Emilios Riadis (original name Emilios Khu; ; 13 May 1880 – 17 July 1935) was a Greek composer.

Biography

Riadis was born in Thessaloniki,

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, now in Greece. He had his first music lesson in harmony and piano with a friend of

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

's, Dimitrios Lalas. He also studied at the Munich Music Academy from 1908–1910. He studied form, instrumental and fugue with Walburnn, piano with Mayer-Schrey and choral singing with Becht and Stitch. After finishing at the academy he moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and studied under Charpentier and

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

(1910–1915). This was when he started appearing as the composer Riadis because he took the ending of his mother's maiden name, which was Elefteriadis. He was temporarily arrested at the beginning of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and resulted to his permanent move back to

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

. In 1915 he became a professor at the State Conservatory of Salonica. It is rumored that he was the sub-director, however there are no records indicating this. Most of his works were for the stage, orchestra and chamber, but Riadis was famous for his songs. His songs were "distinguished by an expressive melodic line, somewhat oriental in its intervallic pattern; his harmonization’s are in the French manner".Slonimsky, Nicolas, Laura Kuhn, and Dennis McIntire. "Riadis (real name Khu), Emilios." ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'' Ed. Nicolas Slonimsky and Laura Khun. Vol 5. New York: Schirmer, 2001. 2975."Gale Virtual Reference Library" Web. 16 February 2011 Most of his works, however, remained unfinished. He also gave a few lectures during the 1920s. In 1921/22 he lectured on Chinese music, in 1924 on Mozart and in 1926 on Ancient Egyptian music. Riadis won the National Award for Arts and Letters in 1923. He also made the

orchestration Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

of the Hymn of Aris Thessaloniki, of which he was a supporter.

Notes

References

*Bohle, Bruce. ''The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians'' Emilios Riadis' (New York:Dodd, Mead and Co, 1985) *Sadie, Stanley. ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians''. "Emilios Riadis" (New York: Macmillan, 2001). *Slonimsky, Nicolas, Laura Kuhn, and Dennis McIntire. 'Riadis (real name Khu), Emilios.' ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'' Ed. Nicolas Slonimsky and Laura Khun. Vol 5. New York: Schirmer, 2001. 2975."Gale Virtual Reference Library" Web. 16 Feb. 2011

External links

Athens News Article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riadis, Emilios Greek classical composers Greek National School Musicians from Thessaloniki Greek Macedonians Greeks from the Ottoman Empire Expatriates from the Ottoman Empire in Germany Expatriates from the Ottoman Empire in France 1880 births 1935 deaths Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni Aris Thessaloniki Greek male classical composers 20th-century Greek male musicians 19th-century Greek musicians 20th-century Greek musicians