i The Influence of Romanian Folk Music on the Music of George Enescu, with special reference to Romanian Rhapsody, op. 11 no. 1, Sonata for Violin and Piano, op. 25 no. 3, and Impression d’Enfance for Violin and Piano, op. 28. Michael David Patterson A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy (Music Performance) at The University of Queensland in September 2009 The School of Music
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The Influence of Romanian Folk Music on the Music of George Enescu
The Influence of Romanian Folk Music on the Music of George Enescu, with special reference to Romanian Rhapsody, op. 11 no. 1, Sonata for Violin and Piano, op. 25 no. 3, and Impression d’Enfance for Violin and Piano, op. 28. Michael David Patterson
A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy (Music Performance) at The University of Queensland in September 2009 The School of Music
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i
The Influence of Romanian Folk Music on the Music of George
Enescu, with special reference to Romanian Rhapsody, op. 11 no. 1,
Sonata for Violin and Piano, op. 25 no. 3, and Impression d’Enfance
for Violin and Piano, op. 28.
Michael David Patterson
A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy (Music Performance) at
The University of Queensland in September 2009
The School of Music
ii
Declaration by author
This thesis is composed of my original work, and contains no material previously
published or written by another person except where due reference has been made in
the text. I have clearly stated the contribution by others to jointly-authored works that
I have included in my thesis.
I have clearly stated the contribution of others to my thesis as a whole, including
statistical assistance, survey design, data analysis, significant technical procedures,
professional editorial advice, and any other original research work used or reported in
my thesis. The content of my thesis is the result of work I have carried out since the
commencement of my research higher degree candidature and does not include a
substantial part of work that has been submitted to qualify for the award of any other
degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution. I have clearly stated
which parts of my thesis, if any, have been submitted to qualify for another award.
I acknowledge that an electronic copy of my thesis must be lodged with the
University Library and, subject to the General Award Rules of The University of
Queensland, immediately made available for research and study in accordance with
the Copyright Act 1968.
I acknowledge that copyright of all material contained in my thesis resides with the
copyright holder(s) of that material.
Statement of Contributions to Jointly Authored Works Contained in the Thesis
No jointly-authored works.
Statement of Contributions by Others to the Thesis as a Whole
No contributions by others.
Statement of Parts of the Thesis Submitted to Qualify for the Award of Another
Degree
None.
iii
Published Works by the Author Incorporated into the Thesis
None.
Additional Published Works by the Author Relevant to the Thesis but not
Forming Part of it
None.
iv
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the support of my academic advisor, Dr. Denis Collins
and my practical advisor, Mr. Spiros Rantos.
Abstract
George Enescu (1881-1955) is the best-known Romanian composer and has been
widely lauded for his folk- inspired compositions. While folk music was an important
influence in Enescu’s music, it was always balanced by his passion for and intimate
understanding of late Romantic compositional techniques. The extent to which he was
influenced by the folk music of his homeland is a point of contention amongst some
of the leading Enescu scholars. The English-speaking representative, Noel Malcolm
believes that the influences in Enescu´s musical language were more diverse than
scholars have suggested prior to the 1989 revolution. He believes that the depiction of
Enescu as a folkloristic composer has contributed to his marginalisation and relative
obscurity. By contrast, scholars such as Boris Kotlyarov and Grigore Constantinescu
give greater weight to national characteristics in Enescu’s music. Enescu conceded
that some of his early works made direct quotation of Romanian folk melodies, and
that such an approach was limited in its possibilities. The composer’s more mature
works employ characteristics of folk music and its performance traditions without the
use of direct quotation.
This critical commentary will observe and comment on the folk influences in
Enescu’s compositions as well as noting the influence of Western traditions and
techniques. Due reference will be given to the work of Bartók, whose incisive study
of Romanian folk music remains one of the most substantial and detailed primary
sources today. In order to highlight specific examples of folk influence, as well as
other techniques, three of Enescu’s works are targeted for specific study, namely the
Romanian Rhapsody, op. 11 no. 1, Sonata for Violin and Piano, op. 25 no. 3 and his
Impressions D’Enfance for violin and piano, op. 28. Each work exhibits a tie with the
composer’s Romanian origins, but also with 19th and early 20thC composers such as
Brahms, Wagner, Debussy and Fauré. This critical commentary highlights the fact
that Enescu’s works display folk idioms and techniques developed using late-
21 Enescu, Romanian Rhapsody, op. 11 no. 1, bars 355-358.
22 Dorian mode with raised fourth degree.
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23 Enescu, Sonata for Violin and Piano, op. 25 no. 3, third
movement, bars 21-22.
24 Enescu, Sonata for Violin and Piano, op. 25 no. 3, first movement,
bars 1-5
25 Enescu, Sonata for Violin and Piano, op. 25 no. 3, first Movement,
bars 6-9.
26 Enescu, Sonata for Violin and Piano, op. 25 no. 3, first movement,
second subject, bars 32-37 (with anacrusis).
27 Enescu, Sonata for Violin and Piano, op. 25 no. 3, start of the
development section, bars 38-41.
28 Enescu, Sonata for Violin and Piano, op. 25 no. 3, first movement,
bars 63-64.
29 Enescu, Sonata for Violin and Piano, op. 25 no. 3, second
movement, bars 20-21.
30 Enescu, Sonata for Violin and Piano, op. 25 no. 3, third
movement, bars 20-21.
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46
1
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
In this critical commentary I will examine how George Enescu drew upon the folk
music heritage of Romania in the development of his musical language. This
discussion will be balanced with consideration of the composer’s formal music
education in Vienna and Paris and the reflection of this training in his compositional
output. Enescu is the best known and most celebrated Romanian composer to date
(Malcolm, “George Enescu”). The fact that he was influenced by folk music is
generally agreed upon, but the extent of this influence is a point of contention, as may
be seen in the monographs of Boris Kotlyarov and Noel Malcolm. Their respective
books, Enesco1 and George Enescu: His Life and Music are the most substantial
scholarly publications about Enescu in English (Waterhouse 118). Kotlyarov seems
willing to attribute most of the composers distinctive compositional features to a folk
music influence, while Malcolm is more sceptical, acknowledging folk influence but
presenting the composer as more cosmopolitan. Their contrasting views will be
balanced in this critical commentary, with due consideration of Enescu’s biographical
information and examination of some of his more representative works. Three specific
works will be targeted for more detailed discussion, namely the Romanian Rhapsody,
op. 11 no. 1, Sonata for Violin and Piano, op. 25 no. 3 and Impressions D’Enfance for
violin and piano, op. 28. Each work exhibits a tie with Enescu’s Romanian origins,
but also with his education in Vienna and Paris and the influence of composers such
as Brahms, Wagner, Debussy and Fauré.
1 Translation from Russian to English by the Author.
2
Enescu was a ‘dyed-in-the-wool Wagnerian’ (Malcolm, Life and Music 75) living at a
time when composers were seeking alternative paths to the advanced harmonic idioms
developed by late nineteenth century composers. Exoticism, serialism, barbarism,
neoclassicism, folklorism, nationalism and dadaism were but a few of the many trends
explored by composers of this time (Vancea 6). Enescu, while patriotic and loyal to
his homeland of Romania was not, like Bartók, driven to compose for the good of the
nation (Suchoff 133). Nor did he conduct any detailed study or documentation of the
music of the Romanian people in order to imbue his compositions with its spirit. And
yet Enescu is hailed to this day as the greatest single exponent of Romanian music,
and as a folklorist whose music portrays the character of the Romanian landscape
(Malcolm, “Enescu in Bucharest” 31)2. However, Noel Malcolm has noted the lack of
study on the influence of church music on Enescu’s output (Malcolm, “Enescu in
Bucharest” 31). On both sides of the composer’s family there were strong ties with the
Romanian Orthodox church, and Enescu always remained a keen exponent: ‘I think
that the most difficult, necessary and urgently useful work that needs to be done in
Romanian music is that which is required by church music’ (qtd. in Malcolm, Life and
Music 27).
Enescu’s nationality was clearly an inspiration for such works as Poème Roumaine
and the two Romanian Rhapsodies, but he did not devote time to the study of folk
music. The composer’s exposure to folk music was restricted to what he would have
encountered in day to day life. Compared to Béla Bartók, his knowledge of folk
music, at an academic level, would have appeared minimal (see Chapter 3 below).
2 During the 1982 “Enescu Festival” in Bucharest, Malcolm was perplexed by what seemed to be an
exaggeration of the composer’s folk-music connection; “Again and again, we were told that Enescu
expressed the spirit of Romanian folk-music, of the Romanian landscape, or even, as the Chinese
pianist Li Ming-Chang informed us, of Romanian vegetation” (Malcolm, “Enescu in Bucharest” 31).
3
Nonetheless, elements of folk influence within his music are highlighted and lauded
by music scholars. In many cases, this exaggerated emphasis has resulted from the
political environment of Romania prior to the 1989 Revolution, in which the link
between composer and nation through folk music was highly regarded (Valentina).
Scholarly literature on Enescu is nowhere near as abundant as on other eminent
composers of Central and Eastern Europe. Malcolm´s monograph, George Enescu:
His Life and Music of 1990 is the most recent and substantial book about the
composer in English. His writings are widely referenced in recent journal articles, CD
liner notes and performance reviews. Although frustrated by writers who exaggerate
accounts of folk influence in Enescu’s music (Malcolm, Life and Music 11-12), he
presents a balanced approach that considers folk influences whilst not ignoring
Enescu’s many and varied influences from the West.
