George Enescu
George Enescu | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 4 May 1955 Paris, France | (aged 73)
Burial place | Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, France |
Nationality | Romanian |
Other names | Jurjac, Georges Enesco |
Citizenship | Romania France |
Occupation(s) | musician, composer |
Notable work | Romanian Rhapsodies |
Spouse |
Maria Tescanu Rosetti
(m. 1939; div. 1955) |
Children | 1 |
Parents |
|
George Enescu (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈdʒe̯ordʒe eˈnesku] ⓘ; 19 August [O.S. 7 August] 1881 – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanian composer, violinist, conductor, and teacher and is regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history.[1]
Biography
Enescu was born in Romania, in the village of Liveni (later renamed "George Enescu" in his honor), then in Dorohoi County, today Botoșani County. His father was Costache Enescu, a landholder, and his mother was Maria Enescu (née Cosmovici), the daughter of an Orthodox priest. Their eighth child, he was born after all the previous siblings had died in infancy. His father later separated from Maria Enescu and had another son with Maria Ferdinand-Suschi: the painter Dumitru Bâșcu.[2]
A
In 1891, the ten-year-old Enescu gave a private concert at the Court of Vienna, in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph.[7]
Joseph Hellmesberger Sr., one of his teachers and the director of the Vienna Conservatory, hosted Enescu at his home,[when?] where the child prodigy met his idol, Johannes Brahms.[8]
External audio | |
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You may hear George Enescu playing Johann Sebastian Bach's Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043 with Yehudi Menuhin and Pierre Monteux conducting the Symphony Orchestra of Paris in 1932 Here on archive.org |
He graduated at the age of 12, earning the silver medal. In his Viennese concerts young Enescu played works by Brahms, Sarasate and Mendelssohn. In 1895, he went to Paris to continue his studies. He studied violin with Martin Pierre Marsick, harmony with André Gedalge, and composition with Jules Massenet and Gabriel Fauré.[citation needed]
Enescu then studied from 1895 to 1899 at the Conservatoire de Paris. André Gedalge said that he was "the only one [among his students] who truly had ideas and spirit".[This quote needs a citation]
On 6 February 1898, at the age of 16, Enescu presented in Paris his first mature work,
Many of Enescu's works were influenced by Romanian folk music, his most popular compositions being the two
On 8 January 1923 he made his American debut as a conductor in a concert given by the
He was also renowned as a violin teacher. He began teaching at the Mannes School of Music in 1948. His students included Yehudi Menuhin, Christian Ferras, Ivry Gitlis, Arthur Grumiaux, Serge Blanc, Ida Haendel, Uto Ughi, and Joan Field. See: List of music students by teacher: C to F#George Enescu.
He promoted contemporary Romanian music, playing works of
Enescu died on 4 May 1955.[14] On his death, he was interred in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
Reception
Pablo Casals described Enescu as "the greatest musical phenomenon since Mozart"[15] and "one of the greatest geniuses of modern music".[16] Queen Marie of Romania wrote in her memoirs that "in George Enescu was real gold".[17] Yehudi Menuhin, Enescu's most famous pupil, once said about his teacher: "He will remain for me the absoluteness through which I judge others", and "Enescu gave me the light that has guided my entire existence."[18] He also considered Enescu "the most extraordinary human being, the greatest musician and the most formative influence" he had ever experienced.[19] Vincent d'Indy claimed that if Beethoven's works were destroyed, they could be all reconstructed from memory by George Enescu.[20] Alfred Cortot, one of the greatest pianists of all time, once said that Enescu, though primarily a violinist, had better piano technique than his own.[21]
Enescu's only opera, Œdipe (Oedipe), was staged for the first time at the Royal Opera House in London in 2016, 80 years after its Paris premiere, in a production directed and designed by La Fura dels Baus which received superlative reviews in The Guardian,[22] The Independent,[23] The Times[24] and other publications. An analysis of Enescu's work and the reasons why it is less known in the UK was published by musician Dominic Saunders in The Guardian.[25]
Commemorations
Enescu founded the Enescu Prize in composition, which was awarded from 1913 to 1946, and afterwards by the National University of Music Bucharest.
