Harilaos Perpessas facts for kids

Harilaos Perpessas (Greek: Χαρίλαος Περπέσσας) was a Greek-German composer. He was born on May 10, 1907, and passed away on October 19, 1995. His music belonged to the Postmodern period, which means it was a newer style of music that came after earlier modern music.

Life and Career: A Journey of Music

Harilaos Perpessas was born in Leipzig, Germany, but his parents were Greek. He later moved to Berlin to study music. There, he learned from a famous teacher named Arnold Schoenberg. However, Perpessas did not agree with Schoenberg's way of composing music.

Another important person in Berlin was Nikos Skalkottas. Skalkottas encouraged Perpessas to move to Greece, his parents' home country. So, when he was 27 years old, Perpessas moved to Greece. He stayed there for 14 years, even through World War II. During this time, he became a successful composer. A conductor named Dimitri Mitropoulos helped him a lot by performing his music.

In 1948, Perpessas made a big move to the United States. He settled in New York City. For about 40 years, he had some success there. He also preferred to live a quiet life, away from many people. In 1992, his friends helped him move to a special home in Sharon, Massachusetts. He passed away there.

Music: His Unique Sound

Perpessas is known as one of the first Greek composers to move away from Musical Nationalism. This means his music did not focus only on Greek folk tunes or traditional styles. Instead, he explored new sounds. He is often grouped with other composers like Mitropoulos and Skalkottas for this reason.

His music for orchestras often used many different notes at the same time, creating a rich sound. His melodies had wide jumps and dramatic high points. You can hear influences from other great composers like Debussy, Mahler, Ravel, and Strauss in his work.

Perpessas often kept working on his pieces, changing them and making them better. Because of this, he did not publish many of them right away. One of his important works was the Christus Symphony. He finished the final version of this symphony in 1950. It was performed by the New York Philharmonic orchestra. In 2022, the Christus Symphony was performed again by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and was very successful.

Main Works

Harilaos Perpessas wrote many different kinds of music. Here are some of his most notable pieces:

Orchestral Music

These are pieces written for a full orchestra.

• Dionysos Dithyramben (written before 1934)
• Prelude and Fugue in C (written in 1935, revised in the 1970s)
• Symphony No. 2 (written 1936–37), which later became the Sym. `Christus' (finished 1948–50)
• Symphonic Variations on Beethoven's Eighth Symphony (written 1953–60)
• He also arranged a piece by J.S. Bach called Die Kunst der Fuge for orchestra (1953–56).

Other Works

Perpessas also wrote music for other instruments and groups.

• Piano Sonata (written 1928–32, but later destroyed)
• String Quartet (written 1928–32, also destroyed)
• Restoration, a series of four pieces (1963–73), which includes:
  • The Song of the Concentration Camp (which was based on his earlier Prelude and Fugue from 1935)
  • The Opening of the Seventh Seal (Liberation)
  • Conjunction
  • The Infinite Bliss