By Kalliopi Stiga

Musician, poet, composer of melodies, songs, and symphonies, fighter, thinker, humanist, universalist — over the years, many words have been used to describe the most enthusiastically creative personality in contemporary Greece, the late composer, politician, and academician Mikis Theodorakis. Far from being contradictory, these words complement each other, as music and politics were two sides of the same coin in his life. Songs and symphonies, melodies and humanist ideals coexist in his music and political writings; Greekness and ecumenism converge and converse.

The poet and writer

From poetry to political and philosophical essays, from his autobiography to musical analyses, Theodorakis expressed versatility and dynamism in his writing. While his poetry and his autobiography, Οι δρόμοι του αρχάγγελου (The Roads of the Archangel), are clearly literary, his other texts fall into two broad categories: texts on music and culture, and texts on politics and philosophy.

In the first category: Μουσική για τις μάζες (Music for the Masses, 1972), Ανατομία της μουσικής (Anatomy of Music, 1983), Music and Theater (1983), Για την ελληνική μουσική (For Greek Music, 1986), Μελοποιημένη Ποίηση (Poetry Set to Music, three volumes, 1997-1999), and “Πού να βρω την ψυχή μου…”: Μουσική, Τέχνη και Πολιτισμός (“Where Can I Find My Soul?”: Music, Art and Civilization, Ideology, 2002).

The second category: Το χρέος (The Debt, 1974), Περί Τέχνης (On Art, 1976), Δημοκρατική και συγκεντρωτική αριστερά (The Democratic and Centralized Left, 1976), Οι μνηστήρες της Πηνελόπης (Penelope’s Suitors, 1976), Για μια κυβέρνηση εθνικής συνεργασίας (For a Government of National Cooperation, 1977-1978), Η αλλαγή: Προβλήματα ενότητας της Αριστεράς (Change: Problems of Unity of the Left, 1978), Μαχόμενη Κουλτούρα (Fighting Culture, 1982), Star System (1984), Στοιχεία για μια νέα πολιτική (Elements for a New Policy, 1986), Αντιμανιφέστο (Counter-Manifesto, 1989), Πού πάμε (Where Are We Going?), “Πού να βρω την ψυχή μου…”: Ιδεολογία (“Where Can I Find My Soul?”: Ideology, 2003), Το Μανιφέστο των Λαμπράκηδων (The Lambrakis Youth Manifesto, 2003), and Σπίθα για μια Ελλάδα ανεξάρτητη και δυνατή (Spark for an Independent and Strong Greece, 2011).

Among these works, Μουσική για τις μάζες, Ανατομία της μουσικής, Μελοποιημένη Ποίηση, Το χρέος, the “Πού να βρω την ψυχή μου…” trilogy, and Σπίθα για μια Ελλάδα ανεξάρτητη και δυνατή are particularly useful for understanding Theodorakis’s artistic output and his worldview. But his masterpiece is undoubtedly Οι δρόμοι του αρχάγγελου, a monumental work in five volumes, written and published between 1986 and 1995. It presents Theodorakis’s memories as a combatant and his experiences as an artist. He refers to specific events and important periods in contemporary Greek history, thus evoking the story of his own life, which is entwined with the history of twentieth-century Greece.

Poetry and music

Theodorakis’s adventure with words began in his teens; his first collection of poems, ΣΙΑΟ, was published in 1939, under the pseudonym Ντίνος Μάης (Dinos Mais). With poems from this period, “the poet vividly drew the youthful soul, restless and pure”:¹

I feel a flame inside me
that consumes me and saves me!
I feel wings opening inside me
and lifting me
far above the lands of an inaudible Harmony,
and an invisible Beauty!²

While he expressed his thoughts, sorrows, joys, and worries in poetry throughout his life, Theodorakis was also an avid reader of the poetry of others, as many of his works testify, including this passage from Οι δρόμοι του αρχάγγελου:

From the beginning of my interest in music, all I did was set the poems I liked to read and recite. I’ll let those who wish to laugh, but I’ll say it again: when I read a poem, sometimes “I listen” and sometimes “I don’t listen” to its music. I love Cavafy’s poetry, but I’ve never heard the slightest melodic sound in the emotional-psychic-spiritual upheaval that reading it provokes in me.³

For his musical settings, Theodorakis chose poems for their originality and for the feelings they could stir in the soul of the people. For this reason, he turned to poets, Greek or foreign, who express “Greekness” in all its forms: grandeur, decadence, freedom, faith, passion, the beauty of nature, and love.

However, when he felt the need — especially during the difficult periods of his arrest, imprisonment, and exile — he became an author again, producing such poetic works as Ο Ήλιος και ο Χρόνος (The Sun and Time, 1967), Τα τραγούδια του Ανδρέα (Andreas’s Songs, 1968), Αρκαδία Ι (Arcadia I, 1968), Αρκαδία VI (Arcadia VI, 1969), and Αρκαδία X (Arcadia X, 1969). Evoking the conditions under which the collection Ο Ήλιος και ο Χρόνος was born, he explains in Το χρέος: “I’m not a poet, but when the verses began to hammer at my mind, I felt how much words could clothe themselves in blood; how much they could deliver me.”⁴

The thinker: Ecumenism and harmony

From his experience of war in the 1940s, Theodorakis became convinced that spiritual liberation and political rebirth require long struggle and enormous sacrifice. Thus, he revised his own ideology: he saw Christianity as an inevitable sacrifice, adopted the ideas of Marxism and dreamed of a utopian humanism that would save and unite not only Greeks, but all humanity through the beauty created by art.⁵ He writes in “Πού να βρω την ψυχή μου…”: Τέχνη και Πολιτισμός:

I think what I kept from Christianity is the message of love, which was quickly overturned by my encounter with Marxism, which demanded struggles based on hatred between social classes. There was a huge inner battle between the two theories, which were shaking us up at the time.

Fortunately for me, a third path, or rather a first, entirely personal path, the path of “Universal Harmony,” was revealed to me. The “Law of Universal Harmony” was above love and hate because it functioned as a necessity, if, of course, we wanted to be worthy of the life offered. So, for me, the world of Christianity focused on the message of love, whereas the world of Marxism crystallized the idea of social justice.⁶

This “cosmo-theory,” which he called the “theory of Universal Harmony,” has two postulates: Love and Justice are the essential elements of universal harmony, and God is the “ideal center” from whom the laws of Nature and Music spring.⁷

Theodorakis added:

All parts of Pan — the Great Whole — make up a giant crystallized harmony, while they swirl around the sacred Center of the Cosmos. Man is fulfilled when he identifies with this Center. But it is not so much his body, curiously enough, as his mind that handicaps him. His mind is a “devastated universe.” For the breath of disorder, confusion, and chaos has paralyzed and necrotized it. So that the mind continually describes irregular figures, curves, and never straight lines. Yet the “Sacred Center” calls to us. It attracts us like an immense magnet. When we have attained self-knowledge, we feel the irresistible attraction.⁸

Theodorakis embraced the conviction of the eminent modern Greek poet Kostis Palamas (whose texts had a profound influence on him) that “the rhythm of poetry — the rhythmic stride — symbolizes the rhythm that governs the Universe.” To this idea, he added the concept of Harmony, the rhythmic harmony we see in the movement of the stars when we gaze at the celestial vault.

