I Metamorphossis tou Dionissou (Kostas Karyotakis)

Die Metamorphosen des Dionysos, the first opera by Mikis Theodorakis, is a free variation on and unconventional interpretation of Greek history. This is a parable on the excesses and suggestive force of power, but also on the relationship between art and politics. The starting and ending point is the suicide of the Greek poet Kostas Karyotakis (1896-1928) who repeatedly expressed his views on social evils in his homeland either openly or encrypted in his poetry. The opera allows him to speak through the figure of the poet and through his poems which are interspersed throughout the entire opera and interwoven with a subplot involving the god Dionysos. This god has returned to earth and is confronted with individuals and events exemplifying the various periods of oppression and foreign rule endured by Greece during the past couple of hundred years. In 1985, Theodorakis composed an initial version of the opera entitled Karyotakis which shortly later was extended to form the two-act opera Die Metamorphosen des Dionysos.
‘In adherence to Aristophanic tradition and the traditions of revues and also according to our own experiences, I feel the need to package current events in Greece in the form of satire. I began this piece as a revue, as an opera buffa in which I would later insert the lyrical sections. It is precisely these passages which are particularly effective in view of the ever-increasing contrast to the grotesqueness and surrealism which have been prevalent in Greece during the past few decades. Nothing is addressed in a spiteful manner: on the contrary, all is imbued with humour.’ (Mikis Theodorakis)