New information in Romanian archives regarding the life and activity of musician Iosif Ivanovici

Abstract

Iosif Ivanovici was - surprisingly today - the most well-known Romanian composer from the late 19th century and the early 20th century on the international music scene. He was also an important exponent of Military music in our country. Information regarding the life and works of Iosif Ivanovici can be uncertain even today because of the difficulty in accessing documents from the military archives or the indifference with which this prolific musician was treated by the Romanian musicologists and performers in the last century. Another important factor that leads to the disregard of his work was the communist censorship of any expressions and investigations into the cultural works, which involved members of the Royal Family of Romania or were dedicated to them. An important part of Ivanovici’s compositions fall into this category. His representative composition, The Waves of the Danuve waltz, is even today popular all over the world, being part of soundtracks of tens of movies or being picked up and adapted by hundreds of musicians on the entire planet. This fact proves to us that Iosif Ivanovici is more famous and loved outside of Romania. Because of the access that we have today to multiple documentary sources, I have found hundreds of songs composed by the musician. With the help of these, we can understand not only his musical creativity, but also the subtle, joyful world of the era in which he lived, the era of the development of the modern Romanian state. During my research in various national archives, I have found clear data that proves the true value of the musician. These bring us welcome additions to our knowledge of the life and works of Iosif Ivanovici, The king of Romanian Waltz.