Romanian Rhapsodies (Enescu)
Encyclopedia
The two Romanian Rhapsodies, Op. 11, for orchestra, are George Enescu
's best-known compositions. They were both written in 1901, and first performed together in 1903. The two rhapsodies, and particularly the first, have long held a permanent place in the repertory of every major orchestra. They employ elements of lăutareasca music
, vivid Romanian rhythms, and an air of spontaneity. They exhibit exotic modal coloring, with some scales having 'mobile' thirds, sixths or sevenths, creating a shifting major/minor atmosphere, one of the characteristics of Romanian lăutărească music. They also incorporate some material found in the later drafts of his Poème roumaine, Op. 1.
, and premiered together in a concert at the Romanian Athenaeum
in Bucharest
which also included the world premiere of Enescu's First Suite for Orchestra, Op. 9 (1903). The composer conducted all three of his own works, which were preceded on the programme by Berlioz's
Overture to Les francs-juges
and Schumann's
Symphony No. 1
, both conducted by Eduard Wachmann. The concert took place on 23 February 1903 (according to the Julian calendar
in use in Romania at that time; 8 March 1903 Gregorian). The Second Rhapsody was played first, and Enescu maintained this order of performance throughout his life.
At the New York World's Fair
, on 8 May 1939 Enescu conducted a programme of Romanian compositions, which included his Second Romanian Rhapsody. The anonymous programme note stated:
Although subsequent sources have occasionally referred to this Third Rhapsody, it does not appear ever to have existed.
's counterpoint class at the Conservatoire), and is the better known of the two rhapsodies. The essence of this rhapsody is the dance.
Enescu claimed that it was "just a few tunes thrown together without thinking about it", but his surviving sketches show that he carefully worked out the order in which the melodies should appear, and the best instrumental setting for each one. It was completed on 14 August 1901, when Enescu was still only 19 years old.
Sources differ on the details of the scoring:
The First Rhapsody is ebullient and outgoing; it begins by quoting the folk song "Am un leu şi vreau să-l beau" (variously translated as "I want to spend my money on drink", "I have a coin, and I want a drink", "I want to spend my shilling on drink", or, more literally, "I have a leu
and I want to drink"), which is played by oboes and clarinets. The tune was played by the Romani violinist Lae Chioru (Nicolae Filip), from whom Enescu had his first violin lessons at the age of 4, but there is some doubt whether Enescu actually remembered it from Chioru, since the tune had been in circulation in various collections printed as early as 1848 (alternative spelling: "Am un leu şi vreau să-l beu"), which Enescu could have consulted. This is soon replaced with a slower melody first introduced in the violins. As the work progresses, this tune grows faster and livelier to climax in a vibrant whirling folk dance.
Enescu conducted the First Rhapsody at what proved to be his New York farewell concert with members of the New York Philharmonic on 21 January 1950. The concert was billed as a commemoration of his 60th year as an artist, and in it he appeared as violinist together with Yehudi Menuhin
in Bach's Concerto for Two Violins, as pianist in his own Sonata No. 3 for Violin and Piano (also with Menuhin), and as conductor of his Suite No. 2 for Orchestra, Op. 20, and the Rhapsody, which concluded the programme.
of the Fireman"), followed shortly afterward by the second half of a folksong, "Văleu, lupu mă mănîncă" ("Aiee, I'm being devoured by a wolf!"), which is treated in canon. Toward the end there is a brief moment of animation, bringing to mind the spirit of country lăutari, but the work ends quietly.
Unlike the First Rhapsody, there is no controversy at all about the scoring of the Second, which is given in the published score as: 3 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets in A, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets in C, 3 trombones, 2 timpani, cymbal, 2 harps, first violins, second violins, violas, cellos, and double basses.
round Enescu's neck: later in his life he bitterly resented the way they had dominated and narrowed his reputation as a composer". He himself recorded each of the rhapsodies three times, but he viewed requests for yet more recordings as "un grosse affaire commerciale".