Without knowing either Pythagoras’ theory or the later theories of his followers, Theodorakis concluded:

Music, spread like light, is the sonic expression of Universal Harmony . . . and can lead us to the Law of Objective Truth that governs our path through timeless Time. . . . It can unite us with the Center of Universal Harmony, that is, it can contribute to our attaining the highest degree of human happiness, serenity, and fulfillment.⁹

How will this happen? Theodorakis believed that

“Art is the only force that can transmit to us the Law that determines the Harmony of the Universe. Which can transform each of us into tiny solar systems and, in general, star systems. So that each of us is “in tune” with the Universe surrounding us. So that our inner harmony is in tune with the Universal Harmony. And so that we become living molecules of a single Harmony.¹⁰

Put differently,

Art, thanks to the harmonic laws that generate it, can, by guiding people’s minds and souls, make them move in exactly the same way as it. In other words, it can transport the Law that creates it into Man. But this Law is none other than the Law of the Universe, of total Creation. As a result, the initiate identifies with Universal Harmony. He lives!¹¹

The composer: From the conquest of an individual style to social commitment

Theodorakis grew up listening to traditional Greek music (Byzantine and demotic) and the popular music rebetiko, which he first heard during his exile in Ikaria. The two musical genres were essential sources of inspiration, complemented by his advanced musical studies at the Athens and Paris conservatories.

Before his departure for France, he presented some of his compositions to Greek audiences, notably Πέντε Κρητικά τραγούδια (Five Cretan Songs) and Συρτός Χανιώτικος (A Song from Hania). But it was through the premiere of Το Πανηγύρι της Ασή-Γωνιάς (The Festival of Assi-Gonia), with his teacher Philoktitis Oikonomidis conducting, that he was recognized as a “truly talented young composer” by the founder of the Greek national school Manolis Kalomoiris (in an article in Έθνος, 12 May 1950). Around this time, he also began collaborating with Chorodrame, Greece’s first contemporary dance company, founded by Rallou Manou in 1952, and gradually became familiar with ballet music.

Theodorakis’s time in Europe, 1954-1960, was characterized by intense activity as he tried to discover his “personal system”¹² of composition. He studied both Greek folk music and the latest trends in contemporary music, then virtually unknown in Greece. He composed without respite: song cycles, such as Ο Κύκλος (The Circle), Les Quatre Éluard, and Les Six Éluard; symphonic works, such as Concerto for Piano, Suite No. 2, Suite No. 3: The Mother, and Suite No. 4¹³; film scores, ballet music, and so on. His First Symphony¹⁴ — which reflects the tragedy of the Greek Civil War — is his most important work of the period; it was premiered in 1955 by the Athens State Orchestra, conducted by Andreas Paridis.

After the success of the orchestral works Theodorakis composed for Michael Powell’s films, Ill Met by Moonlight (1957) and Honeymoon (1958), he was offered an exclusive contract as a film composer in Hollywood. The melody of “Honeymoon Song,” which plays during the film’s opening credits, became an international hit when English lyrics were added to it and the Beatles performed it. The Spanish version, “Luna de miel,” was popular in Latin America and was even broadcast on Cuban state radio’s first program. Because of the song’s popularity, Theodorakis was welcomed to Cuba by Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara in 1962.

Theodorakis’s main passion, however, was dance. He composed for ballets by Ludmilla Tchérina for Covent Garden (with the Royal Ballet) and Stuttgart. The 1959 Covent Garden production of Antigone (with Svetlana Beriosova, Leslie Edwards, and Rudolf Nureyev) was a huge success, with over a hundred performances, and entered the repertoire of the Stuttgart Ballet in 1961.

Despite these accomplishments, Theodorakis remained dissatisfied and began to question the role of art and its relationship with society. When he heard Yannis Ritsos’s poem Επιτάφιος (Epitaph) recited in 1958, he felt as if he had been suddenly freed from exile. It seemed evident that the poem should be set to music, which Theodorakis did immediately — it was a revelation for him. The impact of the work on the public made him realize that he no longer wanted to create music for an “elite” or consider himself part of a musical elite. Inspired by the idea that an artist should be the most sensitive seismograph of their time, a concept he drew from Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis, Theodorakis dreamed of creating “music without frontiers.” He envisioned music that could resonate with both the elite and the masses, appealing to the solitary individual as well as the crowd — music that could be both “the murmur of the hermit and the clamor of men.”¹⁵

Theodorakis returned to Greece in the early 1960s, influenced by the idealism of Dionysios Solomos and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, as well as Marxist-Leninist ideology and the model of the Soviet cultural revolution. He became the head of the “politico-cultural renaissance movement” and set about creating “music for the masses,” where the term “masses” referred not to a disorderly crowd, but to an educated and engaged populace.¹⁶ As an artist, Theodorakis aimed to reach “the living, educated, concerned, responsible citizen,” rather than a small group of so-called initiates who consider themselves better than others.¹⁷

He sought to revive the ancient idea of “the union of the poet, the composer, and the people.”¹⁸ Theodorakis’s work was dedicated to advancing great humanist ideals such as world peace, democracy, and collaboration.

The “popular art song,” music for the masses

“Music for the masses,” which Theodorakis believed could contribute to “the education of the people . . . and consequently to their liberation,” emerged from the fusion of traditional and popular Greek music with contemporary Greek poetry.¹⁹ Starting with songs was a deliberate pedagogical strategy by Theodorakis. He aimed to gradually familiarize people with the concept of musical form, moving from simple, isolated songs to more complex structures such as song cycles, contemporary popular musical tragedies (inspired by Bertolt Brecht), popular oratorios, and chanson-fleuve, which he defined as “metasymphonic music.”²⁰ These forms of popular art song were intended to be shared with the public through a new medium, the popular concert, which Theodorakis modeled after the ancient Eleusinian mysteries.²¹

Theodorakis’s melodies clearly show the influence of Greek folk and traditional music, as well as his classical training. But he aimed to create authentic melodies, which led him to experiment with new sound combinations, such as by combining traditional folk instruments with those of the symphony orchestra. For example, he was the first to include the santouri in a symphony orchestra in his popular oratorio Άξιον Εστί (Axion Esti). In his popular musical tragedy Το τραγούδι του νεκρού αδελφού (The Ballad of the Dead Brother), he added the violin, cello, trumpet, and trombone to a folk music ensemble.

Through his “popular art song movement,” Theodorakis brought the poetry of figures like Angelos Sikelianos, Yannis Ritsos, Odysseus Elytis, Paul Éluard, and Léopold Sédar Senghor — previously appreciated by only a select few — to a wider audience. His songs, many of which have reached beyond Greece’s borders, have become deeply embedded in the collective memory, often accompanying periods of protest in Greece and elsewhere.

However, this powerful movement came to a sudden stop in 1967 because of the military coup and the dictatorship that followed. Theodorakis responded by resisting through his words and music, even during his imprisonment and exile. After his release, he took refuge in France, where he continued to condemn the regime and organized protest concerts across the world. During this period, he composed works like Νύχτα του θανάτου (Night of Death, 1968), Τα τραγούδια του Αγώνα (The Songs of the Struggle, 1967-1969), 18 λιανοτράγουδα της πικρής πατρίδας (18 Songs of the Bitter Fatherland, 1972), and the period’s masterpiece, Canto General (1972), inspired by Pablo Neruda’s poetry.

After the dictatorship fell, despite the success of his erudite-popular works, the “music for the masses” movement gradually lost momentum. Disappointed, Theodorakis returned to Paris in the early 1980s and shifted his focus to symphonic music. This change was liberating for him, like a return to himself. Notable works from this period include Symphony No. 3, Symphony No. 7 (“Spring Symphony”), Κατά Σαδδουκαίων (The Passion of the Sadducees), Symphony No. 4: Of Choirs, Requiem, the operas Κώστας Καρυωτάκης (Kostas Karyotakis), the Μήδεια (Medea)-Ηλέκτρα (Electra)-Αντιγόνη (Antigone) trilogy, and his final opera Λυσιστράτη (Lysistrata, 2004). Based on the play by Aristophanes, Lysistrata is anti-militaristic, reflecting Theodorakis’s reaction to the multiple wars that were occurring around the world at the time; it served as his final appeal for peace and solidarity.

The politician, the political musician

Theodorakis’s political awareness, first as a member of the resistance and then as a Communist, exuded an intensity and precociousness that influenced more than his music. He took part in public affairs not only as a citizen, but also as an elected representative and political leader: he was a member of parliament from 1981 until his resignation in 1986, then from 1989 until his resignation in 1992; and minister of state without portfolio from 1990 until his resignation in 1992. Other political commitments punctuated his career: he founded the Movement for Civilization and Peace in 1976; helped organize the Civilization and Socialism congress (Crete, 1977), attended by a number of foreign personalities including François Mitterrand, Roger Garaudy, and Jacques Attali; held concerts to protest the unreasonable use of nuclear energy (in 1986, after Chernobyl); organized peace congresses in Tübingen and Cologne (1988), involving politicians (Oskar Lafontaine, Johannes Rau), writers (Friedrich Dürrenmatt), and artists; embarked on European concert tours under the auspices of Amnesty International (1990) and Eurosolar (in favor of solar energy); and held demonstrations against illiteracy and drugs.

Theodorakis also worked toward dialogue with Turkey. He initiated Greek–Turkish friendship commissions with the participation of such important figures as Aziz Nesin and Yaşar Kemal (1986). He held concerts in Turkey with the composer Zülfü Livaneli, who performed Turkish translations of Theodorakis’s songs. Later, he was the unofficial ambassador to the Turkish government of the successive Greek prime ministers Andreas Papandreou and Konstantinos Mitsotakis. As a minister, he made official visits to Turkey and Albania to defend the rights of the Greek minorities there. As president of an international commission in Paris, he fought against the imprisonment of members of the Turkish opposition, Haydar Kutlu and Nihat Sargin, whose release he obtained.

During his tour of the United States and Canada in 1994, aimed at strengthening cultural centers for Greeks abroad, the US Senate received Theodorakis and paid tribute to his cultural contributions and his human rights work.

In February 1999, he supported Abdullah Öcalan and the Kurdish cause. A month later, he was one of the first to denounce the Kosovo War and the NATO attacks on Serbia. He protested by lodging a complaint with the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague “against the political and military leadership of NATO for war crimes committed during the bombings of 24 March and 1 May 1999.” In 2001 he took part in a demonstration against the war in Afghanistan. He condemned the terrorist attacks against the United States, but added that the Americans and their allies were “attempting another genocide with their attack on Afghanistan.” In February 2003, he took part in a large demonstration in central Athens against the war in Iraq. In 2004 he supported the Palestinian people alongside Yasser Arafat by organizing a major concert-demonstration in Syntagma Square in Athens.

Two dates stand out in Theodorakis’s sociopolitical work: the founding of the Lambrakis Youth on 8 June 1963 and the founding of Spark: Independent People’s Movement on 1 December 2010. These initiatives arose at crucial moments in contemporary Greek history, during periods of profound political, social, economic, and cultural instability and uncertainty. In the first case, Theodorakis, wishing to pay tribute to the pacifist and United Democratic Left parliamentarian Grigoris Lambrakis, murdered in unexplained circumstances, created a movement whose “aim is to incite Greeks of all ages to revolt for a more democratic Greece where Justice and Culture will dominate.”²² In the second case, almost fifty years later, he again sought to rouse the Greek people, stunned by the socioeconomic decisions imposed by the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, and the European Union. He founded a movement whose main aims were “national independence, the dominant people, patriotic rebirth.” A study of the manifestos and principles defended by the two movements shows that they are both expressions of the “theory of Universal Harmony,” defined as “personal deliverance and social liberation, through Art, with the aim of conquering Social Harmony.”²³

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Translated from the French by Chrisoula Petridis

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^{1. Mikis THEODORAKIS, Οι δρόμοι του αρχάγγελου, Athens, Kedros, 1986, vol. 1, p. 208. ↩}

^{2. Ιbid., p. 204. ↩}

^{3. Ιbid., pp. 135-136. ↩}

^{4. Mikis THEODORAKIS, Το χρέος, Athens, Pleias, 1974, vol. 1, p. 258. ↩}

^{5. Kalliopi STIGA, “Mikis Theodorakis: le chantre du rapprochement de la musique savante et de la musique Populaire,” doctoral thesis, Université Lumière-Lyon 2, 2006, vol. 1, p. 62. ↩}

^{6. Mikis THEODORAKIS, “Πού να βρω την ψυχή μου…”: Τέχνη και Πολιτισμός, Athens, Livanis, 2002, p. 39-41. ↩}

^{7. Mikis THEODORAKIS, Μελοποιημένη Ποίηση, Athens, Ypsilon, 1999, vol. 3, p. 156. ↩}

^{8. Mikis THEODORAKIS, Οι δρόμοι του αρχάγγελου, p. 99-100. ↩}

^{9. Mikis THEODORAKIS, Μελοποιημένη Ποίηση, p. 162. ↩}

^{10. Ibid., p. 151. ↩}

^{11. Ibid. ↩}

^{12. Mikis THEODORAKIS, Περί Τέχνης, Athens, Papazissis, 1976, p. 100. ↩}

^{13. Suite No. 4 is unfinished. ↩}

^{14. This work, composed between 1948 and 1953 in Ikaria, where Mikis Theodorakis was in exile, should not be confused with Symphony No. 1, which he composed in Athens between 1943 and 1945 while he involved in the Resistance. ↩}

^{15. Iakovos KAMPANELLIS, “A Tribute to Mikis Theodorakis,” Ελίτροχος (Elitrochos), 8 (1996), p. 38. ↩}

^{16. Kalliopi STIGA, Mikis Theodorakis, vol. 1, p. 123. ↩}

^{17. Mikis THEODORAKIS, “Πού να βρω την ψυχή μου…”: Μουσική, Athens, Livanis, 2002, p. 261. ↩}

^{18. Georgios GIANNARIS, Μελοποιημένη Ποίηση και Μουσικά Έργα, Athens, Theoria, 1985, p. 53. ↩}

^{19. Mikis THEODORAKIS, Μουσική για τις μάζες, Athens, Olkos, 1972, p. 22. ↩}

^{20. “The difference between metasymphonic and symphonic music can be seen in the existence, in metasymphonic music, of the following elements: a) folk song, b) traditional instruments and folk singers, c) symphonic instruments, d) choirs, e) learned poetic text” (Mikis THEODORAKIS, Ανατομία της μουσικής, Athens, Sychroni Epohi, 1983, p. 36). ↩}

^{21. Mikis THEODORAKIS, Μουσική για τις μάζες, p. 23. ↩}

^{22. Kalliopi STIGA, Mikis Theodorakis, vol. 1, p. 100. ↩}

^{23. Mikis THEODORAKIS, Οι δρόμοι του αρχάγγελου, p. 142. ↩}

© Ircam-Centre Pompidou, 2016

• Solo (excluding voice)
  • Préludes pour piano (1947)
  • Petite suite pour piano (1954)
  • Sonatine n° 1 pour piano (1956)
  • Sonatine n° 2 pour violon et piano (1958)
  • Choros Asikikos twelve dances and songs based on the Byzantine scales, for solo cello (1989)
• Chamber music
  • Études pour deux violons (1945)
  • Sextuor pour piano, flûte et quatuor d’instruments à cordes (1947)
  • Suite pour piano, instruments à vent et percussions (1947)
  • Trio pour violon, violoncelle et piano (1947)
  • Sonatine n° 1 pour violon et piano (1952)
  • Syrtos Chaniotikos arrangement for piano and percussion (1952)
  • Pasacailles pour deux pianos (1955)
• Instrumental ensemble music
  • To Panigyri tis Asi-Gonias for large orchestra (1947)
  • Symphonie en trois mouvements (1947-1948)
  • Elegeio kai Thrinos ston Vasili Zanno for large symphony orchestra (1948-1950)
  • Première symphonie for large symphony orchestra (1948-1953)
  • Oidipous Tyrannos Ode for string orchestra (1956-1958)
  • Symfonieta (1993-1994)
• Concertant music
  • Suite n° 1 pour piano et orchestre (1949-1955)
  • Piano Concerto for piano and orchestra (1957-1958)
  • Rhapsodie for cello and symphony orchestra (1996)
• Vocal music and instrument(s)
  • Tessera kommatia gia to Dekemvri tou 1944 for voice, violin and piano (1944)
  • Pente Naftes for voice and piano (1944-1945)
  • Symphonie n° 1 for narrator, mixed choir for four voices and double orchestra of stringed instruments (1943-1945)
  • Margarita for narrator, choir and symphony orchestra (1946)
  • Eros kai Thanatos: Tessera tragoudia gia ti Myrto for voice and piano (1945-1948)
  • Tis Exorias A’ for voice and ensemble (1942-1948)
  • Oi Lipotaktes for voice and ensemble (1950)
  • Pente Kritika tragoudia for solo violin, choir and string orchestra (1951)
  • Tragoudia gia paidakia kai paidia for voices and piano (1937-1952)
  • Suite n° 2 pour orchestre ou orchestre et chœur de femmes à trois voix (1956-1955)
  • Suite n° 3 : La mère for mezzo-soprano, mixed choir and piano (1956)
  • O Kyklos six folk songs for mezzo-soprano and piano (1957)
  • Epitafios for voice and ensemble (1958)
  • Les Quatres Éluard for Jeanne Bathori for voice and piano (1958)
  • Les Six Éluard for Jeanne Bathori for voice and piano (1958)
  • Archipelagos for voice and ensemble (1957-1959)
  • Epifania for voice and ensemble (1960)
  • stage Foinisses for mezzo-soprano, choir and ensemble (1959-1960)
  • I Nisos ton Azoron for voice(s) and ensemble (1960)
  • Politeia A’ for voice and ensemble (1959-1960)
  • Romvia for voice and ensemble (1960)
  • To Tragoudi tou Nekrou Adelfou for voice and ensemble (1960)
  • stage Aias for choir and ensemble (1960-1961)
  • Enas omiros (1961)
  • Omorfi poli (1961-1962)
  • Skorpia for voice and ensemble (1959-1962)
  • Axion Esti for baritone, popular singer, santouri, choir, orchestra (1960-1963)
  • I geitonia ton angelon (1963)
  • Lioutsa (1963)
  • Magiki poli (1963)
  • Oi Mikres Kyklades for voice and ensemble (1963-1960)
  • Enas minas stin exochi (1964)
  • Kyklos se Fa meizona i kuklos Farantouri for voice(s) and ensemble (1964)
  • Politeia B’ for voice and ensemble (1964)
  • Sotiris Petroulas for voice and ensemble (1965)
  • To ekkremes (1965)
  • stage Troades for contralto, choir and ensemble (1965)
  • Grammata apo ti Germania for voice and ensemble (1966)
  • Mauthausen for voice and ensemble (1966)
  • Romiosyni for voice and ensemble (1966)
  • Thalassina Fengaria for voices and ensemble (1966)
  • stage Lysistrata for choir and ensemble (1966-1967)
  • O Ilios ki o Chronos for voice and ensemble (1967)
  • Patriotiko Metopo for voice and ensemble (1967)
  • Romancero Gitano for voice and ensemble (1967)
  • Arcadia I for voice and ensemble (1968, 1968)
  • I Adelfi mas Athina for voice(s) and ensemble (1968)
  • Katastasi Poliorkias for voice(s) and orchestra (1968)
  • Nychta Thanatou for voice and ensemble (1968)
  • Ta Laïka for voice and ensemble (1968)
  • Ta tragoudia tou Antrea for voice and ensemble (1968)
  • To Mythistorima for voice and ensemble (1968, 2000)
  • Arcadia II for voice and ensemble (1969)
  • Arcadia III : Gia ti mana kai tous filous for voice and ensemble (1969)
  • Arcadia IV : Odes for voice and ensemble (1969)
  • Arcadia IX: I Mitera tou Exoristou for voice and ensemble (1969)
  • Arcadia V: Pnevmatiko Emvatirio for voice and piano (1969)
  • Arcadia VI for voice and ensemble (1969)
  • Arcadia VII: O Epizon for voice and ensemble (1969)
  • Arcadia VIII for voice and ensemble (1969)
  • Arcadia X for voice and ensemble (1969)
  • Arcadia XI for voice and ensemble (1969)
  • Epiphania Averof for solo voice, choir, piano and popular music orchestra (1968-1969)
  • Raven: Afieroma ston Gianni Christou for voice and ensemble (1970)
  • Tria Negrika Tragoudia for voice and ensemble (1970)
  • Ta Tragoudia tou Agona for voice and ensemble (1968-1971)
  • Canto General for mezzo-soprano, baritone, choir and orchestra (1972)
  • Ta 18 Lianotragouda tis Pikris Patridas for voice and ensemble (1972)
  • Stin Anatoli for voice and ensemble (1973)
  • Afto to dentro den to legane ypomoni (1974)
  • Mpalantes for voice and ensemble (1973-1974)
  • Prodomenos Laos (1974)
  • stage Christophe Colomb (1975)
  • Echthros laos (1975)
  • Sauspiel (1975)
  • Tis Exorias B’ for voice and ensemble (1973-1975)
  • Gia ton Panagouli for voice and ensemble (1976)
  • Kapodistrias (1976)
  • Oktovris’78 for voice and ensemble (1976)
  • Ta Lyrika for voice and ensemble (1976)
  • Caligula (1977)
  • stage Iketides for women's choir and ensemble (1977)
  • Oi geitonies tou kosmou for voice and ensemble (1978)
  • Papaflessas (1978)
  • Polites B’ katigorias (1978)
  • Taxidi mesa sti nychta for voice and ensemble (1942-1978)
  • stage Ippis twenty popular chorales (1979)
  • To traino den efyge pote gia Katerini for voice and ensemble (1979)
  • Périclès (1979-1980)
  • Epivatis for voice and ensemble (1981)
  • Le Radar for voice and ensemble (1981)
  • Salutations for voice and ensemble (1978-1981)
  • Symphonie n° 2 : Les Chants de la Terre for children's choir, piano and orchestra (1980-1981)
  • Symphonie n° 3 for mezzo-soprano, choir and orchestra (1980-1981)
  • Kata Sadoukkaion "Sti mnimi tou Dimitri Despotidi" cantata in seven movements, for tenor, baritone, bass, reciter, choir and orchestra (1981-1982)
  • Symphonie n° 7 : Du printemps for soprano, contralto, bass tenor, mixed double choir and symphony orchestra (1982)
  • I Synantisi for voice(s) and ensemble (1983)
  • Pikrosavvata for voice and ensemble (1983)
  • Dionysos - mousiko thriskeftiko drama for voice(s) and ensemble (1984)
  • Lefteris Papadopoulos for voice and ensemble (1983-1984)
  • Phèdre for voice and ensemble (1984)
  • Poiima / Karyotakis for voice and ensemble (1983-1984)
  • Ta Assikika for voice and ensemble (1984)
  • Mipos zoume s’alli chora? for voice(s) and ensemble (1985)
  • stage Kostas Karyotakis "Oi metamorfoseis tou Dionysou" opera (1984-1986)
  • Santiago for voice and ensemble (1986)
  • Ta prosopa tou Iliou for voice and ensemble (1986)
  • To therio tou tavrou (1986)
  • stage Ekavi for mezzo-soprano, choir and ensemble (1987)
  • I Veatriki stin odo miden for voice and piano (1987)
  • Mia thalassa gemati mousiki for voice(s) and ensemble (1987)
  • Mnimi tis Petras for voice and ensemble (1987)
  • Os Archaios Anemos for voice and ensemble (1987)
  • Symphonie n° 4 : Des Chorals for soprano, mezzo-soprano, narrator, mixed choir and symphony orchestra without violins (1986-1987)
  • stage Oresteia trilogy for choir and ensemble (1986-1988)
  • stage Antigone for mezzo-soprano, choir, guitar and double bass (1990)
  • stage Médée "Hommage à Giuseppe Verdi" opera (1988-1990)
  • Canto Olympico in seven movements, for tenor, bass, mixed choir and orchestra (1990-1991)
  • Profitika / gia ti dolofonia tou Grigori Lampraki for voice and ensemble (1963-1991)
  • Hymne des Jeux Olympiques de Barcelone Hellénisme, for mezzo-soprano, choir and orchestra (1992)
  • stage Promitheas Desmotis (1992)
  • stage Électre "Hommage à Giacomo Puccini" opera (1992-1993)
  • Politeia C’ for voice and ensemble (1994)
  • Raven homage to Jean Christou, arrangement for mezzo-soprano, flute, harp and orchestra (1993-1994)
  • Lyrikotata for voice and ensemble (1995)
  • Lyrikotera for voice and ensemble (1995)
  • stage Oidipous Tyrannos for choir and synthesizer (1996)
  • Politeia D’ for voice and ensemble (1996)
  • stage Antigone "Hommage à Bellini" lyrical tragedy (1996-1999)
  • stage Lysistrata opera (2000-2001)
  • Erimia for voice and ensemble (2005)
  • Odysseia for voice and ensemble (2007)
• A cappella vocal music
  • Tropario Kassianis for choir (1942)
  • Ymnos sto Theo for choir (1942)
  • Ekklisiastikes Kantates for choir (1940-1943)
  • Chorodiaka (1942-1944)
  • Leitourgia N.2: Gia ta paidia pou skotonondai ston polemo for choir (1982)
  • Theia Leitourgia / Missa Greca for choir (1982-1983)
  • Akolouthia eis Kekoimimenous for choir (1983-1984)
• Unspecified instrumentation
  • Ill met by moonlight movie soundtrack (1956-1957)
  • Honeymoon movie soundtrack (1958)
  • Zorba le Grec movie soundtrack (1964)
  • Hymne du parti socialiste français Changer la vie (1977)
  • Hymne de l'indépendance de Malte (1978)
  • Hymne de l'Organisation pour la Libération de la Palestine (1982)

Catalog sources and details

Les œuvres inachevées ne sont pas incluses au catalogue.
Les partitions éditées sont disponibles chez les éditeurs Schott et Nakas Musical Editions.

• KOUTOULAS, O Μουσικός Θεοδωράκης (Mikis Theodorakis : le musicien), Athènes, Livanis, 1998.
• STIGA, Kalliopi, Mikis Theodorakis : le chantre du rapprochement de la musique savante et de la musique populaire, Thèse de Doctorat, Université Lumière Lyon II, 2006
• Archives personnelles de Kalliopi Stiga.
• Archives personnelles de Mikis Theodorakis.
• Site web de Mikis Theodorakis : www.mikis-theodorakis.net

Musique de films :

• Eva (1952-1953), réalisé par María Plytá. Création à Athènes en 1953.
• Xypolyto tagma = Le bataillon déchaussé (1953), réalisé Gregg Tallas. Création en 1953 aux Etats-Unis par l’Orchestre Symphonique d’Athènes.
• O Golgothas mias orfanis = Le calvaire d’une orpheline (1953). Création à Athènes en 1953 par D. Fampas (guitare).
• Ill met by moonlight (1956-1957), réalisé par Michael Powell et Emeric Pressburger. Création en 1957.
• Honeymoon (1958), réalisé par Michael Powell : la musique du ballet Les Amants de Teruel et la chanson An thymitheis t’oneiro mou, sur la poésie de Nikos Gatsos. Création en 1958 par l’Orchestre Symphonique de la RAI.
• Michel de Skiathos (1960). Création en 1961.
• Faces in the Dark, réalisé par David Eady (musique pour Ondes Martenot et percussions, 1960). Création au Royaume Uni en 1961.
• Myrtia (1960-1961). Création en 1961 par I. Giovanna.
• Synoikia to oneiro = Quartier de rêve, réalisé par Alekos Alexandrakis (1960-1961). Création en 1961 par Grigoris Bithikotsis.
• The Shadow of the cat (1961). Création en 1961
• Synantisi mias nychtas = Rencontre d’une nuit (1961). Création en 1961.
• Phaedra, réalisé par Jules Dassin (1961). Création en 1962 par Melina Merkouri.
• Prodomeni Agapi = Amour Trahi (sur la poésie d’Errikos Thalassinos, 1961-1962). Création en 1962 par G. Lydia, Grigoris Bithikotsis.
• Electre, réalisé par Michael Cacoyannis (comprend la chanson O Ilios koitaxe ti gi, sur la poésie de M. Kakogiannis, 1961-1962). Création en 1962.
• Manolis, réalisé par Paul H. Crosfield (1962, Londres). Création en 1962.
• Les Amants de Teruel, réalisé par Raymond Rouleau (1961-1962). Création en 1962 par Edith Piaf.
• Five miles to midnight, réalisé par Anatole Litvak (1962). Création à Paris en 1962.
• Zorba le Grec, par Michael Cacoyannis (1964). Création à New York en 1964.
• To Nisi tis Afroditis = L’île d’Aphrodite (1961-1964). Création en 1965 par Grigoris Bithikotsis.
• Une balle au cœur, réalisé par Jean-Daniel Pollet (1964-1965). Création en 1965.
• Bloko, réalisé par Ado Kyrou (1965). Création en 1965.
• The day the fish came out, réalisé par Michael Cacoyannis (1966). Création en 1967.
• Partizani, réalisé par Stole Janković (1970). Création en 1974.
• Les Troyennes, réalisé par Michael Cacoyannis (1970-1971). Création en 1971 par Maria Farantouri.
• Biribi, réalisé par Daniel Moosmann (1971). Création 1971 par Mouloudji.
• État de Siège, réalisé par Costa-Gavras (1971-1972). Création en 1972 par Los Calchakis.
• The Story of Jacob and Joseph, réalisé par Michael Cacoyannis (1972-1973). Création en 1974 par T. Diakogiorgis et l’Orchestre Symphonique de Londres.
• Sutjeska-La cinquième offenssive (Tito), réalisé par Stipe Delić (1973). Création en 1973.
• Serpico, réalisé par Sidney Lumet (1973). Création en 1973.
• Der Geheimnisträger, réalisé par Franz Josef (1975). Création en 1975.
• Actas de Marusia, réalisé par Miguel Littin (1975). Création en 1976.
• Iphigénie à Avlis, réalisé par Michael Cocayannis (1976). Création en 1977.
• O anthropos me to garifalo = L’homme à l’œillet, réalisé par Nikos Tzimas (1980). Création en 1980 par M. Zorbala et le Chœur de l’Université d’Athènes.

Musique de ballets

• Elliniki Apokria = Carnaval grec (1953). Création à Athènes en 1953 par l’Orchestre National d’Athènes (KOA).
• Agapi kai Thanatos = Amour et Mort (1956-1958). Création à Athènes en 1956 par le Chorodrama Grec de Rallou Manou.
• Erophili (1958). Création à Athènes en 1958 par le Chorodrama Grec de Rallou Manou.
• Le Feu aux poudres (1958). Création à Paris en 1959 par l’Orchestre Lamoureux et Ludmila Tcherina.
• Les Amants de Teruel (1958). Création à Paris au Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt en 1959 par Ludmila Tcherina.
• Antigone (1958-1959). Création à Londres en 1959 par l’Orchestre Symphonique de Covent Garden.
• Antigone II (Antigone en prison) (1971). Création à Paris en 1973 par le Ballet Anne Béranger.
• Electre (1979). Création à Athènes en 1979 par le Ballet de l’Opéra National Grec.
• Zorba le Grec (1987-1988). Création en 1988 aux Arènes de Vérone par S. Mihailidou, V. Vassiliev, le Chœur et le Ballet de l’Arena di Verona.

• 2007
  • Odysseia for voice and ensemble
• 2005
  • Erimia for voice and ensemble
• 2001
  • stage Lysistrata opera
• 1999
  • stage Antigone "Hommage à Bellini" lyrical tragedy
• 1996
  • stage Oidipous Tyrannos for choir and synthesizer
  • Politeia D’ for voice and ensemble
  • Rhapsodie for cello and symphony orchestra
• 1995
  • Lyrikotata for voice and ensemble
  • Lyrikotera for voice and ensemble
• 1994
  • Politeia C’ for voice and ensemble
  • Raven homage to Jean Christou, arrangement for mezzo-soprano, flute, harp and orchestra
  • Symfonieta
• 1993
  • stage Électre "Hommage à Giacomo Puccini" opera
• 1992
  • Hymne des Jeux Olympiques de Barcelone Hellénisme, for mezzo-soprano, choir and orchestra
  • stage Promitheas Desmotis
• 1991
  • Canto Olympico in seven movements, for tenor, bass, mixed choir and orchestra
  • Profitika / gia ti dolofonia tou Grigori Lampraki for voice and ensemble
• 1990
  • stage Antigone for mezzo-soprano, choir, guitar and double bass
  • stage Médée "Hommage à Giuseppe Verdi" opera
• 1989
  • Choros Asikikos twelve dances and songs based on the Byzantine scales, for solo cello
• 1988
  • stage Oresteia trilogy for choir and ensemble
• 1987
  • stage Ekavi for mezzo-soprano, choir and ensemble
  • I Veatriki stin odo miden for voice and piano
  • Mia thalassa gemati mousiki for voice(s) and ensemble
  • Mnimi tis Petras for voice and ensemble
  • Os Archaios Anemos for voice and ensemble
  • Symphonie n° 4 : Des Chorals for soprano, mezzo-soprano, narrator, mixed choir and symphony orchestra without violins
• 1986
  • stage Kostas Karyotakis "Oi metamorfoseis tou Dionysou" opera
  • Santiago for voice and ensemble
  • Ta prosopa tou Iliou for voice and ensemble
  • To therio tou tavrou
• 1985
  • Mipos zoume s’alli chora? for voice(s) and ensemble
• 1984
  • Akolouthia eis Kekoimimenous for choir
  • Dionysos - mousiko thriskeftiko drama for voice(s) and ensemble
  • Lefteris Papadopoulos for voice and ensemble
  • Phèdre for voice and ensemble
  • Poiima / Karyotakis for voice and ensemble
  • Ta Assikika for voice and ensemble
• 1983
  • I Synantisi for voice(s) and ensemble
  • Pikrosavvata for voice and ensemble
  • Theia Leitourgia / Missa Greca for choir
• 1982
  • Hymne de l'Organisation pour la Libération de la Palestine
  • Kata Sadoukkaion "Sti mnimi tou Dimitri Despotidi" cantata in seven movements, for tenor, baritone, bass, reciter, choir and orchestra
  • Leitourgia N.2: Gia ta paidia pou skotonondai ston polemo for choir
  • Symphonie n° 7 : Du printemps for soprano, contralto, bass tenor, mixed double choir and symphony orchestra
• 1981
  • Epivatis for voice and ensemble
  • Le Radar for voice and ensemble
  • Salutations for voice and ensemble
  • Symphonie n° 2 : Les Chants de la Terre for children's choir, piano and orchestra
  • Symphonie n° 3 for mezzo-soprano, choir and orchestra
• 1980
  • Périclès
• 1979
  • stage Ippis twenty popular chorales
  • To traino den efyge pote gia Katerini for voice and ensemble
• 1978
  • Hymne de l'indépendance de Malte
  • Oi geitonies tou kosmou for voice and ensemble
  • Papaflessas
  • Polites B’ katigorias
  • Taxidi mesa sti nychta for voice and ensemble
• 1977
  • Caligula
  • Hymne du parti socialiste français Changer la vie
  • stage Iketides for women's choir and ensemble
• 1976
  • Gia ton Panagouli for voice and ensemble
  • Kapodistrias
  • Oktovris’78 for voice and ensemble
  • Ta Lyrika for voice and ensemble
• 1975
  • stage Christophe Colomb
  • Echthros laos
  • Sauspiel
  • Tis Exorias B’ for voice and ensemble
• 1974
  • Afto to dentro den to legane ypomoni
  • Mpalantes for voice and ensemble
  • Prodomenos Laos
• 1973
  • Stin Anatoli for voice and ensemble
• 1972
  • Canto General for mezzo-soprano, baritone, choir and orchestra
  • Ta 18 Lianotragouda tis Pikris Patridas for voice and ensemble
• 1971
  • Ta Tragoudia tou Agona for voice and ensemble
• 1970
  • Raven: Afieroma ston Gianni Christou for voice and ensemble
  • Tria Negrika Tragoudia for voice and ensemble
• 1969
  • Arcadia II for voice and ensemble
  • Arcadia III : Gia ti mana kai tous filous for voice and ensemble
  • Arcadia IV : Odes for voice and ensemble
  • Arcadia IX: I Mitera tou Exoristou for voice and ensemble
  • Arcadia V: Pnevmatiko Emvatirio for voice and piano
  • Arcadia VI for voice and ensemble
  • Arcadia VII: O Epizon for voice and ensemble
  • Arcadia VIII for voice and ensemble
  • Arcadia X for voice and ensemble
  • Arcadia XI for voice and ensemble
  • Epiphania Averof for solo voice, choir, piano and popular music orchestra
• 1968
  • Arcadia I for voice and ensemble
  • I Adelfi mas Athina for voice(s) and ensemble
  • Katastasi Poliorkias for voice(s) and orchestra
  • Nychta Thanatou for voice and ensemble
  • Ta Laïka for voice and ensemble
  • Ta tragoudia tou Antrea for voice and ensemble
  • To Mythistorima for voice and ensemble
• 1967
  • stage Lysistrata for choir and ensemble
  • O Ilios ki o Chronos for voice and ensemble
  • Patriotiko Metopo for voice and ensemble
  • Romancero Gitano for voice and ensemble
• 1966
  • Grammata apo ti Germania for voice and ensemble
  • Mauthausen for voice and ensemble
  • Romiosyni for voice and ensemble
  • Thalassina Fengaria for voices and ensemble
• 1965
  • Sotiris Petroulas for voice and ensemble
  • To ekkremes
  • stage Troades for contralto, choir and ensemble
• 1964
  • Enas minas stin exochi
  • Kyklos se Fa meizona i kuklos Farantouri for voice(s) and ensemble
  • Politeia B’ for voice and ensemble
  • Zorba le Grec movie soundtrack
• 1963
  • Axion Esti for baritone, popular singer, santouri, choir, orchestra
  • I geitonia ton angelon
  • Lioutsa
  • Magiki poli
  • Oi Mikres Kyklades for voice and ensemble
• 1962
  • Omorfi poli
  • Skorpia for voice and ensemble
• 1961
  • stage Aias for choir and ensemble
  • Enas omiros
• 1960
  • Epifania for voice and ensemble
  • stage Foinisses for mezzo-soprano, choir and ensemble
  • I Nisos ton Azoron for voice(s) and ensemble
  • Politeia A’ for voice and ensemble
  • Romvia for voice and ensemble
  • To Tragoudi tou Nekrou Adelfou for voice and ensemble
• 1959
  • Archipelagos for voice and ensemble
• 1958
  • Epitafios for voice and ensemble
  • Honeymoon movie soundtrack
  • Les Quatres Éluard for Jeanne Bathori for voice and piano
  • Les Six Éluard for Jeanne Bathori for voice and piano
  • Oidipous Tyrannos Ode for string orchestra
  • Piano Concerto for piano and orchestra
  • Sonatine n° 2 pour violon et piano
• 1957
  • Ill met by moonlight movie soundtrack
  • O Kyklos six folk songs for mezzo-soprano and piano
• 1956
  • Sonatine n° 1 pour piano
  • Suite n° 2 pour orchestre ou orchestre et chœur de femmes à trois voix
  • Suite n° 3 : La mère for mezzo-soprano, mixed choir and piano
• 1955
  • Pasacailles pour deux pianos
  • Suite n° 1 pour piano et orchestre
• 1954
  • Petite suite pour piano
• 1953
  • Première symphonie for large symphony orchestra
• 1952
  • Sonatine n° 1 pour violon et piano
  • Syrtos Chaniotikos arrangement for piano and percussion
  • Tragoudia gia paidakia kai paidia for voices and piano
• 1951
  • Pente Kritika tragoudia for solo violin, choir and string orchestra
• 1950
  • Elegeio kai Thrinos ston Vasili Zanno for large symphony orchestra
  • Oi Lipotaktes for voice and ensemble
• 1948
  • Eros kai Thanatos: Tessera tragoudia gia ti Myrto for voice and piano
  • Symphonie en trois mouvements
  • Tis Exorias A’ for voice and ensemble
• 1947
  • Préludes pour piano
  • Sextuor pour piano, flûte et quatuor d’instruments à cordes
  • Suite pour piano, instruments à vent et percussions
  • To Panigyri tis Asi-Gonias for large orchestra
  • Trio pour violon, violoncelle et piano
• 1946
  • Margarita for narrator, choir and symphony orchestra
• 1945
  • Pente Naftes for voice and piano
  • Symphonie n° 1 for narrator, mixed choir for four voices and double orchestra of stringed instruments
  • Études pour deux violons
• 1944
  • Chorodiaka
  • Tessera kommatia gia to Dekemvri tou 1944 for voice, violin and piano
• 1943
  • Ekklisiastikes Kantates for choir
• 1942
  • Tropario Kassianis for choir
  • Ymnos sto Theo for choir

Catalog source(s)

Les œuvres inachevées ne sont pas incluses au catalogue.
Les partitions éditées sont disponibles chez les éditeurs Schott et Nakas Musical Editions.

• KOUTOULAS, O Μουσικός Θεοδωράκης (Mikis Theodorakis : le musicien), Athènes, Livanis, 1998.
• STIGA, Kalliopi, Mikis Theodorakis : le chantre du rapprochement de la musique savante et de la musique populaire, Thèse de Doctorat, Université Lumière Lyon II, 2006
• Archives personnelles de Kalliopi Stiga.
• Archives personnelles de Mikis Theodorakis.
• Site web de Mikis Theodorakis : www.mikis-theodorakis.net

Musique de films :

• Eva (1952-1953), réalisé par María Plytá. Création à Athènes en 1953.
• Xypolyto tagma = Le bataillon déchaussé (1953), réalisé Gregg Tallas. Création en 1953 aux Etats-Unis par l’Orchestre Symphonique d’Athènes.
• O Golgothas mias orfanis = Le calvaire d’une orpheline (1953). Création à Athènes en 1953 par D. Fampas (guitare).
• Ill met by moonlight (1956-1957), réalisé par Michael Powell et Emeric Pressburger. Création en 1957.
• Honeymoon (1958), réalisé par Michael Powell : la musique du ballet Les Amants de Teruel et la chanson An thymitheis t’oneiro mou, sur la poésie de Nikos Gatsos. Création en 1958 par l’Orchestre Symphonique de la RAI.
• Michel de Skiathos (1960). Création en 1961.
• Faces in the Dark, réalisé par David Eady (musique pour Ondes Martenot et percussions, 1960). Création au Royaume Uni en 1961.
• Myrtia (1960-1961). Création en 1961 par I. Giovanna.
• Synoikia to oneiro = Quartier de rêve, réalisé par Alekos Alexandrakis (1960-1961). Création en 1961 par Grigoris Bithikotsis.
• The Shadow of the cat (1961). Création en 1961
• Synantisi mias nychtas = Rencontre d’une nuit (1961). Création en 1961.
• Phaedra, réalisé par Jules Dassin (1961). Création en 1962 par Melina Merkouri.
• Prodomeni Agapi = Amour Trahi (sur la poésie d’Errikos Thalassinos, 1961-1962). Création en 1962 par G. Lydia, Grigoris Bithikotsis.
• Electre, réalisé par Michael Cacoyannis (comprend la chanson O Ilios koitaxe ti gi, sur la poésie de M. Kakogiannis, 1961-1962). Création en 1962.
• Manolis, réalisé par Paul H. Crosfield (1962, Londres). Création en 1962.
• Les Amants de Teruel, réalisé par Raymond Rouleau (1961-1962). Création en 1962 par Edith Piaf.
• Five miles to midnight, réalisé par Anatole Litvak (1962). Création à Paris en 1962.
• Zorba le Grec, par Michael Cacoyannis (1964). Création à New York en 1964.
• To Nisi tis Afroditis = L’île d’Aphrodite (1961-1964). Création en 1965 par Grigoris Bithikotsis.
• Une balle au cœur, réalisé par Jean-Daniel Pollet (1964-1965). Création en 1965.
• Bloko, réalisé par Ado Kyrou (1965). Création en 1965.
• The day the fish came out, réalisé par Michael Cacoyannis (1966). Création en 1967.
• Partizani, réalisé par Stole Janković (1970). Création en 1974.
• Les Troyennes, réalisé par Michael Cacoyannis (1970-1971). Création en 1971 par Maria Farantouri.
• Biribi, réalisé par Daniel Moosmann (1971). Création 1971 par Mouloudji.
• État de Siège, réalisé par Costa-Gavras (1971-1972). Création en 1972 par Los Calchakis.
• The Story of Jacob and Joseph, réalisé par Michael Cacoyannis (1972-1973). Création en 1974 par T. Diakogiorgis et l’Orchestre Symphonique de Londres.
• Sutjeska-La cinquième offenssive (Tito), réalisé par Stipe Delić (1973). Création en 1973.
• Serpico, réalisé par Sidney Lumet (1973). Création en 1973.
• Der Geheimnisträger, réalisé par Franz Josef (1975). Création en 1975.
• Actas de Marusia, réalisé par Miguel Littin (1975). Création en 1976.
• Iphigénie à Avlis, réalisé par Michael Cocayannis (1976). Création en 1977.
• O anthropos me to garifalo = L’homme à l’œillet, réalisé par Nikos Tzimas (1980). Création en 1980 par M. Zorbala et le Chœur de l’Université d’Athènes.

