Professor Emeritus Constantin Crăciun (15 September 1937 – 25 November 2016)

CONSTANTIN CRĂCIUN was born on September 15, 1937, in Pîrscoveni (Olt County, former Romanați County), Romania. Teodor Crăciun, the father of Constantin, graduated Philosophy and Theology at the University of Bucharest and became a devoted priest. He married Eva Cunescu, the daughter of a Moldavian boyar. Tragi­cally, Eva Crăciun passed away while all her four children were very young (Con­stantin himself being only 3-years-old). Following this suffering moment, Teodor Crăciun moved with his family to Corabia where he was appointed as bishop. Constantin went on a deprived childhood and teenage, graduating the secondary school (Corabia), and the Technical High School for Topography (Bucharest, 1957). Con­stantin was afterwards appointed a job in Transylvania (Bihor County). At that time, he could not enroll in academic studies because of his politically ‘unhealthy’ ascendance, by the communist standards. Soon, however, Constantin was formally adopted by the family that hosted him in Batar village (Bihor County). It was a crucial moment in Constantin’s fate, as he was now ‘eligible’ to become a student at the Faculty of Biology (Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj, 1961-1966). During his undergraduate studies in Biology, Constantin Crăciun was tutored by Professors Eugen A. Pora, Emil Pop, Oreste Marcu, Victor Pop, Ștefan Kiss and others that left their marks on the progress of biological sciences in Cluj-Napoca and Romania. As a student, Constantin was remarked by Professor V. Gh. Radu for his hardworking, sense of responsibility and keenness to take on technical and science challenges. Prof. V. Gh. Radu foresaw Constantin as a promising researcher and therefore, provided him a position at the Institute of Biological Research in Cluj-Napoca (1966-1978). The Romanian Nobel laureate Professor George E. Palade granted Constantin Crăciun a fellowship for attending a specialization at the Medical School of Yale University, but he was again denied to follow his dreams by the communist policy that restricted the travels in foreign countries. Following a specialization in electron microscopy at the University of Bucharest, Constantin Crăciun together with Professor V. Gh. Radu established the Laboratory of Electron Microscopy of the Babeș-Bolyai University starting in 1971. Since 2000, this Laboratory became the Electron Microscopy Center, which was continuously managed by Constantin Crăciun until his most regretted decease in 2016

Revenue management in sports, live entertainment and arts

The purpose of this special issue is to stimulate, advance and broaden the theoretical, empirical, and case study analysis of Revenue Management within sports, live entertainment and arts

AN EVIL LETTER, AND THE DESTINIES OF THE FORGOTTEN PASSACAGLIA. THE TWILIGHT OF THE THIRD SYMPHONY “OVID” BY SIGISMUND TODUȚĂ

The author does not intend to write a booklet about the Symphony No. 3 “Ovid” (1957) by Sigismund Toduță, but rather to complete the missing pieces of its history. Still in 2004, the manuscript of the symphony’s finale was still missing. With its discovery in 2013, research confirmed its uniqueness and originality. Now, in 2022, at the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Toduță Foundation, we reveal those derogatory remarks that led to the ‘amputated’ publication of the Passacaglia followed by the symphony’s fade into oblivion. All began with a young university assistant from Bucharest who addressed a letter to the only Romanian citizen with a PhD in music (Rome, 1933), the nationally and internationally recognized composer, awarded by George Enescu himself. How did this 28 years old juvenile dare to write to the 51 years old master in such a defamatory tone? If it was part of a political task, whom did it serve? Who had anything to gain by removing from the Romanian musical heritage this remarkable work, composed on the two-millennium anniversary of Ovid’s birth - the adored but banished poet? Would it be fair to respect the composer’s wish and forget this troublesome Passacaglia? Wouldn’t it be a mistake against the creation itself, which once born, deserves publicity? With these questions this paper reconstructs the events, still leaving in the twilight the truth behind the faces of Ovid

IN THE SHADOW OF MANFRED: BYRON, SCHUMANN AND TCHAIKOVSKY

The romantic hero is born from reality. Whether his name is Manfred, Werther, Clavigo, Onegin or Byron, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, he will always bear the seal of the society he comes from. Noble and cultivated, he enjoys his privileged life to the fullest, but at some point this no longer satisfies him. An outlaw, a “wasted” and incomprehensible genius, this “enfant terrible” suffering from the incurable “mal de siècle” escapes, disillusioned, from his commonplace existence and embarks on a quest for the unknown, living in that Eminescian “poignant charm”. He faces fate with dignity, without repent, paying for his audacity with his life. George Gordon Byron, Shakespeare's illustrious descendant, fascinated the whole European cultural space: he created the prototype of the Romantic hero not only through his poems, but also through his own adventurous life. Manfred (1816-1817) is a dramatic poem sprinkled with supernatural elements, haunted by ghosts, written in the tone of the black novel and of the mysterious romantic drama. The poet took the name of his character from Manfred, King of Sicily in the 13th century, invoked in Dante's Divine Comedy. Nietzsche was so impressed with the image of the Byronic superhero that he wrote a musical composition on the same theme. Schumann's version (Ouverture zu Manfred op.115), composed in 1849 and having an autobiographical resonance, is considered among the composer's most touching pages. Tchaikovsky, engrossed in the drama of the theme, treated it in his own personal way, creating a monumental synthesis between the symphonic style and his unerring sense of the stage

MESSAGES BEYOND THE SCORE, OR ENCODED MEANINGS IN MAHLER’S SYMPHONIES

Could it be that the deliberately chosen solitude in the three Komponierhäuschen during the creative summers would isolate and, at the same time, free the composer from the music he had conducted during the seasons? Or, maybe just like the haunted castles, his symphonies will hide in their labyrinth forsaken musical personalities, leaving in the themes, sometimes just transfigured fragments, the evidence of the composer’s admiration and devotion for the broken destinies. For those who will discover the overwhelming force of his music only decades later, Mahler will be the revelation of perfection in his multiple and varied roles and original masks, as well as through the surprises generated by the meeting of themes he liked – the great and departed. The present study began from the impact of Mahler’s music, as he himself would have liked it; it is well known the fact that he refuted more than once the initial program of his symphonies and the deciphering of his anthropomorphic enigmas creates just as many connections between the pre-sign – research of triggering biographical or socio-political events, act-sign – the specific of communication and post-sign – their hermeneutic and historical interpretation

HISTORY OF A FORGOTTEN PASSACAGLIA: THE SYMPHONY NO.3 “OVID” FINALE BY SIGISMUND TODUŢĂ

From the perspective of a new century and millennium, preoccupied with the new directions in the stylistic evolution of language, be it musical or otherwise, a retrospective look over the works of an overwhelming personality of Cluj-Napoca musical life such as Sigismund Toduţă creates a bridge towards a past which yet has mysteries to be solved.[1] Hundreds of pages dedicated to Sigismund Toduţă were written[2] - musicologist, founder of cultural institutions as well as founder of the Cluj composition school – yet every time their authors would state that they had much to learn from the Maestro while finding answers to their own dilemmas. Unsolved mysteries regarding the life and works of Sigismund Toduţă remain, one of them being the subject of the present lecture: what was the reason for relinquishing the final passacaglia in Symphony no. 3, dedicated to the equally mysterious Latin poet Ovid, whom he greatly admired. At the Sigismund Toduţă anniversary symposium in 2004, the author of the present text presented an aesthetic analysis of the symphony, accompanied by a historical recording. The analysis of the third and last part, the Passacaglia[3], was difficult because the original score was missing, the author only working with the piano reduction, in a form which did not match any of the two interpretations (Chisadji and Elenescu). The score, printed in 1975, contains additional passages, which do not appear in the interpretations, showing the composer’s constant strive for an ideal version. In July 2009, composer Dan Voiculescu, one of Toduţă’s disciples, managed to obtain the manuscript score from the Library of the Composers’ Union in Bucharest. In 2013 the manuscript score of the final part of the Symphony was offered to us by the secretary of the “Sigismund Toduță” Foundation and we renewed the research. There are quite important differences between the manuscript and the two interpretations with the composer’s participation; therefore, putting together one final version of the score could be a challenge for the present composition class. For a musicologist, diving into the written text, deciphering and revealing its message remain essential. The most “recent” complete interpretation belongs to the Symphonic Orchestra of the RTR conducted by Emanoil Elenescu and dating back to October 16, 1981. After two decades of absence from the concert programs (27 years), conductor Romeo Rîmbu conducted Symphony no. 3 on May 15, 2008 with the Philharmonic Orchestra in Sibiu, without a finale however, as the score was considered destroyed. In 1975 only the first two parts of the symphony were printed (!), a unique situation, as Toduţă has never composed a symphonic work in two parts. The critics’ appreciation, as well as the acclaim won by the performance of the Symphony prove the author’s compositional mastery and entitle him to new rehabilitation. Hopefully, it will not take a millennium, as in the case of the Symphony’s protagonist.   [1] The present paper was presented on May 17, 2013, during the first edition of the “Sigismund Toduță” International Festival with the theme “Stylistic directions in contemporary musical writing”, May 13-18, 2013. [2] A graduate of the Cluj music school, Sigismund Toduţă (May 17, 1908 – July 3, 1991) composer, musicologist and eminent professor carried on the legacy of his predecessors, Gheorghe Dima, Augustin Bena, Mihail Andreescu-Skeletty, Marţian Negrea, George Simonis, his musical education being a synthesis of the composition schools in Romania, Berlin, Paris and Vienna. He perfected his contrapuntal compositional style during his doctoral studies at the "Pontificio Istituto di Musica Sacra" in Rome, with a thesis focused on Renaissance polyphony (1936-1938), as well as during the composition classes with Ildebrando Pizzetti, a leading authority in Gregorian chant and medieval polyphonic writing. Professor Pizzetti’s personality left its mark on Toduţă’s creative writing as well as on his later stylistic orientation: the cultivation of a national music, while abandoning the Romantic or Verist influences. [3] Part which does not appear in the score printed by Editura Muzicală, Bucharest, 1975 (!)

