Grigoraș Ionică Dinicu (; April 3, 1889 – March 28, 1949) was a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

virtuoso and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

ethnicity. He is most famous for his often-played virtuoso violin showpiece " Hora staccato" (1906) and for making popular the tune Ciocârlia, composed by his grandfather for nai. It is rumored that

Jascha Heifetz Jascha Heifetz (; December 10, 1987) was a Russian-American violinist, widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time. Born in Vilnius, he was soon recognized as a child prodigy and was trained in the Russian classical violin styl ...

once said that Grigoraș Dinicu was the greatest violinist he had ever heard. In the 1930s he was involved in the political movement of the Romanian Roma and was made honorary president of the "General Union of the Romanian Roma". Other well known compositions are: ''Hora mărțișorului'' (''Mărțișor'', literally "little March", is a major Romanian seasonal holiday on March 1), ''Ceasornicul'' (''The Clock'') and ''Căruța poștei'' (''The Post Wagon'').

Early life and education

He was born in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, in the neighborhood of the ''

lăutari The Romanian language, 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 18th century. The term is derived from ''lăută'', the ...

'' named ''Scaune'' (''Chairs''). Because his father was busy with his activity as a ''lăutar'', he handed him over to "moș Zamfir", an old violinist, who taught him the first tunes. He attended the Bucharest Conservatory, where he studied with Dumitru Georgescu-Kiriac. The most famous of his teachers was

Carl Flesch Carl Flesch (born Károly Flesch, 9 October 1873 – 14 November 1944) was a Hungarian classical violinist and teacher. Flesch’s compendium ''Scale System'' is a staple of violin pedagogy. Life and career Flesch was born in Moson (now part of ...

, the violin pedagogue, with whom he studied in 1902. He received a scholarship at the Vienna Conservatory, but he was not allowed to go there because he was Romani, an episode that he never forgot.

Career

After graduation he played violin with the Orchestra of the Ministry of Public Instruction, and also performed as a soloist. ''Hora staccato'' dates from the beginning of this period; he wrote it as a graduation exercise. For forty years, from 1906 until 1946, he directed popular music concerts. He also toured abroad as a soloist and conductor, and he also played a great deal of light music in nightclubs, hotels, restaurants, and cafés in Bucharest and throughout Western Europe. His music is mostly for violin and

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, though some pieces (such as ''Hora staccato'') have later been arranged for other combinations of instruments (for example,

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

and piano, as well as violin and orchestra and a popular arrangement by Russian

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

virtuoso Dave Apollon). He died in

on March 28, 1949, of

laryngeal cancer Laryngeal cancer is a kind of cancer that can develop in any part of the larynx (voice box). It is typically a squamous-cell carcinoma, reflecting its origin from the epithelium of the larynx. The prognosis is affected by the location of the tumo ...

Miscellanea

The jazz manouche violinist

Stéphane Grappelli Stéphane Grappelli (; 26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997) was a French jazz violinist. He is best known as a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands. ...

was a great admirer of Dinicu and of the way that the violin was played in the '' lăutărească music''.Interview with Florin Niculescu
A nice compilation of his violin artistry was issued by the Romanian state record company Electrecord EPE 01491 (LP) in the early 1960s. On it he can be heard playing his original version of Hora Staccato.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dinicu, Grigoras Ionica 1889 births 1949 deaths Musicians from Bucharest Romanian Romani people Romani violinists Romani fiddlers Romanian fiddlers Male violinists Lăutari and lăutărească music Romanian composers Romanian male composers Deaths from laryngeal cancer Deaths from cancer in Romania 20th-century violinists 20th-century Romanian male musicians

Early life and education

Career

Miscellanea

References

Further reading

External links