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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Ciprian Porumbescu’s anthems

On October 14 the world will celebrate the 160th birth anniversary of the Romanian composer and conductor of Polish descent, one of the founders of the Romanian classical music
2 October, 2013 - 16:57
CIPRIAN PORUMBESCU / Photo from the website WIKIPEDIA.ORG

Ciprian Porumbescu (1853-83) was born in the village of Sipotele Sucevei, Suceava county of Bukovyna as a son of Iraclie Golembiowski, a Romanian writer and priest of Polish descent, who later changed his surname to Porumbescu. Porumbescu Jr. studied music under Karol Mikula, Nosiewicz (music theory), Mayer, Schloetzer (violin), and Sydir Vorobkevych (harmony and choral conducting). It was Vorobkevych, in fact, who helped the young man to reveal his talent and improve his skills. The aspiring composer created his first tunes in Chernivtsi, where he was the conductor for the Abrorasa Choral Society in 1875-77, directed student and worker amateur music groups and choirs, and participated in the national liberation movement against the oppressive Austro-Hungarian rule, the latter activity landing him in jail for a time...

His songs, as well as operetta The Candidate Linte, all composed in Chernivtsi, exposed injustices committed by officialdom and nobility of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. The contemporary German and Romanian press mentioned operetta New Moon as yet another Porumbescu’s opus to have been performed in Chernivtsi. Having graduated from the University of Chernivtsi, the young composer entered the Vienna Conservatory. He published his Student Songs in Vienna, some of them illustrated by Epaminondas Bucevski, a prominent artist and fellow Bukovynian. On graduating from the conservatory, Porumbescu went to Brasov where he taught at a gymnasium. He died in 1883 of tuberculosis and did not live to see even his 30th birthday...

During his short life, the maestro composed over 200 musical works, distinguished by their melodics and a strong ethnic flavor, which still excite the listener even today. His musical legacy includes not only songs (some of them love songs), but operettas and instrumental opuses, chorals and theater scores, too, which won him international recognition. Some of Porumbescu’s patriotic opuses (Pleven, A Sergeant, Penes Curcanul) glorify the brotherhood-in-arms established by Russian and Romanian soldiers who jointly fought the Ottomans in 1877-78, gaining Romanian national independence for the first time. His patriotic song “Trei Culori” (Three Colors), for which he composed both the music and the lyrics, served as the basis for the national anthem of Romania from 1977-89, featuring some ideology-driven changes in the lyrics. Another famous patriotic song by Porumbescu, “Union Is Our Banner’s Motto” (“Pe-al Nostru Steag e Scris Unire” in Romanian) is now the national anthem of Albania with changed lyrics as “Himni i Flamurit.”

Nowadays, the Bucharest Conservatory and the Romanian Music Lyceum in Chisinau (Moldova) are named after Porumbescu.

By Maria VYSHNEVSKA, Chernivtsi
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