ADRIAN POP - IN SEARCH OF A LONG LOST SMILE

An anniversary, especially in the case of a generation colleague, the renowned composer Adrian Pop, generates the remembrance of a long series of musical events that have become notorious, with works included in the national and international concert repertoire. The avoidance of nostalgic memories made that a stage miniature be chosen for the present paper, an incursion of the author into the naive world of childhood reading. The result was a modern, glamorous musical transposition of a sequence with Max and Moritz, the playful heroes created by the famous humorist and cartoonist Wilhelm Busch in the middle of the 19th century. The musical act Onkel Fritz by Adrian Pop was first performed in Cluj in 2016, on October 22, on the occasion of his previous anniversary, within the Cluj Musical Autumn Festival. The graceful performers of the act, presented under the title “Anniversaries at the Festival, Adrian Pop compositional portrait”, were soprano Mihaela Maxim, in the role of Max and pianist Eva Butean, in the role of Moritz. How did composer Adrian Pop manage to musically enliven a 150 years old humorous story? The author of the following text will try to answer this question. Rezumat. ADRIAN POP - ÎN CĂUTAREA SURÂSULUI PIERDUT. O aniversare, mai ales în cazul unui coleg de generație, reputatul compozitor Adrian Pop, generează rememorarea unui lung șir de evenimente muzicale devenite notorii, cu lucrări intrate în repertoriul intern și internațional de concerte. Evitarea unor memorii nostalgice au făcut ca sorții acestei comunicări să cadă asupra unei miniaturi scenice, o incursiune a autorului în lumea ingenuă a lecturilor din copilărie. A rezultat o transpunere muzicală modernă, plină de farmec, a unei secvențe cu Max și Moritz, eroii poznași creați de celebrul umorist și caricaturist Wilhelm Busch la mijlocul secolului XIX. Prima audiție clujeană a scenetei muzicale Onkel Fritz de Adrian Pop a avut loc în 2016, la 22 octombrie, cu ocazia precedentei sale aniversări, în cadrul Toamnei Muzicale Clujene. Interpreții plini de har ai scenetei prezentate sub genericul „Aniversări în Festival, portret componistic Adrian Pop” au fost soprana Mihaela Maxim, în rolul lui Max și pianista Eva Butean, în rolul lui Moritz. Oare cum a reușit compozitorul Adrian Pop să însuflețească muzical o poveste umoristică de 150 de ani? La această întrebare va încerca să răspundă autoarea acestor rânduri.  Cuvinte cheie: Adrian Pop, Wilhelm Busch, Max și Moritz, Unchiul Fritz, act muzica

Study of Ground Movement in a Mining Area

The inhabitants of a village situated in the southern side of Romania have sued juridical action the local mining company considering that the coal quarry and the new sterile dump situated near up the locality, are the main cause of the civil buildings damages. In order to establish the true causes of damages occurred in the village area a number of 129 buildings has been monitorised and 19 geotechnical drillings were dug surveying the ground structure. Inclinometric tests have been performed for one year in 15 boreholes spread on several profiles. A global stability analysis was performed as well. Our study pointed out that, despite the appearances, the damages arc due to local previous landslides and inadequate foundation solutions