernGreecewithitsancientpast.Atypical
example of this was the music composed for the staging of Greek tragedies for the
AssociationfortheStagingofAncientGreekDrama,whichGirgosMistrits(18401916)
directed.However,bothinthemusicfortheseperformancescomposedbytheByzantine
chanter Joannes Theophrastos Sakellarides (18531938) and in the minds of almost all
Greekcomposersandintellectualsatthetime,onlytheruralnottheurbanfolkmusic
could be recognised as an important tradition, appropriate to facilitate the idea of
continuitywithantiquity.Thisfactrevealstheproblemsoftheabovementionedattemptat
defining a national identity. The mainproblem of the contemporary urban folk music was
the obvious influences from other cultures and other nations music, something that
complicatedthecontinuitythesis.
Chrstomanos had already used classical music for the staging of the two ancient
tragedies he had presented. Realising however the specificity and the special needs of an
Aristophaneanstaging,hefinallyadoptedatotallydifferentamalgamforTheEcclesiazusae:
urban and rural popular music of his time, combined with music that tried to revive
elements of the ancient Greek musical tradition, composed by a very young, almost
unknownbuttalentedartist,TheofrastosSakellaridis(18831950),thepromisingsonofthe
abovementionedcomposeroftheAssociationfortheStagingofAncientDrama.Everypiece
ofthemusiccomposedforTheEcclesiazusaeprovokedascandalthateruptedaroundthe
composer,forreasonssuchasthepresenceofmusicalaccompaniment,whichsupposedly
undermined the verses of the text. The main attack, however, concerned dances and
Panos Vlagopoulos, Explicit and Implicit Historical Models for the History of Music in Modern Greece, in
PetrosPizanias(ed.),TheGreekRevolutionof1821:AEuropeanEvent(Istanbul:IsisPress,2011),295300.
19
20
specifically the way the ancient comic dance cordax was performed. Among other facts,
Sakellaridiswasblamedbytwocriticsoftwomajornewspapers(AthnaiandEstia)forthe
folkishnatureofboththesongsandthedances.20Althoughtheyweretraditionalruraland
urbandances,it isobviousthatthesemusicalpieceshadnotyetpersuadedeverybodyof
their purity, one of them being termed as vlachikos and another one criticised as being
very similar to the wellknown Bulgarian dance. This was considered desecration, and so
wastheaccusationthatthelatterwasperformedinstepsofpasdequatre.Thetwocritics
alsoclaimedthatduringthesecondactacancanwasperformed.21Thelattertwodances
were not only outlandish but were, furthermore, associated with the morally suspicious
activities of travelling French and Italian operetta troupes. Last but not least, the
appearanceofamusicalgenrethatneveracquiredtheGreekidentityasawhole,suchas
the rebetiko was, came to complete the sacrilege, if we trust the extremely aggressive
theatrereviews.Anamanes22andazeibekikosdanceprovokedthecriticsandtheissuenow
was not only national, but also social. These two samples of rebetiko song and dance
respectively,becauseoftheirobviousoriginsfromOttomanAsiaMinor,werealsosupposed
tobeproductsofaworldorratherofanunderworldwhichcouldnotproduceculture,of
amassofpeopleunabletoofferanythingtomodernGreeksociety,whichatthetimewas
tryingtobeestablished,asocietywhoseonlydutywastobeeducated,ifnotindoctrinated,
throughartinthevaluesoftheemergingbourgeoisieandmiddleclass.Oneofthehostile
criticssuggestedforTheEcclesiazusaethattheticketpriceshouldbegreatlyincreased,so
thatlowerclasspeoplewouldbeunabletowatchtheperformance.23Elsewhereitiswritten
thattheatmosphereoftheshowwasofsuchabacchanalnaturethattheorchestracould
havebeenreplacedbyabarrelorgan.24
Soon,amajorcontroversyeruptedinthepressandseveralapologeticlettersappeared.
Thefirstcamefromthehandofthecomposer,tryingtoputthefactsright.Thedancewas
notreallyazeibekikos,heexplained,asitwaswrittenin6/8andnotinthe9/8ofzeibekikos.
Healsoclarifiedthattheparticularwayinwhichtheancientcordaxhadbeenrevivedwas
something that had been requested by the director and the translator, after a thorough
investigationofrelevantscenesonancientvases.25Awholeseriesoffourapologeticarticles
came from the translator of the play Polyvios Dmtrakopoulos, who explained that the
dances were original Greek traditional ones.26 As for the cordax, however, he evaded
20
Theats [Gergios Pp], Theatrikai selides, Ai Ekklsiazousai, Entypseis apo tn prtn parastasin
(Theatrical Pages, The Ecclesiazousae, Impressions from the Premiere), Athnai, 13 August 1904, 1. Theats
[EmmanoulRepouls],AiEkklsiazousai(TheEcclesiazousae),Estia,12August1904,1.
