Violeta Dinescu
Encyclopedia
Violeta Dinescu is a Romania
n composer
, pianist
and professor
, living in Germany
since 1982.
. In 1978 she received her master's degree, with distinction. She also received diplomas in the fields of Composition, Piano
and Pedagogics. She started teaching at the George Enescu Music School in Bucharest, conducting courses in Music history
, Aesthetics
, Counterpoint
, Harmony
and Piano. In 1980 she joined the Romanian Composers Union.
Hunger und Durst after Eugène Ionesco
was premiered in Freiburg
in 1986. Der 35. Mai (The 35th of May, or Conrad's Ride to the South Seas
), a children's opera after Erich Kästner
was composed in 1986, Eréndira after a short story by Gabriel García Márquez
in 1992 and performed at the third Munich Biennale
, Schachnovelle (The Royal Game
) after Stefan Zweig
in 1994. The operas have been performed at leading opera houses, as Der 35. Mai at the Staatsoper Hamburg in 2004. She worked for the Austrian theatre ARBOS on two music theatre projects, "The Singing of The Fools About Europe" and "The Concert of Birds". Herzriss, an opera in nuce for voice and percussion after Homer
, Ionesco and Márquez, was premiered in 2005.
, Frankfurt
, Bayreuth, and since 1996 as a professor of Applied Composition at the University of Oldenburg. There she started in 1996 to invite composers to a yearly Komponisten-Colloquium, in 2009 among others Jean-Luc Darbellay
and Graham Waterhouse
.
Violeta Dinescu has been an executive board member of the International League of Women Composers since 1987. Her works were published by Verlag Dohr and Schott Music
, among others.
l music, chamber music
, choral and vocal music received many international prizes and awards. Major commissioned works include Akrostichon and L‘ORA X for orchestra, an oratorio
for Pentecost
, Pfingstoratorium, music for the F. W. Murnau silent film
Tabu and the ballet
s Der Kreisel and Effi Briest
.
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
and professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
, living in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
since 1982.
Romania
Violeta Dinescu began her studies of music in 1972 at the conservatory Ciprian Porumbescu in Bucharest, composition with Myriam MarbeMyriam Marbe
Myriam Marbe was a Romanian composer and pianist.Marbe received her first piano lessons from her mother, who was a pianist. She studied at the Bucharest Conservatory from 1944 to 1954, where she took classes in piano with Florica Musicescu and Silvia Capăţână, as well as in composition with Leon...
. In 1978 she received her master's degree, with distinction. She also received diplomas in the fields of Composition, Piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and Pedagogics. She started teaching at the George Enescu Music School in Bucharest, conducting courses in Music history
Music history
Music history, sometimes called historical musicology, is the highly diverse subfield of the broader discipline of musicology that studies the composition, performance, reception, and criticism of music over time...
, Aesthetics
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
, Counterpoint
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
, Harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
and Piano. In 1980 she joined the Romanian Composers Union.
Germany, operas
In 1982 she moved to West Germany. Her first operaOpera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
Hunger und Durst after Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, and one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd...
was premiered in Freiburg
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In the extreme south-west of the country, it straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Breisgau region on the western edge of the Black Forest in the Upper Rhine Plain...
in 1986. Der 35. Mai (The 35th of May, or Conrad's Ride to the South Seas
The 35th of May, or Conrad's Ride to the South Seas
The 35th of May, or Conrad's Ride to the South Seas is a novel by Erich Kästner, first published in 1931.-Plot introduction:...
), a children's opera after Erich Kästner
Erich Kästner
Emil Erich Kästner was a German author, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known for his humorous, socially astute poetry and children's literature.-Dresden 1899–1919:...
was composed in 1986, Eréndira after a short story by Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...
in 1992 and performed at the third Munich Biennale
Munich Biennale
The Munich Biennale is an opera festival in the city of Munich. The full German name is Internationales Festival für neues Musiktheater, literally: International Festival for New Music Theater. The biennial festival was created in 1988 by Hans Werner Henze and is held in even-numbered years over...
, Schachnovelle (The Royal Game
The Royal Game
The Royal Game is a novella by Austrian author Stefan Zweig first published in 1942, after the author's death by suicide...
) after Stefan Zweig
Stefan Zweig
Stefan Zweig was an Austrian novelist, playwright, journalist and biographer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most famous writers in the world.- Biography :...
in 1994. The operas have been performed at leading opera houses, as Der 35. Mai at the Staatsoper Hamburg in 2004. She worked for the Austrian theatre ARBOS on two music theatre projects, "The Singing of The Fools About Europe" and "The Concert of Birds". Herzriss, an opera in nuce for voice and percussion after Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
, Ionesco and Márquez, was premiered in 2005.
Teaching
Since 1986 she has been teaching at German music academies in HeidelbergHeidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
, Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, Bayreuth, and since 1996 as a professor of Applied Composition at the University of Oldenburg. There she started in 1996 to invite composers to a yearly Komponisten-Colloquium, in 2009 among others Jean-Luc Darbellay
Jean-Luc Darbellay
Jean-Luc Darbellay is a Swiss composer, conductor, clarinetist and physician. He was chairman of the Swiss Society for New Music and board member of the International Society for Contemporary Music. Darbellay is a member of the composers group: Groupe Lacroix. He has published about 150 works...
and Graham Waterhouse
Graham Waterhouse
Graham Waterhouse is an English composer and a cellist. He is known for chamber music and for unusual scoring, such as Piccolo Quintet, Bright Angel for three bassoons and contrabassoon, Chieftain's Salute for Great Highland Bagpipe and string orchestra, and works for speaking voice and cello,...
.
Violeta Dinescu has been an executive board member of the International League of Women Composers since 1987. Her works were published by Verlag Dohr and Schott Music
Schott Music
Schott Music is one of the oldest German music publishers. It is also one of the largest music publishing houses in Europe and is currently the second oldest music publishing house. The company headquarters of Schott Music was founded by Bernhard Schott in Mainz, Germany in 1770.Established in...
, among others.
Major works
The prolific composer of orchestraOrchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l music, chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, choral and vocal music received many international prizes and awards. Major commissioned works include Akrostichon and L‘ORA X for orchestra, an oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
for Pentecost
Pentecost
Pentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...
, Pfingstoratorium, music for the F. W. Murnau silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
Tabu and the ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
s Der Kreisel and Effi Briest
Effi Briest
Effi Briest is widely considered to be Theodor Fontane’s masterpiece and one of the most famous German realist novels of all time. Thomas Mann once said that if one had to reduce one’s library to six novels, Effi Briest would have to be one of them...
.
Selected works
- Akanua, piano, 1974
- Sonata, violin or viola, piano, 1975
- In meinem Garten, text by Ana BlandianaAna BlandianaAna Blandiana is a Romanian poet, essayist, and political figure. She took her name after Blandiana, near Vinţu de Jos, Alba County, her mother's home village.-Literary career:...
, children’s chorus, 1980 - Mondnächte, text by Joseph von Eichendorff, mezzo-soprano, saxophone, percussion, 1986
- Akrostichon, orchestra, 1983
- Der Kreisel, ballet, scenario after Eduard MörikeEduard MörikeEduard Friedrich Mörike was a German Romantic poet.-Biography:Mörike was born in Ludwigsburg. His father was Karl Friedrich Mörike , a district medical councilor; his mother was Charlotte Bayer...
, orchestra, 1985 - Hunger und Durst, chamber opera, libretto by the composer after Ionesco, small orchestra (14 players), 1985
- Concerto, voice, orchestra, 1986
- Quatrain, text by François VillonFrançois VillonFrançois Villon was a French poet, thief, and vagabond. He is perhaps best known for his Testaments and his Ballade des Pendus, written while in prison...
, female voice, 1986 - Dona nobis pacem, mezzo-soprano, cello (+ percussion), 1987
- Tabu, film score for silent movie, small orchestra, 1988
- ICHTHYS, violin, cello, piano, 1991
- Der 35 Mai, children’s opera, libretto by the composer after Kästner, 3 soloists, 8 mixed voices, children’s chorus, orchestra, 1986
- Eréndira, chamber opera, libretto by the composer after Márquez, 7 soloists, small orchestra, 1992
- Pfingstoratorium, 5 soloists, mixed chorus, small orchestra, 1993
- Schachnovelle, chamber opera, libretto by the composer after Stefan Zweig, 3 soloists, chamber ensemble, 1994
- L'ORA X, orchestra, 1995
- Self-Reflections I/II, piano, live electronics, 1996–97
- Effi Briest, ballet, scenario after Theodor FontaneTheodor FontaneTheodor Fontane was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language realist writer.-Youth:Fontane was born in Neuruppin into a Huguenot family. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to an apothecary, his father's profession. He became an...
, orchestra, 1998 - Vortex – Wolken I, II und III, small orchestra, 1998
- Licht-Bruch, accordion, 2001
- Rugá, clarinet, double bass, accordion, 2001
- Herzriss, opera in nuce, female voice and percussion, 2005
External links
- Violeta Dinescu at The Living Composers Project
- Verlag Dohr, biographical sketch
- ARBOS Company for Music and Theatre
- Eva-Maria Houben: Violeta Dinescu Hochschule für Musik und Theater HamburgHochschule für Musik und Theater HamburgThe Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg is one of the larger universities of music in Germany.It was founded 1950 as Staatliche Hochschule für Musik on the base of the former private acting school of Annemarie Marks-Rocke and Eduard Marks.Studies include various music types from church music...
, 7 June 2008 - Entries to Violeta Dinescu in WorldCat