Kotlyarov’s monograph was used with caution in this critical commentary. As noted
by John Waterhouse (118), the book provides some insightful discussion of Enescu’s
music. However, some of the analyses are excessively florid and written in a way that
exaggerates the role of nationalism in Enescu´s musical language. With regard to
Enescu’s overtly Romanian works (Poème Roumaine, the two Romanian Rhapsodies
and the Sonata for Violin and Piano, no. 3) Kotlyarov’s fundamental assertions about
folk influence are undisputed. However, those made in discussion of other works,
such as Enescu’s first and second violin sonatas (34-35) and Dixtuor, op. 14 (74) for
woodwind seem more tenuous. Consider for example Kotlyarov’s remarks on the
Sonata for Violin and Piano, no. 2: ‘Enesco uses a very rapid bow tremolo which in
4
piano-pianissimo makes the violin sound like a cobza’3 (34). Kotlyarov chooses to
attribute the use of such techniques such as portamento and tremolo to folk influence
(34) without considering a possible French influence. Enescu was studying at the
Paris Conservatoire when he wrote this sonata, and would have been familiar with the
‘rapid bow tremolo’ in the first movement of Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Piano
(1897)4. Enescu’s use of tremolo is just as likely to be an impressionistic gesture as an
imitation of a traditional Romanian instrument. Kotlyarov, however is quick to
distance Enescu from impressionism, quoting Maxim Gorky: ‘in great artists [such as
Enescu] realism and romanticism are always combined’ (qtd. in Kotlyarov 45). This
sort of reference by Kotlyarov suggests that his writing was influenced by socialist
realist thinking (Pegg).
The most significant Enescu scholar, aside from Malcolm and Kotlyarov, is Pascal
Bentoiu, a Romanian composer and ethnomusicologist. He has published numerous
essays on Enescu along with one monograph, Capodopere enesciene (1984) for which
there is no published English translation. However, some of his writing is available in
English at The International Enescu Society website5. His brief article, “George
Enescu, the Composer” serves to confirm some of the more nuanced claims of
Malcolm. In particular, Bentoiu supports Malcolm’s view of the composer as a
marginalised figure whose oeuvre should not be consigned merely to the ‘national
school’. In contrast to Malcolm however, Bentoiu suggests it is the complexity of
Enescu’s mature compositions that is the primary reason for their relative obscurity
today (Bentoiu).
3 A cobza is a lute-like instrument that was widely used for accompanying the voice or melody
instruments in Romania around the time of Enescu (Rădulescu). 4 Ravel was friends with Enescu and would later entrust the first performance of his second sonata for
violin and piano to the Romanian (Menuhin 101). 5 <http://www.enescusociety.org/>
5
This Critical Commentary will refer to the writings of the aforementioned authors in
its exploration of folk influence in Enescu’s music, while making it clear that there
were other influences on his composing style that were possibly even stronger. Enescu
was excited by music of the Romantic era because it spoke to him emotionally and
with the same directness of communication that he intended to achieve in his own
compositions (Malcolm, Life and Music 38). Enescu said that music should ‘go from
heart to heart’ (qtd. in Malcolm, Life and Music 14). Although there were numerous
influences on his compositional style, this emotional emphasis was always at the core
of Enescu’s music. The three pieces studied in chapters 5-7 of this critical
commentary reveal not only characteristics derived from Romanian folk music, but
also the strength and importance of Western techniques in Enescu’s music. Chapters
2-4 are preparatory to the discussion of these pieces and consider the diverse
influences that formed part of the composer’s mature musical language.
6
Chapter 2
BIOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND
Despite remarkable ability as a violinist, pianist, conductor and teacher, Enescu
always considered himself to be principally a composer (Constantinescu 9). When
reading about his life, and about how he touched the lives of other great musicians, it
becomes clear that he was a remarkably facile musician, but also of very humble and
kind disposition. Noel Malcolm referred to his ‘extraordinary [and] total musicalilty
of mind’ (Malcolm, Life and Music 13). In his autobiography, Yehudi Menuhin
referred to Enescu’s musicality as an ‘incandescence surpassing anything in my
experience’ (Menuhin 84), and in the introduction to Malcolm’s monograph described
him as ‘the most extraordinary human being, the greatest musician and the most
formative influence I have ever experienced’ (Malcolm, Life and Music 9). Pablo
Casals described Enescu as ‘the greatest musical phenomenon since Mozart’
(Malcolm, Life and Music 263).
Enescu was born in Moldavia, a region of Romania that was so regularly invaded
throughout history that its culture was rich with the influence of the East and the West
(Menuhin 98). Enescu learnt the violin from a local Gypsy6 fiddler until his
outstanding ability was recognised by Eduard Caudella, a professor of violin at the
Conservatory in Iaşi, and he was sent to Vienna to commence his formal education
(Malcolm, Life and Music 30). In Vienna, from the age of five Enescu was immersed
in the music of the great Viennese classical composers – Haydn, Mozart and
Beethoven – but it was music of the Romantic era, in particular the music of Wagner,
6 The word ‘Gypsy’ is used in this critical commentary in reference to itinerant musicians, and is not
specific to any ethnicity.
