An analytical look at some Romanian choral works from the First half of the XXth century

Abstract

Choral music at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century is rooted in the folk art of Romanians, an art preserved to this day in the monodic form of folk songs, peasant dances, and church melodies. Modal melodies, whether chromatic or diatonic, modal harmony and polyphony, particularly attractive heterophony, and the intense variety of timbre and rhythm are expressive means through which the choral music of this period enriches the national treasure. Music has the immense quality of being able to „absorb” the specific sensitivities of each nation, and the composers of the first half of the 20th century in Romanian choral music constitute landmarks in the national musical universe. Both their cultivated works and their folk arrangements are musical jewels of value that must be promoted.