By Gabriela Ocneanu

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Any attempt to draw a parallel between different ages, currents, styles or personalities is susceptible of falling into inherent errors: vague generalizations, unjustifiably obliterating certain specific elements or too detailed descriptions, usually entailing the loss of the relevant guide lines. Even though the act of comparing poses in itself a number of difficult problems, it is nonetheless necessary and quite inevitable for anyone working in the field of cultural history. In fact Enescu himself recommended this method to players ¹ and modern musicology finds it indispensable in researching on the "history of music as a branch of the contemporary human endeavours" ².

Analogy is even more rewarding whenever a confrontation is required of two entities which, while retaining their individuality, are related to each other. In such a way that their development is stimulated by their coexistence and by direct contacts. This is the case when referring the modern Romanian school of music to impressionism: the Romanian school, together with the other national schools of the 20th century, enters a period of strong development at the time when postromanticism begins to interfere both with neoclassical or academic tendencies, and with impressionism.

Strong impressionistic features can be easily observed within the national schools: the Italian school (O. Respighi), the Spanish (M. DeFalla), the Russian (A. Scriabin, I. Stravinsky), the Polish (Szymanowski), and the Hungarian school (B. Bartok). This was due to the fact that impressionism created the means to extricate those national schools from the impasse caused by prolonged postromanticism. The solution offered by impressionism consisted in multivalent stylistic elements fusing together the old European tradition (Gregorian and Renaissance) with various recently assimilated traditions like the melodic structures of East European or extra European origins. The novelty lay in the fusing principle, namely the musical thought, which appeared unconstrained by classic functionality. At the same time impressionism started feeding on the creation of the national schools as Debussy had set the example by absorbing into his works a number of Mussorgsky’s principles. Afterwards impressionism greatly diversified itself so that now it can be safely considered as the product of a vast European cultural area and not only of French music, as it was thought for a time, in the absence of a clear historical perspective.

A great variety of responses is evidenced by the relationship between the Romanian school of music and impressionism. There are considerable stylistic differences between Enescu on the one hand and the composers bearing the mark of Castaldi's or of the French influence on the other, as well as among the latter themselves ³.

Concerning Enescu, who achieved a stylistic "compensation" in modern music ⁴, both Romanian and universal musicology exhibit quite a number of controversial references to Enescu’s relationship to impressionism ⁵. In order to appraise Enescu’s position vis-à-vis French impressionism it is first of all necessary to process these references in an exhaustive manner, so as to be able afterwards to solve the dilemma whether Enescu was influenced by impressionism or not.

Like all creative geniuses, Enescu did not passively submit to or adopt external trends, much less assimilate such trends eclectically. It is nevertheless tine that Enescu was not indifferent to the novelty and the aesthetic values of the French impressionism, whose language he assimilated, using it as forcefully as he used his native Romanian values ⁶.

It is difficult to establish the degree to which the impressionistic and native elements contribute to the bulk of Enescu’s work because his art,, starting already with the, early opuses, does not bear the marks of its sources, but of its stylistic resultant. Also, as already mentioned, these sources are related ⁷ and the reason of such relatedness may be traced to the traditional musical kinship of Romania and France, i.e. the kinship of the modal principles of Byzantine and Gregorian music ^8.9 on the one hand and those of folklore ¹⁰ on the other. This kinship was strengthened with the appearance of impressionism due to France’s contacts with East European and oriental extra-European music, the latter also having similarities with Romanian folklore (see G. Ciobanu, op.cit.), and with the monodic European art of the Middle Ages ¹¹. Enescu’s musical affinities with impressionism are complemented by a deep nature sentiment and a refined taste for color. Out of his combined propensity for color (both visually and figuratively in the sense borrowed by musical terminology) there was created the picturesque character of certain works that "never become descriptive or naturalistic, but retain a psychological or atmosphere flavor" ¹².

Impressionism found its most suitable manifestations in programme music, both symphonic and piano works, and in text-assisted music, such as opera and songs. Enescu’s music merged with impressionism in the area of non-programme music as well ¹³, the main reason being that stylistic synthesis does not depend on the programme ideas or on the peculiarities of a certain musical work, but on the deep substance of musical thought which permeates thus the entire musical creation.

