An exceptional meeting at the Black Church: Emilia Petrescu and Hans Eckart Schlandt

Abstract

In the communist era, in Romania, two destinies of musicians meet in a collaboration that has marked for some decades an artistic friendship and exceptional musical achievements. Their careers developed in the context in which sacred music was carefully censored by the communist political system and the two artists precisely targeted this repertoire. Who were they, how they made their musical projects possible and what their artistic heritage is - we intend to draw in the following lines. The present article is based on extensive documentation, but mainly on a recent interview with the organist Eckart Schlandt. The author of this article had the privilege of interact directly with the two artists.