Konstantinos Agathophron Nikolopoulos (; c. 1786 – 12 June 1841) was a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and def ...
,
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...
and colleague of
Adamantios Korais
Adamantios Korais or Koraïs ( ; ; ; 27 April 17486 April 1833) was a Greek scholar credited with laying the foundations of modern Greek literature and a major figure in the Greek Enlightenment. His activities paved the way for the Greek War ...
.
Biography
Konstantinos Nikolopoulos was born in
Smyrna
Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...
,
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 ...
and grew up in
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 ...
. Being somewhat of a "
Renaissance Man
A polymath or polyhistor is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge, ...
" (that is, an individual with many varied skills and talents), he was employed as librarian in the
French Institute
The ; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the . It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute manages approximately ...
, where he worked for much of his life.
He was a member of the
Philiki Etaireia, the underground revolutionary Greek organization working for the liberation of the Greeks from the
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 ...
. He died in Paris, at the age of 55,
Abstracts
/ref> while he donated his library to the municipality of Andritsaina, origin place of his father.
Compositions
Josef Fink helped bring some fame to Nikolopoulos by referring to his compositions in ''"Die Arkadische Sendung Des Konstantinos Nikolopoulos"'' in 1980. Some of his works were based on Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
texts, while he composed also religious music. Some of his compositions include the following:
* ''Three Romances''
* ''Ezekiel's Dream''
* ''A Cantata for Palaeon Patron Germanos''
* ''The Song of the Greek''
* ''The Cry of the Greeks''
* ''Prooemion to the Iliad''
* ''Kyrie Eleison'' (religious)
References
External links
Princeton Classical Languages Instruction Project
(contains a segment of his "Prooemion to the Iliad")
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikolopoulos, Konstantinos
1780s births
1841 deaths
People from the Ottoman Empire
Expatriates in France
Greek composers
Smyrniote Greeks
Greek people of the Greek War of Independence
People of the Modern Greek Enlightenment
Members of the Filiki Eteria
19th-century Greek musicians
Musicians from İzmir