50-719: George Enescu ( Romanian pronunciation: [ˈdʒe̯ordʒe eˈnesku] ; 19 August [ O.S. 7 August] 1881 – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco , was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor, and teacher and is regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history. Enescu was born in Romania, in the village of Liveni (later renamed "George Enescu" in his honor), then in Dorohoi County , today Botoșani County . His father
100-642: A calendar change, respectively. Usually, they refer to the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries between 1582 and 1923. In England , Wales , Ireland and Britain's American colonies , there were two calendar changes, both in 1752. The first adjusted the start of a new year from 25 March ( Lady Day , the Feast of the Annunciation ) to 1 January,
150-544: A change which Scotland had made in 1600. The second discarded the Julian calendar in favour of the Gregorian calendar, skipping 11 days in the month of September to do so. To accommodate the two calendar changes, writers used dual dating to identify a given day by giving its date according to both styles of dating. For countries such as Russia where no start-of-year adjustment took place, O.S. and N.S. simply indicate
200-773: A conductor with many American orchestras and, in 1936, was one of the candidates considered to replace Arturo Toscanini as permanent conductor of the New York Philharmonic. In 1932, Enescu was elected a titular member of the Romanian Academy . In 1935, he conducted the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris and Yehudi Menuhin (who had been his pupil for several years starting in 1927) in Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major. He also conducted
250-457: A cultural centre be built there. In Moinești itself there is a street named after the composer, as well as a middle school. In addition the renamed George Enescu International Airport at Bacău is some twenty miles away. Then in 2014 the home of Enescu's maternal grandfather in Mihăileni, Botoșani , where the composer spent part of his childhood, was rescued from an advanced state of dilapidation by
300-413: A full string orchestra on condition that certain singing parts [ passages chantants ] be entrusted to soloists . I leave it to the judicious choice of the conductor to decide which passages are to be played solo. Enescu's composition stands in contrast to Felix Mendelssohn's Octet, which sets a soloistic violin part against an accompaniment of the other stringed instruments. Enescu's work on the other hand
350-459: A letter dated "12/22 Dec. 1635". In his biography of John Dee , The Queen's Conjurer , Benjamin Woolley surmises that because Dee fought unsuccessfully for England to embrace the 1583/84 date set for the change, "England remained outside the Gregorian system for a further 170 years, communications during that period customarily carrying two dates". In contrast, Thomas Jefferson , who lived while
400-484: A piano trio, two string quartets and two piano quartets, a wind decet (French, "dixtuor"), an octet for strings , a piano quintet, and a chamber symphony for twelve solo instruments). A young Ravi Shankar recalled in the 1960s how Enescu, who had developed a deep interest in Oriental music, rehearsed with Shankar's brother Uday Shankar and his musicians. Around the same time, Enescu took the young Yehudi Menuhin to
450-451: A piece of music divided into four segments of such length that each of them was likely at any moment to break. An engineer launching his first suspension bridge over a river, could not feel more anxiety than I felt when I set out to darken my paper". Once he had completed the Octet, Enescu offered it to Édouard Colonne for performance in his Concerts Colonne . However, after five rehearsals,
500-911: A start-of-year adjustment works well with little confusion for events before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar. For example, the Battle of Agincourt is well known to have been fought on 25 October 1415, which is Saint Crispin's Day . However, for the period between the first introduction of the Gregorian calendar on 15 October 1582 and its introduction in Britain on 14 September 1752, there can be considerable confusion between events in Continental Western Europe and in British domains. Events in Continental Western Europe are usually reported in English-language histories by using
