Anton Pann
Anton Pann | |
---|---|
Born | 1790 +- Sliven |
Died | 2 November 1854 Bucharest |
Occupation | poet |
Nationality | Wallachian |
Period | 1828–1854 |
Genre | lyric poetry, epic poetry, fable, satire, aphorism |
Anton Pann (Romanian pronunciation:
Biography
Early years
Pann was born sometime between 1794 and 1798, in
After he began primary education at the communal school in Sliven, the Petrovs fled the region during the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–1812 and settled in Chișinău, Bessarabia, where Anton was first employed by a Russian Orthodox choir.[1][2][4] His two brothers were killed in the skirmishes around Brăila, as volunteers on the Imperial Russian side.[1][2][4] Moving with his mother to Bucharest in 1810-1812, Pann would spend most of his life in the city.[2][4]
Anton Pann carried on with his choral activities in Wallachia, was employed as a
Midlife
In 1821, when
He also spent time in
Returning to Râmnicu Vâlcea in 1828, he was officially expelled from his teaching position, and, in 1828, he returned to work as a cantor for the Bucharest school on Podul Mogoșoaiei.[2] Over the following decade, Pann authored a large panel of musical and literary works,[2] including Noul Doxastar, which, adapted and partly recreated from Dionisie Fotino's version, assembled all officially-endorsed pieces of Christian music, and which he prefaced.[1] According to his own testimony, this had required a major financial effort, one which almost caused his bankruptcy.[1]
In 1837, he separated from Anica, with whom he had fathered a son (Gheorghiță) and a daughter (Tinca).[1] Anton Pann married a third and final time in 1840, to Catinca (the more common name of Ecaterina).[1] All three of his wives survived his death;[2] his son by Zamfira, Lazăr, was to become an Orthodox priest.[1][2]
From 1842 to 1851, with support gained from
In 1843, Pann established a
Later years
In 1848, he published a
In autumn 1854, Pann fell ill with typhus and the common cold during a visit to Râmnicu Vâlcea, dying soon after at his Bucharest residence; he was buried in the Lucaci Church of Bucharest,[1][2][8] although, in his second will of August, he had asked for his final resting place to be the hermitage of Rozioara (this failure to comply was attributed to the difficulties in transportation).[1] Catinca Pann remarried soon after this.[2] During the early 1900s, Lucaci Church became home to a monument in Pann's honor, donated by the General Association of Church Singers — an institution presided over by Ion Popescu-Pasărea .[1]
Literature
Pann's literary creation was noted for its reliance on a vast oral tradition, which he claimed to have codified, thus drawing comparisons to his predecessors François Rabelais, Giovanni Boccaccio, and Miguel de Cervantes.[4] The Romanian literary critic George Călinescu drew a direct comparison between Pann and his contemporary, the Wallachian Jewish peddler Cilibi Moise, who, without producing any written works, was made famous by a series of bitter puns in which he referred to himself in the third person (such as "For a few years now, Cilibi Moise has been begging Poverty to leave his house, at the very least for as long as it takes him to get dressed").[12]
Together with Ion Creangă and Petre Ispirescu, Pann was among the first major interpreters of Romanian folklore in 19th-century literature.[4] Appealing primarily to a semi-educated audience, his creations have been celebrated for their familiar tone and use of plain Romanian, during a period when literary language was beginning to rely on formalism and a large number of neologisms.[8] The writer himself made frequent excuses to the more educated of his readers for any flaws they were to find in his texts, specifying that he lacked in formal training.[1][4] In the final decades of his life, several of his printed works, especially Memorialul focului mare and the manele lyrics collection Spitalul amorului, came to be appreciated by a younger generation of boyars.[8] The Moldavian poet Vasile Alecsandri noted, in an 1872 letter quoted by Garabet Ibrăileanu: "Anton Pann has not yet been appreciated to his full value, and moreover, in Wallachia his merits are even being held in contempt by most modern men of letters".[13]
Pann's poetic language often relies on elaborate successions of images, metaphors, or maxims.
Aideți să vorbim de geabă |
Let's talk for nothing stokers .And that is where a proverb fits: Instead of uttering a word It is better to have coughed. |
Almost all of Pann's work drew on recent or ancient sources, which he reinterpreted to suit the tastes of his public.
As an original element, Anton Pann used the diverse sources of his work to complement his own view of the world; according to Vianu, the latter's main traits were Pann's religious tolerance and fervor, as well as his Levantine outlook on social matters.[4] Călinescu defined Povestea vorbei as "a false collection of folklore, given that Pann does not abide by peasant authenticity, but embellishes popular language with the cultured one, often obtaining an amazing chromatic effect".[14] While commenting on Pann's focus on social developments of his time as "the completely mechanical ease with which current issues are put into verse", Călinescu noted that Hristoitia contained "advices which presume a state of supreme animality".[14] In drawing the latter conclusion, he cited a stanza in which Pann asked people not to touch their genitalia in public.[14]
O șezătoare la țară, believed to be one of Pann's most accomplished works, is written as an
Pann's influential taste for manele and their sentimental lyrics, as exemplified in his Spitalul amorului and other printed brochures, has been the target of criticism ever since the early 20th century.[11] Tudor Vianu stressed that these works showed the influence of "the trivial popular music of his day", while Călinescu dismissed them as "lamented vulgarity and eroticism".[11][14]
Legacy
Pann is generally believed to have authored the music to
In 1945, Lucian Blaga authored a three-act play named Anton Pann, centered on the poet's Șcheii Brașovului period.[2] A museum of the life and activity of Anton Pann exist in Râmnicu Vâlcea, and, since 1990, a public theater in the same city bears his name.
Works
Literary works
- Versuri musiceşti ("Musical Lyrics")
- Poezii deosebite sau cântece de lume ("Various Poems or Worldly Chants")
- Îndreptătorul bețivilor ("The Correction Instrument for Drunks")
- Hristoitia sau Şcoala moralului ("Hristoitia or the School of Morals")
- Noul erotocrit ("The New Erotokritus")
- Marș de primăvară ("March of the Spring")
- Memorialul focului mare ("A Memoir of the Great Fire")
- Culegere de proverburi sau Povestea vorbei ("Collection of Proverbs or the Story of the Word")
- Adiata ("Testament")
- Înțeleptul Archir și nepotul său Anadam ("Archir the Wise and His Nephew Anadam")
- Spitalul amorului sau Cântătorul dorului ("The Hospital of Love or the Singer of Longing")
- O șezătoare la țară sau Călătoria lui Moș Albu ("A Countryside Gathering or Father Albu's Trip")
- Versuri sau Cântece de stea ("Lyrics or Songs to the Stars")
- Cântătorul beției. Care cuprinde numele bețivilor si toate faptele care decurg din beție ("The Poet of Drunkenness. Comprising the Names of Drunks and All Deeds Caused by Drunkenness")
- Triumful beției sau Diata ce o lasă un bețiv pocăit fiului său ("The Triumph of Drunkenness or the Testament Left by a Penitent Drunk to His Son")
- Năzdrăvăniile lui Nastratin Hogea ("The Mischiefs of Nastratin Hogea")
- Povești și angdote versificate ("Versified Stories and Anecdotes")
- De la lume adunate și iarăși la lume date ("[Sayings] Gathered from Folk and Returned to Folk")
Textbooks
- Bazul teoretic şi practic al muzicii bisericeşti sau Gramatica melodică ("The Theoretical and Practical Basis of Church music or the Melodic Grammar")
- Dialog în trei limbi, rusește, românește și turcește ("Dialog in Three Languages: Russian, Romanian and Turkish")
- Mică gramatică muzicală teoretică și practică ("Concise Musical Grammar, Theoretical and Practical")
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac (in Romanian) Bogdan Codre, Date referitoare la viața și activitatea lui Anton Pann Archived August 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Faculty of Theology at the University of Oradea
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af Alexandru Hanță, "Tabel cronologic", in Anton Pann, Povestea vorbii, Editura Albatros, Bucharest, 1986, p.XXVII-XXXIII
- ^ a b c d Sorin Antohi, "Romania and the Balkans. From Geocultural Bovarism to Ethnic Ontology", in Tr@nsit online, Nr. 21/2002, Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Tudor Vianu, Scriitori români, Vol I, Editura Minerva, Bucharest, 1970, p.1-30, 304-306
- ^ a b c d (in Romanian) Mihaela Bucin, "Nemurirea unui mare poet. 130 de ani de la nașterea lui Andrei Mureșanu" Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, in Foaia Românească, Vol 53, No 51-52
- ^ (in Romanian) Breviar de istorie a rromilor Archived July 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, at Romanothan.ro
- ISBN 973-86793-5-4.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k (in Romanian) Gheorghe Adamescu, Istoria literaturii române. 1830-1835 Archived 2007-01-24 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Ioannis Liakos; Sevi Mazera (2014). "Dionysios Foteinos: a Greek melourgos in Romania. Nektarios Vlachos: a Romanian melourgos on Mount Athos.Their enchanted Doxologies". Artes. Journal of Musicology. 14: 20–32.
- ^ a b (in Romanian) Oltița Cîntec, "Manelele, o realitate cu trecut istoric în ţările române", in Evenimentul Zilei, June 30, 2001
- ^ a b c (in Romanian) Andrei Oișteanu, "Țara Meșterului Manele" Archived 2008-02-18 at the Wayback Machine, in Revista 22, Nr 29, July 2001 (hosted by Pruteanu.ro)
- ^ George Călinescu, Istoria literaturii române. Compendiu, Editura Minerva, Bucharest, 1983: "Cilibi Moise", p.95
- ^ (in Romanian) Garabet Ibrăileanu, Spiritul critic în cultura românească: Veacul al XIX-lea. Factorii culturii românești din acest veac (wikisource)
- ^ a b c d e f g George Călinescu, Istoria literaturii române. Compendiu, Editura Minerva, Bucharest, 1983: "Anton Pann", p.91-95
- ^ a b c (in Romanian) Valer Rus, "Pentru o istorie a imnului național" Archived July 22, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, at the Mureșanu Memorial House site
- ^ (in Romanian) Mihai Eminescu, Epigonii (wikisource)
- ^ a b Tudor Vianu, Scriitori români, Vol III, Editura Minerva, Bucharest, 1971, p.419-421
- ^ George Călinescu, Istoria literaturii române. Compendiu, Editura Minerva, Bucharest, 1983: "Anton Pann", p.91-95; "Tudor Arghezi", p.322
Relevant Literature
- Munteanu, Luminița. Being Homo Balkanicus Without Knowing It: The Case of Anton Pann. INTERNATIONAL BALKAN ANNUAL CONFERENCE (IBAC): BOOK SERIES (4)-- A HISTORY OF PARTNERSHIP AND COLLABORATION IN THE BALKANS, pp. 123–138.
- Șendrescu, Ileana. "THE EXPRESSIVITY OF THE POPULAR LANGUAGE IN THE POETRY OF ANTON PANN." LIMBA ȘI LITERATURA–REPERE IDENTITARE ÎN CONTEXT EUROPEAN 20 (2017): 85-91.
External links
- (in Romanian and Vlax Romani) Anton Pann, Despre învăţătură / Anda' o siklipe' Archived 2016-03-03 at the UNICEFRomania, 2005
- The Anton Pann Memorial House, at Cimec.ro
- The Anton Pann Theater in Râmnicu Vâlcea
- (in Romanian) Anton Pann, Bazul Teoretic, PDF scan of a print from Bucharest, 1847
- Works by Anton Pann at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)