Yiannis Papaioannou

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Yiannis Papaioannou (Greek: Ιωάννης Παπαιωάννου) (1910-1989) was a Greek composer and teacher of the Modern Era. He studied piano with Marika Laspopoulou and composition with Alekos Kontis at the Hellenic Conservatory in, Athens (1922–34), as well as the piano and orchestration with Riadis in Thessaloniki (1928–9). In 1949, he visited the major European music centres on a UNESCOgrant and he become familiar with new compositional developments. In particular, in Paris he attended Arthur Honegger's class. Between 1951 and 1961 he taught music at an Athens high-School and from 1953 he was professor of counterpoint and composition at the Hellenic Conservatory. He was the first president of both the Greek section of the ISCM (1964–75) and the Hellenic Association for Contemporary Music (1965–75).

Papaioannou was the first musician to systematically teach atonal, 12-note and serial techniques before 1970. His students included Adamis, Antoniou, Aperghis, Kounadis and Tezzakis. His compositional career falls into three main phases: acknowledged: Early Impressionist (1932–8), National School (1939–43), Hindemithian neo-classicism combined with elements from Byzantine music (1944-1952), 12-note period (1953–1966) and the last period (1966-1989) in which he developed an entirely personal technique.

[edit] Works

  • Stage: Agnos (dramatic idyll, 1937); Sklavas lytrossi [Liberation of a Slave Woman] (choreographic tableau, 1945); Pirates (ballet, 1952); Himoniatiki fantasia [Winter Fantasy] (ballet, 1951); Antigone (ballet, 1965) etc.
  • Orchestral: 5 Symphonies.: 1946, 1947, 1953, 1963, 1964; Idhyllio [Idyll], 1938; O koursaros [The Corsair], 1939; Choreographic Prelude, 1940; 3 Piano Concertos, 1940, 1952, 1989; Poiema tou dhasous [Forest Poem], 1942; Vassilis Arvanitis, 1945; Triptych, str, 1947; Orthros ton psychon [Matin of Souls], 1947; Pygmalion, 1950; Hellas (P.B. Shelley), nar, orch, 1956; Images d’Asie, suite, 1961; India, suite, 1961; Meteorissi [Suspended in the Air], vc, orch, 1979 etc
  • Vocal: Dafnis ke Chloi (G. Drossinis), chorus, orch/pf, 1933; I kidheia tou Sarpidhonos [The Funeral of Sarpedon] (cant., C. Cavafy), 1966; O fotofraktis [The Aperture] (A. Embeirikos: Octana), 1982; Encomium (Kotsiras), 1984–5; I logosteméni psychi [The Exhausted Soul] (O. Votsi), 1986; 2 Songs (G. Byron), 1989 etc.
  • Chamber and Solo instrumental

Nocturno, 1935; Burlesca, 1936; I parlata tou Arlekinou (La parlata d’Arlecchino) [the Harlequin's Speech], tuba, 1971; Halkografia [Engraving], hn, pf, 1977; Dioyssiakon [Dionysiac], db, 1978; Erotiki exomologhissi tou Minotavrou [Love Confession of the Minotaur], tuba, pf, 1978; Aétoma, 1987; Caryatid, 1987; Sonata, 1988 etc

[edit] Sources

  1. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
  • B. Schiffer: ‘Neue griechische Musik’, Orbis musicae, i (1971–2), 193–201, esp. 198–9
  • G. Leotsakos: ‘Papaïoannou, Yannis Andréou’, Universal biographical dictionary, viii (Athens, 1988), 141–2
  • A.S. Theodoropoulou: ‘Contemporary Greek composers: 7. Yannis Papaioannou’, British-Greek Review, iii (1947), 213–4