550-476: A team of volunteer architects and now houses a centre of excellence for the study of music. Enescu's portrait appeared on the redesigned 5 lei Romanian banknote in 2005. Three songs setting Lemaitre and Prudhomme Four songs setting Fernand Gregh In German: Various settings of Carmen Silva (Queen Elisabeth of Romania) In Romanian – 3 songs Old Style and New Style dates Old Style ( O.S. ) and New Style ( N.S. ) indicate dating systems before and after
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#1732783296837600-539: Is "a genuine octet that finds its most natural expression just in its hallucinatory convergent and divergent contrapuntal voices". Stylistically, the Octet stands outside the categories into which most of Enescu's works from before the end of the First World War fall, when he was still working his way through a wide range of styles and influences, including those of César Franck , Ernest Chausson , Henri Duparc , Claude Debussy , and Richard Strauss . The form
650-536: Is 9 February 1649, the date by which his contemporaries in some parts of continental Europe would have recorded his execution. The O.S./N.S. designation is particularly relevant for dates which fall between the start of the "historical year" (1 January) and the legal start date, where different. This was 25 March in England, Wales, Ireland and the colonies until 1752, and until 1600 in Scotland. In Britain, 1 January
700-430: Is described by the composer as cyclic , and divided into four movements : A typical performance of the work takes around 40 minutes. However, these four sections are linked together to form a single large sonata-allegro form movement. The first movement functions as the exposition and the finale as recapitulation , while development is pursued in the inner two movements. The idea of cyclically integrating all of
750-873: The Colonial Exhibition in Paris , where he introduced him to the Gamelan Orchestra from Indonesia . On 8 January 1923 he made his American debut as a conductor in a concert given by the Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and subsequently visited the United States many times. It was in America, in the 1920s, that Enescu was first persuaded to make recordings as a violinist. He also appeared as
800-541: The Conservatoire de Paris . In a letter from André Gédalge to Lucien Rebatet , dated 16 October 1923, Gédalge said that Enescu was "the only one [among his students] who truly had ideas and spirit" (fr: le seul qui ait vraiment des idées et du souffle) . On 6 February 1898, at the age of 16, Enescu presented in Paris his first mature work, Poema Română , played by the Colonne Orchestra , then one of
850-941: The New York Philharmonic between 1937 and 1938. In 1939, he married Maria Tescanu Rosetti (known as Princess Maruca Cantacuzino through her first husband Mihail Cantacuzino), a good friend of Queen Marie of Romania. He was also renowned as a violin teacher. He began teaching at the Mannes School of Music in 1948. His students included Yehudi Menuhin , Christian Ferras , Ivry Gitlis , Arthur Grumiaux , Serge Blanc , Ida Haendel , Uto Ughi , and Joan Field . (See: List of music students by teacher: C to F#George Enescu .) He promoted contemporary Romanian music, playing works of Constantin Silvestri , Mihail Jora , Ionel Perlea and Marțian Negrea. Enescu considered Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin as
900-609: The Russian Empire and the very beginning of Soviet Russia . For example, in the article "The October (November) Revolution", the Encyclopædia Britannica uses the format of "25 October (7 November, New Style)" to describe the date of the start of the revolution. The Latin equivalents, which are used in many languages, are, on the one hand, stili veteris (genitive) or stilo vetere (ablative), abbreviated st.v. , and meaning "(of/in) old style" ; and, on
950-623: The "Himalayas of violinists". An annotated version of this work brings together the indications of Enescu regarding sonority, phrasing, tempos, musicality, fingering and expression. Enescu died on 4 May 1955. On his death, he was interred in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Pablo Casals described Enescu as "the greatest musical phenomenon since Mozart" and "one of the greatest geniuses of modern music ". Queen Marie of Romania wrote in her memoirs that "in George Enescu
1000-619: The 1930s, Enescu lived in the Cantacuzino Palace on Calea Victoriei and married its then owner, Maruca Cantacuzino, in 1939. After the Communist takeover, the couple occupied a part of it briefly before moving to Paris in 1947. Following Enescu's death in 1955, Maruca donated the palace to the Romanian state in order to organize a museum [1] in memory of the musician. Likewise, the Symphony Orchestra of Bucharest and
