The national element in lonian opera. The case of Pavlos Carrer

Abstract

DURING ΤΗΕ 19th century, exoticism and folklorism, two aesthetic tendencies which originated in the common ground of nationalism, enjoy pan-european appeal. Especially in the field of music, folklorism was connected to the romantic discovery of elements of "national spirit" in the folk tunes of the country, while exoticism prepared the ground for the constitution of national schools of music in Europe.
The first national school of music in Greece was developed outside the borders of the Modern Greek State, by the western-bred musicians of the Ionian Islands. Pavlos Carrer of Zakynthos, one of the mainstays of the Ionian school of music of the 19th c., is in essence the first Greek music composer to put forward a complete collection of vocal works with national subjects, Greek-language libretti and yrics and melodies inspired by the folk, as well as the urban popular tradition of Greece.
This article examines the double function of the national element in two Greek-inspired operas by Carrer, Marco Botzaris and Kyra Frossini. Ιn these two works, the composer, through his manipulation of language and music, exploits folklorism and exoticism in order to inaugurate his musical "system", to advertise his nationalistic expressive pursuits and to create a national imagery of sound and scenery.