21
Ibid.
22
Amanesisanoriental,modal,passivesong,basedonimprovisation.
23
EistnN.Sknn(InNeaSkn),Athinai,16August1904,2.
24
Theats[GergiosPp],1.
25
Theofrastos Sakellarids, Grammata pros tn Estian, Ps etonisth o Kordax (Letters to Estia, How the
MusicfortheCordaxwasComposed),Estia,13August1904,n.p.n.
26
Polyvios Dmtrakopoulos, Tourkokritik epanastasis, oi Parekklsiazontes (Brutal Critic Riots, The
EcclesiazusaeSpoilers),PartI:Esperin,14August1904,n.p.n.;PartII:Esperin,15August1904,n.p.n.;Part
III: Esperin, 16 August 1904, n.p.n. Aristophaneia kritika mnmosyna (Aristophanean Critic
21
explainingthedancescharacter,althoughherevealedhisandthedirectorssourceof
inspirationforitsdanceposes:aFrencheditionofAristophanesLysistrataincludingmore
than a hundred photos of ancient vases and reliefs from different European museums.27
That was the decade when major choreographers in Europe, such as Michel Fokine
followingtheparadigmofIsadoraDuncanobviouslyrealisedthevalueofancientvasesas
asourceofinspirationinanefforttorevivecontemporarydance.Itisofnocoincidencethat
duringthefirstdaysofthatyear,1904,IsadoraDuncanfinishedheralmosttwoyearstayin
GreecefollowingadanceperformancewhichtookplaceinAthens,inDecember1903.On
thatnightsheexperiencedsuchafalsewarmreceptionfromtheaudienceandtheKingthat
shewaspersuadedtoabandonboththehouseshehadbuiltinAthensandherplanstostay
inGreeceforever.28
It is obvious that the directors point of view was somewhat really revolutionary. His
innovations were many, audacious and provocative. It was the first time in Greece, and
perhaps worldwide, that a composer was commissioned by a director to draw inspiration
from antiquity so as to write modern music for ancient comedy, fusing different kinds of
musicandforms,withoutdisregardingcontemporaryurbanfolkandruralmusic.Itisalso
innovative that he did not reject the rebetiko, although it belongs to a group of distinct
national folk musical and dance genres (jazz, blues, fado, tango, flamenco, samba and
rumba) all of which shared the characteristic that they developed in the margins of large
urban centres, some of them in the ports, and were only very gradually legalised by the
samesocietiesthatcreatedthem.
The idea of continuity with the ancient past was dealt a heavy blow not only by the
vulgarity or the modern character of the music, but also due to another innovation: the
peculiar use of the most emblematic monument of Greece, namely The Parthenon. The
templewasdepictedinChrstomanosssettingsforTheEcclesiazusaein1904,intheruined
state it actually was at the time. The setting also included Plakas humble houses and the
Anaphitikaneighborhood.Thiscausedanunbalancedreactionfromthecritics,whowould
ratherhaveseentheParthenonasitusedtobeinthedaysofPhidias.Thisruinedimageof
the Parthenon had been a controversial issue since the very first years of Greek
Independence. In the 1830s the Sacred Rock of the Acropolis became an archaeological
siteandtheareaarounditwassoonfencedoff.Itscondition,however,couldnotservethe
purposeofformingacommonlyacceptednationalidentity.Numerousremainsofdifferent
buildingsonthesiteoftheAcropolisnegativelyhinderedtheproject.Forexample,situated
insidetheParthenonandusedasanorthodoxchurchduringtheByzantineEmpire,andas
aMuslimmosquelaterwasthechurchofPanagiaAthnitissa,atemplewithinatemple,
Commemoration),Esperin,20August1904,n.p.n.ThearticleswerefoundinSakellaridissscrapbookheldin
theMuseumandStudyCentreoftheGreekTheatre(Athens)andarebeingusedhereforthefirsttime.
27
Aristophane, Lysistrata, traduction nouvelle avec une introduction et des notes par Charles Zvort, dition
orne de plus de 100 gravures par Notor reproduites en couleurs daprs des documents authentiques des
musesdEurope(Paris:CharpentieretFasquelle,1898).
28
IsadoraDuncan,MyLife(NewYork:AwardBooks,1966),122.
22
which was demolished in 1842. In 1875 the Catalan tower of the Propylaea was also
demolished.However,eventhisprovedinsufficienttoensurethepurityofthemonument,
which heavily affected the nations fragile identity.29 Scholars have also remarked on the
sensitivity most Greek photographers showed in the nineteenth and twentieth century
whencapturingthemonument,aseventheattireofapersoncapturedbythecameracould
affectthecharacterofthemonumentsdepiction.30
AttheturnofthecenturythespecialsignificanceoftheParthenonasamonumentand
ancient Greek heritage in general dominated modernGreek cultural life, including music
andtheatre.In1897theauthorGiannsCampysssentthefollowingnotetoKarlDieterich
(18691935):

