Mezzosopran ( Lullaby for Amadeus for Mezzo-soprano and Orchestra)

Written in 2006, the anniversary of 250 years after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s birth, this work was first performed at Megaron - The Athens Concert Hall, in February 2007, by the Hellenic Contemporary Music Ensemble conducted by Theodore Antoniou.

It is based on the melody of the lullaby “Schlafe, meinPrinzchen, schlafein….”. For many years many people believed this beautiful song to be Mozart’s composition, but, as it turned out, it was actually written by Bernhard Flies (1770 – 1851). The public’s belief that such a wonderful melody and lyrics could only have been written by Mozart, gave me the idea to use Flies’s melody in my own composition, which is meant as a lullaby for Mozart, this great Prince of Music. The composition has been written for solo voice, flute, clarinet, horn, percussion, piano and strings.

It starts and finishes with a music which could perhaps be considered an effort to “communicate” with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Immediately after that, the melody of the lullaby is sung. Then, instrumental intermezzos are inserted between the various short phrases of the song, reminiscent of melodies from concertos written by Mozart for some of the instruments participating in the composition (winds and piano). These melodies are from the horn concerto KV 447, the clarinet concerto KV 622, the flute concerto KV 314 and the piano concerto KV 467. 

This composition is dedicated to the great composer, conductor and educator Theodore Antoniou (1935 – 2018), as a tiny gesture of gratitude and recognition for his immense contribution to music.

The work the work has been recorded in cd (Soloist : Margarita Syggeniotou, Orchestra of Colours/Miltos Logiadis)