**[THE CENTURY OF ENESCU]{.underline}**

***A TALK (IN TWO-PARTS) BY***

**JOHN SORENSEN**

[18 Sept. 2005]{.underline}

JOHN SORENSEN

178 Thompson St., Apt. A

New York City, N.Y. 10012

212.260.3995

[johnsorensen10012@yahoo.com]{.underline}

1\.

**[THE CENTURY OF ENESCU]{.underline}**

A Talk

Buna dimineata. Firstly, I give my deepest thanks to you for allowing me
to speak with you today, and to all of the people at the Cultural
Section of the U.S Embassy for creating this important event. Multumesc.

One of our colleagues on The Enescu Project in America is the
Romanian-born pianist, Lory Wallfisch. Mrs. Wallfisch tells me that her
dear friend, Yehudi Menuhin, would often speak to her of what he called
"The Century of Enescu."

But I must be quick to point out that, by this, Menuhin wasn't referring
to the [nineteenth]{.underline} century -- in which Enescu was born -,
nor to the [twentieth]{.underline} century, in which the master did his
greatest work.

No, Menuhin would say, "The twenty-[first]{.underline} century will be
The Century of Enescu." -- the time in which his genius will, at last,
be given its full, world-wide recognition.

Menuhin was not alone in this belief. The cellist Pablo Casals -- who
called Enescu "the greatest musical phenomenon since Mozart" -- also
spoke longingly of a time which is coming, when people will know the
works of Enescu as they now know those of the great masters -- such as
Bach and Brahms.

The reference to Bach is a particularly apt one -- for Bach, too, is a
composer who was not fully appreciated until many long years after his
death, when Felix Mendelssohn and others re-introduced him to the world.

It is my belief that we Americans are in a unique position to become
"Enescu's Mendelssohn" -- to be the pioneers who will bring his music
and story to life, and fulfill our countryman Yehudi Menuhin's prophecy
of The Century of Enescu.

The Enescu Project, which I represent here today, seeks to honor the
unique bond between Enescu\'s native Romania and his creative haven of
the United States. Enescu\'s American career was of great importance to
him - for America was the one part of the world which, in the maestro\'s
opinion, correctly understood his artistry. As Enescu put it: \"In
France they think of me chiefly as a violinist who also composes;
whereas in the United States they regard me as a composer who also plays
the violin.\" Enescu always made it clear that it was the Americans who
\"got it right.\"

Furthermore, the U.S. provided Enescu with profoundly satisfying
professional experiences as conductor (with the New York Philharmonic),
as violinist and pianist (on annual concert tours), and as teacher at
New York\'s prestigious Mannes School of Music and the University of
Illinois. In short, the U.S. has unique and important ties to all five
of Enescu\'s impressive gifts as: composer, conductor, violinist,
pianist, and teacher.

As Enescu\'s place among the handful of truly great twentieth century
composers slowly solidifies, it is appropriate and necessary that a
consortium of American and Romanian admirers unite as advocates of his
beautiful and important creative and cultural legacy.

I would like to share with you now two quotes that have had a great
influence on our work. Firstly, from Enescu himself, who said:

"The world must know what my country \[Romania\] is like. Wherever I may
be, I never forget that this is my foremost duty."

The second quote is from Enescu's friend, Queen Marie of Romania -- the
granddaughter of England's Queen Victoria, and a great beauty and public
figure of her day.

At the end of World War One, an important conference was held in Trianon
to draw up the new borders of many different countries. At first, as I
understand it, the Triple Entente powers looked as if they would not be
very generous or fair to Romania. And so, it is said that Queen Marie
swung into action. She traveled to the Conference, announcing:

"Romania needs a face, and I have come to show mine."

Well, hers was a beautiful face -- with a powerful mind behind it -, and
the result of her trip, as I have read, was that -- in 1920 under the
Treaty of Trianon -- Romania more than doubled its territory and
population.

Such is the power of the right face shown in the right way at the right
time.

I firmly believe that George Enescu is the right face -- and the best
voice and the best story -- that Romania has to show to America and the
world. And that, by showing this face correctly, Enescu's own goal -- of
letting the world know about his beloved homeland -- can be best
achieved.

I feel that the ideal way to do this is by story-telling, and so I am
currently preparing a six-hour radio series, called [Tales of
Enescu]{.underline} -- one-half narrative and one-half music -, which we
hope will be ready for broadcast all across America by the WFMT Radio
Network next year -- 2006: the 125^th^ birthday of George Enescu.

