Manos Hatzidakis

Manos Hatzidakis (sometimes written Hadjidakis; born 23 October 1925, died 15 June 1994) was a Greek composer and music theorist, often counted among the country's most significant musical figures. Alongside Mikis Theodorakis, he championed the "éntekhno" style, and he founded the Orchestra of Colours, an ensemble dedicated to overlooked works and pieces by Greek composers.

Career

Through his essays and radio programs, he left a deep mark on Greek cultural life. His theoretical and compositional efforts are seen as the first postwar attempt to link text-based music with folk traditions. In 1960, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Never on Sunday," from the film of the same name, but turned down the prize because he believed the movie misrepresented Athens.

Early life

He was born Emmanouil Hatzidakis in Xanthi, Greece. His father, Georgios Hatzidakis, a lawyer from the Cretan village of Myrthios, and his mother, Aliki Arvanitidou, from Adrianoupolis, had prospered from local tobacco sales. After his father died in 1931, his mother moved them to Athens, where they lived in relative poverty.

Between 1940 and 1943, he studied music theory under Menelaos Pallandios, while also enrolling in philosophy at the University of Athens—a course he never finished. He befriended writers and artists such as George Seferis, Odysseas Elytis, Angelos Sikelianos, Yannis Tsarouchis, and especially the poet Nikos Gatsos, who became a close companion. During the final phase of the Axis occupation, he joined the resistance group EPON, the youth wing of EAM, where he met Mikis Theodorakis; the two soon formed a strong bond.

His first composition was the tune for "Paper Moon," used in a production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire staged by Karolos Koun's Art Theatre. In 1947 he released his first piano piece, "For a Little White Seashell," and the following year set a collection of Gatsos' poetry to music for Blood Wedding. In 1949, he shook the Greek music establishment with a landmark lecture on rembetika—urban folk songs that had flourished in cities like Piraeus after the 1922 Asia Minor refugee influx.

He praised their economy of expression, deep traditional roots, and genuine emotion, elevating composers such as Markos Vamvakaris and Vassilis Tsitsanis. He put these ideas into practice with his 1951 piano work Six Popular Pictures, later adapted as a folk ballet. That same year, he co-founded the Greek Dance Theatre Company with choreographer Rallou Manou.

He then began writing hugely popular songs and film scores alongside more serious works, such as the 1954 song cycle The C.N.S. Cycle for piano and voice. In 1955 he scored Michael Cacoyannis' film Stella, with Melina Mercouri singing the iconic "Love that became a double-edged knife." He also composed the music for the 1955 film Laterna, ftoxia kai filotimo.

In 1958, he met Nana Mouskouri, whom he considered his first ideal interpreter. International fame came in 1960 with "Never on Sunday" from Jules Dassin's film, which won an Academy Award and became a global hit. Hatzidakis skipped the 1961 ceremony and refused the award, arguing that the film's portrayal of a prostitute reflected poorly on Athens.

In 1962, he launched a music competition to support Greek composers; Iannis Xenakis won the first prize in 1963. That year he also produced the musical Street of Dreams and completed his score for Aristophanes' Birds, an Art Theatre production that sparked controversy over Koun's avant-garde direction.

The score was later used by Maurice Béjart's Ballet of the 20th Century. He wrote a song that Arthur Altman gave English lyrics to, which Brenda Lee recorded as "All Alone Am I." In 1964, he released the album 15 Vespers, featuring the well-known "Mr Antonis." The following year, his LP Gioconda's Smile came out on Minos-EMI (later reissued in 2004 as a remastered audiophile LP and CD). In 1966, he traveled to New York for the Broadway premiere of Illya Darling, a musical based on Never on Sunday starring Mercouri.

Living outside Greece

From 1966 to 1972, Hatzidakis lived in the United States, where he completed several major works: Rhythmology for solo piano, Gioconda's Smile (produced by Quincy Jones), and the song cycle Magnus Eroticus, which set ancient, medieval, and modern Greek poems—including texts by Sappho, Euripides, Dionysios Solomos, Constantine Cavafy, Odysseus Elytis, and Nikos Gatsos, as well as an excerpt from the Song of Songs. He also released the album Reflections, a collaboration with the New York Rock & Roll Ensemble.

Later years

He returned to Greece in 1972 and recorded Magnus Eroticus with opera-trained alto Fleury Dantona.