Musique de ballets

• Elliniki Apokria = Carnaval grec (1953). Création à Athènes en 1953 par l’Orchestre National d’Athènes (KOA).
• Agapi kai Thanatos = Amour et Mort (1956-1958). Création à Athènes en 1956 par le Chorodrama Grec de Rallou Manou.
• Erophili (1958). Création à Athènes en 1958 par le Chorodrama Grec de Rallou Manou.
• Le Feu aux poudres (1958). Création à Paris en 1959 par l’Orchestre Lamoureux et Ludmila Tcherina.
• Les Amants de Teruel (1958). Création à Paris au Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt en 1959 par Ludmila Tcherina.
• Antigone (1958-1959). Création à Londres en 1959 par l’Orchestre Symphonique de Covent Garden.
• Antigone II (Antigone en prison) (1971). Création à Paris en 1973 par le Ballet Anne Béranger.
• Electre (1979). Création à Athènes en 1979 par le Ballet de l’Opéra National Grec.
• Zorba le Grec (1987-1988). Création en 1988 aux Arènes de Vérone par S. Mihailidou, V. Vassiliev, le Chœur et le Ballet de l’Arena di Verona.

Bibliographie sélective

Écrits de Mikis Theodorakis

• Journal de Résistance, Paris, Flammarion, 1971.
• Culture et dimensions politiques, préface de Roger Garaudy, Paris, Flammarion, 1972.
• Η Μουσική για τις Μάζες (La musique pour les masses), Athènes, Olkos, 1972
• Les Fiancés de Pénélope, préface de François Mitterrand, Paris, Grasset, 1975.
• Περί Τέχνης (Pour l’Art), Athènes, Papazisis, 1976, 238p.
• Δημοκρατική και Συγκεντρωτική Αριστερά (La Gauche démocratique et centralisatrice), Athènes, Papazisis, 1976.
• Μαχόμενη Κουλτούρα (La culture combattante), Athènes, Synchroni Epochi, 1982.
• Music and Theater, Athènes, Eleftheriadis Group, 1983.
• Ανατομία της Μουσικής (L’Anatomie de la musique), Athènes, Syhroni Epohi, 1983.
• Για την Ελληνική Μουσική (Pour la musique grecque), Athènes, Kastaniotis, 1986 (6e ed.).
• Οι Δρόμοι του Αρχάγγελου (Les Chemins de l’Archange) - Autobiographie, Athènes, Kedros, (5 vol.), 1986-1995.
• Αντιμανιφέστο (Contre-manifeste), Athènes, Gnoseis, 1989.
• Ζητείται Αριστερά (À la recherche de la Gauche), Athènes, Sideris, 1990.
• Μελοποιημένη Ποίηση (La Poésie mise en musique), (3 vol.), Athènes, Ypsilon, 1997-1999.
• Να μαγευτώ και να μεθύσω (Que je sois enchanté et que je m’enivre…), Athènes, Livanis, 2000.
• Που να βρω την ψυχή μου? (Où puis-je trouver mon âme ?), Athènes, Livanis, vol.I/Musique, vol.II/Art et Culture, vol.III/Idéologie, 2002-2003.
• Το Μανιφέστο των Λαμπράκηδων (Le Manifeste des Jeunesses Lamprakis), Athènes, Ellinika Grammata, 2003.
• Σπίθα- Για μια Ελλάδα ανεξάρτητη και δυνατή (Etincelle. Pour une Grèce Indépendante et Forte), Athènes, Ianos, 2011

Écrits sur Mikis Theodorakis

• Jacques COUBART, Theodorakis ou la Grèce entre le rêve et le cauchemar, Paris, Julliard, 1969.
• Georgios GIANNARIS, Theodorakis Mikis: Music and Social Change, New York, Praeger Publishers Inc., 1972.
• Gail HOLST, Μίκης Θεοδωράκης, Θρύλος και Πολιτική στη Σύγχρονη Ελληνική Μουσική (Mikis Theodorakis, Légende et Politique dans la musique grecque contemporaine), Athènes, Andromeda, 1980.
• Evagoras KARAGEORGIS, « Mikis Theodorakis », dans The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Stanley Sadie, Oxford University Press, 2001, 2e ed., p. 354-355
• Astéris KOUTOULAS, O Μουσικός Θεοδωράκης (Mikis Theodorakis : le musicien), Athènes, Livanis, 1998.
• Fondas LADIS, Μίκης Θεοδωράκης, Το χρονικό μιας Επανάστασης, 1960-1967 (Mikis Theodorakis : La chronique d’une Révolution 1960-1967), Athènes, Exandas, 2001.
• Giorgos LOGOTHETIS, Μίκης Θεοδωράκης: Θρησκεία μου είναι η Ελλάδα (Mikis Theodorakis : Ma religion, c’est la Grèce), Athènes, Agkyra, 2004.
• Giorgos MALOUHOS, Άξιος Εστί (Il est digne d’être), Athènes, Livanis, 2 vol., 2004.
• Pavlos PETRIDIS, Ο Πολιτικός Θεοδωράκης: 1940-1996 (Mikis Theodorakis : l’homme politique, 1940-1996), Athènes, Proskinio, 1997.
• Gérard PIERAT, Mikis Theodorakis: le roman d’une musique populaire, Collection Folk and Rock, Albin Michel, 1976.
• Georges et Iro SGOURAKIS, Μίκης Θεοδωράκης: Κινηματογραφική αυτοβιογραφία. Ντοκουμέντα της ζωής και του έργου του (Mikis Theodorakis : Autobiographie cinématographique. Documents sur sa vie et son œuvre), Archives de Crète/Sgourakis Georges et Iro, Athènes, 2005, (ouvrage accompagné de deux dvd).
• Kalliopi STIGA, Mikis Theodorakis : le chantre de la musique savante et de la musique populaire, Thèse de Doctorat, Lyon, Université Lumière-Lyon II, 2006.
• Guy WAGNER, Mikis Théodorakis : Une vie pour la Grèce, Paris, PHI, 2000.

Discographie

• * Άξιον Εστί* (Il est digne d’être), solistes : Grigoris Bithikotsis, Manos Katrakis, Dimitriev, Chœur Mixte de Thalia Vyzantiou et Petit Orchestre d’Athènes, Mikis Theodorakis (direction), 1 cd Minos-EMI, 14C 045 702012/22.
• Το Τραγούδι του Νεκρού Αδελφού (La Ballade du Frère Mort), 1 cd Minos-EMI, 14C 045 702072.
• Canto General, solistes : Maria Farantouri, Petros Pandis, Choeur et Orchestre St Jacob, Mikis Theodorakis (direction), 2 cd Minos-EMI, 15010/11.
• Ηλέκτρα (Electra), St Petersburg State Academic Capella Choir and Orchestra, Mikis Theodorakis (direction), 1 cd Intuition, INT 3312 2.
• Αντιγόνη (Antigone), St Petersburg State Academic Capella Choir and Orchestra, Alexander Tchernouchenko (direction), 1 cd Intuition, INT 3316 2.
• Μήδεια (Médéa), St Petersburg State Academic Capella Choir and Orchestra, Mikis Theodorakis (direction), 1 cd Intuition, INT 3320 2.

Filmographie

• Mikis Theodorakis: The Composer, réalisé par Asteris Koutoulas et Klaus Salge, November Film/ZDF-Arte, 2011.

Sites Internet

• Site de Mikis Theodorakis (en anglais, en français et en allemand) : www.mikis-theodorakis.net
• Page de la Grande Bibliothèque Musicale « Lilian Voudouri » consacrée à Mikis Theodorakis (en grec) : digma.mmb.org.gr

(liens vérifiés en septembre 2021).