Nikolaos Chalikiopoulos Mantzaros (, ; , 26 October 1795 – 12 April 1872) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

- Italian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

born in

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

, major representative and founder of the so-called Ionian School of music (Επτανησιακή Σχολή).

Biography

Mantzaros was of noble Greco-Italian descent, coming from one of the most important and wealthy Venetian families of the " Libro d'Oro" di

and therefore he never considered himself a "professional composer", teaching the youth of Corfu without profit. His father was Iakovos Chalikiopoulos Mantzaros and his mother Regina Turini, from

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see names in other languages) is one of the four historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of the Adriatic Sea, str ...

. Recent research and performances have led to a re-evaluation of Mantzaros as a significant composer and music theorist.

Debut in Corfu

He was taught music in his native city by the brothers Stefano (pianoforte) and Gerolamo Pojago (violin), Stefano Moretti from

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic ...

(music theory) and ''cavalliere'' Barbati, possibly a Neapolitan (music theory and composition). Mantzaros presented his first compositions (three concert or substitute arias and the one-act ''azione comica'' ''Don Crepuscolo'') in 1815 in the theatre of San Giacomo of Corfu.

Relationship to Italy

From 1819 onwards he was regularly visiting Italy (

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different na ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

), where, among others, he met the veteran

Neapolitan Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to: Geography and history * Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city * Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and Hig ...

composer Niccolo Antonio Zingarelli.

Work

His compositions include

incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as t ...

, vocal works in Italian and

demotic Greek Demotic Greek or Dimotiki ( el, Δημοτική Γλώσσα, , , ) is the standard spoken language of Greece in modern times and, since the resolution of the Greek language question in 1976, the official language of Greece. "Demotic Greek" ( ...

sacred music Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as ritual. Relig ...

for the Catholic Rite (three masses ossibly 1819, 1825, and possibly 1835 a ''

Te Deum The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Ch ...

'' 830 and the

Orthodox Church Orthodox Church may refer to: * Eastern Orthodox Church * Oriental Orthodox Churches * Orthodox Presbyterian Church * Orthodox Presbyterian Church of New Zealand * State church of the Roman Empire * True Orthodox church See also * Orthodox (d ...

(notably, a complete mass based on the septinsular

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, ...

traditional

chant A chant (from French ', from Latin ', "to sing") is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of n ...

ing 834, band music, instrumental music (24 piano ''sinfonie'', some of them also for orchestra) etc. Mantzaros also composed the music for the first concert

aria In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...

in Greek in 1827, the ''Aria Greca''. Mantzaros was an important

music theorist Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the " rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation ( ...

, contrapuntist and teacher. From 1841 and until his death he was the Artistic Director of the

Philharmonic Society of Corfu The Philharmonic Society of Corfu ( el, Φιλαρμονική Εταιρεία Κερκύρας, ''Philharmonice Ɛtaerɛia Cɛrcyras'', ), or ''Old Philharmonic'' (Παλαιά Φιλαρμονική) -to be distinguished from the other 17 bands ...

Greek national anthem

His most popular composition remains the musical setting for the poem of Dionysios Solomos' ''Ýmnos eis tīn Eleutherían'' (

Hymn to Liberty The "Hymn to Liberty", or "Hymn to Freedom" ( el, Ὕμνος εἰς τὴν Ἐλευθερίαν, also ), is a poem written by Dionysios Solomos in 1823 that consists of 158 stanzas and is used as the national anthem of Greece and Cyprus. ...

), which Mantzaros added to Solomos' poem in 1828. The first and second stanzas were adopted initially in 1864 as the Royal Anthem of Greece and on 28 June 1865 as the Greek

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...

. However, recent research and performances have proved that Mantzaros had broader activities as a significant composer and music theorist, which go beyond the established perception of him as the mere composer of the National Anthem.

Recordings

* ''Mantzaros-Solomos: The Hymn to the Liberty'' (Lyra, CD0064, 1991) * ''Music of the Ionian School. N.Mantzaros, N.Lambelet, P.Carrer'' (Motivo, NM1049, 1996). The 'Nikolaos Mantzaros Chamber Music Ensemble' performing arrangements from piano Sinfonias by Mantzaros. * ''Nikolaos Halikiopoulos Mantzaros (1795-1872): Early Works for voice and orchestra (1815-1827)'' (Ionian University / Music Department, IUP005, 2005) * ''Don Crepuscolo'' performed by Christophoros Stamboglis,

George Petrou George Petrou ( el, Γιώργος Πέτρου) is a Greek conductor, pianist and stage-director. Biography George Petrou was born in Greece. He studied at the Athens Conservatoire, the Royal College and the Royal Academy of Music in London. He ...

and Armonia Atenea (Athens Camerata) in the CD Georg Friedrich Haendel, ''Alessando Severo'' / Niccolo Manzaro, ''Don Crepuscolo'' (MDG, LC06768, 2011) * Niccolo Calichiopulo Manzaro - Fedele Fenaroli, ''Partimenti for String Instruments'' performed by Ionian String Quartet (Irida Classics 009, 2011)

References

External links

* * * *Kostas Kardami
"From popular to esoteric: Nikolaos Mantzaros and the development of his career as composer"
''Nineteenth-Century Music Review'' 8 (2011) from ''Cambridge Journals Online'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Mantzaros, Nikolaos 1795 births 1872 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century male musicians Greek classical composers Greek classical musicians Greek opera composers Ionian School (music) Musicians from Corfu National anthem writers 19th-century Greek musicians