by Filippos Tsalahouris
The Peddler
is Kalomiris’ first symphonic poem, as well as the composer’s second biggest
work for voice and orchestra after the Magic
Herbs (1915).
The Masterbuilder (1916) and the Mother’s Ring (1917)
were the two operas which were written between the above two works, and it
should be no less interesting to mention that the Peddler was actually completed
the same year as the Symphony of Leventia.
Since the two autographed manuscripts which have been found are not dated, we have been informed of both the date when the work was completed and the fact that Kalomiris reworked on it from the work’s edition as well as from work catalogues of that time.
The
work’s original performance took place on 11 February 1921 in the Athens
Conservatory concert hall, where the composer himself and the soloist Marika
Calfopoulou performed the Peddler’s
transcription for voice and piano.
Not
a few scholars consider The Peddler a
landmark in Kalomiris’ compositional process since it initiated the
composer’s so called middle creative period; this is a period mainly
characterised of intense French influences, introspection and lyricism. It is
also the period when Kalomiris sought new ways in which to develop his music
language using a thick, often dissonant harmony as his main tool.
Unsuitable
though the term symphonic poem may seem to describe a piece for orchestra and
voice, namely lyrics, the composer could not have given a different title to the
work in question; its form clearly surpasses the limits of the symphonic song,
while the development of the orchestra’s accompanying parts, as much as the full symphonic score describing psychological conditions,
atmospheres or simply connective dramatic elements would only find their true
meaning within the context of a symphonic poem.
The uniquely detailed way in which Kalomiris worked on the poem shows his artistry in musically reading the poetic text. His masterly use of the orchestra gives the listener, at the same time, an excellent sign of symphonic script, which in turn proves him to be a pioneer orchestrator. Looking back to the world music literature, one will seldom come across so imaginative symphonic pictures as for the accompaniment of a song.
In
Griparis’ poem, the hero is a young and handsome peddler, who disturbs the
women’s lives when simply passing through their village. The most seductive of
them, a widow, asks for his golden belt. The peddler answers that, although he
has bought it for one kiss, he will only sell it for two. The widow promises to
meet him in the “beautiful cave”. Overcome with fatigue, the peddler falls
asleep while waiting for her in the cave. In his sleep, the fairies of the cave
cause him to lose his reason, since when flirting with the widow he forgot all
about his fiancée, the one who had originally sold him the golden belt for one
kiss.