Expressionist tendencies in the Romanian opera in the first decades of the 20th century

Abstract

Expressionism in Romanian music in the first decades of the 20th century is not a
novelty, because of the meticulous musicological research belonging to  Clemansa Liliana Firca. We list the sections devoted to the particular manifestation of this orientation in the volumes Directions in the Romanian Music (1900-1930), Modernity and Avant-garde in the Pre- and Inter-war Music (1900-1940) or the study Resonances of Expressionism Esthetics in the Romanian Musical Creation, which proved phenomenon’s viability in certain creations of
the orchestral (suite), scenic (ballet) sphere, and whose echoes were partially felt in the opera genre.
Starting from the researcher’s pertinent remarks, this article aims to highlight the
adaptation of the European current features in the Romanian scenic area in the first half of the 20th century, on the line of the exaggerated realism in The Misfortune (Sabin Drăgoi, 1927), of Igor Stravinski’s influence with his stille barbaro veiled in A Stormy Night (Paul Constantinescu, 1934), to the musical-dramatic peculiarities which attest the sublimated
expressionism of Oedipus masterpiece (George Enescu, 1931)14.