page_title: Music of Greece
section_title: Ionian School
hierarchical_section_title: Music of Greece / Classical music / Ionian School
caption_attribution_description: English: Corfu Town (Corfu, Greece): Town Hall Nederlands: Korfoe-stad (Korfoe, Griekenland): Raadhuis Français&#160;: Corfou-ville (Corfou, Grèce): l'hôtel de ville
context_page_description: The music of Greece is as diverse and celebrated as its history. Greek music separates into two parts: Greek traditional music and Byzantine music, with more eastern sounds. These compositions have existed for millennia: they originated in the Byzantine period and Greek antiquity; there is a continuous development which appears in the language, the rhythm, the structure and the melody. Music is a significant aspect of Hellenic culture, both within Greece and in the diaspora.
context_section_description: It was through the Ionian islands (which were under Venetian rule and influence) that all the major advances of the western European classical music were introduced to mainland Greeks. The region is notable for the birth of the first School of modern Greek classical music (Heptanesian or Ionian School; Greek: Επτανησιακή Σχολή), established in 1815. Prominent representatives of this genre include Nikolaos Mantzaros, Spyridon Xyndas, Spyridon Samaras, Dionysius Rodotheatos and Pavlos Carrer.
  The Church music (Byzantine) of the islands is also different from the rest of Greece, with significant western and Catholic influences on the Orthodox rite.
caption: Nobile Teatro di San Giacomo di Corfù, the first theatre and opera house of modern Greece and the place where the first Greek opera, Spyridon Xyndas' "The Parliamentary Candidate" based on an exclusively Greek libretto was performed.
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