Eugène Ysaÿe's Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, subtitled "Ballade" (composed in 1923), was dedicated as an act of homage to fellow-violinist Enescu.[26]
While staying in Bucharest during the 1930s, Enescu lived in the Cantacuzino Palace on Calea Victoriei and married its then owner, Maruca Cantacuzino, in 1939. After the Communist takeover, the couple occupied a part of it briefly before moving to Paris in 1947. Following Enescu's death in 1955, Maruca donated the palace to the Romanian state in order to organize a museum [1] in memory of the great musician.[27] Likewise, the Symphony Orchestra of Bucharest and the George Enescu Festival—initiated by the musicologist Andrei Tudor[28] [2] and supported by his friend, musical advocate, and sometime collaborator, the conductor George Georgescu—are named and held in his honor,[29] and the composer's childhood home in Liveni was inaugurated as a memorial museum in 1958.[30]
Earlier still, in 1947, his wife Maruca donated to the state the mansion near Moinești where Enescu had lived and where he completed his opera Oedipe, provided that a cultural centre be built there.[31] In Moinești itself there is a street named after the composer,[32] as well as a middle school.[33] In addition the renamed George Enescu International Airport at Bacău is some twenty miles away.[34] Then in 2014 the home of Enescu's maternal grandfather in Mihăileni, Botoșani, where the composer spent part of his childhood, was rescued from an advanced state of dilapidation by a team of volunteer architects and now houses a centre of excellence for the study of music.[35]
Enescu's portrait appeared on the redesigned 5 lei Romanian banknote in 2005.[36]
Selected works
External audio | |
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You may hear George Enescu's Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 in A major, Op. 11 and Romanian Rhapsody No. 2 in D major, Op. 11 Here on archive.org |
Operas
- Œdipe, tragédie lyrique in four acts, libretto by Edmond Fleg, Op. 23 (1910–31)
Symphonies
- Symphony No. 1 in E♭ major, Op. 13 (1905)
- Symphony No. 2 in A major, Op. 17 (1912–14)
- Symphony No. 3 in C major, with chorus, Op. 21 (1916–18)
- Symphony No. 4 in E minor (1935; completed by Pascal Bentoiu in 1996)
- Symphony No. 5 in D major, with women's chorus and tenor solo (1941; first partially complete by Cornel Țăranu in 1970–72 and 1990, then completed by Pascal Bentoiu in 1995)
Other orchestral works
- Poème roumain, symphonic suite for orchestra, Op. 1 (1897)
- Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 in A major, Op. 11 (1901)
- Romanian Rhapsody No. 2 in D major, Op. 11 (1901)
- Symphonia concertante in B minor, Op. 8 (1901)
- Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C major, Op. 9 (1903)
- Orchestral Suite No. 2 in C major, Op. 20 (1915)
- Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major Suite Villageoise, Op. 27 (1937–38)
- Overture on Popular Romanian Themes, Op. 32
Chamber works
String quartets
- String Quartet No. 1 in E♭ major, Op. 22, No. 1 (1916–20)
- String Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 22, No. 2 (1930–32)
Sonatas
- Violin Sonata No. 1 in D major, Op. 2 (1897)
- Violin Sonata No. 2 in F minor, Op. 6 (1899)
- Violin Sonata No. 3 in A minor dans le caractère populaire roumain, Op. 25 (1926)
- Cello Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 26, No. 1 (1898)
- Cello Sonata No. 2 in C major, Op. 26, No. 2 (1935)
Other chamber works
- Octet for Strings in C major, Op. 7 (1900)
- Cantabile et Presto, for flute and piano (1904)
- Decet in D major, for wind instruments, Op. 14 (1906)
- Concertstück, for viola and piano (1906)
- Légende, for trumpet and piano (1906)
- Piano Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 16 (1909)
- Impressions d'enfance in D major, for violin and piano, Op. 28 (1940)
- Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 29 (1940)
- Piano Quartet No. 2 in D minor, Op. 30 (1943–44)
- Chamber Symphony, for 12 instruments, Op. 33 (1954)
Piano music
- Piano Suite No. 1 in G minor, Dans le style ancien Op. 3 (1897)
- Piano Suite No. 2 in D major, Op. 10 (1901/1903)
- Piano Suite No. 3, Pieces impromptues Op. 18 (1913–16)
- Piano Sonata No. 1 in F♯ minor, op 24, No. 1 (1924)
- Piano Sonata No. 3 in D major, op 24, No. 3 (1933–35)
- Piano arrangement of Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 in A major, Op. 11 (1951)
Songs
Three songs setting Lemaitre and Prudhomme Four songs setting Fernand Gregh In German: Various settings of Carmen Silva (Queen Elisabeth of Romania) In Romanian – 3 songs
- Trois Mélodies, Op. 4 (1898)
- Sept Chansons de Clement Marot, for tenor and piano, Op. 15 (1907–08)
- Trois Mélodies, Op. 19 (1916)
See also
- Category:Compositions by George Enescu
- George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra
- George Enescu International Competition
- List of 20th century classical composers
References
- ^ Pascal Bentoiu, Masterworks of George Enescu, Scarecrow Press, 1910, p.v
- ^ Cosma, V, "George Enescu: Simfonia iubirii" Archived 9 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Formula AS, 2011 issue 982
- ^ Voicana 1971, 52; Malcolm 2001.
- ^ "ICR Viena vine la Budapesta - ARADON". aradon.ro. 9 December 2011. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
- ^ "Romanian Achievements and Records: Part 15 | Romania In Our Hearts". romaniainourhearts.wordpress.com. 16 September 2013. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
- ^ Anon. "George Enescu, fața nevăzută a unui geniu" [George Enescu, the Unseen Face of a Genius], Historia Special, 2, no. 4 (September 2013): 55. ISSN 1582-7968.
- ^ Anon. "George Enescu, fața nevăzută a unui geniu" [George Enescu, the Unseen Face of a Genius], Historia Special, 2, no. 4 (September 2013): 10. ISSN 1582-7968.
- ^ Anon. "George Enescu, fața nevăzută a unui geniu" [George Enescu, the Unseen Face of a Genius], Historia Special. 2, no. 4 (September 2013): 9. ISSN 1582-7968.
- ^ Anon. "George Enescu, fața nevăzută a unui geniu" [George Enescu, the Unseen Face of a Genius], Historia Special, 2, no. 4 (September 2013): 11. ISSN 1582-7968.
- ^ Liner notes - Angel/EMI Lp 36418 (1966)
- ^ Malcolm 2001.
- ^ (in Romanian) Membrii Academiei Române din 1866 până în prezent Archived 2 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine at the Romanian Academy site
- ^ "Sonatas and Partitas : Educational Edition". Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
- ^ Randel 1996, p. 248.
- ^ "George ENESCU Part I: Enescu the composer Evan Dickerson - May 2005 MusicWeb-International". musicweb-international.com. Archived from the original on 9 July 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
- ^ "EXCLUSIV VIDEO Documentar inedit despre George Enescu: "A fost cel mai măreț fenomen muzical, de la Mozart încoace"". adevarul.ro. 4 September 2013. Archived from the original on 5 November 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
- ^ Anon. "George Enescu, fața nevăzută a unui geniu" [George Enescu, the Unseen Face of a Genius], Historia Special, 2, no. 4 (September 2013): 14. ISSN 1582-7968.
