Simpozionul Internaţional "George Enescu" 2003 - Selecţiuni Editura LiterNet 2004

Aesthetics and Style in the Songs of George Enescu

Dr. Paula Boire (S.U.A.)

Enescu's songs confirm his goal to forge an eclectic compositional style rather than pursuing a predominantly
nationalistic idiom. They range from literature appropriate for undergraduate students to interpretively subtle and
technically challenging works that merit the attention of mature artists.
His songs include three settings of French Parnassian verses, Op.4; seven songs to verses by the French
Renaissance poet, Clément Marot, Op. 15; Quatre Mélodies, Op. 19, to verses by the Belgian Symbolist poet
Fernand Gregh; seventeen songs to German poems by the dowager Queen Elisabeth of Romania who penned
verses under the pseudonym of Carmen Sylva; a poem by Vasile Alecsandri, and three of Enescu's own poems. Only
two songs, "Doina" and "De ziua ta" use Romanian texts and evince obvious Romanian musical traits. Stylistically,
the songs to French verses evoke French Romantic and Impressionist mélodies, while the settings of German verses
are reminiscent of early Romantic era Lieder. While the Sept Chansons de Clément Marot, Op. 15, rank as his most
frequently internationally performed vocal work, his other songs remain relatively unknown outside Romania.
Enescu composed most of his songs primarily between 1898 and 1916, which encompasses his educational
years; study at the Vienna Conservatory (1888-1894) and the Paris Conservatory (1895—1899), where he studied
composition with Jules Massenet and Gabriel Fauré and other well-known teachers.
Enescu's songs reveal stylistic influences of various composers of art song, not necessarily limited to those
associated with the representative schools of poetry. For example, while the mélodies of Op 4, three songs to French
Parnassian poems, "Le Galop," "Soupir" and "Le Désert," reflect musical traits typical of Enescu's teachers Massenet
and Fauré, Romanian musicologists cite similarities in the ostinato accompaniment that depicts the galloping horse in
"Le Galop," Op. 4, No. 2, to a little known setting of the same poem by Henri Duparc discussed in Frits Noske's book,
French Songs from Berlioz to Duparc, and to Schubert's "Erlkönig." 104

104
Mircea Voicana, editor. George Enescu Monografie, Vol. 1, (Bucharest: Editura Muzicalã, 1980), 184.
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Simpozionul Internaţional "George Enescu" 2003 - Selecţiuni Editura LiterNet 2004

Specific traits attributed to Duparc in Enescu's setting include a recurring descending minor second as an
expressive device and inflections also found in Duparc's "Elegie," "Sérénade Florentine" and "Testament." Romanian
Enescu scholars cite a recurring three-note intervallic organization in "Soupir" that frequently pervades numerous
later Enescu works. These are strong precursors of Enescu's stylistic traits and substantial dramatic flair. 105
Enescu composed both the poetry and the music for "Souhait," "Dédicace" and "La Quarantaine" in 1899. The
ardent love song, "Souhait," with its influences of Schumann Lieder and Enescu's French musical training,
foreshadows the Sept Chansons de Clément Marot in atmosphere, simplicity and Enescu's predilection for poetry
idealizing an unattainable amour.
Even these early songs reveal Enescu's sensitivity to natural and effective text declamation. The elegantly
arched vocal line of "Soupir" periodically reflects the natural speech and pitch rhythm of the poem, which is enhanced
by colorful piano figurations. The spoken text of "Dédicace," a single strophe accompanied by an occasional chord or
brief motive in the piano, resembles an operatic recitative.
"La Quarantaine" reveals the young composer's profound comprehension and empathy for the elderly.
Symbolic of a spent and hopeless life, the expressive keyboard motive accompanies a single tone recitation, drawing
the listener into the scene. Expanding intervals evoke the poet's anguish as he contemplates his distant homeland.
Enescu's settings of Carmen Sylva's poems offer appropriate repertoire for younger singers. Composed
primarily between 1898 and 1908 at Sinaia, many of the accompaniments foreshadow the rhythmic and pianistic
complexities of his Fernand Gregh songs, Op. 19. Although the styles evoke Schumann or early Pfitzner Lieder,
Brahmsian rhythmic complexities, the speech rhythms and pitch inflections of Hugo Wolf, as well as a Debussian Lied
in Impressionistic style, the Carmen Sylva songs reveal Enescu's strong dramatic flair and an ease composing in
German compositional and linguistic idioms. While none of the vocal lines is virtuosic, many of the atmospheric
accompaniments require technical proficiency but lack the pyrotechnics of Enescu's later solo piano or violin works.
Numerous examples of Enescu's fine dramatic instincts for text declamation and effective musical evocation
abound in this collection of songs. These include the ten-measure prelude of "Schlaflos," comprised of a reiterated
unaccompanied melody that suggests an unresolved dilemma gnawing at the mind and the restless thrashing during
a sleepless night. The quasi-recitative rhythms of the first section imply an actor's textual declamation. The tessitura,

