Dimitri Mitropoulos: Lonesome passage to modern music

Abstract

It is not widely known that Dimitri Mitropoulos first public appearances in Greece were as a composer. His early works (ca. 1912-1924), distinguished by the blend of elements of the late-romantic style with intensely impressionistic references, reflect the search for a personal, 'advanced' harmonic musical language. In his works written after 1924, Mitropoulos abandons tonality and adopts more modern idioms of composition (atonality and 12-tone method). He is the first Greek composer to follow the modern musical tendencies of Europe, when music by Manolis Kalomiris and the other composers of the Greek National School was dominant in Greece.

Keywords

• Dimitris Mitropoulos
• Nikos Skalkottas
• Ferrucio Busoni
• passagaglia
• intermezzo e fuga
• ostinata for violin and piano
• concerto grosso