7
that most excited the young Romanian (Vancea 8). Enescu later made special mention
of Hans Richter who conducted The Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin and
the Der Ring des Nibelungen during Enescu’s time in Vienna (Kotlyarov 20). He said
that Wagner’s chromaticisms became ‘a part of his vascular system’ (Enescu, qtd. in
Kotlyarov 20). Many of Enescu’s works display other qualities that point to Wagner’s
influence: ‘elaborate forms, large proportions and intense sonority’ (Kotlyarov 20).
While in Vienna, Enescu studied composition with Robert Fuchs, whose other pupils
included Mahler, Sibelius and Wolf (Malcolm, “George Enescu”). After graduating
from the Vienna Conservatoire in 1893, the twelve-year old Enescu stayed on for one
more year of composition lessons with Fuchs. The influence of Fuchs’s counterpoint
teaching is apparent in Enescu´s celebrated Opus 1, Poème Roumain (1897) which is
abundant in thematic superimpositions (Malcolm, Life and Music 63).
Paris was to become the young Romanian’s next home. Enescu’s arrival in 1895 was
at a time when the city’s musical life was thriving as a result of strong government
support (Pasler). At the Paris Conservatoire he studied composition with Massenet
(1895–6) and Fauré (1896–9) (Malcolm, “George Enescu”). His early compositions
from this period are clearly indebted to the Germanic tradition, as exemplified by the
works of Schumann, Beethoven and Brahms. They also see the emergence of Fauré’s
influence, which was to become increasingly significant (Vancea 8). Enescu’s Sonata
for Violin and Piano, op. 2 no. 1, his Sonata for Cello and Piano, op. 26 no. 1, and the
Variations for Two Pianos on an Original Theme, op. 5 all date from this burgeoning
stage.
8
Enescu’s fondness for heterophonic compositional techniques was fostered in his
weekly counterpoint lessons with André Gédalge. The Frenchman was to remain
special to Enescu as the following extract attests:
I was, am and always shall be Gédalge´s pupil: what he gave me was a doctrine
to which I was already naturally attuned. […] Polyphony is the essential
principle of my musical language; I’m not a person for pretty successions of
chords. I have a horror of everything which stagnates. […] Harmonic
progressions only amount to a sort of elementary improvisation. However short
it is, a piece deserves to be called a musical composition only if it has a line, a
melody, or, even better, melodies superimposed on one another.
(qtd. in Malcolm, Life and Music 56-57).
Enescu’s Octet for Strings, op. 7 is clearly indebted to Gédalge in its extensive use of
contrapuntal techniques (Malcolm, Life and Music 78). For instance, the first
movement involves a prolonged fugal interplay between the first violin and the first
viola parts. The second movement continues the contrapuntal sensibility with its
highly energetic fugato (Malcolm, Life and Music 79).
As a composer, Enescu achieved his first large-scale success with Poème Roumain
which was completed in 1897. Aside from its successful première in Paris in 1898, the
work was a huge success when the composer conducted it in the Romanian capital of
Bucharest (Malcolm “Enescu”). The work is rich in melodic superimpositions and
thematic transformation, two techniques of which Enescu seemed particularly fond
(Kotlyarov 35). Although thematic transformation was used extensively by Liszt, it is
9
more likely to have been Wagner’s transformation of leitmotifs in the Ring which
inspired Enescu, as this was a work that he had memorised in its entirety (Menuhin
101). Enescu’s first Cello Sonata uses the technique so extensively that the thematic
material becomes fatigued through all its convolutions (Malcolm, Life and Music 72).
Ensescu was not the first Romanian composer to create symphonic works based on
Romanian folk melodies; he was following in a tradition established towards the end
of the nineteenth century by composers such as Alexandru Flechtenmacher (National
Moldavian Overture), Iacob Mureşianu (Stephen the Great) and Ciprian Porumbescu
(Romanian Rhapsody) (Malcolm, Life and Music 62). Enescu’s foray into the use of
quotation was short-lived and certainly atypical of his mature compositional style
(Malcolm, Life and Music 12). His later works harnessed folk-like qualities without
actually quoting melodies (Constantinescu 9-10). The composer’s attitude to
incorporating folk melodies in symphonic works was cautious:
I believe that popular [i.e. folk] art is good in itself. To employ it in symphonic
works amounts to enfeebling it as if diluting it in water. Every composer must
inspire himself by his own means. I know only one exception, and it applies to
rhapsodies where folk tunes are fitted to one another and not worked out. A
popular melody can be developed by one means only – by a dynamic
progression, by repeating it without alterations, without artificial endings or
intercalculations…I wrote my rhapsodies in a purely instinctive way and only
later tried to find out what inner requirement had induced me to choose that
form. (qtd. in Kotlyarov 34)
10
These comments from a 1952 interview with Enescu echo writings of Claude Debussy
from around the year 1900. The latter consistently denounced the act of taking
melodies from the folk music, writing once to a Hungarian friend:
Your young musicians could usefully take inspiration from them, not by
copying them but by trying to transpose their freedom, their gifts of evocation,
colour, rhythm … One should only ever use the folk music of one’s country as a
basis, never as a technique.
