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Biography
Theodorakis - Chronology (IX)
Music and Politics 1974-1988
by
Guy Wagner and Asteris Koutoulas
Based on Ole Wahl Olsen
Structure and pictures: Guy Wagner
1974
24.07. Theodorakis flies back to Greece and is given a hero's welcome in Athens.
01.08. Greece restores 1952 constitution.
10.10. First concert of Theodorakis in Greece after seven years.
08.11. Elections for a new parliament: Karamanlis gets the absolute majority. Theodorakis, who called for support for Karamanlis against a new dictatorship (»It's Karamanlis or the tanks«), is defeated.
08.12. Referendum: Greece votes to abolish monarchy and leaves the military organisation of NATO.
Concert at the Karaiskakis Stadium
in Athens
1975
Spring: Theodorakis starts a huge concert tour in Greece.
August-December: Trial of the authors of the coup d'Etat in 1967. The heads of the junta are sentenced to death. Odysseus Angelis commits suicide in jail.
1976
All seem forgotten: Theodorakis is victim of numerous attacks. But his own inverventions are also very harsh.
1977
Long concert tour in Europe by Theodorakis and his singers.
Summer:
Theodorakis rallies to Euro-socialism and organises a symposium in Crete
on: »Socialism and Culture«.
August: A Theodorakis Festival at the Lycabettos Hill
in Athens presents all the composer's great works from 1960 to 1977.
Premiere of »Margarita« and »Ta Lyrica«.
10.11. Parliamentary Elections. Andreas Papandreou's PASOK and KKE (Exterior Communist Party) are successful.
1978
Theodorakis suggests that the whole left rallies around KKE.
15.10. Theodorakis is independent candidate for KKE at the municipal elections in Athens. His score is 16 %.
1979
Odysseas Elytis wins the Nobel Prize for Literature. »Axion Esti « is hailed, and Theodorakis tours with the work.
1980
Theodorakis publishes a declaration of solidarity with the French Communist Party. He ends his relations with Euro-socialism.
Karamanlis is elected President of the Republic.
October: Theodorakis leaves Greece for voluntary exile in Paris, furious about a slanderous campaign against him.
1981
01.01. Greece becomes the 10th Member State of the European Community.
January: Theodorakis finishes »Canto General« (13 parts), and his 2nd and 3rd Symphonies.
End of March: The complete »Canto General« receives its first performance in GDR.
Spring: Concert tour with »Canto General«
May: François Mitterrand, the new President of France, invites Theodorakis to the ceremony of investiture.
Summer: »Canto General« is performed in Latin America (Cuba, Nicaragua) with thousands of singers.
18.10. PASOK wins the elections. Melina Mercouri and Theodorakis are elected. Melina Mercouri becomes Minister of Culture.
1982
05.02. First performance of the Concerto pour piano (1958) and the Second Symphony in the »Palast der Republik« in East Berlin. Soloist: Cyprien Katsaris.
29.04. First performance of the Third Symphony at the »Komische Oper« in East Berlin. Theodorakis, suffering from of old wounds inflicted in Makronissos, is confined to a wheel chair.
09.07. Mikis Theodorakis conducts the Piano Concerto and the Second Symphony at the Festival International Echternach Luxembourg.
After the performance: Theodorakis with
the filmmaker Charlotte Kerr
(the later Mrs. Dürrenmatt),
Ariel and Guy Wagner
(Photo Keith
Masson)
16.10. First performance of »Axion Esti« in German at the »Gewandhaus« in Leipzig.
1983
23.02. First performance of the »Passion of the Sadduceans« at the »Metropol-Theater«, East Berlin; conductor: Hans-Peter Frank.
Theodorakis is awarded the Lenin Prize for Peace 1983.
April: »Thalassa Mare Nostrum« and »Seven Greek Dances«, two ballets by Maurice Béjart, include songs by Theodorakis.
21.05. First performance of the »Liturgy No.2« by the Dresdner Kreuzchor, conducted by Martin Flämig.
1984
19.05. First performance of the Seventh Symphony (»Spring Symphony«) during the Music Festival of Dresden. Yannis Ritsos and Mikis Theodorakis attend the performance.
Ritsos in Dresden with Peter Zacher,
who made possible the Theodorakis performances
in GDR. Photo Guy Wagner
1985
29.03. Christos Sartzetakis, the »little judge« who sentenced the murderers of Lambrakis to jail, becomes the new President of the Hellenic Republic.
02.06. Parliamentary elections. PASOK keeps the absolute majority.
29.07. 60th birthday of the composer. In Eleusis, Dmitri Kitaenko conducts his Spring Symphony.
1986
Theodorakis distances himself from the KKE.
1987
With Turkish composer and singer Zülfü Livaneli, Theodorakis initiates the Greek-Turkish Friendship Association and publishes the first volume of his autobiography: »The Ways of the Archangel«.
03.05. First performance of the Fourth Symphony, »Choral Odes«, in Athens. Loukas Karytinos conducts.
1988
30.01. First Summit meeting since 1978 between a Greek and a Turkish Prime Minister. Andreas Papandreou and Turgut Özal shake hands in Davos. Theodorakis has negotiated this encounter.
06.08. First performance of the ballet »Zorba il Greco«, in the Arena of Verona. Choreography by Lorca Massine, Mikis Theodorakis conducting: The ballet is a tremendous success. Since the premiere, it has been performed more than six hundred times all over the world.
07.11. The banker Yorgos Koskotas causes an enormous financial and political scandal. He flees and makes revelations, which centre on the government and especially the Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou.
© Guy Wagner & Asteris Koutoulas, 1996-2002. All pictures © FILIKI & Mikis Theodorakis