On 26 February 2026, 5pm., Dr. Fiona Antonelaki (Athens), will deliver a seminar on sound recordings of Cavafy's poems. Here is the abstract for the lecture:
The popularity of C. P. Cavafy’s (1863-1933) poems as performance pieces has its origins in the interwar years. As Cavafy’s fame grew, so did the vocal transmission of his work: from poetry recitals to musical settings and stage adaptations, Cavafy’s verse circulated au/orally through various media. These early performances left no traces behind. More importantly, Cavafy’s own voice was never recorded. This paper examines the first attempts to capture Cavafy’s ‘unique tone of voice’, as W. H. Auden famously described it, through sound recordings produced in the second half of the twentieth century.
Who were the performers employed to interpret Cavafy in terms of gender, reading style and familiarity with his poetry? Which poems were recorded and by which criteria were they selected? Do the Cavafy audiotexts reinforce or question the status of the printed text? The auditory reception of Cavafy, I argue, is an important, if understudied, indicator of how his poetry was interpreted at different moments in the twentieth century.
Free event, part of the Modern Greek Seminar Series. All Welcome, but please register @ https://forms.office.com/e/stAs3L2fM1?origin=lprLink
For more information, please email dimitris.papanikolaou@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk
