Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov. Series VIII: Performing Arts

Aspects regarding articulation in vocal art

Ioan Ardelean — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Singing being nothing more than words that communicate and sounds that move, singers are distinguished from instrumentalists by having to respond to a particular challenge, that of singing words, that is, vocals are given a specific pitch and sustained according to the rhythmic demands of the music. While vowels are the carriers of vocal tone, consonants suspend it, but word meaning, timing, and rhythm cannot be communicated and conveyed accurately if the consonants are not well articulated. Great pedagogues of the 19th century and especially of the last century, analyzed all aspects of articulation, and its correct education and formulated solutions to possible questions or stages of vocal education.

Brazilian jazz, aspects, stylistic contributions (In memoriam Sergio Mendez 1941-2024)

Florin Balan — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Making a concise image referring to the variety and harmonic-melodic-rhythmic functionality of the traditional musical creation of the Brazilian continent is a complex one, considering the multitude of constituent elements, timbral coloration, rhythmic variations or melodic expression, phrasing. However, the artistic contribution of some instrumentalists of Brazilian origin can be highlighted unequivocally, their contribution having a special weight in the realization of the finished product called, creation”, the combination of traditional elements with the characteristic ones of already established styles, leads to the implementation of new ideas, the realization of new musical productions of international resonance. Regardless of the musical genre addressed, finality is important, the phenomenon of musical globalization (in our case) being the essential idea, interaction, compilation and implementation of specific stylistic elements outlining the desired artistic progress. The graphic exhibition in the score of the multitude of constituent elements is easy for the beneficial understanding and deepening of the resulting musical substance, a source of inspiration for a next creative phase, a challenge for all those who face the activity and musical art.

Musicologists supporting singers: The historically informed performance of vocal appoggiatura

Marco Beghelli — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

One of the topics in which the science of music can contribute most to excellence in performance is that of the historically informed performance of music from the past. I will propose as an example the issue of the prosodic appoggiatura, a particular type of melodic appoggiatura that is almost never written down by composers in the score, but which should always be performed by singers. The examples I give demonstrate that this performance practice was not limited to the eighteenth century, but remained in use until the beginning of the twentieth century, when it was lost due to a misunderstood respect for the written signs in the score.

Artikulation. Sur la musique electronique et une pseudo-partition

Amalia Szucs-Blanaru — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This article delves into the philosophical and historical context of electronic music, focusing on György Ligeti's piece Artikulation and its unique analytical approach. Ligeti's Artikulation (1958), created during his tenure at the Cologne Studio for Electronic Music, is examined through a pseudo-score—a visual aid for both listening and analysis. The article presents a detailed analysis of the piece using both traditional and modern analytical models, including Roberto Doati’s approach to acoustic imagery and Pierre Couprie’s categorical criteria. The analysis reveals the structural and morphologic intricacies of the composition, emphasizing its innovative use of sound materials and compositional techniques.Ligeti's electronic experiments, particularly Artikulation, are shown to have had a profound influence on his later works. The study concludes that Artikulation and its contemporaneous compositions were pivotal in shaping Ligeti’s musical language, contributing to his development of complex textures and innovative timbral transformations.

Navigating Dark themes in youth musical theatre: a performance stylistic approach to Sweeney Todd

Ioana Blanaru — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This article reflects on the experience of directing Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at a youth theater in the U.S.A, focusing on the artistic and educational motivations behind staging such a complex musical amid a trend towards more accessible, family-friendly productions. The adaptation aimed to challenge young artists by delving into intricate themes like revenge, morality, and societal issues while maintaining the original vision of the creators.

International and national legal aspects of intellectual property rights in music

Ionut-Sabin Bogdan — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The legal protection of authors' rights for musical works appeared in an incipient form as early as the 18th century, in the form of the transfer of copyright for economic purposes through the direct sale of a manuscript, without being followed by royalties’ payable for the long-term "exploitation" of the work. It was not until the nineteenth century that the law granted „lifelong” protection to composers for the copyright of their creation, at the same time as the Royalty Contracts, which ensure the payment due for repeated performances. Nowadays, rights are extended to musical works and the collection of money from multiple sources, whether from any format of recorded music or film music, advertising, and „broadcasts” of all kinds, as all genres of music. This research theme is motivated by the need for a critical evaluation of the international and national legal aspects governing intellectual property rights in music.

Mental practice and visualization in Piano performance: A comparative Study of Cognitive memorization techniques

Andreea Bratu — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This article presents a comparative study of various cognitive memorization techniques in piano performance, focused on mental practice and visualization. Drawing on methods from influential pianists and pedagogues such as Walter Gieseking and Heinrich Neuhaus and the author's personal experience, the analysis explores how pianists can internalize music without physical engagement with the instrument. Techniques such as score visualization, aural imagery, and structural analysis are examined in terms of their effectiveness in enhancing musical memory and performance security. The study highlights the cognitive processes underlying these methods, offering insights into how mental preparation complements traditional physical practice for pianists.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart`s financial struggles and strategies

Emilia Calefariu (Giol) — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart navigated the complexities of the economic environment of the 18th century, often facing, despite his extraordinary talents, financial difficulties. In order to generate income through his multiple abilities (composition, teaching, conducting, performing) he faced various challenges, inconsistent income, competition and changing patronage dynamics. The particularities of an artist’s financial income are approached in the current research, analyzing the particular case of the great Austrian composer. Understanding the economics of music in his time can provide a better understanding on the struggles and interior pressures the composer faced, that had a contribution in how his compositions were created.

Benjamin Britten's vision on the Lullaby in „A Charm of Lullabies”

Maria-Claudia Codreanu — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

His childhood experience is a source of inspiration for Benjamin Britten’s cycle of songs A Charm of Lullabies. Concerned with discovering national musical and poetic treasures, he selected five poems from representative authors, from the Renaissance to Romanticism – William Blake, Robert Burns, Robert Green, Thomas Randolph, John Philip – interesting for the audience to be set to music. The songs illustrate the bedtime routine when an adult expresses profound feelings of love and care for his child. The themes chosen present various moods and the performers should portray an authentic nighttime atmosphere, full of charm, using technical and artistic means of expression.

The old keyboard musical instruments at the beginning of the Musical Baroque

Marcela Sorina Costea — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The topic of our research deals with a theoretical, aesthetic, as well as stylistic, interpretative approach to old keyboard instruments, from the beginnings of the Musical Baroque. To develop this theme, we considered it necessary, in the first chapter, to take a general look at the Musical Baroque era, with all its attributes, forms, and genres, and then something about the style of its instrumental music. In a new chapter, namely, that of the evolution of keyboard instruments, through the analysis of some principles, findings, or observations related to the construction of keyboard instruments, through their various examples, our research opens the perspective of musicological-interpretive investigations, which is not - could have achieved, without consulting a vast bibliographic material.

Interactive digital techniques for sound generation and control using video technologies

Catalin Cretu — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This paper proposes a contemporary approach to dynamic ways of sound generation and control through motion tracking or other visual methods. The possibilities of creative approaches in audio-visual works of the author's creation will be presented, describing the methods used, the construction of the devices, and the algorithms conceived.

A lesson with the Maestro: an overview of Constantin Sandu’s piano teaching

Lorenzo Del Conte — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Constantin Sandu is a Romanian-born piano teacher at the Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espectáculo in Porto, Portugal. Having had the opportunity to follow his lessons for eight months as his assistant, I decided to write this article with two main objectives: to collect and give order to my experience as an apprentice and to try to briefly recount the human and professional story of a piano teacher, with the aim of describing and sharing, albeit briefly and in a non-exhaustive manner, his pedagogical method. A recount can be a starting point for reflection on the role of a teacher and the importance it has for young people in approaching the world of classical music.

The opera “Hubicka” (“The Kiss”) by Bedrich Smetana, a “dramma giocoso” in the Czech national spirit

Leonard Dumitriu — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

2024 occasions the anniversary of 200 years from composer Bedřich Smetana’s birth, considered the founder of Czech national music. Two of his works, the opera The Bartered Bride) and the symphonic poem Vltava also receive wide acclaim nowadays. In the eight operas he finalised, quite different in action and meaning, the composer puts together Bohemian folklore and mythology, Wagnerian sonorities, influences from French comic opera in a manner identified with the style proper of Czech national opera. The opera Hubička (The Kiss, 1876) was catalogued as folk opera. Due to the comic nature of the music and to the contrasting episodes of the action, this study debates on and argues in favour of the inclusion of the work in the subgenre called dramma giocoso.

Teaching Italian Opera from the metrical functions of the libretto: The “ESTRO-VERSO” competition experience at the Conservatoire of Terni (Italy)

Gioia Filocamo — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In the librettos of Italian operas, characters often associate precise metrical functions with certain personal features. For example, comical or low-class characters express themselves in octosyllables (verses with a hammered rhythm pattern), while serious and more socially important characters prefer the nobler septenaries (verses with mobile accents). There are also exceptions, which can be explained according to specific dramaturgical situations. These metrical differences have an impact on the musical development of the sung poetry. In fact, students at the Conservatoire should always be aware of the close connection between poetry and music. For this reason, I have just devised the first national competition based on Italian metrics, called “ESTRO-VERSO” (‘ESplora e TROva il VERSO giusto’ = ‘Explore and find the right verse’). It will take place during the academic year 2024/25 at the Conservatoire “Giulio Briccialdi” of Terni (Italy).

Flute Compositions and Works involving the Flute in the programs of the International Festival “The Days of New Music”

Anastasia Gusarova — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The author aims to present the musical pieces for flutes or involving flutes written by composers from the Republic of Moldova over the last three decades, which were performed during various editions of the International Festival "The Days of New Music." The author offers a brief overview of Moldovan composers from different generations, such as Ghenadie Ciobanu, Vladimir Beleaev, Vlad Burlea, Vladimir Ciolac, Snejana Pîslari, Iulian Gogu, Veronica Ciobanu, and others. Simultaneously, the most representative Moldovan flutists who have contributed to promoting national composers' works are mentioned, including Iulian Gogu, Iulia Maksimova, Maria Serbinova, as well as the author of the present article. Important stylistic and genre features of the performed works are also revealed.

The Power of lyricism in Puccini’s drama

Elena Hebeisen-Mosuc — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Puccini’s musical language is deeply imbued with beauty and truth. His poetic realism gains enormously in color and setting because Puccini understands opera as theater. His lyricism serves to express inner feelings, transforming characters’ intimate feelings into moments of high dramatic tension. His melodies are full of cantabile, intensely expressing extraordinarily thrilling moods, deep inner feelings, bringing to the spectators’ normal characters with whom they resonate and with whom they experience musical moments that often reach catharsis. The orchestra participates intensely in the melodic discourse through strong contrasts of dynamics and color, maintains balance in harmony, emphasizes the characters’ emotional states through the use of instruments capable of suggesting subtle emotions, remaining faithful to the Italian traditions of belcanto and verismo, but at the same time integrating modernist elements.

Interpretive trends in „24 Preludes, Op. 11” by Alexandr Scriabin

D. Ichim, B. Szocs, S. Dragulin — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The performance of Alexander Scriabin's Preludes Op. 11 poses distinct problems and opportunities for contemporary pianists. These preludes, written in all 24 major and minor keys, embody the emotional profundity and developing harmonic language of late Romantism, leading to Scriabin’s more avant-garde compositions. Contemporary performance practice emphasizes the necessity of reconciling technical accuracy with deep expressiveness, mirroring Scriabin's philosophical and synesthetic concepts. This paper examines interpretative methods, highlighting rubato, dynamic subtleties, and pedaling strategies, which are crucial for conveying the ambient and frequently mystical characteristics of the preludes. This study seeks to elucidate the historical context of the preludes and their reception within the modern piano repertory, aiming to offer insights for attaining authenticity and uniqueness in performance.

Great personalities of Military music. Egizio Massini – conductor and general inspector of Romanian Military Music

Cristina Mioara Ioan — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

During the interwar years, military music experienced significant growth thanks to the efforts of one of the genre's leading lights, conductor Egizio Massini, a highly regarded individual who also happened to be an accomplished soldier. His conducting skills and European vision, along with his organizational tenacity and musical aptitude, led to an amazing military career that had a direct impact on Romania's military and civilian fanfare band scene. During his tenure as the inspector general of the military bands (1932–1940 and 1944–1947), significant advancements were made for the military music bands and their members' musical education, as well as for the repertoire reform and the execution of lengthy international tours.

Aspects influencing the tuning balance in saxophone performance practice

M. Marques, M.M. Matos — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Tuning is a crucial factor in any musical performance on saxophone. It is a skill related to auditory perception and can be taught and developed trought the flexibility of the embouchure and air column or using auxiliary fingerings on the instrument to compensate and adjust the tuning. This paper aims to understand the concept of temperament in tuning, as well as the various factors that can affect its stability in saxophone performance. Identifying and being aware of the theoretical functioning of the key opening and closing mechanism and how it affects the rise and fall of frequencies is essential for using correction strategies for these frequencies and, thus, the use of alternative fingerings as a fundamental resource for the saxophonist to improve their tuning. Finally, some study books have been compiled that provide various fingering charts that can be used for tuning correction on the saxophone.

Music in motion. The compositional vision of “Dumitru Capoianu” in the music of the film “If I were Harap Alb”

Titiana Mirita — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In this work, I continue my research approach to Romanian film music, focusing on Dumitru Capoianu's music in the film “If I were Harap Alb”. The composer's approach to the soundtrack introduces the audience right from the credits into a world of the fantastic, emphasizing also the time and space details of the action through the melodic evocation of Romanian folklore. Also, the music accompanies the main character, metamorphosing according to the events in which he takes part in his growing process. The compositional aspects are thus analyzed according to their close connection with the script, Capoianu's score being one of great value for Romanian film music.

Andre Jolivet: The Poetics of Cello

Alfia Nakipbekova — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

My paper pertains to the works for cello by the French composer André Jolivet (1905-1974) – an important artistic figure of the twentieth century whose musical thinking represents the complexity of transformation within Western music and the culture of his time. Strongly influenced by the creative ideas of the French pioneer of sound Edgard Varèse, he continued to develop his musical style and aesthetics throughout his life – as a composer, writer, critic, conductor, visual artist, musical theatre director, and pedagogue. Jolivet’s fertile sources for artistic inspiration and spiritual quest extend from the philosophy of Bergson and Tarkovsky’s cinematography to the mythology of Africa, Oceania, and ancient incantations and rituals. In this article I will explore Jolivet’s cello music – from the perspective of multi-interdisciplinary influences – focusing on Suite en concert pour Violoncello seul (1965), as an example of his compositional style and as an expression of the artist’s awareness of the universal mystery and ‘magical’ voice embodied in the sound of the cello.

First Festival of Cuban Music, Havana 1961

A. Perez Gomez, S. Dragulin — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Various studies on art music in Cuba during the latter half of the 20th Century highlight concert festivals as key platforms for promotion and recognition of contemporary repertoires. An analysis of documentary sources and personal testimonies supports this assertion, while also acknowledging the establishment of a systematic programming policy for contemporary repertoires beginning in the 1960s. By examining these festivals as aesthetic events that produce and represent meanings, we can appreciate their role as spaces where narratives about repertoires, composers, performers, and cultural institutions are articulated. This paper focuses on the First Festival of Cuban Music in 1961, exploring its management and impact as a critical moment for contemporary music in Cuba. It considers the political, social, and cultural context surrounding the festival, as well as the ideo-aesthetic reflections it produced from participants following its conclusion.

“Jeux d’anches” – Accordionistic musical education through musical performance

Goncalo Pescada — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Since the second half of the XX century, with the invention of the converter system, original writing for accordion has come, generating new challenges to interpreters, composers and the instrument itself. Obviously, to approach new works, musicians have been achieving increasingly strict, disciplined and transversal levels of musical preparation and knowledgement in order to achieve contemporary language and technique skills. In this context, there is a vast repertoire of new works, such as: Berio Sequenze, Gubaidulina De Profundis, Bochmann Essay XVIII, among others, whose contribution to the music teaching and instrumental practice has a determinant role in the pedagogical and performance fields. The piece Jeux d’Anches, composed by Magnus Lindberg, is also on the list as an important contribut to explore the instrument (accordion) in the high level dimension and potential. Through this article, the author pretends to reflect about the accordionistic musical education, to introduce new performance possibilities and to discuss new writing techniques for classical accordion.