- ^ "Yehudi Menuhin, aproape romān". georgeenescu.ro. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
- ^ "The Romanian Cultural Centre in London". Archived from the original on 18 May 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
- ^ "Radio Romania Muzical". en.romania-muzical.ro. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
- ^ "ENESCU piano music Vol 2 Borac AVIE AV2081 [GF]: Classical CD Reviews- March 2006 MusicWeb-International". musicweb-international.com. Archived from the original on 17 July 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
- ^ Clements, A, "Oedipe review – spellbinding staging of a 20th-century masterpiece" Archived 4 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 24 May 2016
- ^ Chanteau, C, "Oedipe, Royal Opera House, review: 'A masterpiece'" Archived 4 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine, The Independent, 24 May 2016
- ^ Morrison, Richard. "Opera: Oedipe at Covent Garden". www.thetimes.co.uk. Archived from the original on 1 August 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
- ^ Saunders, Dominic (25 October 2002). "The Mozart we missed". www.theguardian.com. Archived from the original on 4 July 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
- ^ Timothy Judd, "Augustin Hadelich Plays Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 3", The Listener's Club
- ^ Muzeul George Enescu
- ISBN 978-973-42-0441-0.
- ^ Alain Chotil-Fani, "Un voyage dans la Roumanie musicale: George Georgescu", Souvenirs des Carpates blog site (6 December 2007, accessed 14 July 2014)
- ^ Muzee de la sat
- ^ Muzee de la sat
- ^ Strada George Enescu
- ^ Scoala George Enescu
- ^ Closest Airport
- ^ Pro Patrimonio
- ^ "5 Lei 2005, Romania" Notescollector
Sources
- Axente, Colette, and Ileana Ratiu. 1998. George Enescu: Biografie documentara, tineretea si afirmarea: 1901–1920. Bucharest: Editura muzicala a U.C.M.R.
- ISBN 978-0-8108-7690-3(ebook). Translation of Capodopere enesciene. Bucharest: Editura muzicala a U.C.M.R., 1984.
- Brediceanu, M. et al. 1997. Celebrating George Enescu: A Symposium. Washington, D.C.:[citation needed].
- Gheorghiu, V. 1944. Un Muzician Genial: George Enescu[citation needed].
- ISBN 978-973-577-578-0.
- Cosma, Viorel. 2000. George Enescu: A Tragic Life in Pictures. Bucharest: The Romanian Cultural Foundation Publishing House.
- Malcolm, Noel. 1990. George Enescu: His Life and Music, with a preface by ISBN 0-907689-33-7(pbk)
- Malcolm, Noel. 2001. "Enescu, George." John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
- Randel, Don Michael (1996). The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-67437-299-3.
- Roth, Henry (1997). Violin Virtuosos: From Paganini to the 21st Century. Los Angeles, CA: California Classics Books. ISBN 1-879395-15-0
- Slonimsky, Nicolas (ed.). 2001. "Georges Enesco." Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. Centennial Edition. New York: Schirmer Books.
- Tudor, Andrei. 1957. "Enescu". Bucharest: Foreign Languages Pub. House [OCLC https://www.worldcat.org/title/1029409]
- Voicana, Mircea. 1971. “Anii de formare: Copilăria (1881–1888); Studiile la Viena (1888–1894)”. In George Enescu: Monografie. 2 vols, edited by Mircea Voicana, 1: 7–129 (part 1, chapters 1–2). Bucharest: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România.
- Voicana, Mircea (ed.) 1976. Enesciana, I. [citation needed]. (in Fr., Ger., and Eng.)
External links
- Works by or about George Enescu at Internet Archive
- Legendary Violinists
- International Enescu Society
- Georges Enesco's Profile at The Remington Site: his Continental Bach Recordings and Remington Recordings plus a survey of Sonatas & Partitas in the 1950s
- International Festival and Competition "George Enescu"
- Free scores by Enescu at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
- Free scores by George Enescu in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
- A page on the closely linked lives of Enescu and Chailley
- Another site, with a helpful timeline
- Pascal Bentoiu: George Enescu, the composer
- Reissue of the complete Bach clavier concertos conducted by Enesco on 4 CDs
- Review on Musicweb-International by Evan Dickerson of available recordings featuring Enescu's compositions (updated May 2005)
- Review on Musicweb-International by Evan Dickerson of Enescu's recordings as a performer (violinist, conductor & pianist)(updated July 2005)
- Romanian Rhapsody No.1
- Georges Enescu Octet in C, Op.7 sound-bites and short bio