Abstract |
This dissertation maps the female characters in the lyrics and poems of Nikos Gatsos and Manos Chadjidakis which were set to music by the latter. It comprises of two parts: in the first, a record of the main cultural events (theater, cinema, dance, discography) is presented where the two protagonists create songs; their biographical notes are provided, and points of convergence between them are established. In the second part, the heroines of the songs are analyzed in chronological order, divided into three periods: the first period starts from 1943, the year Amorgos was written, until 1965, when the first cycle of songs (Mythology) is released; the second period corresponds to Chadjidakis’s residency in New York from 1966 to 1971; and the third period starts in 1972, with the release of the emblematic album Magnus Eroticus, and ends in 1994, the year of Chadjidakis’s death. The characteristics of the central female subjects of their songs seem to have a spiral evolution; it appears that the two creators enrich the later female forms by utilizing the heroines of the first years of their songwriting. Until the end of the 60's, when the model of the surrealists was prevalent, the figures of the woman-child, the woman-flower and the woman-star dominate. In the 70's, in Gatsos's writing, the motif of the woman-partner makes its appearance, and in the 80's, this motif is reintroduced in Chadjidakis’s writing, the mother-earth, a dark female divine being, who is waiting to offer rest, in her embrace, to those mortals who are approaching death. During the same period, in Chadjidakis’s lyrics, the presence of the rebellious woman is strong. The close and stable collaboration between Gatsos and Chadjidakis, which lasted almost half a century, imprints upon the female subjects their mutual understanding with regards to the creation of a myth, which is drawn from the ancient and modern Greek tradition, from the transformation of the ancient Greek myth into modern artistic creations, and from personal experience and history. The influence the one exerts on the other is manifested on the level of idea and speech, so that these intersecting writings create a sense of dialogue between the heroines.
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