The Collections of the Lilian Voudouri Music Library

Contemporary Greek Composers

Collection Chambure

The collection consists of rare books and scores that were in the possession of the famous French musicologist Genevieve Thibault de Chambure (1902-1975). In particular, the collection includes 49 musical manuscripts, 62 sheet music and 8 editions with texts related to music. Most of these texts represent various aspects of musical life in France and Italy during the period 1730-1860, with some exceptions. The types of music that are represented in the collection include mainly chamber music, opera (or excerpts from opera) and religious music. Characteristic of this period are also the printed and handwritten collections of selected pieces from widespread music works in various arrangements or simplified versions for the purpose of their popularization.

Byzantine Music Collection

The Music Library of Greece ‘Lilian Voudouri’ owns a large collection of books on Byzantine and post-byzantine music, as this music forms an important and integral part of Greek tradition and civilization. The rich Library collection includes bibliography on Byzantine music, recordings, rare manuscripts and publications with Byzantine music notation. The 33 books with Byzantine music notation that have been digitized come from publishers in Bucharest, Constantinople, Thessaloniki, Vienna, Athens and Mount Athos and date from 1820 to 1961. Among them is the “Syntomon Doxastarion tou Aoidimou Petrou Lampadariou tou Peloponnisiou” which was published in Bucharest in 1820 and consists the second printed book with Byzantine music notation that has ever been published.

Greek Music Journals Collection

The Greek music journals of the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century represent for researchers one of the main sources of information on the development of the Greek traditional and art music. These articles contain a lot of information regarding the continuation of the Byzantine and folk tradition, the careers of Greek artists in Greece and abroad, the development of the first conservatories and concert halls and, generally, matters concerning musical life in Greece. The collection of journals of the Music Library of Greece ‘Lilian Voudouri’ amounts to 170 titles. From this rich collection the journals «Μοusika Chronika» and «Μοusiki Κinisis» have been digitized. a) «Μοusika Chronika» (Music Annals) were being published monthly by Josif Papadopoulos from 1928 until 1933. The journal includes articles by the most important musicians and music critics of the time, such as M. Kalomiris, D. Lavrangas and Th. Polikratis. b) «Μοusiki Kinisis» (Music Activities) was being published from 1949 until 1956 by the Hellenic Conservatory and its articles mainly focus on musicological topics as well as to the activities of the Conservatory.

Greek Scores Collection

Between 1870 and 1960, the Greek song thrived. The rise of the middle class in Greece was a key factor in the Greek song’s progress; there was a great production of songs that were well received by the general public. Scholarly composers and poets showed great interest in this musical style, providing excellent quality and distinguished style to a “light” musical form. The unique collection of Greek songs of the Music Library of Greece “Lilian Voudouri” numbers more than five thousand titles. It covers a wide range of Greek songs and embodies both art and popular music expression, given that this compositional style addressed to a wider audience, which had no special music education. In this way, along with N. Kokkinos’, N. Lampelet’s, N. Mantzaros’ and M. Kalomiris’ songs are the songs of I. Kaisaris, I. Karantzas and L. Spinellis. Similar breadth is found in the research of the philological value of the songs. It juxtaposes the verses of D. Solomos, A. Valaoritis, G. Vizyinos with the kind of verse – technique used to create more popular songs and was inspired by the everyday life of the time. The songs which are on the public domain are fully available online. Respectively, only the first page of songs that are still under copyright law is available. The entire collection of the digitized songs can be accessed only within the Library premises.

Recordings Collection

The record collection of the Music Library of Greece ‘Lilian Voudouri’ amounts to over 2.500 titles. This number includes records of 33, 45 and 78 r.p.m. which were produced by Greek and foreign recording companies and contain works that are composed or performed by Greek composers and artists. The digitized greek records collection contains vinyl records of 33 r.p.m. which, until now, have not been released in CD format. This collection was created not only to preserve the original records, but also to enable an easy access for the Library’s visitors. Due to copyright law which applies both to record companies and to creators, there is no access to digitized sound through the internet. However, the metadata are provided freely, whereas digitized sound is available only within the Library’s premises.

Librettos collection

Programs Collection

The programmes collection of the Music Library of Greece ‘Lilian Voudouri’ amounts to about 2.160 programmes. The oldest one dates back to 1882. The programmes originate from private collections of members of The Friends of Music Society and were collected by Alexandra Trianti during the time that she was President of the Society (1968-1977). In 1995, when the Music Library of Greece was founded, the collection came to its possession and, in the course of time, it was enriched by new donations or purchases from private collectors and auctions. This collection includes primarily concert programmes of chamber and symphonic music and secondarily programmes of operas, operettas and revues despite the popularity of the latter during the first half of the 20th century in Athens. This fact reflects the preferences of the original possessors of those programmes.

Manuscript collection

The Music Library of Greece “Liilian Voudouri” collection of manuscripts includes works by Greek composers, like: Giorgos Axiotis, Sotos Vasileiadis, Dionysios Visvardis, Giorgos Vokos, Giorgos Georgiadis, Spyridon Kaisaris, Manolis Kalomoiris, Pavlos Karrer, Alexandros Katakouzinos, Ioannis Komninos, I. Kyparissis, Dimitris Lialios, Dimitris Mitropoulos, Iannis Xenakis, Menelaos Pallantios, Vasilis Petrozinis, Emilios Riadis, Theofrastos Sakellaridis, Nikos Skalkotas, Manos Chatzidakis and others.