. ,
,
!

.
, .

,

, !

.31
Theburdenofourancestorsisimmeasurable.Eventoheartheirnamesweighsuponmelike
amountain,likeOlympus!Iamwithoutfreedomandcondemnedtobetheireternalslave.I
am powerless because I am Euripides descendant. The Acropolis is a ray of light and the
Parthenon,thatpricelessgemwhichisafoundationstoneforhumanitythroughouttheages
dazzles and overshadows me! I am unable even to walk and I am perpetually weeping I
weepbecauseIamtheunworthydescendantofsuchgreatness.
Chrstomanos himself referred to the monument in his manifesto, trying to relieve

authorsofthesebiasesandmakethemwritefreelymodernisticplays:

.

,
.[]

[]
32
.
29
Yannis Hamilakis, The Nation and its Ruins: Antiquity, Archaeology and National Imagination in Greece
(Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,2007),8598.
30
SeveralspeakersattherecentKingsCollegecongressonphotographyinnineteenthandtwentiethcentury
Greece remarked this. Indicatively: John Stathatos The Threeway Mirror: Photography as Recorder, Mirror
and Model of Greek National Identity; Aliki Tsirgialou, Photographing Greece in the Nineteenth Century;
FrederickBohrer,DoorstothePast:W.J.Stillman(andFreud)ontheAcropolis,papersgivenattheKings
CollegeConferenceGreek(Hi)storiesthroughtheLens:Photographs,PhotographersandTheirTestimonies,
London,811June2011.
31
Anekdota grammata tou Kampys (ston Karl Didrich) (Unpublished Letters of Kampyss to Karl Dietrich),
Noumas,123(1904),14.
32
KnstantinosChrstomanos,EisgsisprostousenttheatrtouDionysousynelthontasidrytastsNas
Skns,1626.
23
Imnottalkingaboutretracingourstepsbackwardsinthecenturies,andImnotaskingyou
tobuildParthenonsbecauseweareGreek.TheGreekpoetdoesntneedtoshapewordsor
ideasintherhythmsofPindarorSappho,rhythmsgonewiththewaves[]TheParthenonis
thecrownedpeakofthecreativeGreekintellect[]andeverycrownedpeakoftheintellect
isaParthenon.33
It is obvious that for Chrstomanos the Greek identity of the monument is not a self
evidentfact.Accordingtohismanifesto,themonumenthasnonationalidentity.Itisrather
partofauniversalheritage.Theseideasappeartobenormalandobvioustoday,butforthe
majority ofthe residents of Athens during that period both these words of Chrstomanos
and this specific use of the Parthenon in the scenery of The Ecclesiazusae undercut the
ParthenonssymbolicvalueasthesinglesiteortoposofGreekculturethroughtheages.34
The Parthenon had taken a central symbolic position in the most important ideological
andartisticconflictofthetime:thelanguagecontroversy.Thusthisfunctionoftoposwas
notgenerallyaccepted.Thefansofkatharevousa(anartificiallycomposedwrittenlanguage,
invented to compromise between ancient and modern Greek) accepted it, exploiting the
internationalrecognitionofthemonumentsartisticvalueinordertoencouragethemasses
to support the nations renaissance. In the theatre, these fans demanded the staging of
ancient drama in the original text exclusively,and in 1903, when the Greek Royal Theatre
daredtostageAeschylusOresteiaadapted,riotsbrokeout,resultinginonedeadprotester.
Chrstomanoss performance of Sophocles Antigone, translated into contemporary
language,tookplaceatexactlythesametimeastheriots.Itisofnocoincidencethatinthe
hostilereviewofTheEcclesiazusaeinEstiaanopinionthatancientcomedyshouldnotbe
adaptedintomodernGreekwasincluded.Anditisalsonotablethatthetwoauthorsofthe
most negative reviews were essentially politicians, in fact, members of parliament, rather
thantheatrecritics.
Ontheothersideofthelanguagecontroversy,however,thefansofdemoticlanguage,
theParthenonbecameasymboloftheconservativeideologyoftheiropponents,ananchor
that prevented progressive people to step forward. In his play with the characteristic title
Zntanoi kai pethamenoi (Dead and Alive) Dmtrs Tankopoulos, the editor of Noumas
journaltheideologicalorganoffanaticdemoticistswrote:
.

.

, , .

, .35
33
GondaA.H.vanSteen,VenominVerse:AristophanesinModernGreece(Princeton,NJ:PrincetonUniversity
Press,2000),102.
34
Ibid.VanSteenreferstotoposinaFoucaultiansense.
35
Dmtrs Tankopoulos, Zntanoi kai pethamenoi, Drama se tria mer, Chrysaug, digma (Dead and
Alive:DramainThreeParts.TheGoldenDawn:Tale)(Athens:Noumas,1905),61
<http://anemi.lib.uoc.gr/php/pdf_pager.php?rec=/metadata/0/2/2/metadata
924aa3d9fb4eadc41ee3cda8575ac799_1247468611.tkl&do=146715_w.pdf&pageno=32&pagestart=1&width=
800&height=591&maxpage=41&lang=en>,accessed5May2011.
24
OppositetheAcropolis,inaplacedevoidofhistory,webuildourGreekfortress.Wewilllock
ourselves in there and we will fight. Every living man will join us, youll see. Let the dead
fortifythemselvesagaininanywoodenwallclosetotheirParthenon,untilthePersianscome
andburnthem.
Chrstomanos found himself at the centre of a controversy. Neither conflicting party

couldaccepttherealconditionofthemonument;oneofthemwouldpreferitrenovated,
and the other one would prefer it even demolished.36 Chrstomanoss perspective was
totallydifferent.InhisTagebuchbltterheextolledthebeautyoftheruinsandthewealthof
emotions they aroused, referring to the painting of Edward BurneJones Love among the
Ruins(1894)andrepresentingtheideasofaestheticism.37Inhistwopreviousproductionsof
ancient dramas he had proved how important a set depicting a monument could be.
However,itmustnotbeforgottenthattheuseofthesemonumentsonhisstagewasvery
differentfromwhatscrupulouscriticscouldaccept.Obviously,Chrstomanosdidnotagree
with the treatment of a monument as a sacred still place, an approach that he also
embracedwhileusingancientdramatextsonstage.
In The Ecclesiazusae, the style in which Tlemachos Lepenits, the male actor who
playedtheroleofPraxagora,recitedher/hisversesatthelanternintheopeningscenewas
one more little shock for the critics, as it satirised the usual pompous style of acting in
ancient drama. In the preface of the plays edition in 1904 the translators directives
describe precisely how the actor had to recite it:

,

(Thismonologueof
Praxagora is to be recited by the actor in the most pompous manner because in this way
Aristophanessatirisesandparodiesthetragicpoetsstyle).38
Moreover,thefactthatBlepyros,whiletryingtofindsomewheretodefecate,selectsthe
middle of the street (and therefore of the stage) as a suitable place for his purposes,
aggravatedthesituation.
Chrstomanosschoicesregardingchoreographyweresimilar.Inhismanifestoheused
Wagners ideas on the Gesamtkunstwerk with admirable audacity, ranking dance first
amongequivalentelementsofancientdrama(lyricpoetryandmimesis)andamongthearts
36
Ibid.Theconflictofviewsreflectedthegapbetweentwopurelynationalistictendencies.Thefirstonecalled
forautopianrefugeinanantiquitymatrixofWesternculture,aculturewhich,itbelieved,rightfullybelonged
toGreekantiquity.Inorderforthisfiguretowork,everytracefromtheunworthymodernGreekintellectual
anddailylifehadtobehidden.ThesecondonepreferredamorerecentperiodofGreekhistoryasanideal
model:thestruggleof1821,whenuneducatedbravewarriors,andnotpedanticintellectuals,starred.
37
ForsimilarideasamongthegreatestmusiciansinEurope,amongthefoundersoftheGreekNationalSchool
of music, and about the term Trmmersthetik and its relation to Jugendstil see Olympia Frankou
Psychopaid,EthnikiScholMousiks.Provlmataideologias(TheGreekNationalSchoolofMusic.Problems
ofIdeology)(Athens:IdrymaMesogeiaknMeletn,1990),85.
38
Aristophanous,Ecclsiazousai,trans.PolyviosDmtrakopoulos(Athens:Saliveros,1904),7.
25
in general. And when his ideas on this issue were made concrete, he expressed his equal
admirationbothforthegreatGermancomposerandforthemoderndancers:

