Filaret Barbu (April 16, 1903 – May 31, 1984) was a Romanian

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

composer.

Life

Filaret Barbu was the son of Iosif Hazi Barbu, a pork butcher, and Ema Barbu (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Dragoș). During his childhood he often heard traditional Romanian

lăutari The Romanian word lăutar (; plural: ''lăutari'') denotes a class of musicians. The term was adopted by members of a professional clan of Romani musicians in the late XVIII century. The term is derived from ''lăută'', the Romanian word for ...

and

taraf ''Taraf'' ("Side" in Turkish) was a liberal newspaper in Turkey. It had distinguished itself by opposing interference by the Turkish military in the country's social and political affairs. It was distributed nationwide, and had been in circulati ...

bands in his grandfather's inn. He went to school in

Lugoj Lugoj (; hu, Lugos; german: Lugosch; sr, Лугош, Lugoš; bg, Лугож; tr, Logoş) is a list of cities and towns in Romania, city in Timiș County, Romania. The Timiș River divides the city into two halves, the so-called "Romanian Lugoj" ...

and

Caransebeș Caransebeș (; german: Karansebesch; hu, Karánsebes, Hungarian pronunciation: ) is a municipiu, city in Caraș-Severin County, part of the Banat region in southwestern Romania. It is located at the confluence of the Timiș (river), River Timiș ...

. He studied the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

and the

counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

at the New Vienna Conservatory during 1922—1926. Back in Romania, he became a music teacher at "Coriolan Brediceanu" High School in Lugoj and the conductor of "Ion Vidu" choir, which he founded in 1922. In 1931, after the death of

Ion Vidu Ion Vidu ( – 7 February 1931), was a Romanian composer and choral conductor. Under his influence the small town of Lugoj, which up until that time had not that much in the way of artistic institutions, became a well-known center of choral music ...

, he became the leader of the local choir "Reuniunea română de muzică și cântări".Muzicieni: Filaret Barbu
/ref> His debut work was the 1924

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

''Privighetoarea albă'' (''The White

Nightingale The common nightingale, rufous nightingale or simply nightingale (''Luscinia megarhynchos''), is a small passerine bird best known for its powerful and beautiful song. It was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is no ...

''). He also wrote a monographic study dedicated to tenor

Traian Grozăvescu Traian Grozăvescu (21 November 1895 – 15 February 1927) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian operatic tenor. Born in Lugoj, he served in the Austro-Hungarian Army in World War I. In 1922, following a disagreement with the Cluj Opera, he ...

and a collection of choir songs titled ''Portativ bănățean'' (''The

Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...

Staff''). He died in 1984 in

Timișoara ), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor) , image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg , map_caption = Location in Timiș County , pushpin_map = Romania#Europe , pushpin_ ...

. He was the father of ballet dancer and choreographer

Gelu Barbu Gelu Barbu (; 14 April 1932 – 17 February 2016) was a Romanian-born Spanish ballet dancer and choreographer. Life Barbu was born in Lugoj, the son of composer Filaret Barbu. He received his basic training at the ballet school of the Romanian N ...

References

1903 births 1984 deaths People from Lugoj Romanian composers {{Romania-composer-stub