(qtd. in Lesure)
Enescu graduated from the Paris Conservatoire in 1899, then began a ‘divided
existence’ that revolved around two centres — one being an apartment in Paris, and
the other a house in the Romanian countryside (Menuhin 99). Most of his performing
and conducting duties were centred in Paris, while most of his composing was done in
Romania. Enescu’s greatest passion was for composing music (Constantinescu 9), but
he often complained that his hectic touring schedule left him with too little time to this
activity (Malcolm, Life and Music 82).
11
Chapter 3
ENESCU, BARTÓK AND APPROACHES TO FOLK MUSIC
A comparison with the work of Bartók is useful when assessing Enescu’s interactions
with Romanian folk music. Both composers were exposed to Romanian folk music,
but Bartók’s approach to understanding its characteristics was far more scholarly than
Enescu’s. During the period 1908-1918 Bartók conducted thorough and systematic
study of Romanian folk music through fieldwork in Romanian villages and
transcribing music of the peasants (Alexandru 120). His subsequent
ethnomusicological publications observed the characteristics of Romanian folk music
in great detail. Enescu’s exposure to folk music, by contrast, came from childhood
exposure to Moldavian fiddlers and Gypsy bands, and from his first years of violin
tuition with the Gypsy fiddler, Lae Chioru (Malcolm, Life and Music 30). Under
Chioru’s tutelage Enescu learnt many folk melodies including those that would later
appear in his Poème Roumain and Romanian Rhapsodies. While it may be useful to
draw parallels between the careers of Enescu and other composers inspired by folk
music – such as Karol Szymanowski, Arnold Bax, Zoltán Kodály, and Franz Liszt –
Bartók is the most relevant reference point due to the timeframe of his career, and his
extensive research of Romanian folk music (Botstein 142).
In the early years of Bartók’s career he was driven by an overriding patriotism which
led him to become passionate about folk music research. He embarked on a
systematic study of Hungarian peasant music in 1905, with a view to incorporating his
discoveries into a new musical style (Erdely 27). In September 1903 he wrote to his
mother:
12
Everyone, on reaching maturity, has to set himself a goal and must
direct all his work and actions toward this. For my part, all my life,
in every sphere, always and in every way, I shall have one objective:
the good of Hungary and the Hungarian nation. (Suchoff 133)
In the early years of Bartók’s career, the Hungarian War of Independence (1848-49)
was still relatively fresh in the people’s minds. Hungarians were a proud people who
looked to their music to help build national morale and strengthen the nation’s sense
of identity (Erdely 27). Bartók’s musicological work in the early twentieth century
went far beyond popular renditions of folk music by bands in the major cities. He
sought to document the ancient, traditional music of the Hungarian people, to
understand its ancestry, and to thereby compose music with a true national spirit
(Bratuz 29-30). In order to achieve this, Bartók undertook extensive musicological
work in Hungary and Romania. He studied, recorded and transcribed thousands of
peasant performances in scores of villages. Many of these villages were around the
border of Hungary and Romania, including many in Transylvania which became part
of Austria-Hungary after 1867, and then part of the Kingdom of Romania after World
War I.
Between 1908 and 1918 Bartók collected around 3500 Romanian folk tunes
(Alexandru 120). His was not the first substantial collection of notated Romanian folk
melodies, although its precedents were scarce. One of the earliest examples, Musique
Oriental, 42 Chansons et Dances Moldaves, Valaques, Grecs et Turcs by François
13
Rouschitzki was published in 18347. Bartók’s transcriptions, however, offer
significantly greater detail, with thorough attention given to each subtlety of
performance such as ornamentations, tunings and slides (Erdely 32). At no stage did
Bartók attempt to harmonise or Westernise the material. In addition to documenting
the melodies, he gathered contextual information relating to the social function of the
music. For example, the first volume of Bartók’s Rumanian Folk Music contains
information on the occasions where dances would take place, and a detailed
description of the choreography involved (Bartók 27-41).
As a composer, Bartók’s earlier work was in keeping with evolving Romanticism as
developed by Brahms and Wagner, and he dabbled in a popular nationalistic style that
was reminiscent of Liszt (Suchoff 133). His 1903 parody of the Austrian national
anthem in the Kossuth Symphonic Poem was received with great enthusiasm by the
public (Suchoff 133). This work was premiered in the same year that Enescu
conducted his Romanian Rhapsodies in Bucharest for the first time. The works of
both composers were symptomatic of their formal training and the stylistic currents of
the time (Vancea 8). Neither composer was writing in their mature representative
style, rather, they were experimenting with new-found techniques in the context of a
popular musical framework (Vancea 8).