I'd like now to give you a little glimpse of that show, and so I have
brought along some of my script notes -- to share with you one of my own
favorite "Tales of Enescu."

This is from the episode entitled "The Storm in Romania," and is told
entirely in the words of Enescu's star pupil -- America's Yehudi
Menuhin.

Menuhin recalls:

\[There followed an eight-minute-long dramatic recitation from "The
Storm in Romania."\]

Well, I've got much more to say about the radio series and The Enescu
Project -- too much for this moment. So I'd better give up my place here
to my colleagues ... each of whom also has plenty to say on this
favorite subject.

But, since I started with a quote, I'll finish with one, too -- a
Romanian folk-saying:

"Inceputul este greu."

Which, I believe, means:

"It's the beginning that's tough."

With this event today, we've made our beginning. And I feel certain that
the rest of the journey -- long as it may be -- will be a joy.

Multumesc. Foarte mult.

\- THE END -

2\.

**[TALES OF ENESCU]{.underline}**

\[Proposal for a Radio Series\]

TALES OF ENESCU is the first major English-language radio program
devoted to the life and work of this great master of modern music. The
six-hour series (produced by the Jumble Shop Theater of New York and
distributed internationally by the WFMT Radio Network) is a fusion of
radio memoir, documentary, and musical performance. Our show will be
broadcast around the world in the year 2006, to commemorate the 50th
year since Enescu\'s death and his 125th birthday.

George Enescu is one of the most important, yet least known, figures of
modern music. He was a phemomenal \"five-in-one\" musical man: composer,
conductor, violinist, pianist, and teacher: ALL at world-class levels.
Pablo Casals called him the greatest musical phenomenon since Mozart.
Enescu\'s personal story, too, is something almost unbelievable. He
begins his memoir as if it were a fairy tale: \"I am a son of the
soil,\" he declares, \"born in a land of legends like a character in a
tragedy, heralded by prophecies and omens.\"

As if to affirm this statement with his own blood and tears, Enescu\'s
life story is truly the stuff of legend, taking him on a tempestuous
journey: from his humble beginnings as the twelfth (yet only surviving)
child of a farming family in an obscure Romanian village on the Eastern
edge of the Western world \... to his prime years as a handsome, highly
touted musical conqueror living in glory in Vienna and Paris, touring
the world in victory \... to his unexpected tenure teaching music in the
heart of America at the University of Illinois \... and finally to his
last days of impoverishment and tortured illness in Paris - stripped of
his property and wealth by the Communist takeover of Romania, his
physical beauty destroyed by a crippling spinal condition that warped
his body in two. It is a sojourn filled with romantic and heroic events
(his love affair with the Princess Cantacuzino; his exploits during the
two World Wars), as well as with fascinating personal encounters between
Enescu and many of the greatest names of music history: from Brahms to
Bartok. Our series will include an extensive selection of Enescu\'s best
(as well as his least known) compositions, with the premieres of several
recently discovered works, and rare recordings of Enescu himself: in
performance and conversation.

Enescu wrote: \"Nothing in the world attracted me as much as music.
Music was my truth!\" And at the heart of our program will be the
master\'s own wondrous music: a unique blend of tradition and modernism
which, while sometimes resembling that of his peers, differed radically
from theirs; for, as Enescu himself pointed out, his music, though
definitely \"contemporary,\" still \"bears the mark of the past from
which it has grown.\"

**A MUSICAL GIANT**

All aficionados of classical music know Enescu\'s famed folkloric
[Romanian Rhapsodies]{.underline} (written by the composer at the age of
20!); students of great violin performances love Enescu\'s landmark
recording of Chausson\'s [Poeme]{.underline}; collectors of important
historical recordings are devoted to Enescu\'s impeccable work as the
conductor of Bach\'s [Mass in B Minor]{.underline}, featuring Kathleen
Ferrier; and millions have enjoyed his achievements as a teacher,
through the careers of his students Yehudi Menuhin, Ginette Neveu, and
so many others.

These scattered pieces of the Enescu puzzle are not unknown \... but the
complete picture, of which they are merely parts, is still lamentably
unfamiliar to a vast audience who will derive great inspiration from the
panoramic mural. [TALES OF ENESCU]{.underline} is an essential step
forward in this important process of cultivating the growing
appreciation of George Enescu and his beloved but neglected homeland.

Phenomenal as are his myriad creative achievements, there is still more
to the legendary life of Enescu: his heroic adventures in beleaguered
Romania in the midst of the battles of two World Wars, and his profound,
almost fanatical, devotion to the rich yet little known culture of his
native country - an ardor which has been amply reciprocated by his
countrymen: for Enescu has become, in the years since his death, an
iconic figure for Romanians; a rallying point and vital influence for
their cultural life and identity.

