Skalkottas, Nicos (1904–1949)

Greek composer. He was Greece's first composer of international stature; only after his death did his vast output begin to be performed. Until 1938 his compositions were influenced by the 12-note method of Schoenberg.

Skalkottas was intended for a career as a concert violinist and studied at the Athens Conservatory and with Economidis. Later he spent 12 years in Germany, where he studied composition with Schoenberg, Weill, and Jarnach. In 1933 he returned to Greece and spent the remainder of his life as an obscure orchestral player, composing in his spare time.

Works Stage two ballets The Maid and Death (1938) and The Sea (1949), 36 Greek Dances (1931–6).

Orchestral Sinfonietta, overture The Return of Ulysses, two suites for orchestra; concerto and symphony for wind instruments, three piano concertos (1931, 1938, 1939), violin concerto (1938), cello concerto (1938), concerto for violin and viola (1940), concerto for two violins.

Chamber four string quartets (1928–40), octet for woodwind quartet and string quartet (1931), four sonatinas for violin and piano (1929–35).