They have received dozens of recordings by other conductors and orchestras.
George Enescu
George Enescu was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and teacher.-Biography:Enescu was born in the village of Liveni , Dorohoi County at the time, today Botoşani County. He showed musical talent from early in his childhood. A child prodigy, Enescu created his first musical...
's best-known compositions. They were both written in 1901, and first performed together in 1903. The two rhapsodies, and particularly the first, have long held a permanent place in the repertory of every major orchestra. They employ elements of lăutareasca music
Lautari
The Romanian word Lăutar denotes a class of traditional musicians. Most often, and by tradition, Lăutari are members of a professional clan of Romani musicians , also called Ţigani lăutari. The term is derived from Lăută the name of a string instrument...
, vivid Romanian rhythms, and an air of spontaneity. They exhibit exotic modal coloring, with some scales having 'mobile' thirds, sixths or sevenths, creating a shifting major/minor atmosphere, one of the characteristics of Romanian lăutărească music. They also incorporate some material found in the later drafts of his Poème roumaine, Op. 1.
History
The two Romanian Rhapsodies were composed in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and premiered together in a concert at the Romanian Athenaeum
Romanian Athenaeum
The Romanian Athenaeum is a concert hall in the center of Bucharest, Romania and a landmark of the Romanian capital city. Opened in 1888, the ornate, domed, circular building is the city's main concert hall and home of the "George Enescu" Philharmonic and of the George Enescu annual international...
in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
which also included the world premiere of Enescu's First Suite for Orchestra, Op. 9 (1903). The composer conducted all three of his own works, which were preceded on the programme by Berlioz's
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
Overture to Les francs-juges
Les francs-juges
Les francs-juges is the title of an unfinished opera by the French composer Hector Berlioz written to a libretto by his friend Humbert Ferrand in 1826. The opera itself was abandoned by Berlioz, who destroyed most of the music...
and Schumann's
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
Symphony No. 1
Symphony No. 1 (Schumann)
Symphony No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 38 was the first symphonic work composed by Robert Schumann. Although Schumann made some "symphonic attempts" in the autumn of 1840 soon after he married his beloved Clara Wieck, he did not compose his First Symphony until early 1841...
, both conducted by Eduard Wachmann. The concert took place on 23 February 1903 (according to the Julian calendar
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...
in use in Romania at that time; 8 March 1903 Gregorian). The Second Rhapsody was played first, and Enescu maintained this order of performance throughout his life.
At the New York World's Fair
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
, on 8 May 1939 Enescu conducted a programme of Romanian compositions, which included his Second Romanian Rhapsody. The anonymous programme note stated:
This is the second of the set of Trois Rhapsodies Roumaines, Op. 11, in which Enesco has remembered the folk songs of his own country. The first and best known of the set is in A major; the third is in G minor.
Although subsequent sources have occasionally referred to this Third Rhapsody, it does not appear ever to have existed.
Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 in A major
The Rhapsody No. 1 in A major is dedicated to the composer and pedagogue Bernard Crocé-Spinelli (a fellow-student with Enescu in André GedalgeAndré Gedalge
André Gedalge , was an influential French composer and teacher.- Biography :André Gedalge was born at 75 rue des Saints-Pères, in Paris, where he first worked as a bookseller and editor specializing in livres de prix for public schools...
's counterpoint class at the Conservatoire), and is the better known of the two rhapsodies. The essence of this rhapsody is the dance.
Enescu claimed that it was "just a few tunes thrown together without thinking about it", but his surviving sketches show that he carefully worked out the order in which the melodies should appear, and the best instrumental setting for each one. It was completed on 14 August 1901, when Enescu was still only 19 years old.
Sources differ on the details of the scoring:
- 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, cymbals, harp and strings,
- 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 French horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani plus 3 percussion, 2 harps and strings, or, according to the published score,
- 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets in A, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets in C, 2 cornets in A, 3 trombones, tuba, 3 timpani, triangle, snare drum, cymbals, harp, violins I & II, violas, violoncellos, contrabasses.
Romanian leu
The leu is the currency of Romania. It is subdivided into 100 bani . The name of the currency means "lion". On 1 July 2005, Romania underwent a currency reform, switching from the previous leu to a new leu . 1 RON is equal to 10,000 ROL...
and I want to drink"), which is played by oboes and clarinets. The tune was played by the Romani violinist Lae Chioru (Nicolae Filip), from whom Enescu had his first violin lessons at the age of 4, but there is some doubt whether Enescu actually remembered it from Chioru, since the tune had been in circulation in various collections printed as early as 1848 (alternative spelling: "Am un leu şi vreau să-l beu"), which Enescu could have consulted. This is soon replaced with a slower melody first introduced in the violins. As the work progresses, this tune grows faster and livelier to climax in a vibrant whirling folk dance.
Enescu conducted the First Rhapsody at what proved to be his New York farewell concert with members of the New York Philharmonic on 21 January 1950. The concert was billed as a commemoration of his 60th year as an artist, and in it he appeared as violinist together with Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
in Bach's Concerto for Two Violins, as pianist in his own Sonata No. 3 for Violin and Piano (also with Menuhin), and as conductor of his Suite No. 2 for Orchestra, Op. 20, and the Rhapsody, which concluded the programme.
Romanian Rhapsody No. 2 in D major
The Second Rhapsody, like the first, was completed in 1901, but is more inward and reflective. Its essential character is not dance, but song. It is based on the popular 19th-century ballad "Pe o stîncă neagră, într-un vechi castel" ("On a dark rock, in an old castle") which, like the opening melody of the First Rhapsody Enescu may have learned from the lăutar Chioru,, though again there is some doubt whether Enescu actually remembered it from Chioru, and is about certain heroic episodes recounted in ancient Moldavian chronicles and characterized by a spirit of poetic rumination. After a development culminating in a canonic presentation, this theme is joined by a dance tune, "Sîrba lui Pompieru" ("SîrbaSârba
A Sârba or Sîrba is a Romanian dance normally played in 2/2 or 2/4 time. It can be danced in a circle, line, or couple formations and was historically popular not only among Romanians, but also Ukrainians, Hungarians, East European Jews, and the Poles of the Tatra Mountains...
of the Fireman"), followed shortly afterward by the second half of a folksong, "Văleu, lupu mă mănîncă" ("Aiee, I'm being devoured by a wolf!"), which is treated in canon. Toward the end there is a brief moment of animation, bringing to mind the spirit of country lăutari, but the work ends quietly.
Unlike the First Rhapsody, there is no controversy at all about the scoring of the Second, which is given in the published score as: 3 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets in A, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets in C, 3 trombones, 2 timpani, cymbal, 2 harps, first violins, second violins, violas, cellos, and double basses.
Legacy
For all their popularity, the two Romanian Rhapsodies proved to be "an albatrossAlbatross (metaphor)
The word 'albatross' is sometimes used metaphorically to mean a psychological burden that feels like a curse. It is an allusion to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ....
round Enescu's neck: later in his life he bitterly resented the way they had dominated and narrowed his reputation as a composer". He himself recorded each of the rhapsodies three times, but he viewed requests for yet more recordings as "un grosse affaire commerciale".
They have received dozens of recordings by other conductors and orchestras.
Further reading
- Chiriac, Mircea. 1958. "Rapsodiile române de George Enescu". Muzica 8, no. 7 (July): 21–28.
- Haslmayr, Harald. 2007. "Erinnerung und Landschaft im Werk von George Enescu". In Resonanzen: Vom Erinnern in der Musik, edited by Andreas Dorschel, 185–96. Studien zur Wertungsforschung 47. Vienna: Universal Edition. ISBN 978-3-7024-3055-9.
- Roşca, Mihaela-Silvia. 2004. Rapsodiile române de George Enescu: consideraţii analitice asupra semnificaţiei limbajului componistic enescian. Iaşi: Ed. Opera Magna. ISBN 9738679430.