**A RADIO MEMOIR**

[TALES OF ENESCU]{.underline} is a six-part radio series, which will be
50% narrative story-telling and 50% music. Just as Enescu himself was a
\"five-in-one\" man as regards his musical career, so [TALES OF
ENESCU]{.underline} is a \"five-in-one\" show - taking full advantage of
a wealth of Enescu treasures that are being made available for the first
time in the English language, our pioneering series will consist of
three hours of music and three hours of narrative material, including:

1\. [The Memoir]{.underline}: using Enescu\'s own words to tell his
story in the \"first person singular\" form that is so effective on
radio; also including previously unheard recordings of Enescu rehearsing
(in English!) with the orchestra at the University of Illinois.

2\. [The Witnesses]{.underline}: compiling stories of Enescu\'s
remarkable musical prowess and human character in the words of those who
knew him best - from Yehudi Menuhin and Bela Bartok, to his adored
Princess Cantacuzino, to the simple, anonymous porter who, after a
concert given by Enescu in the porter\'s small provincial town, tried to
barter with the master by offering to carry his luggage free of charge
\... if only he came to play there again! Particular emphasis will be
given to the memories of Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar and pianist Lory
Wallfisch, both of whom were personally acquainted with Enescu.

3\. [The Folklore]{.underline}: sharing with the audience the great
works of Romania\'s fantastically rich folk culture \... works which
profoundly influenced Enescu\'s spirit and achievements, such as the
folk ballads [Mioritza]{.underline} and [Master Manole]{.underline} -
and, thereby, honoring Enescu\'s often expressed ambition that \"The
world [must]{.underline} know what my country is really like. Wherever I
may be, I never forget that [this]{.underline} is my foremost duty.\"

4\. [The Compositions]{.underline}: including full-length recordings of
Enescu\'s greatest - as well as his least-known - works; premiering
recently discovered, never-before-heard compositions by Enescu.

5\. [The Performances]{.underline}: featuring historical recordings of
Enescu\'s own work as a violinist, pianist, and conductor (including
some never-before-broadcast or commercially released).

**A LIFE OF LEGEND**

The myriad of intriguing characters that populate the world of our
six-hour series are quite nearly as fascinating as is our subject:
fellow Romanians such as the piano geniuses Dinu Lipatti (who was
Enescu\'s godson) and Clara Haskil; the musicians with whom Enescu often
performed, such as Pablo Casals, Alfred Cortot, Maurice Ravel, Bela
Bartok, and Yehudi Menuhin; Enescu\'s unexpected friends such as the
Indian dancer Uday Shankar, through whom we discover, as Menuhin later
recalled, \"Enescu\'s tremendous interest in exotic or unknown musics\"
(among others, Enescu regularly indoctrinated Menuhin with recordings of
music from Bali, Africa, and India).

Finally, we present a sampling from the rich wealth of anecdotes
concerning the life and character of George Enescu. There are, of
course, tales concerning Enescu\'s great musical genius, but more
poignant are the stories of Enescu\'s well-revered qualities of
compassion and humanity, such as the tale of how, during World War I, he
was due to give a concert for wounded soldiers in Iasi, Romania. The
young Mihail Jora (later an important composer) was among these
soldiers. Jora - that very day - had undergone a dangerous operation on
a seriously wounded leg \... without anaesthetic. Enescu, hearing of
this, insisted on delaying his concert until Jora was out of surgery and
able to listen. Jora always claimed that Enescu\'s concert, which roused
him from unbearable pain and depression, saved his life.

**IN CONCLUSION**

One vitally crucial aspect of our endeavor is the empowerment -
culturally, socially, and economically - of the important, but
unfairly-marginalized nation of Romania. By emphasizing the beauty and
achievements of this little-known country (a new member of NATO and,
soon, of the European Union) we are working to improve its ability to
assert its positive identity and great assets to the world.

[TALES OF ENESCU]{.underline} (which will, after broadcast, be used as
an educational tool in music schools across the U.S.) is a compendium of
excellent music, but it is much more than that. To honor this great
master, we present a human document of an artist whose life is a modern
legend; a chronicle of the transformation of \"a peasant boy from the
Danube\" into a man who was able to sum up his life\'s credo in words
that might serve as a worthy motto for many another creator: \"To dream
[usefully]{.underline} \... [this]{.underline} must be the artist\'s
goal!\"