Canto General at Irodou Attikou Theatre

I am reposting this from 2012, mainly because of my previous post where the Odeon of Herodes Atticus is mentioned, which you can see here, but also because I just felt like revisiting that wonderful evening.

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Great excitement. Had been building up for days.... And, as very rarely happens in life, the reality was beyond my expectations. A combination of: my favourite theatre, my favourite Greek composer and the powerful voice of Maria Farandouri. Bliss...

(photograph by Peter Wilson)

The Irodou Attikou theatre was built during the second century A.D., financed by Irodes Attikos in memory of his wife. It is a semi-circular theatre, comprising 3 levels of marble tiers with only 2 levels surviving today, a radius of 38m and can seat around 5000 people. It originally had a wooden roof, was partly destroyed during the third century A.D. and was restored in the 1950s.

Today the theatre is one of the many venues for the Athens Festival, a celebration of music, dance and theatre.

One of the album covers of Canto General

Mikis Theodorakis wrote the music to the poems of Pablo Neruda 40 years ago - Canto General has become the anthem of the dispossesed, the marginalised and the persecuted. It tells of the plight of the South American people, first the persecution of the indigenous populations by the conquistadors and then by the various dictators that have plagued the region.

The composer and the poet met in 1964 and then met again in 1970 in Paris when Theodorakis was in self-exile from the military junta in Greece. Neruda invited Theodorakis to go to Chile to see for himself  how grounded the people were under the Allende regime. Allende invited them to his house. One of the things he said to Theodorakis was: 'Things are going really well. There is only one problem left, that of the military. I am going to solve the problem with the help of General Pinochet whom I trust. He is my man'. It makes you want to cry....

Another cover, in French, so I wonder if it is the original one.

Theodorakis and Neruda arranged for the piece to be performed in Santiago in 1973, to be dedicated to the struggle of the Greek people against the fascist regime, but tragically and ironically, in September of that year Chile itself succumbed to a fascist takeover led by no other, than Pinochet.  Neruda died 12 days after the military takeover. The first performance of the work took place in Athens in 1975 in the Karaiskaki football stadium right after Greece had been liberated from the junta, and what a celebration that was!  I was there, nad it was one of the most memorable and happy occasions of my life.

From one junta to the next, the work has become a symbol of the struggles of peoples against oppression.

The theatre is right next to the Acropolis - a great pity about the necessary scaffolding.

We arrived one hour early, but so did most other people

going up the steps

and here we are

one more photograph with the Acropolis on the right

still in the 'foyer', people suddenly started clapping. Theodorakis, a very frail Theodorakis, had arrived - he is the one wearing the black shirt with his back to us

people starting to come in. By the time the concert started, all 5000 seats were taken

Theodorakis on his way to his seat, in the white jacket

being given a standing ovation

All set to begin now: at the back the 64 strong choir, the orchestra with its interesting  collection of percussion instruments and at the front Maria Farandouri in red

Theodorakis tends to use poems as lyrics for his music. He predominantly draws on Greek poets but also some international ones, Lorca being a favourite. Canto General is the only work that has not been translated but is sung in Spanish

Each poem was read out to us in translation and then the music would start

Maria Farandouri and Petros Pandis were the original singers when the album first came out 40 years ago - it was therefore very appropriate and touching that they should be the ones singing this time

A last look at the Acropolis on our way home.


This music is woven in the soul of every freedom-loving Greek. During the dark years of the military dictatorship it was the music of Theodorakis, sang by Maria Farandouri, or Maria Dimitriadi, (who unfortunately is no longer with us), and the rest of Theodorakis' singers that kept us going. We would go to secret 'boites'  and listen to the rousing, revolutionary songs, always apprehensive, always worried that the police, or even worse, the army would burst in. He wrote his best music during those years in Paris. Maria Farandouri was in Paris as well and they would record his latest work and then it would illegally reach us in Greece, would make the round, get copied, listened to and passed on. We lived on his message of perseverance and hope.

Circling the Acropolis

 

A short walk from where the bus drops us off, and we arrive at the Acropolis Museum - this is the old building

and this is the modern one.

It's a wide, tree-lined avenue, with the side of the museum on one side

 

and cafeterias and restaurants on the other

and it's usually busy.

We turn left onto Dionysou Aeropagitou, a pedestrianised avenue, and there's the Acropolis

I've never seen so many people queuing to get into the Acropolis. Athens is becoming a major tourist destination (we noticed this in the winter as well). It used to be that people came to Athens for a day on their way to the islands, but now they stay and sightsee. It's becoming too crowded and it's a worry for all of us.

A busker.

Opposite the Acropolis, the Museum

The entrance, and it does not look too busy

A better view from here

This is one of my favourite houses

We continue on our way

The Spanish Embassy

Some lovely houses around here

Much quieter now, very few people around

This building has a 

little church attached to it.

We arrive at the Odeon  of Herodes Atticus, a stone Roman theatre, built in 161 AD and renovated in 1950. It was a steep-sloped theatre with a three-story stone front wall and a wooden roof made of expensive cedar of Lebanon timber. It had 33 rows of marble seats in addition to scenery structures 28 metres high. It was used as a venue for music concerts with a capacity of 5,000 and was the largest of its time. It lasted intact until it was destroyed and left in ruins by the Heruli in AD 267.

The audience stands and the stage were restored using Pentelic marble in the 1950s.

Since then it has been the main venue for the Athens Festival which runs every summer. Maria Callas, Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Andrea Bocelli, Cold Play and of course, Mikis Theodorakis, are just a few of the people who have performed here.

I used to come here almost every week when I was a child. My father was an archaeologist and he used to get complimentary tickets for the best seats (second row). So my mother and I used to come all the time, to listen to classical music or to see ancient Greek tragedies. I have been here quite often as an adult. For the next post, I will re-post one of the performances I have been to.

A statue of Maria Callas opposite the steps that lead to the theatre

We continue on our way

and now we can get a view of both the Odeon and the Acropolis

A horse-drawn carriage for the tourists. We saw loads of those in Seville, but they are rare in Athens. I like the horse's hat.

On our left the Kallirroe Fountain. During the reign of the tyrant Peisistratos (6th BC) the growth of the city's population necessitated the construction of a well organised system of fresh water to supply the city's needs. An extremely complex water-providing net was opened, subterrainean to a great extent, divided into several branches, covering a distance of more than 9,000 metres. The fresh water was sourced from the Hymettus mountain and run through sealed clay pipes into the town.

On the Philopapou Hill on our left,  people at the top admiring the views. You can see the Acropolis on one side and the Saronic islands on the other: Aegina, Salamina, Agistri

and taking selfies.

Further down on our left, a glimpse of the Athens Observatory. I saw one of the most memorable exhibitions here at few years ago, The Theatre of Disappearance by Adrian Villar Rojas. You can see it here

On our left, an excavation site. Excavations here revealed a rock-cut, underground chamber, accessible through a door-shaped opening. Inside the chamber a relief was uncovered, chiselled directly on the bedrock, presenting Pan, a naked Nymph and a dog. The presence of this relief led to the identification of this monument as a sanctuary of Pan.

A bit further down, as we approach the built up area, on our left, Thission, the summer cinema

showing films that are decades apart - On the Waterfront, 1954, and the Odyssey, 1926

I love that top balcony

On our right,  we can now get good views of Lycabettus hill

looking closer

an imposing church and the Observatory next to it, seen on our left

looking closer at the Observatory

We have now entered Thission, and this bit of it is full of restaurants, bars and cafeterias,

The new street lights - quite impressive, I would like to see one at night

A lot of street sellers on this bit

a nice park on our left

We have now entered Adrianou Street, which is full of bars and restaurants many of which overlook the Acropolis

A Japanese restaurant - very unusual for Athens, and, particularly in this area

We turn left into a little side street as I want to look at a ceramics shop

typical of the area

a sandal making shop

I have a look at the ceramics

while Ken has a look at the old magazines and books

and then we retrace our steps, back on Adrianou

past Kuzina, one of our favourite restaurants, and the only one that Greek people favour along here

which has views of the Acropolis

A church on our left

The new entrance to the Ancient Agora on our right

The Stoa of Attalos, which was a stoa (covered walkway or portico) inside the Agora, and was built between 159 and 138 BC. The building was reconstructed in the middle 50s and currently houses the Museum of the Ancient Agora.

the Athens/Piraeus train that runs on the edge of the Ancient Agora

on our right, a long string of tavernas

with the odd house in between

On our right we can see Philopapou Hill again, and the people at the top - so, we have come full circle in our circling of the Acropolis

Adrianou gets much narrower here, with buildings on both sides

an ice-cream shop

at the end of Adrianou, the Roman Agora

Here we turn right, past the Museum of Modern Greek Culture

and quite a few tourist shops

another church

I always think it must be really nice sitting here - it looks so cool

and we have come to one of my favourite monuments in this area

Aerides, the Tower of the Winds, also known as the Orologio of Kyristos, is an octagonal Pendelic marble tower in the Roman Agora. It's named after the eight large reliefs of wind gods around its top. It was completed by about 50 BC. It's one of the very small number of buildings from classical antiquity that still stands virtually intact as it has been continuously occupied for a series of different functions.

Formerly topped by a wind vane, it is the only surviving horologium or clock tower from classical antiquity. It also housed a large waterclock and incorporated sundials placed prominently on its exterior faces - people were thus able by using this building to orient themselves in space and time. Architecture, sculpture and the new science were perfectly integrated. It was considered a marvel of technology.

There is so much more to say about this building, so I think that at some stage I will do a separate post on it.

Across the road from Aerides is this old door - I always wonder what it used to be. A church?

We continue on Lyssiou Street

these steps going up to the Acropolis cut across quite a few streets

and they are full of bars and tavernas, with just a narrow gap for people to go up and down

a neo-classical building 

with a statue on the balcony

the Melina Merkouri cafe

with lots more tables on the side street

This place is always full, and it looks so inviting - have not been here for years

We are right in the centre of Plaka now

Popularly known as the Lantern of Demosthenes or Lantern of Diogenes, the Choradig Monument of Lysicrates stands under the Acropolis. It's known as the first use of the Corinthian order on the exterior of a building.  

It has been reproduced widely in modern monuments across the world: the Burns' Monument on Carlton Hill in Edinburgh, on the towers of the North Kirk in Aberdeen,  St Giles Church in Elgin, the Huskisson Memorial st St James Cemetery in Liverpool, the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, the Merchants' Exchange in Philadelphia, to name only a few.

We reach the Arch of Hadrian, most commonly known as Hadrian's Gate, the monumental gateway that spanned an ancient road from the center of Athens, to the complex of structures that include the Temple of Olympian Zeus, which is right behind it.

We turn right on Amalias Avenue to get to the bus stop for our bus, and on our right is Dionysou Aeropagitou Avenue, where the Acropolis Museum is,  which is where we started from - we had come full circle, all around the Acropolis.