anaparastasis

Jani Christou is one of those representatives of contemporary creation whose offer and importance have not yet been synchronized with the merit promotion and the presence of their share in all of human civilization. Little or elliptical known in the music universe, Christou’s name has been registered within the generation of innovative composers of the second half of the 20th century, without enjoying the luster and prestige that names like Iannis Xenakis do. In most cases the reference to his life and work takes place in a context of literary mythology, which mostly enhances the anecdotal evidence of his life; even more its mysterious aspects, as a mystical folklore, despite adding information or clarifying the picture we have for this very unique composer and thinker of art.

Since Christou’s death in a car-accident in January 1970, the only sketch of a biography has been the musicological approach of Anne-Martine Lucciano (published in 1987, now out of print). My research began 9 years ago, at the time of my schooling in the Music Department of Ionian University, while it became the subject of my thesis (September 2004) and continued as Ph.D. thesis specializing in composer’s philosophical thought as resulting from his manuscripts. So far, I have attended several presentations of my work and lectures on Christou’s work, projecting parts of audiovisual sequences that were already edited as a very rough form of what a documentary film about the composer could be made.

Exemplary, I mention 8th Mediterranean Documentary Film Festival (September 2005, Samos, Greece), 1st Festival of Audiovisual Arts (May 2006, Corfu, Greece), organized by the Department of Audiovisual Arts of the Ionian University, and a lecture at the 1st International Festival of Performance Art (March 2007, @Bios, Athens, Greece).

The forthcoming documentary will gather and link all subparts and audiovisual documents presented so far, as well as new footage that has occurred through continuous research within Christou Archive, archival TV footage and archives of theatrical organizations which Christou had worked for. The film treatment is specifically consisted of:
 

• The rare short film by Mimis Kougioumtzis shot in rehearsals of Theatre Arts (1965-1968); previously available only piecemeal, now at its entirety.
• The only colored film document: a 10-minute super 8 mm reel with family moments while Christou’s stay in Alexandria; not shown ever before.
• Excerpts from performances in Greece and abroad, brief TV tributes and rare audio documents from historical concerts.
• A wide variety of Christou photos, mostly not shown or published previously (from composer’s personal archive).
• Interviews of persons associated with Jani Christou as either friends or collaborators such as the generous testimonies of
  Stefanos Vassiliades (who passed away some months after our meeting) -composer and educator,
  Theodore Antoniou -composer and conductor,
  Nelly Semitekolo –pianist,
  Gregory Semitekolo –visual artist and performer,
  Philippos Tsalachouris –composer and educator,
  Haris Xanthoudakis –composer and musicologist,
  Miltos Logiades –conductor.
• Archival footage from rare TV tributes where
  Karolos Koun –director and founder of Arts’ Theatre and
  Dora Tsatsou-Symeonidou –choreographer, are interviewed.
• Footage that will result from a new round of interviews with personalities from the music world, living abroad, that are personally or musically linked with Christou and his work. Also, there will be new interview sessions with significant composers of the Greek music scene, which relate in various ways with Christou’s work or era.
• The results of a comprehensive site survey in all locations mentioned in composer’s almost mythical biography such as King's College in Cambridge (UK), Wittgenstein Archives (Norway, UK), Musica Accademia Chigiana (Italy), Jung Institute (Switzerland), Christou’s former home and Horemis’ family farm (Chios, Greece), where is also located composer’s tomb.

[director’s foreword]

Jani Christou was born at Heliopolis, N.E. of Cairo, Egypt, on January 8th, 1926, of Greek parents. He was educated at Victoria College in Alexandria and began composing at an early age. According to the myth, during mid 40’s, he travelled to England to study Formal Logic and Philosophy at King's College, Cambridge, under Ludwig Wittgenstein and Bertrand Russell. At the same time he studied music privately with Hans Ferdinand Redlich, the distinguished musicologist and pupil of Alban Berg, and in 1949 travelled to Rome to study orchestration with Angelo Francesco Lavagnino, best known for composing film scores. He also travelled widely in Europe, culminating for a short period in Zurich, where he attended lectures in psychology with Carl Jung; encouraged by his brother Evis (a pupil of Jung himself) whom Christou considered his spiritual mentor. In the early 50’s, he had already returned to Alexandria and in 1956 he married Theresia Choreme, a remarkable young painter from Chios, who supported and assisted Christou in all his artistic and creative aspirations. It was the same year that Jani lost his only borther Evis, in a car accident; a fact that deeply affected him in his work in the years that followed. By that time, in Alexandria, he organized his private recording studio and devoted to composition.

By 1953, he had already composed his first extended symphonic works: Phoenix Music, Symphony No.1, Latin Mass. By 1956 he had completed the Six T.S. Eliot Songs. In 1960, Christou settled permanently in Greece dividing his time between Chios and Athens. He had already completed the works Symphony No.2 and Patterns and Permutations. He composed music for greek ancient drama for the Greek State Theatre and the Art Theatre of Karolos Koun (Agamemnon, Prometheus Bound, Frogs, Persians, Oedipus Rex). The works Toccata for pianoforte and orchestra, the oratorios Tongues of Fire and Mysterion followed. He moved to Athens due to the increasing artistic events to which he had to participate. His later period of composition followed: Praxis for 12, The Strychnine Lady, Epicycle, Enandiodromia, Anaparastasis -a sequence of various multi-artistic rituals, only two of which are completed: Anaparastasis I aka The Baritone and Anaparastasis III aka The Pianist. From 1967 he had been hectically working on an ambitious plan: a large scale contemporary opera based on the ancient trilogy of Oresteia by Aeschylus, which he never introduced. At the dawn of January 8th 1970, while returning from a tavern where he had taken his friends to celebrate his name day, Jani Christou was killed in a car accident. The next day was his birthday. He was only 44 years old and one of the leading composers of his generation.

As the significant musicologist Michael Stewart witnesses, with Christou’s death “the contemporary music world lost one of its most exciting and provocative talents. […] He was regarded by many as one of the leading composers of his generation. He was controversial, highly talented, and greatly admired both in his own country and abroad. And yet although his name remains respected in contemporary music circles to this day, performances of his music are extremely rare. At the time of Christou's death, his music was being heard at some of the most prestigious international music festivals in the world, and he was also preparing to unveil the most ambitious project of his career. […] Christou's untimely death left many projects incomplete, including the Oresteia, which would have received its world premiere at the English Bach Festival in London in April 1970, with further performances scheduled for France, Japan, America and Scandinavia.

[…] Christou would work long hours at a stretch, but when not actually physically engaged in the act of composing, would spend a great deal of time studying in his vast library of books and absorbing subjects from philosophy, anthropology, psychology, theology and comparative religions, history and pre-history through to occultism and art. Christou was as much a philosopher and metaphysician as he was a composer, and it is important to understand that all of his music sprang from his philosophical studies and theories. This is particularly so in the music covering the last ten years of his life, where his compositional techniques are at times transmuted beyond conventional music”.