Page 137 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2019. Vloga nacionalnih opernih gledališč v 20. in 21. stoletju - The Role of National Opera Houses in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 3
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on the romanian opera, bucharest: one author, two views
In order to rehabilitate it in 1962, Cosma also employed an ideological
reading, but with a different focus than the text of the Decree: “the compos-
er reveals petit bourgeois life’s narrow sphere of interests, mocking them,
through the language of his satirical, grotesque music, which sometimes
evokes the banal. Yet this is rendered in a tasteful manner, whose artistry
is readily apparent.”19
Beyond the concrete case of Paul Constantinescu’s opera, the most im-
portant slippages that impacted Romanian music – as well as the Opera as
an institution – were the by-products of the two dictatorships that were in-
stalled, one after the other, in the 1940s: that of the Iron Guard and that of
the Communist Party.
The far-right regime sought to transform the Romanian Opera, Bucha-
rest by “firing Jewish personnel, suddenly deemed undesirable,”20 by pro-
moting “purely Romanian performers” and a repertoire that was to “stress
the restlessness of the genuinely Romanian soul,”21 as Cosma notes in 2017.
Employing fastidious quotations from the contemporary press, including
the legionnaire press – whose aggression knew no bounds – the author
proffers details concerning ethnic cleansing, the changing of the leader-
ship of the institution, the opening of the 1940-1941 season with legion-
naire hymns (including Nello Manzatti’s Sfântă tinerețe legionară [Holy Le-
gionnaire Youth], scored by Paul Constantinescu), and the transmission of
the legionnaire model through several operas. Such is the case of Alexan-
dru Zirra’s historical opera Alexandru Lăpușneanu, in which Lăpușneanu,
a cruel 16th century prince, murders treasonous boyars. Lăpușneanu can be
read as a stand in for the legionnaire leaders, who likewise committed ter-
rible crimes.22
On the other hand, in his 1962 book – in which he strongly attacks Ro-
manian fascism – Cosma makes no concrete reference to specific legionnaire
critics, most likely out of a desire to protect them. A public “unmasking”
in the 1950s and 1960s would have placed not only their careers in danger,
but also their lives. Authors such as Romeo Alexandrescu and George Sbâr-
cea, among others whose shady past was wiped clean, were allowed to freely
1952”], in Muzica, II, no. 5 (1952): 5-11. Quoted in Cosma, Hronicul Operei Române
[The Chronicle of Romanian Opera], vol. 2, 853.
19 Cosma, Opera românească [Romanian Opera], vol. 2, 111.
20 Cosma, Hronicul Operei Române [The Chronicle of Romanian Opera], vol. 2, 506.
21 Ibid., 524.
22 See Romulus Dianu’s interpretation, quoted in Cosma, Hronicul Operei Române [The
Chronicle of Romanian Opera], vol. 2, 551.
135
In order to rehabilitate it in 1962, Cosma also employed an ideological
reading, but with a different focus than the text of the Decree: “the compos-
er reveals petit bourgeois life’s narrow sphere of interests, mocking them,
through the language of his satirical, grotesque music, which sometimes
evokes the banal. Yet this is rendered in a tasteful manner, whose artistry
is readily apparent.”19
Beyond the concrete case of Paul Constantinescu’s opera, the most im-
portant slippages that impacted Romanian music – as well as the Opera as
an institution – were the by-products of the two dictatorships that were in-
stalled, one after the other, in the 1940s: that of the Iron Guard and that of
the Communist Party.
The far-right regime sought to transform the Romanian Opera, Bucha-
rest by “firing Jewish personnel, suddenly deemed undesirable,”20 by pro-
moting “purely Romanian performers” and a repertoire that was to “stress
the restlessness of the genuinely Romanian soul,”21 as Cosma notes in 2017.
Employing fastidious quotations from the contemporary press, including
the legionnaire press – whose aggression knew no bounds – the author
proffers details concerning ethnic cleansing, the changing of the leader-
ship of the institution, the opening of the 1940-1941 season with legion-
naire hymns (including Nello Manzatti’s Sfântă tinerețe legionară [Holy Le-
gionnaire Youth], scored by Paul Constantinescu), and the transmission of
the legionnaire model through several operas. Such is the case of Alexan-
dru Zirra’s historical opera Alexandru Lăpușneanu, in which Lăpușneanu,
a cruel 16th century prince, murders treasonous boyars. Lăpușneanu can be
read as a stand in for the legionnaire leaders, who likewise committed ter-
rible crimes.22
On the other hand, in his 1962 book – in which he strongly attacks Ro-
manian fascism – Cosma makes no concrete reference to specific legionnaire
critics, most likely out of a desire to protect them. A public “unmasking”
in the 1950s and 1960s would have placed not only their careers in danger,
but also their lives. Authors such as Romeo Alexandrescu and George Sbâr-
cea, among others whose shady past was wiped clean, were allowed to freely
1952”], in Muzica, II, no. 5 (1952): 5-11. Quoted in Cosma, Hronicul Operei Române
[The Chronicle of Romanian Opera], vol. 2, 853.
19 Cosma, Opera românească [Romanian Opera], vol. 2, 111.
20 Cosma, Hronicul Operei Române [The Chronicle of Romanian Opera], vol. 2, 506.
21 Ibid., 524.
22 See Romulus Dianu’s interpretation, quoted in Cosma, Hronicul Operei Române [The
Chronicle of Romanian Opera], vol. 2, 551.
135
