DOI: 10.2478/ajm-2020-0004 Artes. Journal of Musicology Constantin Silvestri, the problematic musician. New press documents ALEX VASILIU, PhD “George Enescu” National University of Arts ROMANIA∗ Abstract: Constantin Silvestri was a man, an artist who reached the peaks of glory as well as the depths of despair. He was a composer whose modern visions were too complex for his peers to undestand and accept, but which nevertheless stood the test of time. He was an improvisational pianist with amazing technique and inventive skills, and was obsessed with the score in the best sense of the word. He was a musician well liked and supported by George Enescu and Mihail Jora. He was a conductor whose interpretations of any opus, particularly Romantic, captivate from the very first notes; the movements of the baton, the expression of his face, even one single look successfully brought to life the oeuvres of various composers, endowing them with expressiveness, suppleness and a modern character that few other composers have ever managed to achieve. Regarded as a very promising conductor, a favourite with the audiences, wanted by the orchestras in Bucharest in the hope of creating new repertoires, Constantin Silvestri was nevertheless quite the problematic musician for the Romanian press. Newly researched documents reveal fragments from this musician’s life as well as the features of a particular time period in the modern history of Romanian music. Keywords: Romanian press; the years 1950; socialist realism. 1. Introduction The present study is not necessarily occasioned by the 50th anniversary of Constantin Silvestri’s death (23rd February 1969). On the contrary, we should speak of and write about Romanian historical, original, ever-fascinating personalities as often as possible, not merely on anniversary occasions. And Constantin Silvestri was such a dynamic, surprising and charismatic human being and musician, especially as revealed by the music that he created and re- created – and remained as such thanks to recordings and his salvaged sheet music – that it is worth our getting to know or returning to his world of thoughts, troubles, aspirations, great victories and despairs, or unfair battles. In a final and fundamental equation – in the world of revelations. Particularly revelations that occur with each audition of the works he wrote, the works he conducted, the ages he lived. ∗ [email protected] 56 Studies Constantin Silvestri is the only Romanian conductor mentioned or studied in six published works: in a chapter in Conductors and Orchestras and in Constantin Silvestri între străluciri și... cântece de pustiu (Constantin Silvestri between sparkle and … melancholy songs) by Eugen Pricope, in Prietenii mei muzicieni (My musician friends) by Theodor Bălan, in Constantin Silvestri – biografie necunoscută (Constantin Silvestri – an unknown biography) by Raluca Voicu Arnăuțoiu, and in the eponymous biography by Lavinia Coman. In the UK there are two published books: Constantin Silvestri, Magician: A View from the Orchestra by Raymond Carpenter and A Musician Before His Time. Conductor, Composer, Pianist by John Gritten. To these we can add the articles and studies published in Bucharest on the centenary of his birth (2013), as well as the recollections of musicologist and philosopher George Bălan captured in several 2019 – 2020 issues of the Muzica periodical and the two conferences in London and Bucharest on the 2nd and 9th November 20191. All this comes to complete the picture of an original musician that has fascinated audiences and music researchers alike. Constantin Silvestri’s relationship with the Romanian press between 1945 – 1958 has never been studied in detail, to my knowledge, although it has been mentioned discreetly, in between the lines, covertly in the Romanian books published until 1989 and overtly after that year. There have been quotations, but they did not always conform to the sources and publishing date, in the Romanian books that I have mentioned. This time period is quite important as it reflects, on the one hand, the second segment which is decisive in Silvestri’s musical evolution, and on the other hand the troubled, contradictory, even dramatic years that Romania experienced after World War II. The documents I have researched were published in the press of that time as news, lists, reviews, directives and editorials (or feature articles, as they were called then). 2. Post-war artistic glory A first document to which I am referring is the weekly periodical Contemporanul (The Contemporary), issue 6 / 25th October 1946. In the article entitled “Cronica muzicală. Filarmonica – Orchestra Radio” (“The Music Review. The Radio Philharmonic Orchestra”), author Virgil Gheorghiu commented on the series of concerts occasioned by the anniversary of the Romanian – Soviet friendship. Silvestri had conducted a George Enescu symphony (the author did not mention which one…), Rimski-Korsakov’s Concerto for piano in C-sharp minor, Op. 30 (with pianist Irina Lăzărescu) and 1 London, 2nd November, an event organised by the International Foundation Constantin Silvestri, King’s College Archives and Special Collections Library, Radio România Muzical, ICR London and the George Enescu Museum. Bucharest, 6th November, an event organised at the Cotroceni National Museum by Radio România Muzical with the support of the British Council Centre in Bucharest. 