, , ,

,
,

,

,

,[]

.39
Andwhenwehearthat,justlikeashootingstar,afemaledancerfromtheEastappeared,
whosedanceispoetryindeed,dramaandmusicunified,accordingtothetruesenseofthe
word;whenwelearnthatfromthehomelandoftheNorthacomposerrushedahead,whose
music creates spiritual worlds, [] then we presume that the winds and the waves were
incarnatedinuniquecreatures,inordertorendertohumanityitslostsecrets.
Yet,whatChrstomanosreallymeantwiththisphraseaboutthefemaledancerwillremain
a lost secret, indeed. Which woman did he have in mind when he likened her to a star?
Although the East is clearly mentioned as the homeland of this star, the theatre historian
GiannsSidersconcludeswithcertaintythatChrstomanosreferstoaEuropeandancer;40
thisleadsustolookforthemysteriousfigureamongthefamousfemaledancersofhistime,
like Ruth St. Denis, Ida Rubinstein, Loie Fuller or Sada Yacco; we have already also
mentioned the obvious influence of Isadora Duncan on his work, although Siders rejects
thisthesis.41
Letusaddasuggestionhere.FromthetimeofthemanifestointheTheatreofDionysus
in 1901 until the performance of The Ecclesiazusae in August 1904, two events occurred
thatmayhaveaffectedthedirectorspointofviewondirectionandchoreography.In1903
ChrstomanossmentorGabrieleDAnnunziopublishedhisMaia,apoetrycollectionwhich
utilises the experiences of his first trip to Greece during 1895. Among other instances,
DAnnunzioconvertedhisvisittoawretchedbrothelinPatras,duringabriefstopoftheir
ship in the port of the capital of the Peloponnese, into a cynical poem.42 His hypothetical
aimwastosearchforthetracesofBelleHlneincontemporaryGreece,butthechoiceof
place shows that the failure of the project was entirely certain, if not preplanned. The
publication of the book had not gone unnoticed in Greece and its content and style
provoked some complaints. The second significant event in the formation of
39
Chrstomanos,EisgsisprostousenttheatrtouDionysousynelthontasidrytastsNeasSkns,1627.
40
GiannsSiders,KnstantinouChrstomanou,EisgsisprostousenttheatrtouDionysousynelthontas
idrytastsNeasSkns (KnstantinosChrstomanossPrelectionintheDionysusTheatretotheFoundersof
theNeaSknTheatreTroupe),Deltiotheatrou,1/4(1950),4.
41
Ibid.
42
Philippos Pappas, Prta stoicheia gia tn parousia tou Gampriele D Anountsio stn Ellada (taxidia,
proslps, epidraseis, metaphraseis) (First Evidence for the Presence of Gabriele DAnnunzio in Greece
(Travel, Reception, Influences, Translations)), postgraduate dissertation (University of Crete, 2005)
<http://elocus.lib.uoc.gr/dlib/1/c/b/metadatadlib13ea583b8e924da363fd5b0dbcc288f3_1242722021.tkl>,
accessed10May2011.
26
Chrstomanoss choice of direction of ancient drama was the presence and the dance
performanceofIsadoraDuncaninAthens.
As we look again into The Ecclesiazusae performance, we realise that although the
evidenceisrich,mostofitisblurryorunreliableanditisextremelydifficulttoconcludeon
the style of the choreography. Among the recently found testimonials, a letter from the
translatoracquiresspecialinterestfortheinformationprovidedtous,asitsupplementsthe
writtensourceswithanimage.PolyviosDmtrakopoulosproposedaparticularphotograph
of an illustrated French Lysistratas edition that we have already mentioned, as an ideal
source for the public to understand how the comic dance was performed.43
Dmtrakopoulos claimed that the aim was to use Greek traditional dances in order to
revivetheancientcordax.
Image.ThephotographsuggestedbyTheEcclesiazusaestranslatorPolyviosDmtrakopoulosin
ordertohelphisreadersformanideaaboutthewaytheancientdancecordaxwasperformed44
In the picture he recommended, taken from an ancient vase, six female dancers perform
theirdanceindividuallyinecstaticpostures,someofthemwithbarebreasts.Ifwesearch
amongGreektraditionaldancesforasolodance,itisalmostcertainthatwewillbeledto
thefieldofrebetika.Thezeibekikoswasandremainseventodaythemostwidespread
solodance.ItisimpressivethatinthelatterletterDmtrakopoulosdoesnotexplicitlystate
thatthedancewasnotazeibekikos;hejustclaimsthatitcouldhavebeenanyoftheGreek
traditional dances. Let us note here that the translator proved to be one of the major
contributors of the trend of using rebetika in the theatrical life of Athens, in combination
