The online collection of the music manuscripts collection of Nikolaos Mavropoulos, provides access to digitized versions of about 70 Byzantine music scores. “Glory” to the Lauds and stichera of Vespers and Matins of various Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church are mostly included in the collection, which was acquired by the Library, from an antique store in Athens several years ago.The goal of the project was to create and provide online access to high-quality images and descriptions of music munuscripts of Nikolaos Mavropoulos, owned by the Library of School of Music Studies. Images and descriptions of these manuscripts is available online through the Library's Dspace digital repository "Sophia" for study by musicians, scholars and the general public. Over time additional images and informations may be added accordingly.
Nikolaos Mavropoulou Archives by Library of School of Music Studies, Faculty of Fine Arts, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Biographical information:
Nikolaos Mavropoulos was born in Beykoz, North Bosphorus, Constantinople in 1888. He first studied Byzantine music and served as a Domestikos (Choimaster), with the Protopsaltes (Archcantor), Ioannis Vasiliadis, chanted in various churches of Constantinople such as Panagia Kafatiani, Panagia Mouhliou, Dormition in Pringipos island (Buyuk Ada), St Eufimia in Chalkedon (Kadikoy), St John of Chios as a Lampadarios (left cantor) to Neleus Kamarados. In 1915 after the resignation of Demetrios Fokaeus, he served as a First Domestikos to the Archon Protopsaltes (Archon Archcantor) Iakovos Nafpliotis, at the Patriarchal Church of St George.
After the war he served as Protopsaltes at St John of Chios Church, until he emigrated to Patras, Greece in 1927 where he was appointed as a Protopsaltes at the Church of Pantanassa. In 1945 he moved to Athens where he was appointed as a Protopsaltes at the Cathedral of St Dionysius for 5 years. In 1950 he was ordained as a priest and served at the Church of St. Paraskevi in Nea Smyrni, Athens. As a Protopsaltes, teacher and composer, in Patras and in Athens, he is remembered as a great teacher and imitable interpreter of the musical compositions.
He was a master of psaltic art and it's technique in its entirety and was totally devoted to his music. He “served” the ecclesiastical music with "all his might and all his mind and all his soul". He was sweet voiced which he amplified in breadth and beauty with his excellent technique. He interpreted with authentic ecclesiastical style ("yphos"), following the Patriachal style of his mentor the Archon Protopsaltes Iakovos Nafpliotis.
He was distinguished for his vocal clarity ("vocal technique") in performance and interpreted the musical intervals and the quality notes of the score with exemplary precision. In addition to his musical interpretation prowess, he was distinguished through his compositions (mathimata) remembered until today. Together with his brother Dimitrios Mavropoulos, they were known for their in depth knowledge and high quality in the field of Byzantine Music and the Psaltic Art. He passed away on the 23rd of July 1980.
Hosted in:
Access information:
Closed collection. Non loanable collection. Digitized items may be openly accessed through the Library of Music Studies Repository 'Sophia'
The collection in Psifiothiki:
Bibliography:
- Βουδούρης, Α. Λ. (1998). Μουσικοκριτικά. Αθήναι: Ευρωπαϊκό Κέντρο Τέχνης.
- Μαυρόπουλος, Δημήτριος, Α. (Μάιος 2015). Προφορική μαρτυρία στο βιβλιοθηκονόμο Άρη Μπαζμαδέλη.
- Οικονόμου, Φ. Α. (2001). Βυζαντινή εκκλησιαστική μουσική και ψαλμωδία: ιστορικομουσικολογική μελέτη. Αίγιο: Φίλιππος Αθ.Οικονόμου.