After 1907 Bartók’s immersion in folk music started to become obvious in his
compositions, as an increasing number of genuine Hungarian and Romanian
folklorisms permeated their structure and tonality (Gillies). The Fourteen Bagatelles
op. 6 (1908) are a good example of Bartók’s compositional style from this pivotal
7 Rouschitzki´s collection was published in the town of Iaşi, which was by coincidence the birthplace
of Enescu.
14
time. These pieces display a new simplicity in texture and various compositional
devices that are suggestive either of the influence of his recent folk music
investigation, or of contemporaneous trends by other Western composers (Gillies).
While Bartók probed the riches of his country’s folk music, Enescu was strengthening
his musical bonds in Paris. Here he wrote a number of chamber works showing his
affinity with his composition teacher, Gabriel Fauré. These include the Sept Chansons
de Clément Marot (1908) and the First Piano Quartet (1909). Certain Romanian folk
characteristics inevitably permeated his output, as in Dixtuor (1906) where a number
of passages are clearly indebted to the free flowing modal ornamentations of the
doina8 (Malcolm 104). But as Enescu’s musical language began to mature, it became
increasingly clear that his techniques could not be easily pigeon-holed. His synthesis
of Western and indigenous Romanian music was becoming more seamless and natural
(Malcolm 82).
Constantinescu states that Enescu was ‘thoroughly conversant’ with the folk music of
Romania (9). However, there is no evidence of there having been a methodology to
Enescu’s acquisition of such knowledge. Noel Malcolm tells us that in the composer’s
later years ‘he took a close interest in current research, and influenced the thinking of
the Romanian ethnomusicologist Constantin Brăiloiu.’ (Malcolm, Life and Music 24).
However, Malcolm does not qualify this statement, and is quick to move the focus of
Enescu’s folk awareness away from areas of research and into an emotional context.
Malcolm draws our attention to the appeal that the folk idiom of the doina had to
8 The Doina is a free-flowing style of song or instrumental melody. See chapter 4 of this critical
commentary.
15
Enescu, not because of any technical aspects, but because of ‘its expressive qualities’
(Malcolm, Life and Music 24).
It is clear that Bartók approached the understanding of folk music characteristics in a
fundamentally different way to Enescu. His knowledge was more academically
grounded, and was demonstrated through his numerous ethnomusicological
publications. As a result of his almost obsessive dedication to folk music research,
Bartók’s mature works invariably display strong evidence of folk influence. On the
other hand, Enescu’s mature style did not consistently exhibit the influence of folk
music characteristics. His Piano Quartet, op. 22 no. 2 and opera Oedipe, op. 23 are
examples of this. The former is more French than Romanian and owes considerable
stylistic debt to Fáure (Whitehouse), while the latter is strongly rooted in late romantic
techniques, including the use of leitmotifs (Kotlyarov 126). The influence of
Romanian music can be found in Enescu’s late music, but it is not always a primary or
pivotal in dictating its style. Therein lies the most significant point of departure in a
comparison with Bartók’s compositional response to folk music.
16
Chapter 4
CHARACTERISTICS OF ROMANIAN FOLK MUSIC
Before approaching the technical aspects of Enescu’s compositions it is necessary to
survey some of the characteristic elements of Romanian folk music. These include
performance characteristics (ornaments, portamento, pitch nuances and so on) as well
as structural characteristics such as modality, rhythm and form. Folk music and dance
are an integral part of the Romanian peoples’ life (Alexandru 6), playing an essential
role in occasions such as ‘nunta’ (marriage), ‘înmormântarea’ (burial), ‘botezul’
(baptism), ‘colinde’ (carol singing) and fertility rituals (Rădulescu). Romanian folk
music is usually performed by professional musicians (‘lăutari’), many of whom are
gypsies. The nature of the music varies depending on type of event, and the area in
which it takes place. Romania was historically prone to invasion and shifts in its
borders, and as a result its folk music exhibits the influence of many surrounding
areas (Malcolm, Life and Music 21). Enescu spoke of Romanian music as a
‘composite of Arabic, Slav and Hungarian music, possessing nevertheless its own
peculiar character, which you won’t find in the music of other peoples’ (qtd. in
Malcolm, Life and Music 22). As a result, Romanian folk music is rich in its variety of
meters, rhythms and modes.
It is possible to spend much time defining what is meant by ‘folk music’ in the
Romanian context. Constantin Brăiloiu, one of the most important Romanian
ethnomusicologists of the early twentieth century (Rouget), noted that it was common
for the words ‘folk’ and ‘peasant’ to have interchangeable meanings in musicological
studies (Brăiloiu 390). Bartók, whose ethnomusicological publications remain the
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most substantial primary source of about Romanian folk music in English, largely
conformed to this idea. Bartók also stressed the importance of avoiding the study of
urbanised versions of folk melodies, which he considered less pure (Bartók 4). His
definition of folk music is, ‘all music which the village folk spontaneously use as
expression of their musical instinct and feeling’ (Bartók 5). The following is a very
brief explanation of some of the important characteristics of Romanian folk music. Its
aim is to provide a basis for the discussion of Romanian folk characteristics in the
three specific works studied in Chapters 5-7.