with traditional songs, believing it to be a part of Greek traditional music without
distinguishingitfromanyothergenre.45
Dmtrakopoulos,Aristophaneiakritikamnmosyna,n.p.n.
44
Aristophane, Lysistrata, 154155 <http://archive.org/stream/lysistrata00arisuoft#page/154/mode/2up>,
accessed20August2013.
45
Polyvios T. Dmtrakopoulos, Ta tragoudmena 19051921 (Songs, 19051921) (Athens: Dmtrakos,
1922).
43
27
Themainprobleminacceptingthecasethatthecordaxofthe1904TheEcclesiazusaes
performancewasinspiredbothbyancientpotteryandthezeibekikos,asthecriticsclaimed,
isthatinthepictureweseewomendancing,whileweknowthatthezeibekikosisamale
dance. We must not forget, however, that a different practice was followed in the caf
amans of this era. In these oriental versions or variations on European cafchantants or
caf concerts, female dancers used to perform their traditional oriental song and dance
simultaneously (usually, zeibekiko, hasapiko, or tsamiko). Moreover, we have several
descriptionsofsuchperformanceswherethefemaledancersalsousedpantomimeintheir
gestures,posesandmovements,inordertoenliventheirdance.46Thispointbringsusback
totheenigmaticwordingofChrstomanossmanifestoaboutthefemaledancerfromthe
East who unifies the separate arts of song, dance and acting. If he was speaking literally
whenhetalkedaboutawomanwhounitedinherdancethethreedifferentarts,onlythe
JapaneseSadaYaccoamongtheEuropeanfemaledancersmeetstherequirementsof
thepersonwearesearchingfor,asshewastheonlyonethatcouldsingwhiledancingand
acting. Could then this enigmatic woman be one of these humble dancers in the Athens
cafamans? We have neither enough space nor sufficient documentation to thoroughly
discusstheissuehereandcometoaconclusionrightnow.
The contrast between the grotesque and the sublime was particularly widespread
amongst fans of aestheticism, and Chrstomanoss case was not an exception. During the
performance of Alcestis, the primitive way in which he presented Hercules sparked
controversy. In another case, he had recommended as a model for his actors the popular
selftaughtactorEvangelosPantopoulos(18601913).47Anothercontrastwhoseinfluenceis
obviousinhisworkisthatbetweenEastandWest.Inanycase,thecultofamysticalOrient
was prevalent in Vienna of the findesicle and also, on a more personal level,
Chrstomanoshimselftravelledwidelyduringthelasttwoyearsofthenineteenthcentury,
stayingindifferentcountriesinEuropeandtheMediterranean,notonlyinParis,butalsoin
Tunis and the Ottoman Salonika. He was also learning Persian and Arabic, and his plans
weretoendhislifeinPalmyra.48
ThefactisthatduringthestagingofTheEcclesiazusaeChrstomanoswasinsearchofa
newwaytodirectAristophanescomedy,combiningtext,music,songanddance,thelatter
twobeingnewelementsthatheusedforthefirsttimeinhisworkonancientdrama.And
theincidentalmusicservinghisdirectionwouldbeacombinationofWesternartmusicand
traditional Greek. His great innovation was that he was willing to utilise both urban and
rural folk music, unconcerned about the ideology of continuity and the biases of the
46
ThodrosChatzpantazs,TsAsiatidosmousserastai,akmtouathnaikoukapheamanstachroniats
vasileiastouGergiouA,SymvolstmelettsproistoriastouRempetikou(LoversoftheAsiaticMuse,The
PeakoftheAthenianCafesamansintheReignofGeorgeI.ContributiontotheStudyofthePrehistoryofthe
rebetiko)(Athens:Stigm,1986),152153.
47
MyrtMaurikou,OKnstantinosChrstomanoskaiNeaSkn(KnstantinosChrstomanosandtheNea
SknTroupe)(Athens:Phexs,1964),103.
48
W. [Ksts Palamas], Prospa kai ztmata. O logos peri Chrstomanou (Persons and Issues. About
KnstantinosChrstomanos),Empros,21July1915,1.
28
necessity to use high forms of music for ancient drama. His recipe points towards the
contemporaneous European National Schools of music, although there were also some
strongbiasesamongtheirfoundersagainsturbanfolkmusic.49However,everyattemptby
Greek composers to form such a movement and present such works on stage, during the
performance of an ancient drama, was treated mockingly, hostilely and derogatorily, as
everybodyrecognisedWesternmusiconly,forexampleFelixMendelssohnandhisOp.55,
asidealforthisgenre.InhismanifestoChrstomanoshaddescribedthegloomystateofart
musicinGreece.InhisTagebuchbltter,inthelightofthedescriptionoftheEmpresssstay
