Summary:
The author’s personal involvement with the violin, especially performance of different style informed by the traditional-folk music of Greece, the Balkans and the East Mediterranean, was the main reason behind this particular study. The idea is to find and focus on different styles and ornamentations of the violin as they arise from every different period, the performers’ personality and status and the musical or technical parameters. I chose to analyze and compare three different recordings of one particular musical piece in order to focus on a field and give priority in differences of the performance of three different periods.
First of all, there is an extent description of “Silivrianos syrtos” as a traditional piece and its origins and afterwards, there is an analysis of the reasoning why these three particular recordings from discography from three different violin players (a) Giorgos Makriyannis o Nisyrios, b)Stefanos Vartanis, c) Stathis Koukoularis) were chosen for this study. Basic methological tools is the transcription in west music notation and additionally – while analyzing, I realized – three different musical theoretical models (west European music, byzantine music, eastern music).
In the main part of this study, there are short biographies of the three violinists and the basic analysis of each performance is divided into two parts. Firstly, I tried to abstract the ornaments from the melody in order to focus in the key notes which make up the phrases, following tropical and harmonical analysis. Consequently, by analyzing and noting the ornaments, I make a profile for every performer.
After all, there is an extent comparison of the three performances, which help me to draw conclusions, either in the musical and technical field or in the field of musicology in general. This study shed light on the issue of how and in which grade every performer as a musician and as personality influence the new generations of musicians (and especially violinists) and how known musical stuff can be transformed and be the main cause for composing and re-creation, which are main parts of tradition in general.
Keywords:
folk violin, performance, ornamentation, evolutionary course, Silivrianos syrtos
