George Bălan (11 March 1929 – 3 January 2022) was a Romanian musicologist, philosopher and aphorist.
Life and career
Born in
Turnu Măgurele
Turnu Măgurele () is a municipiu, city in Teleorman County, Romania, in the historical region of Muntenia. Developed nearby the site once occupied by the medieval port of Turnu fortress, Turnu, it is situated north-east of the confluence between ...
, Bălan graduated at the
Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatory
The National University of Music Bucharest (, UNMB) is a university-level school of music located in Bucharest, Romania. Established as a school of music in 1863 and reorganized as an academy in 1931, it has functioned as a public university since ...
and got his
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...
in
musical aesthetics
Aesthetics of music is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of art, beauty and taste in music, and with the creation or appreciation of beauty in music. In the pre-modern tradition, the aesthetics of music or musical aesthetics expl ...
at the
Lomonosov University
Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...
.
[Cosma, Viorel; Popa, Florinela (2001).]
Bălan, George
. ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...
''. Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
. In 1951 he became musical editor at the ''
Contimporanul
''Contimporanul'' (antiquated spelling of the Romanian word for "the Contemporary", singular masculine form) was a Romanian (initially a weekly and later a monthly) avant-garde literary and art magazine, published in Bucharest between June 1922 ...
'' magazine in Bucharest; a role he maintained through 1957 and later returned to from 1961 through 1963.
From 1955 through 1975 Bălan taught on the faculty of the
National University of Music Bucharest
The National University of Music Bucharest (, UNMB) is a university-level school of music located in Bucharest, Romania. Established as a school of music in 1863 and reorganized as an academy in 1931, it has functioned as a public university since ...
. He was then professor in his alma mater and at the
Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu
The Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu (Romanian language, Romanian: ''Universitatea "Lucian Blaga" din Sibiu'') is a public university in Sibiu, Romania. It is named after the philosopher, poet, and playwright, Lucian Blaga. It was founded in 19 ...
from 1975 through 1977.
In 1977 he moved to
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
in
Bavaria
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
,
West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
, where he converted to
Catholicism
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
and publicly attacked on various occasions the
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
**Romanian cuisine, traditional ...
communist ruling.
Bălan is best known as the developer of musicosophia, a musical aesthetic theory and method based on creative music listening. In 1979 he founded a Musicosophia International School in Southern Bavaria.
He died from
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
on 3 January 2022, at the age of 92.
Publications
* ''Muzica, artă greu de înţeles?'', Editura Muzicală a Uniunii Compozitorilor şi Muzicologilor din România, Bucureşti, 1955–1956-1960.
* ''Der philosophische Gehalt der Musik'', Dissertation, Moskau, 1961.
* ''Enescu - mesajul, estetica'', Editura Muzicală a Uniunii Compozitorilor şi Muzicologilor din România, Bucureşti, 1959–1960.
* ''Enescu - viaţa'', Editura Muzicală a Uniunii Compozitorilor şi Muzicologilor din România, Bucureşti, 1962.
* ''Gustav Mahler'', Editura Muzicală a Uniunii Compozitorilor şi Muzicologilor din România, Bucureşti, 1962.
* ''Tragicul'', Bucureşti, 1961–1962.
* ''Muzica, temă de meditaţie filosofică'', Editura Ştiinţifică, Bucureşti, 1955–1956, 1960.
* ''Sensurile muzicii'', Editura Tineretului, Bucureşti, 1965.
* ''Innoirile muzicii'', Editura Muzicală a Uniunii Compozitorilor şi Muzicologilor din România, Bucureşti, 1966.
* ''Eu, Richard Wagner'', Editura Tineretului, Bucureşti, 1966.
* ''Dincolo de muzică'', Editura pentru Literatură, Bucureşti, 1967.
* ''Întrebările conştiinţei wagneriene'', Editura Muzicală a Uniunii Compozitorilor şi Muzicologilor din România, Bucureşti, 1968.
* ''În dialog cu Emil Cioran'', Editura Cartea Românească, Bucureşti, 1968–1969, 1996.
* ''Noi ṣi clasicii'', Editura Tineretului, Bucureşti, 1968.
* ''Venirea antimuzicii'', Editura Muzicală a Uniunii Compozitorilor şi Muzicologilor din România, Bucureşti, 1968.
* ''Procesul lui Socrate'', Editura Albatros, Bucureşti, 1968–1969, 1993.
* ''În căutarea Maestrului'', Editura Institutul European, Bucureşti, 1968–1972, 1999.
* ''Pelerinaj oriental'', Bucureşti, 1965.
* ''Le sens de la musique'', Bucureşti, 1965.
* ''Arta de a înţelege muzica'', Editura Muzicală a Uniunii Compozitorilor şi Muzicologilor din România, Bucureşti, 1970.
* ''Meditaţii beethoveniene'', Editura Albatros, Bucureşti, 1969–1970.
* ''Via meditativa'', Editura Eminescu, Bucureşti, 1972–1974, 1997.
* ''Cazul Schönberg'', Editura Muzicală a Uniunii Compozitorilor şi Muzicologilor din România, Bucureşti, 1974.
* ''Iniţiere muzicală'', Bucureşti, 1974.
* ''Pneumatologie-Morţii noştri'', Bucureşti, 1973–1974.
* ''Mică filosofie a muzicii'', Editura Eminescu, Bucureşti, 1975.
* ''Nebănuitul Eminescu'', Editura Universal Dalsi, Bucureşti, 1975, 1984, 1999.
* ''O istorie a muzicii europene'', Editura Albatros, Bucureşti, 1975.
References
External links
George Bălanat
Open Library
Open Library is an online project intended to create "one web page for every book ever published". Created by Aaron Swartz, Brewster Kahle, Alexis Rossi, Anand Chitipothu, and Rebecca Hargrave Malamud, Open Library is a project of the Internet ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balan, George
1929 births
2022 deaths
Aphorists
People from Turnu Măgurele
Romanian musicologists
Romanian philosophers
Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany