JAVS Spring 2001

39

by Christina Placilla

Riding on the wave of nationalist tendencies that swept Europe in the beginning of the twenti eth century, the Romanian born composers Stan Golestan and George Enescu 1 led their coun trymen in celebrating the traditions and folk music of their homeland. In 1921, Enescu and Golestan, along with many of their contemporaries, founded Societatea Compozitorilor Romani, the Romanian Composers Society. This organization's goals centered upon the publication of new works by Romanian composers and the preservation of existing folk material of the Romanian people. It was through the influence of the Hungarian composer Bela Bartok, and the Romanian Constantin Brailoiu, that the systematic catalogue of this folk material was preserved as a treasure house for future Romanian composers. In an article addressing the spirit of Societatea Compozitorilor Romani, 2 Enescu called upon his countrymen to develop a Nationalist School equal to any in the West. Enescu and his com patriots utilized the ethnomusicological research completed by Bartok and Brailoiu and employed this historical, musical material inherent to Romanian folk music in their own com positions by using: 1. monotonous chant, also known as parlando, as the basis of the thematic material, and embroidering the harmonic lines that surround it (Parlando, also referred to as parlando rubato, is a style of instrumental playing found in this region that traditionally accompa nies a vocal part. This style is much like recitative, with a very free rhythm, giving an almost "spoken'' quality to the instrumental accompaniment); 3 2. dance structures from the tradition, such as the Hora, which can be found throughout the regwn; 3. a popular melody as the thematic material; or 4. a combination of the above to create a synthesis with an overall flavor of Romanian Nationalism. The members of Societatea Compozitorilor Romani incorporated these ideas into their music. Stan Golestan and George Enescu, two leading composers of this group, wrote masterful works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, and orchestra in this idiom. Two pieces in the viola and piano duo repertoire, Arioso et Allegro de Concert by Stan Golestan and Concertstiick by George Enescu, are fine examples of their incorporation of traditional Romanian music into art music, giving it the flavor of their homeland. STAN GOLESTAN: .AR!OSO ETAllEGRO DE CONCERT FOR VIOLA AND PIANO (1932) Composer and author Stan Golestan (1875-1956) was heavily influenced by Romanian culture. An emigre to Paris, Golestan was educated at both the Conservatoire National de Music de Paris and the Schola Cantorum. He became acquainted with many of the elite musicians working in France during the 1920s and 1930s. He was a member of Societatea Compozitorilor Romani and strove to further the objectives of the Romanian Nationalist School. Golestan's only work for viola, the Arioso et Allegro de Concert, was dedicated to Maurice Vieux and became a part of the Conservatoire's curriculum in 1933. It is heavily influenced by