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KEYS TO THE MASTERPIECE. A RETROSPECTIVE ON GEORGE ENESCUВ’S SECOND ORCHESTRAL SUITE OP. 20

Mihaela Rusu, G. Dutica

Abstract

Background: In the artistic context of 20th century, George Enescu is the only representative Romanian composer who will be included in the diverse landscape of the 1900-1940’s, and he will be integrated into the neoclassic direction. He was considered to be “one of the most interesting contemporary spirits”, due to the fact that he remained outside of the avant-gardist experiments, the abstraction trends and the “sterilization” of music. In the Second Suite for Orchestra, op. 20, the composer “will meet the needs of order, symmetry, objectivity and proportionality”, by using this genre in a Baroque style. The Suite is composed of six contrasting dances, with pre-classical lineage titles (Overture, Sarabande, Gigue, Minuet grave, Aria and Bourée), a style revealed from the first measures of the overture, written as a double fugue. The six parts of the suite are interdependent, because in each of them the generating motif and the main theme of the overture are taken and adapted to the specific character of each dance. Methods: In this study I intend to highlight some of the defining characteristics of Enescu’s creation reflected at the level of the monodic debut or the rhetoric of the beginning, at the level of sound syntaxes (composition – the essence of movement) and time aspects (the binary-ternary duality, the hemiolic pace). Results, Conclusion: The matters covered in the present study are nothing but a modest contribution to the enlightenment of some concepts and music writing issues discovered under the pen of a twentieth century composer, for whom the composition technique, however complex, however fascinating, was never put before the expression, before the aesthetic message. We like to believe that (if only for this reason alone), George Enescu is recognized increasingly more as an authentic representative of the elite of world composers.

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