in Corfu, he freely expressed his admiration for both Greek traditional music and the
monophonicByzantinepsalmodyoftheislandsmonasteries.
Now,duringthestagingofTheEcclesiazusae,hehadthechancetoapplyonstagesome
oftheseaestheticperceptionsandpreferences.TheuseofurbanfolkmusicinAristophanes
comedy, although it seems natural today, was an innovation Greek composers could not
freely accept. Their prejudices that in ancient drama they had to use only high art as
incidental music led them again to imitate Western music. And the legitimate theoretical
tripartite schema we mentioned, which included as possible fields from which to draw
inspirationGreekantiquity,ByzantiumandtheGreektradition,andfinallyWesternEurope,
wasinfactanarrowonewaystreetthatledexclusivelystraighttothelatterdirection.This
notion was not limited to musicians but was more widespread. During the conflict over
SakellaridissmusicforTheEcclesiazusae,thechiefeditorofthenewspaperAthnaiadvised
all three parties of the performance the director, translator and composer to reject
ancientpotteryasasourceofinspirationandfollowboththerepresentationalpaintingsof
Europeanartistsandthebooksofscholars.
The distinction between folk and art music was not a widely accepted notion. Many
composersfromtheIonianIslandsutilisedGreekfolkmusicalelementsinordertocompose
contemporaryartmusic.Thecondition,however,wasextremelydifferentinAthens.Yet,it
was exactly in this period that the situation began to change, although many biases
remained.ThefirstforerunnermanifestooftheGreekNationalSchoolofmusicstatedthese
entanglements and contradictions clearly.50 Gergios Lambelet (18751945), a composer
who,amongothermusicians,51servedforsomemonthsintheadministrativedepartmentof
Chrstomanoss Nea Skn troupe, declared in his first articles on music in the journal
Panathnaia in November 1901, his absolute hostility to anything foreign, anything that
comes from both the West and the East, even the Middle East and Asia Minor. He also
For such biases not only in Franz Liszt but also in Bla Bartk and Zoltn Kodly, see Grgors Sphaks,
Mpela Mpartok kai dmotiko tragoudi (Bla Bartk and the Folk Song) (Heraklion: Crete University Press,
1997),2930.
50
GergiosLampelet,ethnikmousik(NationalMusic),Panathnaia,3/26(1901),8290,and3/27(1901),
127131.
51
ForexamplethecomposersLaurentiosKamliers(18741958),whowastheGreekpressscorrespondent
for the Wagner Festspiele from Bayreuth, and Ianns Psaroudas (18711953), who composed music of
medieval style for the symbolist drama Phaia kai Nymphaia (Phaea and Nymphaea), that was staged by the
troupe.SeeVaniaPapanikolaou,symvoltsNeasSknsstnexelixtouneoellnikoutheatrou(TheRole
ofNeaSknintheEvolutionofModernGreekTheatre),Ph.D.diss.(UniversityofCrete,2011),415.
49
29
foundawaytoexpresshisoppositiontothemusicalchoicesofChrstomanos,withwhom
he had recently clashed, abandoning his Nea Skn troupe.52 Lambelet rejected both the
music of the Ionian Island composers even the one of the Greek National Anthem as
being Italianlike, and the folk urban Greek songs from Smyrna as being Turkish, limiting
Greekness in music to an extremely narrow field. In other words, one more crunch in the
useoftraditionalmusicwasthatGreekcomposersregardedastraditionalonlyasmallpart
ofsuchmusic.
This can sufficiently explain why Sakellaridis tried to refute the criticism that he had
composed a rebetiko dance, although we are able with some minor reservations to
acceptit.Inhisattemptatrevivingtheancientcomicdancecordaxunderthedirectionsof
ChrstomanosandDmtrakopoulositseemsthathewasveryclosetothezeibekiko,even
ifhedidnotadoptthe9/8metreandalthoughhewasdisapprovingofthiskindofmusic
throughouthislife.Thescoreisstillmissingbutinhisscrapbook,heldintheMuseumand
StudyCentreoftheGreekTheatreinAthens,someenthusiasticreviewsonthemusicofThe
Ecclesiazusaecanbefound,whichmakesusrealisethatinthemaelstromoftheconflictand
the attack from the two major newspapers, the real value of the musical score went
unnoticed. Reviews from abroad praise the young composer, who managed to write
incidentalmusicforancientdramacombiningelementsofWagnersmusicwithothersfrom
theGreektradition.53Testimoniestotheexistenceofsuchelementsinhismusichavealso
