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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.
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