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 (!)

LISZT – PROGRAMATIC IDEALS: „HARMONIES POÉTIQUES ET RÉLIGIEUSES”

After long years of glorious journeys and disillusionment, the mature virtuoso, the “wandering son” finds his homeland and his identity and he retreats in order to create. He draws again on his old muse, the verses of Lamartine, and, in the middle of turmoil, he gives birth to a delightful pianistic page. The starting point was one of his youth pieces, in one part, (1833) bearing the same title that Liszt decides to give, twenty years later, to a cycle of ten pieces. He will create his own “reminiscence”, where parts evoking memories of people and events succeed among moments of prayer of a solitary soul, converting his existence into “a mute hymn for Divinity and hope” (Lamartine)

ARCHETYPAL ETHOS: “TRIPTIC (TRIPTYCH)” BY ADRIAN POP

Important personality of the musical life in Cluj, composer and professor Adrian Pop (*1951) is the last of Sigismund Toduţă’s disciples, the great mentor of the Cluj School of composition. He continued his studies under the guidance of Cornel Ţăranu, one of the most representative composers of the Romanian Avant-garde, together with Hans-Peter Türk, Ede Terényi, Vasile Herman and others, who were themselves Toduţă’s students. Adrian Pop’s style reflects his preference for the national ethos, specific to the Eastern European composition Schools, protruded by the composition techniques of Western Avant-garde. The complex musical language is the result of long years of study in Romania, with personalities such as Ștefan Niculescu and Aurel Stroe, as well as in European musical centres, with Dieter Salbert (Bayreuth), Ton de Leeuw (Burgas), Joji Yuasa (Amsterdam). The impact of his works on audiences has materialized in national awards from the Composers’ Union (1978, 1980, 1989), the Romanian Academic Society Award (1996) as well as international ones, in Tours (1978), Arezzo (1979), Trento (1982, 1984, 1986), Roodeport – South Africa (1983), Spittal an der Drau (1986). His compositions impress both by their variety and themes, of folkloric inspiration, and by their refined polyphonic or heterophonic writing, as learned from his father, Dorin Pop, an excellent choir conductor and specialist in Renaissance music. Actually, his first successful work, Colinda de pricină (Reason Carol), inspired by the folklore in the Sălaj county and introduced to the audiences by Dorin Pop, conductor of the Cappella Transylvanica choir, was loved by the public even from its first performance and remained in the repertoire of all prestigious choirs ever since. This carol also leaves a mark on his future creations of folkloric inspiration. One of the distinctive aspects of his compositional style is the use of folklore in the form of a quoted song later metamorphosed in an ingenious counterpoint weaving. The subject of the present study is the most recent symphonic opus of composer Adrian Pop, the ballet Triptic (Triptych) (1998, rev. 2013). The work continues the series of symphonic creations, Etos I (1976) – on the theme from Mioriţa, a ballad from Sălaj county and Solstiţiu (Solstice) (1979) – a carol of the Sun “which was sung until recently in Bihor county”, as Adrian Pop says. Triptych reunites three different worlds of the 19th century Transylvania, in the three contrasting movements of the “little suite”: the first part evoques a savage world of fantastic realism, with tragic ending, an aspect which preoccupied the composer at the time, as it is also the subject of his doctoral thesis, Recviemul Românesc (Romanian Requiem) (2001). The second part, an idyllic progress of a couple’s life, is the passage to the whirling twirl of a folk song from Ţara Moţilor (the third part). The melodramatic melody treated heterophonically in the picturesque rhythms of Ardeal folklore and spiced up with specific timbres of the semantron and bells, lead the Triptych and its author, composer Adrian Pop, towards success in concert halls and give the audiences the hope for a new choreographic staging

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

Concert Chronicle: “THE VALKYRIE” BY RICHARD WAGNER, IN CONCERT. GABRIEL BEBEȘELEA AND THE “TRANSILVANIA” STATE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA DRESS REHEARSAL WITH AUDIENCE AND THE CLOSING CONCERT OF THE “CLUJ MUSICAL AUTUMN” INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL (OCTOBER 25-26

Wagner’s opera in concert draws the attention of Cluj audiences for the second time; it is definitely an accomplishment for symphonic and vocal-symphonic music lovers to make it through four hours of opera music, without intermission; nevertheless, just as last year (2017), the fully booked evening performance has encouraged organizers to widely open the gates of the dress rehearsal. The preparation of such a grand project involved intense musical study with experienced pianists such as Adina Mureșan and Alexandru Lazăr as well as the cooperation with a remarkable young conductor, Cristian Spătaru. We also have to mention the name of the lighting specialist, Attila Almási, who masterfully staged the light play. Furthermore, great merit in revealing the message of the Valkyrie is attributed to translators Marius Tabacu, Roxana Stoenescu and Oana Andreica, also responsible for the high quality text in the concert leaflet. Few words can truly express the proper value of the exhausting effort put in, or the abnegation proven by artists confronting the score, but it all resulted in a magnificent performance, worthy of all the great stages of the world. “Following this experience, one inevitably becomes a better musician, more refined and with more attention to detail”, says Gabriel Bebeșelea. On the whole, it may well be argued that congratulations and acknowledgments are definitely in order for the entire staff, conductors, soloists, orchestra, technical crew, along with the cultivated and appreciative audience