Abstracts of issue 10-11 (1998)

Demetrios Lialios (1869-1940). A European Composer from Patras

Aim of the present publication is to make known to specialists the discovery of the precious archives of a practically unknown Greek composer, Demetrios Lialios, who studied at the Munich Conservatory under Prof. Ludwig Thuile (1861-1907). Between 1919-1920 and 1935 he served as Vice-Consul of Greece in Munich. He died on 13 March 1940. Research has shown that Lialios wrote over one hundred works and that he is the first modern Greek composer of chamber music (four string quartets, a piano trio),. Lialios also wrote what is essentially the first modern Greek symphony, which bears the spirit of the German nature loving Zeitgeist. He is also the composer of the first large scale choral work, the Requiem in B minor, entitled Missa pro Defunctis (1890).

We have here presenting:

1. Reviews of the composer’s works, performed in Athens in the 1910s, by three outstanding Greek figures: the “national” composers Manolis Kalomiris and Spyros Samaras, and the “national” poet Costis Palamas.
2. A list of his works found in his archives, which includes 22 orchestral compositions, 14 chamber music works, 22 works for various instruments, one opera, one Requiem, two Greek Orthodox Liturgies, 65 songs on Latin, German, Italian, English and French texts, and 5 piano works.

© Musicology