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Enescu’s Op.1, his Romanian Poem, was written in 1897, when he had graduated from the conservatoires of Vienna and Paris. By this time, as we have seen, he had already composed three of his four full-length study symphonies and a Violin Concerto, and also a Ballade for violin and orchestra , a Tragic Overture and a Fanthasy for piano and orchestra. His understanding of the orchestra, therefore, was quite considerable; he had also had experience of playing in an orchestra, and had appeared as a soloist. The fact that this is Enescu’s Op.1 and that he was just 15 when he composed it should deter no-one: his Romanian Poem is a work of considerable achievement.

It is perhaps significant that Enescu’s Op.1 is a work redolent of his homeland, after so many years of studying abroad: it quotes partly from collections of Romanian folk-music subvented by the Romanian government from 1896, but Enescu’s treatment is entirely symphonic. The work, in C minor, has two parts. The opening features a descending phrase in 12/8 hich sets the scene, as the composer described: It is dusk, on the eve of holiday, and bells are ringing, calling villagers to the evening service. Singing is to be heard through the open doors of the church. Then, night falls, the moon rises, and we hear a melancholy tune coming from somewhere far off; it is a shepherd playing a doina (a Romanian folk-melody played or sung without accompaniment), on his rustic flute.

Part two of the Romanian Poem opens as "All at once", (Enescu continues), the scene changes, the moon disappears, and a thunderstorm breaks out. When it subsides, a cockerel announcing daybreak is heard. Once again the bells, ringing to announce the holiday, sound. The work ends with jubilant general dances and the (old) Romanian national anthem.

The premiere of the Romanian Poem was given in Paris on 9^th February 1898, under Edouard Collonne; Enescu himself conducted the first Bucharest performance later the same year. The large orchestra used in the work includes a wordless chorus, as does the finale of Enescu’s Third Symphony of 1918, the first performance of which was in Bucharest in May 1919 conducted by Enescu, preceded by Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.4.

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