Dimitris Dragatakis (1914-2001): Advancing his legacy and Concerto for Viola using twenty-first-century digital tools

Abstract

This project focuses on Dimitris Dragatakis (1914–2001), his legacy, and Concerto for Viola in the twenty-first century. The research examines the following overarching questions within interlaced scholarly and creative components of the dissertation:

How can we use twenty-first-century digital tools to promote Dimitris Dragatakis, one of Greece’s most important modern composers, to advance his legacy including, importantly, his Concerto for Viola, and to assist future scholars and performers in accessing information about his life and music?

This dissertation discusses the digital tools and processes used to advance the legacy of Dimitris Dragatakis and to promote his Concerto for Viola. These tools and processes include creating and publishing the Dragatakis Archive Digital Database website, recording interviews with the Dragatakis family and leading Dragatakis scholar, and using his Concerto for Viola (1992) as a digital case study. The digital case study demonstrates how twenty-first-century performers, scholars, and archivists might approach advancing the works of lesser-known composers through digital media. In this case study, a new viola and piano performance edition and percussion chamber music performance edition are offered, a new digital orchestra score along with complete orchestral parts is made available, interview material with the violist who premiered the work has been recorded, and the recently unearthed premiere performance recording of the work from the Dragatakis archive has been included in an interactive video created by the researcher. This project also aims to provide a model for future performers and scholars to use to assist future projects beyond this topic.