Folk music is, on the one hand, the oldest form of Romanian musical creation, characterised by great vitality until our times, and on the other hand, a defining source of the cultured musical creation, both religious and lay. In the conservation of folk music an important role has been played, besides the permanence of the audience, by the great performers. One of them, Gheorghe Zamfir, is famous throughout the world today, having made known a typically Romanian folk instrument, the panpipes.

The religious musical creation, born under the influence of Byzantine music adjusted to the intonations of the local folk music, saw a period of glory between the 15th-17th centuries, when reputed schools of liturgical music developed within Romanian monasteries. Russian and Western influences brought about the introduction of polyphony in religious music in the 18th century, a genre developed by a series of Romanian composers in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Lay music had distinct characteristic traits in the Romanian Principalities until the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. Western influences prevailed in Transylvania in both instrumental music (particularly the organ) and vocal music, while Oriental influences were mainly taken over in Wallachia and Moldavia. However, after the settlement there of several foreign musicians and the tours made by foreign opera troupe, a drive towards Western music evolved in Wallachia and Moldavia as well.

In the latter half of the 19th century the principal music institutions were founded: the Conservatories in Bucharest, in 1866 (the Conservatorie in Cluj had been set up in 1825). The samee period saw the emergence of the national school of music, mainly based on choral music which drew inspiration from folk or Byzantine music. That was also a period when Romanian names appeared in opera music. Among them were Haricleea Darclee (1860-1939), who made a name for herself on the great opera stages of the world and who performed Tosca when that opera was premiered in 1900.

The overwhelming personality of George Enescu (1881-1955), composer (author of the well-known Oedipus opera), conductor and instrumentalist, brought universal dimension to the Romanian music. He was, along with his Hungarian contemporary and friend Bela Bartok (who was born in Sânnicolau Mare near Timisoara), a great explorer of the Romanian musical folklore traditions, which he used in his revolutionary search for new formal ways of artistic expression. In the period between the two World Wars, the Romanian music school was present on the international stages, especially in the areas of performance and conducting, through such great names as those of pianist Dinu Lipatti (1917-1950) or conductors Ionel Perlea (1900-1970) and Sergiu Celibidache (1912-1996), who had to develop their creative talent outside the country's borders, Constantin Silvestri (1913-1969) etc.

The postwar years saw an extraordinary flourishing of the Romanian music. In parallel with the diversification of musical genres, conductors and interpreters, both instrumentalists and vocalists received great acclaim here and in numerous countries abroad. "George Enescu" Philarmonic Orchestra or the "Madrigal" choir are only two names on a long list of international achierements. Among the composers, one should menttion Mihai Jora (1871-1971) who was the first to compose lieds and ballet music; Paul Constantinescu (1909-1963), the author of oratorios inspired from the Byzantine traits of the old Romanian music; Sabin Dragoi (1894-1968), the first to compose a musical drama inspired from the Romanians' history; Dimitrie Cuclin (1885-1978) and Mihail Andricu (1894-1974) for their great contribution to the promotion of the Romanian music through their symphonic works.

Today the country's European option has created the possibility for rebuilding bridges towards the international musical life, either by the participation of Romanian musicians in outstanding international events or by the holding of such events in Romanian, among which the prestigious George Enescu International Festival, held in Bucharest. There existed two opera houses before World War II, five in 1960 and six at present. The number of musical comedy and variety theatres dropped from 19, in 1985, to 12 nowadays, while philarmonic and symphony orchestras increased their number from 10 in 1950 to 17 at present. The number of spectators also varied: 2 million in 1950, 3 million in 1980, 1.1. million at present.

Last update: 1999, September 8
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