If the “Babylonian Library” by Jorge Luis Borges existed, then in music a version could be found in an Athenian penthouse in Victoria Square. The vinyl and gramophone records that are there are mostly classical music And operaexceeds 30,000. And as they covered the walls, so they pierced the whole life of the passionate collector their, Statis Arfanis. In addition to audio material, which includes but does not discs and cassettes, drums and CDs, the archive has replenished collectible memorabilia from the world of music: letters or autographs from composers such as Rossini, Brahms, Verdi, Wagner, Berlioz, Richard Strauss, Rachmaninoff, Bartok, Shostakovich and Prokofiev, and singers such as Giovanni Battista Rubini, Isabella Colbran and Maria Malibran, as well as. ..hair from Beethoven’s hair, which he acquired in America. These rare souvenirs were either given to him by the Greek artists themselves and their families, or bought from abroad by mail-order dealers and collectors, before the age of the Internet.

The apartment of Statis Arfanis is a musical ark, which, on his own generous initiative, is currently being transferred to Athens Conservatory. “They won’t go to waste there,” he tells us. “I could lock them up and iron them like naughty collectors do. Yes, I am also a bad collector, but I want to share all this. I’m happy when I’m with others.”

His musical tastes are characterized by passionate monomania: “When I first played Beethoven’s concerto for orchestra and violin, I no longer wanted to listen to any other music. I think he was the greatest composer of symphonic music and the greatest composer of opera was Verdi. For me, these are two peaks. But there is another “world peak” in which he has a weakness: the conductor Dimitris Mitropoulos. “Mitropoulos, like Callas, was a unique phenomenon in the history of music. I tried to collect everything that was recorded under his direction, either by buying records or by recording radio broadcasts.

“Most of the 78rpm records that belonged to the EIR collection were sold at auctions, not secondhand,” says Mr. Arfanis.

His voice takes on a tone of absolute admiration when he talks about his other great passion: the leading opera singers of the first half of the last century. This passion is heightened when it focuses on our own greats, the first performers of Greek melodrama. We are discussing “Lullaby” by Spyros Samaras, a 1928 recording performed by Petros Epitropakis. “He was one of the most important tenors that ever existed. “Lullaby” could not be interpreted by anyone else in the same way. Indeed, his voice seems heavenly. “Only those few who have been touched in the groin by a higher power can do such a thing” he says reverently, adding with regret that we have forgotten this great chapter of our culture. The whole history of our music ends up in the trash unless someone like the Athens Conservatory is interested in saving it.”

To paraphrase Solomon, he says that “the eyes of the soul can be ears,” and if this is true, then the Athenian Conservatory will soon offer material for the highest entertainment to the melomanic public. Telling him how valuable his donation is, he replies: “Thank you to those wonderful artists who, when we manage to make them more famous, will make us proud. They are the true Greece of art.”

– Rare audio excerpts will be performed at the Athens Conservatory on Monday, April 3, at an event dedicated to the collector St. Arfan.