Four short (hi)stories of a 19th century Greek-European musical interaction, and the cultural outcomes thereof

Abstract

The thesis investigates the impact of western art music (‘classical’) upon the construction of Greek-European identity in the 19th century. Through the examination of institutions such as the Theatre of Athens that hosted the Italian opera for the better part of the 19th century, the Conservatory of Athens (1873), the Conservatory of Thessaloniki (1914), various 19th century literary societies, press content, scores, publications on music, and state regulations on education, the thesis utilizes both musical, as well as extra-musical material to construct a cultural and social history of Greece’s understanding of the ‘European’ in relation to local Greek society through music between 1840 and 1914. At the same time, it highlights the importance of transnational institutional and interpersonal musical networks between Greece and Europe (mainly England, France, and Germany), to demonstrate how political and aesthetic preferences influenced long-term policy, cultural practice, and musical tradition. While examining the 19th century diplomatic, political, and cultural practices of the expanding 19th century Greek Kingdom, the thesis traces the development of western musical taste and practice in Balkan Greece in relation to the local modernizing society. It highlights the importance of local and European artistic agents and networks, identifies the tension between the projection of European identity and raw acoustic divergence, argues for about the contribution of music to the construction of Greek-European identity, and examines the cultural and political negotiations about the conflicting relationship between Byzantine-Hellenic-European-Modern Greek, as expressed through music and debates on music. The last part of the thesis assembles the 19th century material to explain the relationship between nationalism and musical practice at the turn of the 20th century, and as such the long-term influence of western art music upon the construction of Greek-European national identity.