1050-408: The 19th century, a practice that the author Karen Bellenir considered to reveal a deep emotional resistance to calendar reform. Octet (Enescu) The Octet for strings in C major , Op . 7, is an octet composition for string instruments by the Romanian composer George Enescu , completed in 1900. Together with the Octet in F major, Op. 17 (1849) by Niels Gade , it is regarded as amongst
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#17327832968371100-539: The 4th century , had drifted from reality . The Gregorian calendar reform also dealt with the accumulated difference between these figures, between the years 325 and 1582, by skipping 10 days to set the ecclesiastical date of the equinox to be 21 March, the median date of its occurrence at the time of the First Council of Nicea in 325. Countries that adopted the Gregorian calendar after 1699 needed to skip an additional day for each subsequent new century that
1150-583: The Boyne was commemorated with smaller parades on 1 July. However, both events were combined in the late 18th century, and continue to be celebrated as " The Twelfth ". Because of the differences, British writers and their correspondents often employed two dates, a practice called dual dating , more or less automatically. Letters concerning diplomacy and international trade thus sometimes bore both Julian and Gregorian dates to prevent confusion. For example, Sir William Boswell wrote to Sir John Coke from The Hague
1200-462: The British Isles and colonies converted to the Gregorian calendar, instructed that his tombstone bear his date of birth by using the Julian calendar (notated O.S. for Old Style) and his date of death by using the Gregorian calendar. At Jefferson's birth, the difference was eleven days between the Julian and Gregorian calendars and so his birthday of 2 April in the Julian calendar is 13 April in
1250-410: The British colonies, changed the start of the year from 25 March to 1 January, with effect from "the day after 31 December 1751". (Scotland had already made this aspect of the changes, on 1 January 1600.) The second (in effect ) adopted the Gregorian calendar in place of the Julian calendar. Thus "New Style" can refer to the start-of-year adjustment , to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar , or to
1300-605: The George Enescu Festival—initiated by the musicologist Andrei Tudor [2] and supported by his friend, musical advocate, and sometime collaborator, the conductor George Georgescu—are named and held in his honor, and the composer's childhood home in Liveni was inaugurated as a memorial museum in 1958. Earlier still, in 1947, his wife Maruca donated to the state the mansion near Moinești where Enescu had lived and where he completed his opera Oedipe , provided that
1350-623: The Gregorian calendar. For example, the Battle of Blenheim is always given as 13 August 1704. However, confusion occurs when an event involves both. For example, William III of England arrived at Brixham in England on 5 November (Julian calendar), after he had set sail from the Netherlands on 11 November (Gregorian calendar) 1688. The Battle of the Boyne in Ireland took place a few months later on 1 July 1690 (Julian calendar). That maps to 11 July (Gregorian calendar), conveniently close to
1400-466: The Gregorian calendar. Similarly, George Washington is now officially reported as having been born on 22 February 1732, rather than on 11 February 1731/32 (Julian calendar). The philosopher Jeremy Bentham , born on 4 February 1747/8 (Julian calendar), in later life celebrated his birthday on 15 February. There is some evidence that the calendar change was not easily accepted. Many British people continued to celebrate their holidays "Old Style" well into
1450-430: The Julian and Gregorian dating systems respectively. The need to correct the calendar arose from the realisation that the correct figure for the number of days in a year is not 365.25 (365 days 6 hours) as assumed by the Julian calendar but slightly less (c. 365.242 days). The Julian calendar therefore has too many leap years . The consequence was that the basis for the calculation of the date of Easter , as decided in
1500-581: The Julian calendar had added since then. When the British Empire did so in 1752, the gap had grown to eleven days; when Russia did so (as its civil calendar ) in 1918, thirteen days needed to be skipped. In the Kingdom of Great Britain and its possessions, the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 introduced two concurrent changes to the calendar. The first, which applied to England, Wales, Ireland and
