These texts were first published in the newspaper
Esperia in 1916. The first edition of this newspaper appeared in March 1916. Greek residents there published it in the Greek language. The texts of
Petridis are of great historical and ideological interest; they treat essential problems in the debate about the character of Greek music, the possibility of Greek art music, as well as its relation to Byzantine and Greek folk music. The debate about the correct art of the harmonization of Byzantine and folk music was in its zenith in Greece during the first decades of the century, the period of the foundation of the Greek National School.
A text by K. A. Psachos, a Professor at the Athenian Conservatory, is also included. This text expresses the ideological opposition against the composers of the National School and, generally, against the
“western
” methods of harmonization of monodical music.
Also included is the Byzantine church monody
“Ti Ypermáho Stratigó”, which was set in the Motet form by
P. Petridis, as an example of the harmonization of a Byzantine monody.