George Enescu

• George Enescu (August 19, 1881, Liveni – May 4, 1955, Paris) was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and teacher, preeminent Romanian musician of the 20th century, and one of the greatest performers of his time.

Biography

• He was born in the village of Liveni, Romania and showed musical talent from early in his childhood. A child prodigy, Enescu created his first musical composition at the age of five. Shortly thereafter, his father presented him to the professor and composer Eduard Caudella. At the age of seven, entered the Vienna Conservatory, where he studied with Joseph Hellmesberger, Robert Fuchs, and Sigismund Bachrich, and graduated before his 13th birthday. In 1895 he went to Paris to continue his studies.

• In 1923 he made his debut as a conductor in a concert given by the Philadelphia Orchestra in New York City. In 1935, he conducted the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris.

• In 1939 he married Maria Rosetti (known as the Princess Cantacuzino), a good friend of the future Queen Marie of Romania. While staying in Bucharest, Enescu lived in the Cantacuzino Palace on Calea Victoriei (now the Muzeu Naţional George Enescu, dedicated to his work).

• He was also a noted violin teacher. Yehudi Menuhin, Christian Ferras, Ivry Gitlis, Arthur Grumiaux, and Ida Haendel were among his pupils. He promoted contemporary Romanian music, playing works of Constantin Silvestri, Mihail Jora, Ionel Perlea and Marţian Negrea.

• On his death in 1955, George Enescu was interred in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

Oedipe (opera)

• Oedipe is an opera in four acts by the Romanian composer George Enescu, based on the mythological tale of Oedipus, and set to a French libretto by Edmond Fleg. Enescu had the idea to compose an Oedipus-inspired opera even before finding a libretto and began to sketch music for it in 1910. The first-draft libretto from Fleg arrived in 1913. Enesco completed the music in 1922 and the orchestration in 1931. The opera received its world premiere in Paris on 13 March 1936. The first German production was in Berlin in 1996, in a production that subsequently traveled to the Vienna State Opera. The United States premiere was in 2005 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

• This dramatic musical treatment of the Oedipus myth is unusual in that it attempts to cover the entire story of Oedipus' life, from birth to death. Act III covers the story of Oedipus the King. Act IV overlaps in plot with Oedipus at Colonus, though with divergent psychological treatment of Oedipus' final days compared to the original.

George Enescu Festival

• The George Enescu Festival (also known as George Enescu Festival and International Competition) is the biggest classical music festival and classical international competition held in Romania, and one of the biggest in Eastern Europe. It was first held in 1958, and is now presented every two years in memory of George Enescu, who is regarded as the greatest Romanian composer. The 2007 festival ran from 1 September to 23 September.

• The concerts are held in three different venues in Bucharest, Iaşi and Sibiu. The 2007 presentations ended with a performance of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana before an audience of over 4,000 at the Sala Palatului.

• The competition portion of the Festival lasts about a week, and it consists of three different categories: composition (118 particpants in 2007), piano (44 in 2007), and violin (41 in 2007), each a record number of participants.

• In the 2005 and 2007 presentations a daily open-air concert was added to the festival program. It is known as the Festival Piazza and features 3 1/2 hours of classical music, in addition to movies about the life of George Enescu.

George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra

• The George Enescu Philarmonic Orchestra is the most representative musical institution of Romania.

• Founded in 1886, under the supervision of , the Romanian Philarmonic Society had as purpose the creation of a permanent symphonic orchestra in Bucharest. By December of the same year, its first concert took place.

• Once that the palace of the Romanian Athenaeum was inaugurated on March 5, 1889, the concerts of the society started to take place in that location, as they do to this day.

• Wachman, who conducted the first permanent orchestra until 1907, was followed by (1868-1936), and himself was followed as the principal conductor starting from 1920, by (student of Arthur Nikisch and Richard Strauss).

• During this time, the repertoaire of the orchestra was greatly enlarged, and the Philarmonic entered the international scene. Meanwhile, great musical personalities of the inter-war period, such as Jacques Thibaud, Pablo Casals, Igor Stravinsky, Enrico Mainardi, Alfred Cortot, Maurice Ravel, Richard Strauss, Yehudi Menuhin or Herbert von Karajan, played in Bucharest with the orchestra.

• After World War II, the institution diversed its activity by creating the Academic Choir, a strong nucleus of soloists, and several chamber ensembles. After the death of George Enescu in 1955, the Philarmonic was renamed George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra in his honour.