Searching for
Nikos Skalkottas ***
The spring of 1933 was a time of profound upheaval: for the Weimar Republic, which was at the edge of the abyss; for Europe, which was to plunge into its greatest catastrophe during the following years—and for the 29-yearold Greek composer Nikos Skalkottas, who, caught in an untenable economic situation, had to leave his adopted home, Berlin. Returning to Athens, the city of his childhood, he left all his possessions and his musical manuscripts behind. Up to this point, Skalkottas’s story sounds like the beginning of a highly promising musical career. At the age of 17, he had arrived in Berlin. A scholarship enabled the highly talented violinist and prize-winning graduate of the Athens Conservatory to continue his studies at the Hochschule für Musik from 1921 onward. Skalkottas lived in the rapidly expanding metropolis during one of its most fascinating eras. Berlin had become one of the leading musical centers of Europe; the most renowned musicians of the time gathered here. Skalkottas took lessons from Kurt Weill, then from Philipp Jarnach; composition quickly became his new goal. In 1927 he joined the circle of students taught by Arnold Schoenberg in his 22 24
composition master class at the Academy of Fine Arts. The encounter with Schoenberg was decisive for Skalkottas’s further development: he was highly esteemed by his teacher, conducted concerts with his own compositions and those of his classmates as well as rehearsals of Schoenberg’s works, claiming in a letter that he was the master’s “right hand.” Skalkottas’s Octet for Winds and String Quartet, his Concerto for Winds, and the First String Quartet were featured on the programs of the Academy’s concerts. He supported himself by performing in Berlin’s cafés and cinemas, accompanying silent films. For a while he lived together with a fellow student, the violinist Matla Temko, and in 1927 they had a daughter. After his graduation in 1930, however, his scholarship ended and he lost the financial support of a wealthy friend. Within the growing recession, finding work became increasingly difficult for Skalkottas. Schoenberg, as a jury member of the competition for the Mendelssohn Scholarship for Composers in 1932, proposed a joint first prize for Norbert von Hannenheim and Skalkottas, but the prize was given to Hannenheim. In 1933, Skalkottas had run out of options