Modality and Romanian Dance Music
Having transcribed over two thousand five hundred melodies from villages in
northwestern Romania, Bartók was able to ascribe certain modal tendencies to the
different genres of folk music he encountered. While Bartók’s classifications do not
cover all types of Romanian folk music, or all of the areas within Romania, his
analyses remain amongst the most insightful. More recent scholarly literature on the
topic, including the work of Gheorge Oprea continues to use similar systems to
categorize modal tendencies. Bartók divided the instrumental dance music into five
types, indicating the most common mode used for each.
Example 1 shows the mode most common in Bihor dance melodies, with the final
tone indicated as the second note of the mode. This points to a common feature of
dance melodies from the western parts of Romania and adjoining Serbia, namely that
the ‘finalis’ of most melodies is one step above the tonal centre (Marković 29).
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Ex. 1. Bihor area modal type.
In the ‘heroic’ type of melody the fourth degree is sometimes raised, creating an
augmented second between the third and fourth degrees (Ex. 2). The sixth degree is
either major or minor (Bartók 48).
Ex. 2. ‘Heroic’ melody modal type.
The ‘Ardeleana’ genre of dance melody is similar to the ‘Heroic’ type, and usually
features the same mode with the mobile fourth and sixth degrees. The difference is in
the rhythm which in this instance is generally restricted to equal sixteenth note values
(Bartók 49).
Motif-structure melodies are the fourth type of instrumental dance melody specified
by Bartók. These melodies are generally restricted to a pentachord in range,
occasionally stretching to the sixth (Ex. 3). The fourth tone is sometimes raised,
creating a tritone with the tonal centre.
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Ex. 3. Modal type for melodies with motif-structure.
The modal characteristics of vocal music are similar to those of their instrumental
counterparts, although as an exception Bartók mentioned the Câmpie area, a hilly
region in central Transylvania. Here he notes a predominance of an anhemitonic
(without semitones) pentatony (Ex. 4).
Ex. 4. Câmpie area modal type.
The influence of Turkish modes is particularly apparent in the Muntenia area of
Romania (Malcolm 22). Prominent amongst these modal collections is the Hicaz
which features an augmented second between the second and third degrees (Ex. 5).
Ex. 5. The Hicaz mode.
Romanian folk musicians do not generally play with what Western musicians would
consider accurate intonation. Bartók observed that ‘the minor-second interval is
mostly too wide…’ (Bartók 16). Such deviation from even temperament was
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inevitable considering the origins of the modes included countries like Turkey where
semitones varied considerably in their width (Garfias 103). The variability of
temperament was a characteristic that Enescu exploited in his Sonata no. 3 for violin
and piano, as discussed below in the chapter on this work.
Meter and Rhythm
Brăiloiu was able to observe some commonality in the rhythms of the vocal music he
studied. He noticed a tendency to use a ‘bichronal rhythmic system’, which employed
a pair of durations (one long and one short) each corresponding to a syllable of sung
verse (Alexandru 112). Example 6 displays a hexasyllabic arrangement wheras
example 7 is octosyllabic. The sequence of the rhythmic values is not always the same
(Ex. 8). This rhythm is found in most examples of the ‘colinde’ (carol song)
(Alexandru 112). The regular arrangement syllables was referred to as ‘syllabic
giusto’ by Brăiloiu (Alexandru 112).
Ex. 6. Hexasyllabic arrangement.
Ex. 7. Octosyllabic arrangement.
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Ex. 8. Băla, Mureş county. 1914, transc. B Bartók.
Bartók found that most of the Romanian instrumental music he studied could be
reduced to a skeleton rhythm of four quavers per bar. Many of the melodies were
sixteen bars in duration although roughly a fifth were half that length (Bartók 42). The
quaver skeleton rhythm is fleshed out with various combinations of semiquavers and
quavers:
or or
Further variation is possible. In particular, the ‘heroic’ type of melody tends to use a
regular dotted rhythm (Bartók 43):
Another variation of particular note can be found in pieces that have been exposed to
Bulgarian influence. The ‘bulgarization’ of Romanian music involved the addition or
subtraction of a semiquaver value from the bar of a fast piece (r=M.M. 150 or more).
The result is a distinctive, limping feel that can be found in the folk music of Bulgaria,
Romania and Turkey (Bartók 43). Another Bulgarian influence on Romanian folk
music performance is the accenting of alternate semiquavers. This occurs either on the
beat, or on the off-beat, the latter possibility acting as a substitute for accentuation
which would ordinarily be provided by a second, chordal instrument (Bartók 43).
