Emilia Petrescu – thoughts about Vocal Music and Pedagogy

Abstract

In the middle of the communist era, a Romanian singer with talent, music knowledge and ambition, manages the performance of devoting herself to a vast concert-repertoire, not exactly a friendly one with the atheist views of the official doctrine of the proletariat, who recently was installed in Romania after the World War II. Her vocal repertoire included Songs (Lieder) and Oratory, represented by vocal-symphonic works mostly with religious content. But through a high level of professionalism, her well mastered vocal technique and a unique intelligence in mastering the musical phrase, also with a practical temperament, Emilia Petrescu manages to achieve a wide national and European recognition. This article aims to reconstruct some of the artist's thoughts on the art of singing, which I hope will be useful to new generations of singers.