Lazaros Delidemos: Carl Orff Competition 2020 Moree kondoula Lemonia

“Moree kondoula Lemonia” is a popular old folk song from Epirus, Greece. Although it gives the impression of a pentatonic melody, it is constructed by the use of just four notes.
“Lemonia” is the lemon tree, but sometimes this noun is used as a woman’s first name.
So, in this song, a young man, in his imagination, talks to e young lady, with whom he is in
love, as talking to a lemon tree, since her name is Lemonia. He tells her that he is sick of
love for her, and he begs her to cure his sickness with her affection.
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Under the melodies of the two voices of the choir I write the lyrics of the song 1) in the original Greek language, 2) the English pronunciation of the Greek words, 3) the metrical English translation I made, which gives almost exactly the meaning of the Greek lyrics.
Notes about the pronunciation: ee as in queen, tea // o as in forum, // ou as in book,
a as in father, // ia as in piano, // io as in fiord, Piotr (Peter), // th as in brother,
i as in kid, // y as in hymn, // ay as in high, light, // h as in have, high
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In my arrangement I tried to keep as much as possible the general style of the folk song, using some elements of a strange primitive polyphony which is used on the mountains of Epirus (a district of north-western Greece) and at the same time combining this with the European harmony and counterpoint. I wrote an optional accompaniment by cello and contra bass for the first verse, just in case the song is played in a concert. The introduction is constructed by the use of two motives of the song, the motive of the 9th and 10th measures in diminution, and the beginning motive (3 first measures) in retrograde motion. This introduction is used also as an interlude before the 3rd verse and as a closing section of the piece. Between the 3rd and 4rth verses I use a variation of the original introduction which is played by the folk musicians.