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The broader sense of structure is generally achieved with symmetric combinations of
phrases, e.g. two two-bar phrases making up a four bar melody, etc. Sometimes a
rhythmic shift is achieved by displacing the accent at the beginning of a phrase. In the
following example a letter denotes a crotchet value (Bartók 43).
OR
Ex. 9. Rhythmic shift through displacement of the accent.
Doina
In the early eighteenth century, the great Moldavian voivode (general) Dimitrie
Cantemir was active as a philosopher, historian, composer and scholar of music. In his
Descriptio Moldavine the word doina is used in the title of any song that recalls the
heroic deeds of Moldavian people (Alexandru 49). Nowadays this term is applied
more liberally to songs, whether vocal or instrumental, whose rhythm is free and
protracted, and whose mood is generally sad (Alexandru 49). Bartók used the term,
‘parlando rubato’ to describe the rhythm of such free melodies that would often
involve improvisation around a melodic framework (Malcolm “Enescu”). The ‘Hora
Lunga’ of Hungary and the ‘doina’ of Romania are examples of folk song that use a
‘parlando’ rhythm.
Similarities in the free improvisatory vocal melodies of the broader area including the
Ukraine, Macedonia, Greece and Turkey have subsequently been drawn (Nixon), but
the doina is distinguishable by its unique inflections, ornamentations and vocal
effects. While Bartók was fascinated by this type of music from an
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ethnomusicological standpoint, Enescu spoke more of its emotional significance
(Malcolm 24). The dreaming, melancholic qualities of Romanian folk music are most
obvious in the doina, and it is these qualities that Enescu considered most important
when recreating the character of Romanian music (Malcolm 22).
The doina often portrays a sense of mournfulness and was originally performed by a
solo singer. Its long improvised phrases involve a delayed resolution to the final note
via florid ornamentation and emphatic recitative style declamation (Nixon).
Instrumental groups of two or more players may set the melancholic doina over a
drone (Nixon) or against a fast and regular accompaniment with ironic poignancy
(Lloyd 20). Adding to the sense of freedom is the frequent use of an ‘uncertain mode’
(Rădulescu) where the third, fourth and seventh degrees of the scale are variable (Ex.
10)9.
Ex. 10. The uncertain mode.
Instrumentation
Many of the instruments used in Romanian folk music have their origins in either
Turkey or Western Europe (Rădulescu). This is indicative of the influence of nomadic
musicians (gypsies) and of the willingness of the Romanians to adapt their traditional
music to more contemporary, popular sounds (Malcolm, Life and Music 25). The
violin, cymbalum, panpipes, cobza (lute) and the accordion are examples of
instruments adopted by Romanian folk musicians during the nineteenth and twentieth
9 The symbol indicates that a note should be raised by a quarter-tone.
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centuries (Rădulescu). Native instruments such as the fluer (flute or whistle), bucium
(alphorn) and cimpoi (bagpipe) have been used for significantly longer. Bartók’s
observations about these instruments are particularly useful because of their high level
of detail, and because they resulted from field work during Enescu’s lifetime.
The most common instrumental combination used by folk musicians in the Moldavia
area, where Enescu was born, was violin and cobza10
. In more recent times, the
cymbalum (hammer dulcimer) has overtaken the cobza as the popular choice of
chordal instrument (Lloyd 16). The type of cymbalum used in the Moldavia region
usually had between twenty and twenty-five courses of strings, giving it
approximately a two-octave range of chromatic notes. It is played with two hammers,
one in each hand, lending itself particularly well to arpeggiated chordal
accompaniments. Unlike the Hungarian version of the instrument, there is usually no
pedal damper system employed.
The type of violin used by peasants and gypsies in Romania is identical to that of the
Western tradition. In some regions, however, a flatter bridge is fitted to the instrument
to enable the playing of three string chords with the bow (Bartók 16). Such an
instrument would invariably be designated an accompanying role. It is rare for
Romanian folk musicians to play higher than first position on the violin, although
some gypsies would do so on the E string as a show of virtuosity (Bartók 16). While
there is a cliché of Hungarian Gypsy violin music being full of glissando, portamento
and vibrato, this is not an accurate description of Romanian folk violin playing. The
use of such techniques is generally only for humorous effect (Bartók 17)
10
A cobza is a nine stringed lute-like instrument used to provide chordal accompaniment (Lloyd 16).
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The peasant flute (fluer) is used throughout Romania. Made of wood, it is similar in
design to the Western recorder and is configured to play a diatonic major scale
(Bartók 17). The third, sixth and seventh degrees frequently deviate from standard
Western tuning, delivering a pitch that sits somewhere between the major and minor
possibilities (Bartók 17). Two different types of vibrato are used on the peasant flute.
The first involves a fluctuation of pitch while the second produces a varying intensity
of sound.
Ornamentation
Romanian folk musicians employ a variety of ornaments in all genres of instrumental
and vocal music. Trills, turns, mordents and acciaccaturas are employed widely in