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 Romanian popular
music is, like elsewhere, the oldest form of musical creation,
characterised by great vitality up to this day. Its exceptional
qualities and ancientness made it an admirable resource for the
cultured musical creation, both religious and lay. The fact that
popular music is still very much alive and appreciated is also
due to great performers, such as Gheorghe Zamfir, famous
throughout the world today, as a panpipe player. Since the
beginning of the 20th century, with Constantin Brailoiu
(1893-1958) and his school of ethnomusicology, folk music has
become an object of systematic research.
The Byzantine
type of monadic religious music, based on voices, usually
without instrumental accompaniment, was widely practiced in the
churches. The Byzantine canons were nevertheless interestingly
touched by the local musical influences. Liturgical music saw a
period of glory between the 15th-17th centuries, when reputed
schools developed at Romanian monasteries, the best known being
that at Putna Monastery. They developed church choir, under both
Russian and Western influence. That kind of synthesis, in the
range of polyphonic music, was subsequently developed by a
number of Romanian composers in the 19th and 20th centuries;
prominent among them was Dumitru Georgescu-Kiriac (1866-1928).
Lay music
developed its own traits in the Romanian Principalities by the
end of the 18th century. Western patterns prevailed in
Transylvania in both instrumental music (particularly the organ)
and vocal music, while Oriental influences were mainly taken
over in Wallachia and Moldavia. However, after several foreign
musicians had come to these countries and tours by foreign opera
troupes started, a drive towards Western music evolved in
Wallachia and Moldavia as well. In the latter half of the 19th
century, the most important musical institutions were founded:
the Conservatoires in Bucharest and Iasi in 1864, the Romanian
Opera House in Bucharest, in 1866 (the Conservatoire in Cluj had
been set up as early as 1825). The same period saw the emergence
of the national school of music, mainly based on choral music
which drew inspiration from popular or Byzantine music. That was
also a period when Romanian names appeared in opera performance.
Among them were Haricleea Darclee (1860-1939), who made a name
for herself on the great opera stages of the world and who
performed Tosca, when that opera was premiered in 1900.
 The exceptional personality of George Enescu (1881-1955),
who was a composer (author of Oedipus, one of this
centuries most outstanding operas, the two Romanian
Rhapsodies a.o.), as well as a conductor and
instrumentalist, made Romanian music transcend local boundaries.
He was, along with his Hungarian contemporary and friend Bela
Bart k (himself born in Sannicolau Mare near Timisoara), a great
explorer of the Romanian musical popular traditions, which he
used in his profoundly original and creative search for new
formal ways of artistic expression. In the period between the
two World Wars, the Romanian music school was present on the
international stages, especially due to performers and
conductors: pianists Dinu Lipatti (1917-1950) and Clara Haskil
(1895-1960), conductors Ionel Perlea (1900-1970) and Sergiu
Celibidache (1912-1996), who developed their careers outside
Romania, or George Georgescu (1887-1964) and Constantin
Silvestri (1913-1969), etc. Among the composers who made an
exceptional and innovative contribution, one should mention
Mihail Jora (1891-1971), the first to compose lieder and ballet
music, Paul Constantinescu (1909-1963), the author of oratorios
inspired from the Byzantine traits of the old Romanian music,
Sabin Dragoi (1894-1968), the first to compose a musical drama
inspired from the Romanians history, Dimitrie Cuclin
(1885-1978), Mihail Andricu (1894-1974) and Sigismund Toduta
(1908-1991). Theirs was a most visible contribution in the
promotion of the Romanian music through their symphonic oeuvres.
In the last few decades conductors and performers, both
instrumentalists and singers received great acclaim here and in
many countries abroad. The George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra
or the Madrigal choir are only two names on a long list
of international achievements.
Today the countries European option certainly opened up
possibilities for rebuilding bridges towards the international
musical life, either by the participation of Romanian musicians
in international events or by having such events happen in
Romania, such as the prestigious George Enescu International
Festival, resumed after 1989, and The Days of New Music, held in
Bucharest. There existed two opera houses before World War II,
five in 1960 and six at present. The number of musical comedy
and variety theatres dropped from 19, in 1985, to 12 nowadays,
while philharmonic and symphony orchestras increased their
number from 10 in 1950 to 17 at present. The number of
spectators also varied: 2 million in 1950, 3 million in 1980,
1.1 million at present. |
