Maria Alexandra Saint Georges (24 September 1888 – 1979) was a Romanian composer and pianist who was known as Didia Saint Georges. She won the

Enescu Prize The Enescu Prize is a prize in music composition founded by Romanian composer George Enescu, awarded from 1913 to 1946, and afterwards by the National University of Music Bucharest. Enescu is regarded by many as Romania's most important musician. W ...

competition twice and knew George Enescu well. Saint Georges was born in

Botoșani Botoșani () is the capital city of Botoșani County, in the northern part of Western Moldavia, Moldavia, Romania. Today, it is best known as the birthplace of many celebrated Romanians, including Mihai Eminescu, Nicolae Iorga and Grigore Antipa. ...

, Romania. She studied music at the Iași Conservatory (today the

George Enescu National University of Arts The George Enescu National University of Arts ( ro, Universitatea Națională de Arte „George Enescu”) is a public university in Iași, Romania, founded in 1860. It was named in honor of the composer George Enescu. History The institution w ...

) and the Leipzig Conservatory. Her teachers included Stephan Krehl, Enrico Mezzetti, Emil Paul, and Robert Teichmuller. Saint Georges taught piano and worked as an accompanist in Botoșani, Iași and Bucharest, collaborating with Vasile Filip, Lisette Georgescu, Carlotta Leria, Nicolae Olmazu, Dimitrie Onofrei, and Constantin Stroescu. She composed 21 songs between 1908 and 1960, setting texts by German and Romanian poets such as

Joseph Eichendorff Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff (10 March 178826 November 1857) was a German poet, novelist, playwright, literary critic, translator, and anthologist. Eichendorff was one of the major writers and critics of Romanticism.Cf. J. A. Cuddon: '' ...

Mihai Eminescu Mihai Eminescu (; born Mihail Eminovici; 15 January 1850 – 15 June 1889) was a Romanian Romantic poet from Moldavia, novelist, and journalist, generally regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active membe ...

, Octavian Goga, and Eduard Moricke to music. Her social circle included

Luca Caragiale Luca Ion Caragiale (; also known as Luki, Luchi or Luky Caragiale; 3 July 1893 – 7 June 1921) was a Romanian poet, novelist and translator, whose contributions were a synthesis of Symbolism, Parnassianism and modernist literature. His career, ...

, Mariana Dumitrescu, Enescu,

Mihail Jora Mihail Jora (; 2 August 1891, Roman, Romania - 10 May 1971, Bucharest, Romania) was a Romanian composer, pianist, and conductor. Jora studied in Leipzig with Robert Teichmüller. From 1929 to 1962 he was a professor at the Bucharest Conservatoir ...

, Oskar Kokoschka, and Alice Soare. Enescu commented that Saint Georges had "reliable and refined taste". Saint Georges belonged to the Society of Romanian Composers. In 1929 and 1930, she won first place in the Enescu Prize competition; in 1943, she received honorable mention.

Selected works

Piano

*''Concert Waltz for Two Pianos'' *''Illustrati Muzicale pe un Cintec Vechi Francez'' *''Romanian Suite, opus 4'' *''Sonatina, opus 6'' *''Three Ballet Waltzes, opus 7'' *''Twelve Variations on a Jewish Song, opus 3''

Prose

*''Enescu m'a Dit'' (Muzica 3/1993 p13-146 edited by Ileana Ratiu)

Vocal

*"Amurg" (text by Victor Tulbure) *''Four Songs, opus 1'' (texts by Ștefan Octavian Iosif, Eminescu) *''Seven Romanian Folk Songs, opus 5'' *''Two Songs'' (text by Ricarda Huch) *''Vier Lieder'' (texts by Eichendorff, Biernbaum, and Moricke) *"Ziorel de Ziuă" (text by Dumitrescu)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Georges, Didia 1888 births 1979 deaths People from Botoșani Romanian women composers Romanian pianists