Our discussion will embrace the following chamber works of Enescu’s: the Suite for Piano op. 10 (1903), the Nocturne for Piano (1907), and the Sonata for Violin and Piano in A minor (1911) (the last two still in manuscript form, part II of the Quartet no. 1 for String Instruments (1921), the finale of the Sonata no. 1 for Piano (1924), the Sonata no. 3 for Violin and Piano "in a Romanian vein" (1926), and the Suite for Violin and Piano "Childhood Memoires" (1940) ¹⁴. These works are stylistically quite varied and, the last work excepted, do not depend on a programme ¹⁵. Enescu’s extensive works depend for confirmation of their impressionistic character on some special analyses still we shall also enumerate them the Suite no. 1 for Orchestra (1903), Symphony no. 1 (1905), Symphony no. 2 (1913), Symphony no. 3 (1921), Oedipus (1931), Suite no. 3 "From the Village" (1938), the Concert Overture "On Romanian Motifs" (1938), and the symphonic poem "Vox Maris" (1950) ¹⁶. Up to now all the musical analyses dealing with these works refer only to musical language elements the parallel to impressionism is only mentioned now and then and is usually either ignored or simply rejected. This attitude, which is still evident, has its origins in the misjudgement and underestimation that stuck to impressionism from its very beginning. The rejection of impressionism in Enescu’s works was in fact infirmed very early both theoretically ¹⁷ and practically. through the penetrative force, the area of importance, and the influence that impressionism had on the development of 20th century musical life. The similarities between Enescu’s work and impressionism become more evident if referred to other musical trends at the beginning of the 20th century, such as their common opposition to academism ¹⁸, and their different approach to neoclassicism in terms of manner and intensity; they are stylistically characterized by the following traits : a) independence from classical symmetry in the development of rhythm and melody (including the Enescian "rubato"); b) regular intervals (not always so with Enescu ); c) modal melody, which makes use of pre- and heptatonal scales with certain modes; d) harmonic vertical modal functionality based on laws different from those of "tonalism"¹⁹; e) refined instrumental colouring based on the utilization of technical and expressive resources; f) the treatment of the human voice to the same colouring ends and not only as a carrier of notional elements ²⁰ .

The purpose of the above discussion was to outline a few of the main aspects that an ample analysis which dealt with Enescu’s relationship to impressionism would require, so that the following might be proved once more:

1. Enescu, as a representative of the Romanian music school, was closely related to the European musical currents at the beginning of this century, among which impressionism is far from occupying a minor place.
2. Enescu assimilated these currents so as to be able afterwards, together with other composers representing national schools, to give these currents their full strength.
3. In this way Enescu helped to reveal certain common essential characteristics of the human spirituality, which thus could appear and grow at the given favourable moment.

Impressionism was not self-contained or isolated in time and space: it was a continuous, innovating trend which, due to its broad basic principles, reunited widely different personalities and schools and enabled them to assert their own musical characteristics.

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G. Enescu, Letter to Yehudi Menuhin, in G. Enescu by A. Tudor; Ed. muzicala, Bucuresti, 1958, p.64.

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M. Voicana, Probleme ale comparatismului muzical, in "Studii si cercetari de istoria artei", seria Teatru-Muzica-Cinematografie, no. 2, 1970.

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Impressionism is only one of those aspects incorporated in their work, the main common trait being their native character.

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B. Ghircoiasiu, Consideratii asupra periodizarii operei lui G. Enescu, in Studii de muzicologie,, vol. IV, Ed. muzicala, Bucuresti, 1968.

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See, together with the works quoted underneath, also CI. Rostand: G. Enesco et ses contacts avec la France, in Studii de muzicologie, vol. IV.

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One should not be mislead into misinterpreting the following from Enescu "I am not a disciple of the French school... I studied and lived in France, . . . but I was not a follower of the French schools" (in "Vestal, 1936). Enescu simply denies being a mere imitator of French art.

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V. Tomescu, Hisioire des relations entre la France et la Roumanie des origines au comencentent cia XX siècle, Ed. muzicala, Bucuresti, 1973, p.18.

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G. Ocneanu, Originea modurilor medievale, in Studii de muzicologie, vol. IX, Ed. muzicala, Bucuresti, 1973, p. 125.

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Byzantine musical culture was a strong source of individuality for Romanian academic art, one that was absorbed together with folklore in the works by A. Zirra, M. Negrea, S. Dragoi, P. Constantinescu, D.G. Kiriac, Gh. Cucu,, C. Musicescu, and of course G. Enescu. Gregorian musical culture became one of the foundations on which "ars gallica" was built, that later found such a happy form, of expression in impressionism.

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Gh. Ciobanu, Muzica bizantina, in Studii de muzicologie, vol. VI, Ed. muzicala, Bucuresti, 1970.

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E. Wellesz, The History of Byzantine Music and Ilymnography, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 1961.

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This was admitted by Enescu himself (in "Democratia", 1945) and "as discussed, among others, by M. Voicana in a special article dedicated to Enescu: Plastica si culoare in orizontul estetic al lui Enescu, in "Studii si cercetari de istoria artei", seria Teatru-Muzica-Cinematografie, Ed. Academiei, Bucuresti, no. 2, 1971.

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M. Voicana, op. cit., relative G. Enescu. This statement stays valid for any tine musicians ‘picturesque’ works, as the aim of authentic music is to create psychic states rather than describe or provoke visual images (see P. Bentoiu in Imagine si sens, also U. Lukacs Estetica, vol. II, Ed. Meridiane, Bucuresti. As far as symphonic programme music is concerned, the parallel Enescu-Debussy also becomes evident.

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The above mentioned impressionistic genres are. also to be found among Enescu’s works, piano programme music excepted. The specific Enescu genres are non-programme piano music (the sonata, the suite, the nocturne), the suite for violin and piano, the sonata for violin and piano, the symphony, and the concert overture.

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Cl. Firca, Directii in muzica romaneasca, Ed. Academiei, Bucuresti, 1974, p. 63—64.

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In order to achieve exhaustive enumeration one should also add the unpublished Suite for Piano "Pièces impromptues" whose impressionistic features have been noticed by Ratiu in his study on Enescu’s 2nd symphony, "Muzica", no. 7, Bucuresti, 1961.

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There is no way to compare Enescu’s non-programme music to Debussy’s programme music. The impact made by the works of these two geniuses resides in their music, independent of external stimuli, used only to trigger creative gestation. See Consideratii asupra mimesisului si ethosului specifice fenomenului muzical, communicated at the scientific session of the Iasi and CIuj-Napoca Conservatoires, May 1976. Also, M. Lucescu, Suita I-a pentru orchestra, in "Muzica", no. 8, 1956; M. Voicana, Cl. Firca, A. Hofmann, E. Zottoviceanu, G. Enescu, monograph, vol. 1, p. 313, Ed. Academiei, Bucuresti, 1971; A. Ratiu, Simfonia a II-a, in "Musica", no. 7, 1961; G. Enescu, monograph, op. cit., vol. II; O. L. Cosma, Debussy and Enescu, in "Tribuna", Cluj, sept. 1958, and OEdipul enescian, Ed. muzicala, Bucuresti, 1967; Cl. Firea, La Suite pour orchestre no.3, in "Revue roumaine d’histoire de l’art", Bucuresti, no 5, 1968; G. Enescu, monograph, op. cit., vol. II, p. 1062; Th. Constantinescu and W. Berger, Poemul simfonic Vox Maris, in "Muzica", no. 9, 1964; Also by Ch. Koechlin, Cl. Debussy, Paris, Ed. Laurens, 1956.

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In fact this is characteristic of all great creations and styles. "Academism" was simply a manifestation of that particular age, just as much as it marks to differing degrees the decline of all ages. In contrast to Enescu, who openly admits to incorporate postromantic elements into his works, Debussy theoretically denies this, but in fact does develop some of them: programme music, the symbiosis between text and music as a concept of musical drama, harmonic verticalism.

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While Debussy exclusively uses this path, Enescu diversifies his language: on the one hand he incorporates postromantic elements into his harmony and melodic line (where such do exist), and on the other one he evolves from traditional vertical-harmonic patterns to his own kind of linearly complex polyphony: heterophony. Heterophony originates in monody and in a combination of the latter’s variations. This is a principle which is present in the monodic cultures of antiquity, and is still valid today Enescu intuitively grasped it in the case of Romanian folklore.

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With both Enescu and Debussy instrumental as well as vocal colouring do not play the purely illustrative role, in the descriptive sense, superficially assigned to this term. As a means of musical expression, colouring is aiming at completing a strictly musical image, and thus engendering its deeply human significance.

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