1550-517: The Julian date of the subsequent (and more decisive) Battle of Aughrim on 12 July 1691 (Julian). The latter battle was commemorated annually throughout the 18th century on 12 July, following the usual historical convention of commemorating events of that period within Great Britain and Ireland by mapping the Julian date directly onto the modern Gregorian calendar date (as happens, for example, with Guy Fawkes Night on 5 November). The Battle of
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1600-492: The combination of the two. It was through their use in the Calendar Act that the notations "Old Style" and "New Style" came into common usage. When recording British history, it is usual to quote the date as originally recorded at the time of the event, but with the year number adjusted to start on 1 January. The latter adjustment may be needed because the start of the civil calendar year had not always been 1 January and
1650-495: The composer. Enescu's Piano Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 16, completed only a few days earlier, also received its premiere on this concert, which also included a performance of his Sept chansons de Clement Marot , for tenor and piano, Op. 15, composed the previous year. The Octet is dedicated to André Gedalge , one of Enescu's professors at the Conservatory, whose support in convincing the firm of Enoch & Cie to publish
1700-643: The director of the Vienna Conservatory, hosted Enescu at his home, where the child prodigy met his idol, Johannes Brahms . He graduated at the age of 12, earning the silver medal. In his Viennese concerts young Enescu played works by Brahms , Sarasate and Mendelssohn . In 1895, he went to Paris to continue his studies. He studied violin with Martin Pierre Marsick , harmony with André Gedalge , and composition with Jules Massenet and Gabriel Fauré . Enescu then studied from 1895 to 1899 at
1750-543: The end of the following December, 1661/62 , a form of dual dating to indicate that in the following twelve weeks or so, the year was 1661 Old Style but 1662 New Style. Some more modern sources, often more academic ones (e.g. the History of Parliament ) also use the 1661/62 style for the period between 1 January and 24 March for years before the introduction of the New Style calendar in England. The Gregorian calendar
1800-673: The greatest pianists of all time, once said that Enescu, though primarily a violinist, had better piano technique than his own. Enescu's only opera, Œdipe ( Oedipe ), was staged for the first time at the Royal Opera House in London in 2016, 80 years after its Paris premiere, in a production directed and designed by La Fura dels Baus which received superlative reviews in The Guardian , The Independent , The Times and other publications. An analysis of Enescu's work and
1850-563: The impresario removed it from the program on grounds that it was too risky, a decision that Enescu regarded bitterly. The belated premiere finally took place on 18 December 1909 in the Salle des Agriculteurs in Paris, as part of a festival concert of Enescu's chamber works in the Soirées d'Art concert series. The performers were the combined members of the Géloso and Chailley Quartets, conducted by
1900-452: The most notable successors to Felix Mendelssohn 's celebrated Octet, Op. 20 . Following the completion of his Second Violin Sonata in 1899, composition of the Octet occupied Enescu for a year and a half. The complexity of a structure spanning forty minutes in performance caused him considerable difficulty, though he found the challenge exciting. "I wore myself out trying to make work
1950-454: The most prestigious in the world, and conducted by Édouard Colonne . Many of Enescu's works were influenced by Romanian folk music, his most popular compositions being the two Romanian Rhapsodies (1901–02), the opera Œdipe (1936), and the suites for orchestra. He also wrote five mature symphonies (two of them unfinished), a symphonic poem Vox maris , and much chamber music (three sonatas for violin and piano, two for cello and piano,
2000-553: The movements of a symphony into a single overarching form can be traced back to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony , and was developed further by Hector Berlioz , Robert Schumann , and Franz Liszt . The most likely model for Enescu's organization of the Octet is the latter's Piano Concerto in E-flat major (1855) which, even more than Liszt's B-minor Sonata pursues the outline of a sonata form throughout its four movements. There are between nine and as many as twelve melodic themes used in
