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- Theodor Grigoriu
Symphonic Variations on a song by Anton Pann (1955)
(Variaţiuni simfonice pe un cântec de Anton Pann)- Editions Musicales Transatlantiques (World)
To Aram Ilich Hatchaturian
- 2+2pic.2+ca.1.3+cbn/4331/timp.perc+xyl/hp.pf+pr pf+cel/str(4.3.2.2.1)
- 27 min 40 s
- Anton Pann
Programme Note
An emblematic figure of old Bucharest, Anton Pann, a church singer (protopsaltes), composer, poet, and editor seemed, in Theodor Grigoriu’s eyes, capable of capturing aspects of life and atmosphere from the city’s past. In fact, the subtitle, Six period tableaux, indicates the theme range of these symphonic variations, the composer’s first large-scale work.
The first attempt to write a work dedicated to Anton Pann dates from his teen years, and the fact that great Romanian writers such as Ion Barbu and Lucian Blaga were interested in the work of the 19th-century bard determined him to carry on with his project.
The theme it starts from is a love song from Anton Pann’s Hospital of Love. Its lyrics are bitterly comical. With its miniature framework, this theme was supposed to support a large-scale construction, therefore other musical ideas of Pann joined in: chancel, Byzantine, rural or urban folkloric, even Western (German or Austrian), tunes from the Balkans, but also the spirit of a multicolored, cosmopolitan world placed between the West and the East.
Out of several possibilities, Theodor Grigoriu chose the variational one, through which he could also follow Anton Pann’s thread of life. The work has an obvious programmatic aspect, in the broader sense, with variations made to be as contrasting as possible.
After the exposition of Anton Pann’s theme, harmonized in a simple manner, the six variations (tableaux) are:
VARIATION I: The Hills of Slivna evokes the place at the foot of the Balkans where Anton Pann was born. It is a musical tableau composed of sound dots, like in Seurat’s painting technique. The aksak rhythm is used in an Orientalizing atmosphere.
VARIATION II: Ottoman Terror is a forceful tableau, suggesting the violent, terrifying spectacle of the appearance of the Turkish armies that subjugated Balkan peoples, often forcing them to migrate. Together with his mother, Anton Pann also crossed the Danube to the Romanian principalities, starting a new life.
VARIATION III: In the Shadow of Olari Church brings in a powerful contrast: a Byzantine tune evokes the bard, who became a famous church chanter of Bucharest. We discover an antagonism between the severe cult canons and the character’s frolicsome heart which cannot offer him the freedom he craves.
VARIATION IV: Pepelea’s Smart Godson is an almost classical scherzo, based on the characterization made by Eminescu to Anton Pann in the poem The Epigones. The darts of irony turn against those who throw them, in a swirl that sees moralists being moralized, the cheaters cheated, etc.
VARIATION V: Love Song brings in the atmosphere of a Bucharest summer garden at dawn; the fiddlers and the partygoers seem exhausted. However, the melancholy tone of the last songs will not dissipate so easily in the light of morning.
VARIATION VI: Bucharest Babel continues the previous variation; at dawn, a cosmopolitan world wakes up. Several musical “worlds” succeed one another rapidly, and their immanence superimposes and mingles them in a whimsical way. Funfair songs, even a landler (from Anton Pann’s music), long pipe and bagpipe songs reach an elating finale of the initial theme, hinting at Pann’s option for the clearer, deeper Romanian culture, which he served with lucidity and passion.
The Symphonic Variations on a Song by Anton Pann were written during his student years in Moscow, under the guidance of Aram I. Hatchturian, at the I.P. Tchaikovsky Conservatoire. The work is dedicated to his great teacher.
© Mihaela Marinescu
The first attempt to write a work dedicated to Anton Pann dates from his teen years, and the fact that great Romanian writers such as Ion Barbu and Lucian Blaga were interested in the work of the 19th-century bard determined him to carry on with his project.
The theme it starts from is a love song from Anton Pann’s Hospital of Love. Its lyrics are bitterly comical. With its miniature framework, this theme was supposed to support a large-scale construction, therefore other musical ideas of Pann joined in: chancel, Byzantine, rural or urban folkloric, even Western (German or Austrian), tunes from the Balkans, but also the spirit of a multicolored, cosmopolitan world placed between the West and the East.
Out of several possibilities, Theodor Grigoriu chose the variational one, through which he could also follow Anton Pann’s thread of life. The work has an obvious programmatic aspect, in the broader sense, with variations made to be as contrasting as possible.
After the exposition of Anton Pann’s theme, harmonized in a simple manner, the six variations (tableaux) are:
VARIATION I: The Hills of Slivna evokes the place at the foot of the Balkans where Anton Pann was born. It is a musical tableau composed of sound dots, like in Seurat’s painting technique. The aksak rhythm is used in an Orientalizing atmosphere.
VARIATION II: Ottoman Terror is a forceful tableau, suggesting the violent, terrifying spectacle of the appearance of the Turkish armies that subjugated Balkan peoples, often forcing them to migrate. Together with his mother, Anton Pann also crossed the Danube to the Romanian principalities, starting a new life.
VARIATION III: In the Shadow of Olari Church brings in a powerful contrast: a Byzantine tune evokes the bard, who became a famous church chanter of Bucharest. We discover an antagonism between the severe cult canons and the character’s frolicsome heart which cannot offer him the freedom he craves.
VARIATION IV: Pepelea’s Smart Godson is an almost classical scherzo, based on the characterization made by Eminescu to Anton Pann in the poem The Epigones. The darts of irony turn against those who throw them, in a swirl that sees moralists being moralized, the cheaters cheated, etc.
VARIATION V: Love Song brings in the atmosphere of a Bucharest summer garden at dawn; the fiddlers and the partygoers seem exhausted. However, the melancholy tone of the last songs will not dissipate so easily in the light of morning.
VARIATION VI: Bucharest Babel continues the previous variation; at dawn, a cosmopolitan world wakes up. Several musical “worlds” succeed one another rapidly, and their immanence superimposes and mingles them in a whimsical way. Funfair songs, even a landler (from Anton Pann’s music), long pipe and bagpipe songs reach an elating finale of the initial theme, hinting at Pann’s option for the clearer, deeper Romanian culture, which he served with lucidity and passion.
The Symphonic Variations on a Song by Anton Pann were written during his student years in Moscow, under the guidance of Aram I. Hatchturian, at the I.P. Tchaikovsky Conservatoire. The work is dedicated to his great teacher.
© Mihaela Marinescu
Media
Discography
Un senior al baghetei
- LabelEditura Casa Radio
- Catalogue NumberCD1–45:11
- ConductorEmanuel Elenescu
- EnsembleOrchestra Nationala Radio