Andreas Seiller
also known as: Andreas Seiler, Andreas Sailer, Andrea Schailer, Ανδρέας Σάιλερ, Ανδρέας Σάιλλερ
To understand the significance of Bavarian military music in the history of Greek music, one must know that after the official founding of Greece in 1830 and the assassination of the first president, Ioannis Kapodistrias, a year later, the country found itself in a power vacuum. As a result, external powers such as France, England, and Russia pushed for the appointment of a European prince as King of Greece. The choice fell on Otto of Greece, a Bavarian prince of the House of Wittelsbach. Thus, in 1832, Otto I became King of Greece. To support his rule, he naturally brought Bavarian troops to the country, along with their military bands.
Among these military musicians was Franz Seiller (1804–1871), who had arrived in Greece in 1834 as staff trumpeter of the Bavarian Artillery Battalion. In 1837, he was appointed Kapellmeister of the band of King Otto’s Life Guard; he thereby became a member of the Greek army and remained in Greece. In 1843, King Otto founded a music school in Athens to train local musicians for the military bands. Franz Seiller was one of its teachers and remained in this position until 1865. This Franz Seiller is the father of Andreas Seiller.
Andreas Seiller was born in 1834 in Athens (Greece). As his father was a military musician himself, it is very likely that Andreas Seiller received an early private musical education from his father and later at the newly founded military music school where his father taught. He then followed in his father’s footsteps and opted for a career as a military musician in the Greek army.
From the 1860s onward, Andreas Seiller served as Inspector of Military Musicians in Greece (Επιθεωρητής των Στρατιωτικών Μουσικών), which placed him at the center of the military musical establishment. Between 1864 and 1865 he was bandmaster of the Philharmonic Society of Lefkada and was also connected to the Philharmonic Society of Corfu. In 1881 Andreas Seiller founded the Athens Philharmonic Society and led the organization as its director.
In his final years, Andreas Seiller was based in Piraeus and served as bandmaster of both the Municipal Band of Piraeus (1895–1898) and the Band of the Zannio Orphanage for Boys in Piraeus (1896). His most notable performance was surely as bandmaster of the ensemble that performed the Olympic Hymn by Spyridon Samaras at the first Summer Olympics in Athens in 1896. As a member of the Greek army, Andreas Seiller also fought in the Greco-Turkish War in 1897.
The work catalogue of Andreas Seiller consists mainly of marches, dances, patriotic songs, arrangements of folk material, and ceremonial compositions. However, he also composed operettas at a time when there were no Greek examples of this genre. These include works such as The Millers (Μυλωνάδες, 1888), The Fortune of Maroula (Τύχης τῆς Μαρούλας, 1889), Uncle Giannis the Jug-Maker (Μπάρμπα - Γιάννης ὁ κανατάς), Her Noble Villages (Αρχοντοχωριά της), The Lyre of Old Nikola (Λύρα τοῦ Γερο-Νικόλα), Captain Giakoumis (ὁ Καπετάν Γιακουμής), and The Wedding of Zambeta (Ο γάμος τῆς Ζαμπέτας).
His revue Epe-se (Επε-σε, 1895), on a libretto by N. Kotselopoulos, also represented a completely new genre in Greek music. His composition The Persians (Πέρσες) was performed at the wedding of the Greek Crown Prince in 1889.
Andreas Seiller died in 1903 in Athens (Greece).
In my possession are several autograph manuscripts of compositions by Andreas Seiller. The works are:
- L'Addio, for military band (1890, dedicated to C. Allegri)
- Ständchen "In grünen Wald", for military band
- Potpourri nel opera 'Aida' di G. Verdi, for military band (1884)
- Komet-Walzer, for military band (1886)
- Romanza senza parole, for military band (1888)
- Nespola-Walzer, for military band (1871, rev. 1887)
- Trinacria-Polka, for military band
- Medalien-Polka, for military band
