Christ, Janis

Born (according to different sources) in Cairo , Alexandria or Nicosia in the family of Eleutherios Christou, a Greek industrialist and chocolate maker, and a Cypriot woman, Lilika Tavernari. He studied at the English School of Alexandria , where he took the first piano lessons.

In 1948, he received a master’s degree in philosophy after studying under the guidance of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Bertrand Russell in Cambridge .

At the same time, he studied music under the direction of Austrian composer Hans Redlich , and from 1949 he was engaged in instrumentation in Rome under the direction of Italian composer .

In 1951 he returned to Alexandria , in which in 1961 he married Theresia Horemi.

In 1969 he organized the International Festival of Contemporary Music in Chios .

He died at 44 in a car accident in Athens .

The musical style of Janis Christo changed throughout his career, gradually evolving from moderate modernism with elements of tonality (for example, in the First Symphony, 1949-1950) to atonal thinking (for example, Toccata for piano and orchestra, 1962). Most of the later works develop the theme of archaic sacral cults, use elements of performance and instrumental theater (the destruction of the violin in Misterion, 1965—1966), unconventional techniques of playing musical instruments, acting recitations, voice effects on the verge of outrageous and kitsch - everything to create the atmosphere of magical ritualized action.

• Symphony No. 1 (1949-50)
• symphony number 2 (1957-58)
• Symphony No. 3 (1962)
• “Phoenix Music” for orchestra (1949)
• "Latin Liturgy" ("Latin Liturgy") (1953)
• “Six Songs to TS Eliot” for mezzo-soprano with piano (1955) or orchestra (1957)
• opera oratorio "Gilgamesh" (1958)
• Toccata for Piano and Orchestra (1962)
• music to the tragedy “Chained Prometheus” by Aeschylus (1963)
• “Flames (oratorio of Pentecost)” (“Tongues of Fire (a Pentecost oratorio)”) (1964)
• "Persians" ("Persians"), music to the drama Aeschylus (1965)
• “Agamemnon” (“Agamemnon”) (1965)
• "Enantiodromia" (1965-68)
• music to the comedy “Frogs” by Aristophanes (1966)
• “Mysterion” for orchestra, tape, chorus and soloists (1965-66)
• Praxis for 12 for 11 strings and pianist managing them (1966)
• Anaparastasis I (The baritone) (1968)
• Anaparastasis III (The pianist) (1968)
• music to the tragedy “King Oedipus” by Sophocles / Oedipus Rex (1969)
• opera Oresteia (Oresteia, unfinished) (1967-70)

• Music Encyclopedic Dictionary / Ch. ed. G. V. Keldysh. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1990. - p. 606 - ISBN 5-85270-033-9
• Papaioannou IG, Janis Christou and the metaphysics of music. L., 1971.
• Angermann, Klaus (ed.). 1994. Jani Christou, im Dunkeln singen: Symposion Jani Christou, Hamburg, 1993. Symposionsberichte des Musikfestes Hamburg. Hofheim: Wolke, 1994. ISBN 3-923997-58-2 .
• Leotsakos, George. 2001. “Christou, Jani.” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
• Lucciano, Anna-Martine. 1987. Γιάννης Χρήσου - γργο και ροσωπικότητα ε ός λ λ λ λ translated translated translated translated translated translated translated translated translated translated translated translated translated translated translated translated translated translated translated translated translated translated translated translated Athens: Vivliosynergatike.
• Lucciano, Anna-Martine. 2000. Jani Christou: The Works of the Greek Composer , translated into English by Catherine Dale. Contemporary Music Studies 18. Australia and Amsterdam: Harwood Academic. New York and London: Routledge. ISBN 9057021587 .
• Slonimsky, Nicolas. 1965. “New Music in Greece”. Musical Quarterly 51: 225-35.

• Jani Christou Website
• A jani christou knol
• Christ, Janis (English) on the website AllMusic (I)
• Christ, Janis (eng.) On the site AllMusic (II)