The Chamber Symphony, Op. 33, in E major, is a symphony written for twelve instruments, and the last work finished by the Romanian composer

George Enescu George Enescu (; – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanian composer, violinist, conductor and teacher. Regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history, Enescu is featured on the Romanian five lei. Biogr ...

History

The earliest ideas eventually taken up in the Chamber Symphony date back to a sketch for a septet for winds and piano, dating from around the time of the Octet for strings, Op. 7 (1900). The score is dated May 1954, a year before his death but less than two months before Enescu suffered the cerebral stroke in July that made all work impossible. The final markings to the score had to be dictated to

Marcel Mihalovici Marcel Mihalovici (Bucharest, 22 October 1898 – Paris, 12 August 1985) was a French composer born in Romania. He was discovered by George Enescu in Bucharest. He moved to Paris in 1919 (at age 21) to study under Vincent d'Indy. His works include ...

. The score is dedicated to the Association of Chamber Music Concerts of Paris and its permanent conductor

Fernand Oubradous Fernand Oubradous (12 February 1903 – 6 January 1986) was a French bassoonist, conductor and composer. Born in Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city ...

. The work was performed for the first time in a concert commemorating the first anniversary of the composer's death, at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest. Constantin Silvestri conducted the performance and, when it received only a tepid response from the audience, announced, "This work is Enescu's masterpiece; it is more difficult to grasp than others, because of its very advanced language. Therefore, we shall perform it once more in its entirety." After this second hearing, it was a great success . The work 'waited' for 57 years to be performed in the UK. The UK Première took place on 19 September 2011 in Kings Place, London. It was performed by the London Schubert Players chamber orchestra and conducted by Hu Kun with Enescu's own baton (Chinese violinist Hu Kun had been Yehudi Menuhin’s protégé and his one and only private student). The event was produced by pianist Anda Anastasescu who also took part in the performance of the work. The concert, entitled 'ENESCU'S FAREWELL', was part of London Schubert Players' international project 'Invitation to Composers' for the European Commission, 2009-2011. This live performance is featured on Nimbus Alliance 3CD set 'A European Odyssey' and on Anda Anastasescu’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPLgIBlRgbpwf6CM6n2C4gw/video. The project was the brainchild of Anda Anastasescu Gritten - pianist and artistic director of the London Schubert Players. Seven composers from Romania, UK, Norway, Sweden, France and Italy took up the challenge of writing works inspired by Enescu's 'Chamber Symphony' and for the same combination of instruments. The World Premières of the new works were performed in London's King's Place and in the Royal Academy of Music on 19 September and 23 October 2011.

Instrumentation

The work is scored for twelve instruments: flute, oboe, cor anglais, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, violin, viola, cello, doublebass, and piano.

Analysis

The Chamber Symphony transcends the cyclical principles of Enescu's earlier works, in that the entire composition is constructed as a single

sonata-allegro Sonata form (also ''sonata-allegro form'' or ''first movement form'') is a musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle of the 18th c ...

overarching entity, cast in four movements: # Molto moderato, un poco maestoso: a double

exposition Exposition (also the French for exhibition) may refer to: *Universal exposition or World's Fair * Expository writing ** Exposition (narrative) * Exposition (music) *Trade fair A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade e ...

, leading to the combined thematic synthesis that will be developed in the following movements # Allegretto molto moderato: a combined

scherzo A scherzo (, , ; plural scherzos or scherzi), in western classical music, is a short composition – sometimes a movement from a larger work such as a symphony or a sonata. The precise definition has varied over the years, but scherzo often re ...

and theme and variations # Adagio: unites the materials worked out in the previous movement into a vast melodic line # Allegro molto moderato: a first section continues working out the thematic synthesis, and a second provides the recapitulation of the first-movement material.

References

Cited sources

* *

. 1971. "Esențializări (1945–1955)". In ''George Enescu: Monografie'', 2 vols., edited by Mircea Voicana, 1017–1138. Bucharest: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România. * Lupu, Olguţa. 2011. "Aspects of the Motifs Becoming in the Chamber Symphony op. 33". In ''George Enescu: International Musicology Symposium 2009'', edited by Liliana Bîrnat,Carmen Maria Cârneci, and Mariana Petrescu, 362–77. Bucharest: Editura Muzicală. * Moisescu, Titus. 1978. "Preluari tematice: Simfonia de camera pentru 12 instrumente, op. 33 de George Enescu". ''Muzica'' 28, no. 2 (February): 18–28. * Terényi, Ede. 1972. "Lumea armonică a 'simfoniei de cameră' de George Enescu". (Simpozionul de muzicologie de la Conservatorul Gheorghe Dima, edited by Dan Voiculescu.) ''Lucrări de muzicologie'' 8–9:155–71. * Timaru, Valentin. 1981. "Analiza Simfoniei de Camera, a lui George Enescu". In ''Centenarul George Enescu 1881–1981'', edited by Speranța Rădulescu, 227–45. Bucharest: Editura Muzicală.

External links