beensupportedbyGreeksources.54TheseinfluencesofWagnersworkappearedstronger
inanintermezzothattheorchestraperformedbeforethestartofthelastact,althoughitis
notsafetocometoconclusionsonsuchissueswithouthavingthescoreinhand.
Even though the combination of the abovementioned elements should proclaim
SakellaridisapioneerintheformationofaGreekNationalSchoolofmusic,hewasrather
neglected,asafter1908heconcentratedalmostexclusivelyonthecompositionofmusicfor
revues and the formation of the Greek operetta that became, also due to his activity,
extremely popular. A recent musical analysis of Vaphtistikos (The Godchild, 1918),55 his
most popular operetta, revealed that he injected this genre not only with inspiration and
talent,butalsowithsomebasicelementsoftheNationalSchoolofmusic(modalscalesfor
example), always interspersed with Wagnerian features (leitmotivs), still following the
recipe that he had launched in the music for The Ecclesiazusae. Despite the fact that the
representatives of the National School of music never considered him a valuable partner
and even vehemently attacked him later, his work on Aristophanes seems to be the first
incidentalmusiccomposedforancientdramainGreece,whichexploitsWagnerswork.
GergiosLampelet,magissa:melodramatikondokimioneismianpraxin.PoisiskaimousikD.Lauranka
(TheWitch:AOneactOperaticPiece.PoetryandMusicbyD.Lavrangas),Panathnaia,3/25(1901),2930.
53
SeeVossischeZeitung(Berlin),27August1904.
54
SeeEsperin,9August1904;Kratos,15August1904;Esperin,8September1904.
55
Thanass Trikoups, Theophrastou Sakellarid (18821950): Operetta Vaphtistikos. Dom kai poitiko
periechomeno(TheophrastosSakellarids(18821950):Vaphtistikos,Operetta.StructureandContent),paper
givenattheconferenceOpereta:Ochamenosthsaurostsellnikstechns(Operetta:TheLostTreasureof
GreekArt),Thessaloniki,3April2011.
52
30
The man who proved more consistent in his views on Greek music, despite constant
attacksfromthepress,wasChrstomanos.Itseemsthathewasfollowingthemovementof
theformationoftheGreekNationalSchoolofmusicevenafter1906,whenheretiredfrom
the Nea Skn troupe, financially ruined. We meet him among the sparse audience of
ManolisKalomirissfirstconcertattheAthensConservatoryinJune1908,aneventthatis
recognisedasthebirthoftheGreekNationalSchoolofmusic.
But who really cared about Chrstomanoss ideas on music, on monuments or on
settings? The fact is that, as early as in 1901, eight months after his manifesto in the
DionysusTheatre,whenhistroupehadstarteditsperformances,allofhissupportershad
abandonedhim.Theaudienceofthefirstperformanceswenttothetheatretoadmirethe
Europeancostumes,furnitureandsalonsthathechoseandplacedonstagewithgreatgrace
and style. They paid little attention to his musical perspective. They considered him a
foreigner so the peculiar way in which he used the music, the settings and finally the
choreographyinthestagingofGreekancientdramamadethemthinkthatthiswasagenre
he did not know how to stage. And as for the music, they did not want to hear anything
abouttheexistenceofavibrant,dynamic,rhythmicandmelodiousmusicsuchasrebetiko
andtheotherkindsofurbanfolkmusic.Twentyfouryearslater,IsadoraDuncansideason
choreography, ideas that he also adopted in The Ecclesiazusae, reached their peak: using
postures on ancient vases, Eva PalmerSikelianos (18741952), accompanied by her
husbandAngelosSikelianos(18841951),whohadbeenamemberofChrestomanossNea
Skn troupe in 1901, invented an impressive choreography for the staging of ancient
tragedy,duringthetwoDelphicFestivals(1927,1930).Fiveyearslater,thedirectorKarolos
Koun(19081987)wasledinstinctivelytoarecipeverysimilartoChrstomanossamalgam,
for the incidental music of Aristophanes plays he staged at the Athens College and Laik
Skn,excludingthentheWagnerianmusicalelements;thereceptionwasagainhostile.But
twentyfive years later, the same recipe proved ideal for the staging of Aristophanes
through the directions of Karolos Koun and Alexs Solomos (19182012) both by the
Theatro Technss troupe and by the Greek National Theatre, and it dominated Greek
theatreuntiltheendofthecentury.
31

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Chrstomanos himself referred to the monument in his manifesto, trying to relieve

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