Ciprian Porumbescu

Ciprian Porumbescu
(b Şipote [now Şipotele-Sucevei], nr Suceava, 14 Oct 1853; d Stupca, nr Suceava, 6 June 1883).

Romanian composer, choirmaster and teacher. He began his musical education in his family circle, his father being a folksong collector and a friend of Carol Miculi, who visited them during the summer holidays. After some instruction in the violin he became a pupil of Vorobchievici in Chernovtsy, and at the Vienna Conservatory he was a pupil of Franz Krenn and Bruckner. Porumbescu was an enthusiastic organizer of musical life, conducting choirs and orchestras, writing songs, founding festivals and even acting on the stage. He became the president of Arboroasa (‘Wooded Land’, the ancient name of Bukovina), a student cultural society, in his own district, where he was confined for political reasons. Subsequently he became conductor of the România Jună (‘Young Romania’), a Viennese student society. In 1878 he wrote Elementele musicei vocale pentru şcoalele poporale şi normale (‘Elements of vocal music for grammar and normal schools’). In Vienna his tunes were taken up as freedom songs by young Romanians, and his waltzes were played by the popular orchestras of the capital. He settled in Braşov as a music teacher and choirmaster of the Romanian Society and the church of St Nicholas in Schei, and was more active as a composer in his last years. His Crai nou (‘New Moon’), written in 1882, had become one of the most popular Romanian operettas by 1900. As he declared after its première, the model of his style was popular music. He also based many of his choruses on folk music, with its modes and free rhythms. Porumbescu was one of the founders of the Romanian school of instrumental and vocal music with his Balada for violin and piano, his Rapsodia română, folkdances and salon pieces for piano, and his songs on Romanian or German texts.