2050-456: The other, stili novi or stilo novo , abbreviated st.n. and meaning "(of/in) new style". The Latin abbreviations may be capitalised differently by different users, e.g., St.n. or St.N. for stili novi . There are equivalents for these terms in other languages as well, such as the German a.St. (" alter Stil " for O.S.). Usually, the mapping of New Style dates onto Old Style dates with
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2100-800: The reasons why it is less known in the UK was published by musician Dominic Saunders in The Guardian . Enescu founded the Enescu Prize in composition, which was awarded from 1913 to 1946, and afterwards by the National University of Music Bucharest . Eugène Ysaÿe 's Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, subtitled "Ballade" (composed in 1923), was dedicated as an act of homage to fellow-violinist Enescu. While staying in Bucharest during
2150-422: The score was deeply appreciated by the composer The conductor Karl Krueger reported that, when he asked the composer how he felt about having the work played by a larger body of string players, Enescu enthusiastically replied, "That's how it should be!". When Enoch reprinted the score in 1950, Enescu added a new preface in which he endorsed this option, but with some qualifications: This work can be played with
2200-533: The title Pămînt românesc ("Romanian Land"), and is inscribed "opus for piano and violin by George Enescu, Romanian composer, aged five years and a quarter". Shortly thereafter, his father presented him to the professor and composer Eduard Caudella . On 5 October 1888, at the age of seven, he became the youngest student ever admitted to the Vienna Conservatory , where he studied with Joseph Hellmesberger Jr. , Robert Fuchs , and Sigismund Bachrich . He
2250-524: Was Costache Enescu, a landholder, and his mother was Maria Enescu (née Cosmovici), the daughter of an Orthodox priest. Their eighth child, he was born after all the previous siblings had died in infancy. His father later separated from Maria Enescu and had another son with Maria Ferdinand-Suschi: the painter Dumitru Bâșcu . A child prodigy , Enescu began experimenting with composing at an early age. Several, mostly very short, pieces survive, all for violin and piano. The earliest work of significant length bears
2300-480: Was altered at different times in different countries. From 1155 to 1752, the civil or legal year in England began on 25 March ( Lady Day ); so for example, the execution of Charles I was recorded at the time in Parliament as happening on 30 January 164 8 (Old Style). In newer English-language texts, this date is usually shown as "30 January 164 9 " (New Style). The corresponding date in the Gregorian calendar
2350-596: Was celebrated as the New Year festival from as early as the 13th century, despite the recorded (civil) year not incrementing until 25 March, but the "year starting 25th March was called the Civil or Legal Year, although the phrase Old Style was more commonly used". To reduce misunderstandings about the date, it was normal even in semi-official documents such as parish registers to place a statutory new-year heading after 24 March (for example "1661") and another heading from
2400-549: Was implemented in Russia on 14 February 1918 by dropping the Julian dates of 1–13 February 1918 , pursuant to a Sovnarkom decree signed 24 January 1918 (Julian) by Vladimir Lenin . The decree required that the Julian date was to be written in parentheses after the Gregorian date, until 1 July 1918. It is common in English-language publications to use the familiar Old Style or New Style terms to discuss events and personalities in other countries, especially with reference to
2450-526: Was real gold". Yehudi Menuhin, Enescu's most famous pupil, once said about his teacher: "He will remain for me the absoluteness through which I judge others", and "Enescu gave me the light that has guided my entire existence." He also considered Enescu "the most extraordinary human being, the greatest musician and the most formative influence" he had ever experienced. Vincent d'Indy claimed that if Beethoven 's works were destroyed, they could be all reconstructed from memory by George Enescu. Alfred Cortot , one of
2500-506: Was the second person ever to be admitted to the Vienna Conservatory by a dispensation of age, and was the first non-Austrian (in 1882, Fritz Kreisler had also been admitted at the age of seven; according to the rules, nobody younger than 14 years could study there). In 1891, the ten-year-old Enescu gave a private concert at the Court of Vienna , in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph . Joseph Hellmesberger Sr. , one of his teachers and
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