Magnus Eroticus

Op. 30, for two voices, mixed chorus and stringed instruments.
Poems of Odysseas Elytis, Nikos Gatsos, Constantine Cavafy, Dionysios Solomos, Sappho, Myrtiotissa, Yorgos Sarandaris, Pandelis Prevelakis, Yorgos Hortatzis and Solomon set to music.
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MAGNUS EROTICUS was written from a sense of guilt and not for amorous reasons. Only foolish people imagine that a work like "Magnus Eroticus" is composed when you are in love. "Magnus Eroticus" is something you write when you are not concerned whether you are in love or not. You have sorted out matters and are free to think. My guilty conscience had to do with a grand lady, Myrtiotissa, the mother of the great actor Yorgos Pappas, who happened to be a bosom friend. I used to visit them at home regularly, and she would make coffee for me, and ask how I was, and I was really fond of her. When Yorgos died, her whereabouts became unknown, and I lost contact with her. At a certain time, when she was ill in hospital, she sent me her marvellous poem, "I Love You", to set it to music, together with a very moving letter. There and then I intended to go and see her, but I didn’t; and with typical youthful thoughtlessness, I forgot. I was in America when I read that Myrtiotissa had died, and my earlier negligence came to mind. I found her letter and her poem, and felt the remorse of one who, when very young, is prone to such carelessness and irresponsibility. I wanted, in retrospect, to set Myrtiotissa’s poem (so familiar to past generations) to music. But to include it somewhere, I needed to write a entire cycle of erotic songs. So I decided to select poems ranging from Sappho to the present, in order to include "I Love You" by Myrtiotissa. And I composed "Magnus Eroticus". I think I succeeded in producing a fine work, which at heart belongs to her. If there’s someone that "Magnus Eroticus" rightfully belongs to, it is Myrtiotissa and her memory.
M.H.