57 Artes. Journal of Musicology Stravinsky’s Feu d'artifice, Op. 4 (Fireworks) (at the time, Stravinsky was still tolerated by the communist regime). Today, Virgil Gheorghiu’s writing style may make us smile, but, beyond that, it tells us the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of the performance. “(…) This important event was celebrated at the Romanian Athenaeum, where the Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Mr Constantin Silvestri knew how to take part vivaciously in the expressive performance of the concert programme. (…) Feu d'artifice by Strawinsky (name misspelled in Romanian, our observation), a concessive composition by this revolutionary Western musician, exhibiting an impressionist harmonic lyricism, experienced an ideal translation of the imitative pyrotechnical intentions. An extremely virtuosic piece, particularly for the winds, Feu d'artifice concluded in a festive manner the concert of the 20th October”. (Gheorghiu, 1946a). In issue 8 / 7th November 1946 of the above-mentioned periodical, the same journalist wrote about the musicians that would have deserved to be invited to perform abroad, naming Eduard Lidenberg, Vasile Jianu and Constantin Silvestri (Gheorghiu, 1946b). History remembers Jianu as an excellent flautist, Silvestri as he deserves (as a conductor, too), but Lindenberg was never heard of anymore… The author wrote about Silvestri that “The Western world appreciates him as well he deserves, as a refined and intellectual animator”. The diagnosis was accurate, but soon it would cost Silvestri dearly. For the time being, it was still possible to write about him, even weekly, as proven by the following issue of Contemporanul (no 9 / 15th November 1946), where the music journalist Virgil Gheorghiu wrote in sadness: “An entire generation (…) of composers and performers have grown grey hoping they would get the right to artistic performance. I can see how difficult it has been for Nicolae Buicliu to have his symphony played, I can see Nicolae Brânzeu, Silvestri and so many others struggling to be performed” (Gheorghiu, 1946c). Another week later, in issue 10 / 23rd November 1946, Virgil Gheorghiu wrote: “At the Philharmonic I had the pleasure of listening to Mr Constantin Silvestri who is becoming a first-rate conductor. He conducted a Brahms programme in optimal circumstances, and the orchestra responded by playing vivaciously. We 58 Studies listened to Brahms’ Tragic Overture, Op. 81 and his Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68” (Gheorghiu, 1946d). The critic noted that when the pieces were performed again as an educational concert there was an introduction by musicologist Emanoil Ciomac. Gheorghiu expressed his regret that Emanoil Ciomac did not introduce the music programmes on the radio as well. Indeed, after World War II, the tradition was broken with for nearly a decade, if we consider the fact that, between the two world wars, Emanoil Ciomac, together with Mihail Jora, Constantin Brăiloiu and Cella Delavrancea, had held several music conferences on the radio. An encomium in issue 13 / 12th December 1946 read: “Mr Silvestri’s improvisations are so alluring that to a lot of people who are uninitiated into the mysteries of modernism they prevail over the written compositions of this esteemed Romanian musician. Mr Silvestri is an endless source of pianistic fantasy and rhythmic-harmonic combinative know- how” (Gheorghiu: 1946e). A more generous article in terms of extent and praise was published in issue 31 / 26th April 1947 of Contemporanul. Commenting on the programme that consisted of Virgil Pop’s Symphony No. 3, Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 and the Variations on a theme by Haydn, Op. 56, the critic Mircea Brucăr made his admiration known: “The artist and conductor Constantin Silvestri’s merit lies first and foremost in his wise choice of some truly significant pieces to highlight Brahms’ artistic profile. The seldom-heard Symphony No. 3 in F major which, due to its pastoral-bucolic character, balances out the first symphonies full of romantic pathos, and the classical somberness of Symphony No. 4 was achieved by the Philharmonic orchestra only in the two central movements, as the orchestral ensemble did not follow further the conductor’s subtle indications that exhibited full understanding of the Brahmsian style. Considering the actual possibilities of the orchestra, the interpretation that Constantin Silvestri was trying to render seemed to overestimate the performance abilities of the Philharmonic (…). The sumptuous sound of Brahms’ Variations on a theme by Haydn occasioned Constantin Silvestri’s triumphant success which his talent and exceptional qualification well deserve.” (Brucăr, 1947). 59 Artes. Journal of Musicology Let me now go back to 1946 as I must note that it was a glorious year for Constantin Silvestri himself and for Romanian music.