105
Voicana, ibid., 182.
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Simpozionul Internaţional "George Enescu" 2003 - Selecţiuni Editura LiterNet 2004

brisk tempo, persistent drum rolls and soldier's march of "Königshusarenlied" offer singers a less familiar alternative
to Schumann's "Die beide Grenadiere."
The considerable interest among Romanian composers in vocal chamber music surfaces even in Enescu's
vocal works. Of Enescu's four vocal chamber works, "Doina," composed in 1905 to a poem by Vasile Alecsandri, is
the most interesting. Scored for baritone, viola and cello, Enescu borrows traits from the traditional doina: rubato,
numerous appoggiaturas, modal inflections, chromaticism, a freely moving vocal line and melodic structure typical of
a doina, together with instrumental colorations that evoke Romanian folk instruments (con sordino, sul ponticello and
tremulos).
Enescu originally set Carmen Sylva's poem "Regen" in German in 1903. However, in 1936, while in Paris, he
translated the poem into French, "Pluie," and revised the music to evoke Debussy's Impressionistic style. Most of the
vocal lines contain only four notes, (G#, B, C# and E). The composer's request for an anguished vocal effect in the
portamento vocal cadence of m. 21 of the original German setting resembles similar vocal effects heard in his opera
Oedip.
Enescu's seven songs to verses by the prominent Renaissance poet, Clément Marot, composed in Paris
between the years of 1907-1908, suggest traits of Renaissance music through leaner musical textures, open fourths
and fifths and restricted vocal ranges, with modal inflections interspersing the diatonic keys. The folk-influenced
mordents and appoggiaturas in the accompaniment of "Languir me fais," Op. 15, No. 2, recur throughout Enescu's
compositions, while the rhythmically fluid vocal line presages the more complex vocal lines of the Fernand Gregh
songs.
In "Aux Damoyselles Paresseueses d'escrire à leurs Amys," Op. 15, No. 3, Enescu vividly captures the young
man's enthusiasm, movements and reactions expressed in the poem through the rhythms, the use of silence, the
reiterated darting motive and evocative harmonies. The subtle use of rests to separate text, which a more mature
person would normally speak as a unit, cleverly evokes his youthful and unabashed adoration of these maidens.
The intimate love song, "Estrene de la Rose," Op. 15, No. 4, cites a charming legend of the origin of the red
rose, symbolic of the poet's desired union with Anne. The subdued, brief recurring motive and rhythmic
accompaniment pattern evoke the poet's manner of speech, hesitations symbolic of his anguish and the diminutive,
exquisiteness of a rose.

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In the poem of unrequited and anguished love, "Present de couleur blanche," Op. 15, No. 5, the lean, elegant
texture implies the poet offering the chatelaine a symbolic musical gift of his undying love. The soft introductory
chords depict the poet stepping forward to present the dove, symbolic of the purity of his love for her. The stressed
descending sixteenth notes suggest the poet kneeling, his love falling at the feet of his beloved. A new
accompaniment motive introduced in the final section implies his deep, unrequited love.
The robust "Changeons propos, c'est trop chanté d'amours…" Op. 15, No. 6, praises the grape, declaring there
has been too much talk of love. Motives evocative of the drunken gaiety of Bacchian celebrations appear in the
second section. A sprightly keyboard motive accompanies each mention of the little pruning knife deftly severing
grapes from the vine.
"Silence," (1902) and "De la flûte au cor" display both the lyricism typical of early and middle period Fauré
mélodies, influences of Duparc and the quasi-recitative repeated note lines of many later Debussy songs. The rubato,
rhythmic complexities and intricate piano writing of "Silence" perhaps reflect Enescu's concentration at the time upon
symphonic works.
As a precursor of the rhythmic complexities and subtle vocal articulation of his later Gregh songs, "Silence"
suggests Debussian Impressionism. This lengthy, atmospheric and intimate love song reveals a penchant evident in
Enescu's songs, a predilection for love poems with the medieval concept of an idolized and unrequited love. Although
the harmonic, rhythmic and melodic treatment of "De la flûte au cor" pales in comparison with the richness of the later
Gregh settings, chromaticism, modality, pregnant moments of silence and appoggiaturas fill this atmospheric and
motivically unified song. The fluid accompaniment evokes the flute.
The interpretively elusive songs of Op. 19 with their fiendishly difficult, harmonically and rhythmically complex
accompaniments have remained in relative obscurity. However, the lack of performance does not reflect on their
quality. Originally composed during World War I to verses by the Belgian Symbolist poet Fernand Gregh, Enescu
later revised the songs in 1936. The latter settings are imbued with distinct influences of Debussy and the harmonic
palette of French Impressionism. The songs are laden with chromaticism laced with hints of modality, augmented
seconds and frequent alternations of accidentals that obscure clear tonal implications.
The accompaniment of "Pluie," Op. 19, No. 1, with its effective descriptive musical characterization of the wind,
rain and shadows, dominates this song. The text rhythm resembles theatrical declamation. Pierre Louïs' poem, "La
flûte de Pan," clearly exerted a strong influence on the subject and style of "Le Silence Musicien," Op. 19, No. 2.

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Although not a whole tone scale, the melody evokes Debussy's song "La flûte de Pan," and is to be played
quasi-flute, as is the Debussy song. In both "Le Silence Musicien" and "L'Ombre est bleue" numerous portamenti, or
vocal slides, occur within the vocal setting. In "Le Silence Musicien" they connect both chromatic tones and more
distant intervals, while the numerous portamenti in "L'Ombre est bleue" are perhaps descriptive of the shadows.
Coupled with their diversity in poetic and harmonic language, Enescu's songs display strong musical
characterization governed by the poetry. Distinguished by careful craftsmanship, they vary from the relatively simple
to the extraordinarily complex. In the contemporary singer's quest for new or unknown vocal literature, these songs
merit consideration to introduce singers, pianists and audiences to this revered icon of Romanian music.

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