Seligman's PERMA model and hero's journey in music therapy

Valentina M. Pomazan — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The paper presents an application of Campbell's exploration of “monomyth” or hero's journey in music therapy, strongly connected with holistic perspective on the therapeutic pursuit of meaning, purpose, and fulfillment, as presented in Seligman’s model. The method combines the Music to facilitate the alignment with the hero's profound introspection and reconnection with a higher purpose, highlighting the role of positive and meaningful relationships, offering a sense of engagement. The hero experiences are translated in music, with the help of markers, guided by the therapist: the call, entering the unknown, challenges, confrontation, rebirth. The method uses graphical and musical elements, proposed by the therapist, and developed by the client, accompanied and encouraged to identify the stages of his/ her journey. This intervention encourages active participation, allowing the client to fully immerse themselves in each stage of the Hero’s Journey, using sound as both an expressive and healing tool.

Dispersion and Dialogue as a Method

D. Quaranta, P. Leal David, F. Colasanto — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This study investigates "dispersion and dialogue as a method" in musical creation, inspired by Ulrich Beck's global-local paradigm. The group "Práticas sonoras de borda" has fostered dialogues among Latin American and Iberian composers, challenging the Eurocentric bias in music education. Inspired by Paulo Freire and Paulo Costa-Lima, this approach emphasizes intuitive, non-hierarchical conversations to reveal new compositional insights. The book "Seminários dispersos em criação musical" documents this methodology, likening "dispersão" to both relaxed focus and seed spreading. This proposal aims to redefine musical perspectives, presenting initial dialogues with five composers and their works, promoting a decolonized, inclusive epistemology in music sound art.

Melodies in Form: Designing Urban Sculptures inspired by Musical Heritage

E. Ronagh, M. Daneshmandi, S. Farhoodfar — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This paper explores the fusion of music, art, and technology to redefine urban sculptures by incorporating musical heritage. It introduces a unique approach where music is transformed into striking geometric forms based on the mathematical principles of strange attractors, presenting music as iconic urban sculpture. Using AI, specifically ChatGPT, mathematical formulas generate visually captivating shapes. Additionally, an algorithmic method extracts medium-range music frequencies, which serve as input data to create these geometric forms in Rhino software using the Grasshopper plugin. To enhance public engagement, a mobile application allows visitors to scan a QR code in front of the sculptures, revealing the visualization process while simultaneously playing the corresponding music. By integrating musical heritage into urban sculptures, this approach combines technological innovation with cultural continuity, bridging past traditions with modern advancements. It enhances public appreciation of cultural heritage while enriching the urban landscape with meaningful artistic expressions.

The Golden Ratio in Music: Compositional Practice or the Result of Genius?

M.D. Rucsanda, N. Karacsony — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Golden Ratio, present in almost everything that exists in nature, has fascinated and inspired scientists, philosophers, artists, and architects since Antiquity. Throughout history, the Golden Ratio played an important role in the compositional structure of various artworks, but the mystery of this divine proportion has remained unexplained. From an aesthetic point of view, this enigmatic number is considered the expression of perfect proportion. Throughout history, one of the main concerns of composers from all periods was the creation of balanced and harmonious structures in their musical compositions. Numerous musical works employ already familiar rules, while in others, the emergence of new principles may be a sign of originality. Certainly, in the few studies that deal with the Golden Ratio in music, convincing or at least plausible arguments have been advanced regarding the importance of the golden number. Yet, exploring the musical literature, there are still relevant aspects to be found and formulated concerning this subject. In this sense, the aim of the current study is to present several methods of using this compositional technique, and implicitly the positioning of the Golden Ratio in correlation with its effects and auditory perception, exemplified through several compositional landmarks from the works of various composers.

From Behind the Shadows of Great Musical Figures: Marie Mennessier-Nodier: A composer in Nineteenth-Century Microhistory

Virginia Sancez Rodriguez — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Within the history of music, the scholarship on the great female figures from across all time periods—most notably composers, performers, patrons, and teachers—continues to grow. In addition to these notable individuals, however, there were numerous anonymous women, most often associated with musical teaching or private performances in the European salons, who achieved a prominent place in their society. In this work, I propose to address this with an approach to the case of the lesser-known composer and poet Marie Mennessier-Nodier (1811–1893). Following a review of the place of women musicians in current academic research, I delve into the life and the legacy of Marie Mennessier-Nodier, as well as her place in the musical context in which she lived: nineteenth-century French Romanticism. Ultimately, the research on Marie Mennessier-Nodier allows us to reflect on the women who, despite their exclusion from the ‘great history’, were nevertheless important in shaping new generations of musicians and the artistic life of their context.

Concerto KV. 242 „Lodron” by W. A. Mozart. Two or three pianos?

C-tin Sandu, C. Ibanescu — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Starting from a common stage experience, the two authors analyze in parallel the two versions of the "Lodron" Concerto, looking for differences that can determine the option for one or the other. A historical framework, interpretive suggestions and aesthetic preferences complete the analysis, which reaches a personal, but not obligatory, conclusion reflecing the spirit of musical interpretation that pursues a balance between the objective and subjective components. We believe that the balance is tipped towards the two-piano version, not only for musical reasons, but also for logistical ones, sometimes being difficult to find two quality pianos in a concert hall, three even more complicated. After all, Mozart himself composed for three pianos especially for the Countess Lodron and her daughters, the later version for two pianos being for himself and his sister; therefore, it is a composition conceived in accordance with the recipients and the first interpreters of the work, this being almost a rule at that time. Thus, in the current era, both versions are valid, the authors preferring the one for two pianos, suitable for a piano duo, as the authors of this article consider themselves.

Poetic Rhythm and Musical Rhythm: Theories and Controversies in Nineteenth-Century Italy

Mihaela-Elena Stanciu — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This article contains a brief exposition of theories and controversies concerning the supposed interrelationships between the standard poetic rhythm conferred by classical poetic metrics (Greek, Roman, Italian) and the musical rhythm proper, with profound implications for nineteenth-century opera music). The final aim of this paper is to map poetic metrics according to the musical phrases used, as it was envisaged by the musical theorists of the musical bel canto era and the one that followed it. A whole host of Italian or German authors (many of them almost unknown) are listed and quoted. The various, more or less speculative theories still tributary to the mentality of the time are succinctly presented. All these discussions and controversies converge towards a possible and utopian general theory of rhythm, a theory based on the analogy between the regular metrical feet of classical poetry and rhythm.

Wilhelm Georg Berger – Sketching a Portrait

A. Szilagyi, I. Isac — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The aim of this article is to reveal the great personality of Wilhelm Georg Berger (1929-1993), attempting to create a short portrait of him through describing and discussing his huge activity unfolded on multiple plans: as a composer (author of 24 symphonies and 21 quartets, concerts, masses, and chamber music works), as a theorist (he invented a complex modal theory, based on the golden section and on Fibonacci sequence), as a musicologist and esthetician (he published many volumes about symphonic and instrumental music focusing on the baroque, classic, romantic and modern eras, including Romanian music), violist, conductor, and guide for young musicians.

Musical-poetic correspondences in Adrian Pop's oeuvre. Back to the Bucharest days of Paul Celan

Paula Sandor — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Although the references to Paul Celan's biographical background mainly refer to his Parisian period, the two years spent by the poet from Bucovina in the Romanian capital (1945-1947) proved extremely beneficial to his artistic genius. His membership to the circle of poets and literates such as Nina Cassian, Vladimir Colin, Ovidiu Crohmălniceanu, Petre Solomon, as well as the influence of the Romanian surrealist group led by Gellu Naum were to leave their mark on Celan's formative path. In 2020, the Cluj composer Adrian Pop wrote a song cycle entitled Iubiri uitate (Forgotten Loves), which includes fragments from 2 Romanian poems by Celan – Poem pentru umbra Marianei (Poem for the Shadow of Marianna) and Tristețe (Sadness) – as well as an unfinished poem. The hermetic symbolism and surrealist nuances of the texts dominated by contradictory feelings (love, doubt, melancholy, tragic loss, distant memory) find their correspondence in modal-chromatic sonorities close to atonalism, tonal-modal intonations or Sprechgesang-type discourse.

The Silencing of a Composer – Nicolae Bretan

Charles Wood — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

During the 20th century, while many artists thrived and enjoyed free expression, numerous others were suppressed by goverments, depriving the world of their works. This paper examines the impact of non-musical circumstances, particularly the rise of communist rule in Romania, on the reputation and recognition of composer Nicolae Bretan. Despite his numerous compositions, Bretan's refusal to support the newly empowered communist party led to the silencing of his music in 1948. The focus is on Bretan's vocal music, namely three of his one-act operas, which reflect his desire to create uniquely Romanian operas using Romanian poems and folklore.