Eduard Caudella – Teacher and Composer. 180 Years since his Birth

PROF.DR. DALIA RUSU-PERSIC, PH.D.

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ARTS „GEORGE ENESCU” YASSY

ABSTRACT: A musician known for his multilateral work as a violin teacher, composer, conductor, and music critic, Eduard Caudella remained in our consciousness through the gesture of spiritual nobility when meeting a genius child of only 5 years – George Enescu, who takes directed the steps towards the high hierarchy of the Viennese school, supporting him from the shadows in the artistic activities of over the years. Together with Gavriil Musicescu, Pietro and Enrico Mezzetti and others, Caudella imprints a dynamic breath creating a new stage of composition and a new stylistic trend in Romanian music. The lack of enthusiasm and trust of the officials for the musical life of Yassy, fortunately, did not minimize the momentum of the composers, who believed in the destinies of the local music, in its future, as we will try to prove in the current study.

KEYWORDS: 19TH CENTURY, HISTORICAL CONTEXT, YASSY, CAUDELLA

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The first half of the 19th century is the epoch in which the Romanian musical culture is established in a Western European spirit. After long and tyrannical domination of Eastern art, the first attempts in this regard are timid, but they reflect the need for artists to assimilate the Western culture and assert national specificity. The process took place in very difficult political conditions, because the Ottoman suzerainty, the Phanariot rulers, the Russian and Austrian occupations left their mark on the secular musical repertoire. The cultural mutation of the mid-nineteenth century can only be explained by considering a few phenomena that coexisted, resisting for a long time in the background. We refer first to the constant influence of Polish Catholicism (Pascu & Boțocan, 1997, p. 16)1 and the insertion of German Protestantism (Schola Latina de la Cotnari, 1563). To the same extent, the neighboring Russian culture became from the beginning of the XVIII century (1711 – the visit of Tsar Peter I to Yassy) the way of penetration of the cult European music. Another role is played by French and Italian emigrants settled in Yassy after 1800 (and as a result of the terror of the French Revolution), among them trained musicians, some becoming music teachers in the great boyar houses. Thus, in 1835, when „at the royal court of Mihai Sturza, everyone spoke French”, according to the mentioned source, the Mihăilean Academy was founded, the first higher education institution. At a general level, the importance of the geographical position of Yassy and its historical evolution in this spectacular assimilation of the European culture is recognized. Being located at the crossroads leading from West to East, Yassy was visited by countless musicians, theater, and opera troupes and its quality of capital during three centuries (1564-1862) favored economic and cultural growth, the formation of a class of enlightened boyars. Thus, in the first half of the 19th century, Yassy had a cultured society that valued music, already developing a concert life. The decisive influence is related to the successive periods of Russian administration2, the Russo-Turkish war of 1769-1774, bringing the first forms of Western life previously assimilated by the society of St. Petersburg. Under the next Russian occupation (1806-1812), in the high sphere of the Romanian society, the „worldly life” begins to manifest, the royal court and the great nobility adopting

1 „The Polish Catholic influence, through the Jesuit school, was beneficial for us preparing the appearance of the great chroniclers Grigore Ureche, Miron Costin, Ion Neculce, and through the emphasis on teaching, an elite of highly cultured people was formed in Yassy” 2 European Russian culture spread in Iasi society and due to several periods of Russian military rule: September 1769-January 1775; October 1788-March 1792; November 1806-May 1812; April 1828-April 1834, see https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lista_domnilor_Moldovei#Secolul_al_XVIII-lea

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium the way and forms of life from the western states. During the ceremonies offered by the Russian generals, balls, and dancing evenings, the taste of the high society is transformed, both in terms of clothing and manners, as well as regarding the reception of another type of dance or ambient music. During the reign of Mihail Sturdza (1834-1849), the worldly life of Yassy will be brilliant. To his residence in the Rosetti-Roznovanu Palace, where sumptuous balls were organized, are added the artistic salons opened by the great boyars of the time: Cantacuzino, Mavrocordat, Rosetti, Ghika, Catargi, Moruzzi, Mavrogheni, Callimachi, Balş, Conache, Pogor, and others. a. Salon music3, as a widespread practice in nineteenth-century European society, had special merits in promoting local performers, the salon being the scene of the first amateur instrumentalists (Ermiona Asachi, Smaranda Şaptesate, Eufrosina Lăţescu, for example) and future musicians professionals such as Alexandru Flechtenmacher, Gheorghe and Teodor T. Burada, Eduard Caudella and others. The genres of this compositional category can be associated with those practiced in European ballroom music, constituting dances (polkas, waltzes, minuets, gavottes, etc.), potpourri (dance and song suites), vocal miniatures (songs, romances, patriotic hymns).

EDUARD CAUDELLA – BRIEF PORTRAIT OF ACTIVITY

The most representative contributions in the field of composition in this historical stage of the development of Yassy music are due to Eduard Caudella. Together with Gavriil Musicescu, Pietro and Enrico Mezzetti, and others, Caudella imprints a dynamic breath creating a new stage of composition and a new stylistic trend in Romanian music. The lack of enthusiasm and trust of the officials for the musical life of Yassy, fortunately, did not minimize the momentum of the composers, who believe in the destinies of the local music, in its future. Although Eduard Caudella (1841-1924) was a versatile musician in performance, a violinist, but also a pianist with an exceptional technical basis, in terms of courses with great personalities from abroad (Henri Vieuxtemps, Hubert Riess, Delphin Allard) and with well-known artists in the house of his father, Francisc Serafim Caudella, the composer drew a piece of music inspired by folk singing, in which European stylistic elements intersect, as a result of his studies in Berlin, Frankfurt, and Paris. He starts by composing piano pieces, then diversifies his sphere of interest, reaching most musical genres, being attracted by vocal music, from songs, which are the basis of Romanian lied, to music for theater and opera, defining this genre. musical by the first Romanian opera - Opera Petru Rareș - 1889. Also, from chamber instrumental works to waltzes and orchestral potpourri, culminating with the National Overture of Moldova (1912), in which classical symphonic patterns can be glimpsed. In Eduard Caudella, positioned chronologically later as a period of composition compared to those mentioned above, the works are more elaborate, more mature in composition, with a special expressiveness in songs, in which European stylistic elements intersect. His collaboration with the National Theater should also be mentioned, as a conductor and orchestra arranger, many of these vaudeville arrangements being found in the collections of the Library of the „George Enescu” University of Arts in Yassy. I must also emphasize his side as a music critic, manifested in the chronicles published in the newspapers of the time towards the end of his life, as well as a supporter of cultural-musical events held in Yassy, but also other cities in the country. Another perspective of his personality is that of the director and conductor. In the period 18611901, Eduard Caudella is among the professors of the Conservatory of Yassy, an institution he will lead as director between 1893-1901. The musician's contribution to the rescue of the Yassy Conservatory from its dissolution in 1876 is well known, one of the measures being the initiation of chamber music matinees, in which the first instrumental bands were also established. Another measure he gradually developed was the organization of the Conservatory Orchestra (p. 33)4 so that in 1894 the first concert of the ensemble took place. Under his baton, accumulating increasingly advanced repertoires, the symphonic ensemble exceeds the level of annual school productions, holding symphonic concerts proper. The repertoire contained the works of the great European composers, but also creations of the representatives of the young national composition school. Of a particular peculiarity, however, remained in the consciousness of Romanians the gesture of spiritual nobility of Professor Eduard Caudella (1841-1924), when he met a child of genius only 5 years old, in 1886 (Cozmei, 2008, p. 34). Caudella overcame any individualistic, selfish, personal training pedagogical ambitions. In only two artistic meetings, the teacher from Yassy felt that he had to take the „revealing step” of pedagogical renunciation in the country, for the good of our musical history.

3 In-depth research of the author dedicated to the Salon Music in the article: Salon music in Nineteenth-Century Yassy, in „Musicology Today” no. 4/ 2019, cf.: http://www.musicologytoday.ro/40/studies5.php 4 According to the book section: 160 de ani de învățământ artistic modern la Iași, partea I, 1830-1950, coord. Aurelian Bălăiță, (Chapter Musical Arts, authors: Laura Vasiliu, Carmen Chelaru și Dalia Rusu-Persic), Iași, Editura Artes, 2020.

Vol . XX, 2021 Vol. XX, 2021 Gaining a thorough pedagogical experience for his time and especially for the culture of Yassy, he had the strength to give up the retention of the brilliant disciple and to guide the child and parents to Vienna, an European music center according to the demands of that mini artist's education.

THE CULTURAL-HISTORICAL DYNAMICS OF CAUDELLA'S COMPOSITIONS

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the problem of the stage of development of the composition was the constant concern of music magazines. The authors were dissatisfied with the dynamism of the development of sound art in our country, alarmed by the numerous causes that hindered the evolution of this art in Romanian society. The fact that from high words with a general patriotic substratum we reach problems of content, quality, and level fully demonstrates that we are in a higher phase. Bucharest in particular appears to be organically integrated into the international music network, with numerous exchanges of performers. In Yassy also, this exchange of performers was emancipated, especially in the field of the concert stage. Here the emancipation of the music-loving public and the appearance of a pleiad of local composers eager to impose the original professional creation intervene. These result in the intolerance of the qualitative deficiencies existing in the musical sphere and the adoption of a critical attitude that pleads for itself for the maturation of the artistic field. During the birth of the national musical theater, when Ioan Andrei Wachmann5 wrote the opera Braconierii, Ludovic Wiest composed the ballet Doamna de aur, George Stephănescu6 partially wrote the operas Brâncoveanu and Petra, and Mauriciu Cohen-Lânariu did his lyrical essays, the operas Mazeppa, În ajunul nunții and Insula florilor, less known, as well as Meșterul Manole, work in three acts on his libretto, Eduard Caudella focuses on the fundamental moments of the existence of the Romanian people with a general orientation towards national values, stated in the works Harță Răzeșul (1872) and Olteanca (1880) and demonstrates the influence of lied and romantic romance in the work Hatmanul Baltag (1884). The composer focuses the action on the feeling of love in Beizadea Epaminonda (1885), in which Zamfir and Zinca overcome all obstacles to be happy, outlines the conflict between peasants and boyars in the opera Fata Răzeșului (1872), using authentic folk quotes. The full synthesis of Eduard Caudella's achievements, the most important on the artistic level, is found in the historical drama on the national subject - the musical piece Petru Rareș, which will have a strong echo in posterity and through which the composer defines himself, acquiring his own identity. This work reflects the psychological specifics of the Romanian people, the semantic accents being placed on the struggle for existence, justice, and freedom. The opera benefited from a modern style for the time of its composition, which was reproached in the chronicles of the premiere. The patriotic message of the opera is played with force of conviction in the large mass scenes, in the songs that express the love of freedom of the people. The declamatory recitative, handled with compositional skill, binds the musical numbers and ensures the unity of the score. Diversity of forms used - ballad, dramatic monologue, aria, arioso, glass song; the role given to the vocal ensembles denotes the mastery of the compositional craft, of the means of expression specific to the genre. The elementary condition of the affirmation of Romanian professional music was the demonstration of its existence. The discouraging attitude of the officials played a decisive role in the process of creating original music. The interest in the opera Petru Rareș by Eduard Caudella, cataloged by current musicology as the first Romanian opera, was one of indifference, as mentioned by C.M. Cordoneanu, in 1900 (no. 19, November 15/28): „Petru Rareș, Romanian opera, with a national historical subject, this is indeed an artistic event of the greatest importance for our country. What pride it would have been for other nations, for such an event! But what indifference in our first social strata, because they did not even come out of curiosity to hear this work, for which no one would have forced them to applaud or get excited! Our elite went to the German operetta as if for them there was no Romanian opera” (Cosma O. L., 1976, p. 309). Along the same lines, it is demonstrated how, in an unworthy way, an attempt will be made to minimize Caudella's personality, without giving it due importance. The reflection in time, at the current level, regarding the „debut” of the composer7, only in 1900 (art. Petru Rareș, without author, in Timpul Journal, Bucharest, November 5), he was present in the chamber or stage repertoires since 1880: „Mr. Caudella makes his debut, but he makes his debut as a master. Where? In a country where the means and the environment for the formation of a composer are also missing... ” (Cosma O. L., 1976, p. 309). Although „he is a talented musician, both in performance and in his compositions, which are not without charm”, as Mihai Eminescu mentions in the article Romanian Theater and its repertoire, in

5 In 1835, Ioan Andrei Wachmann initiated music education in Bucharest School of Vocal and Instrumental Music. On the initiative of Ioan Andrei Wachmann and Ludovic Wiest, on December 17, 1851, the Bucharest Conservatory of Music was established, whose director was appointed. Between 1852 and 1858 he was director of the National Theater in Bucharest. 6 He was the initiator of opera performances in Romanian and the founder of three lyrical societies preceding the Romanian Opera. 7 Reference to the premiere of the Opera Petru Rareș, November 2, 1900.

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium Familia (18/30 January 1870), the interest was manifested by opposite attitudes, a kind of campaign to compromise the original works, which may have exceeded the audience segment formed by the lower society: „A national opera like Petru Rareș by Ed. Caudella, after repeated postponements, was systematically boycotted by the so-called «high society»” (Cosma O. L., 1976, p. 309). Musical life was not very demanding with the original compositions included in the repertoire and, hence an ambiance too unfavorable to the creative competition, the confrontation of creative ideas. There was no concern for quality, the composers not being supported by the musical institutions of that time nor by music criticism. Subsequent musicology perceived the musical creation of that time as being subject to the less evolved taste of the masses. For many, Romanian music was reduced to „pseudocompositions of music, light, quasi-folk, launched by music publishers. The gray of these pieces, the sentimental banality, the bad taste made to accredit the conception that this is our music, which, let's face it, compared to the universal compositions - works, symphonies - to which it was related, could not make a favorable impression” (Cosma O. L., 1976, p. 310). The authors of romances, waltzes, sârbe8 , doine9 and choruses „published in series by the publishers Gebauer et Comp.” were considered great composers (Cosma O. L., 1976, p. 310). Against this background, the magazines were acid in lawsuits, especially Musical Romania Magazine, which was recorded in 1898 (no. 11, June 1, 1898, pp. 97-98), the lack of originality of Caudella's works, in the context of promoting or not the works his: “Mr. Eduard Caudella, whom Adevărul mentions first, although as in the works we only know Petru Rareș - and this of course, from the Yassy newspapers […]. If she [Dsa]10 can occupy a place in the history of music in our country, he is the author - in collaboration with Otremba - of the Romanian comic opera: Olteanca, whose music is lacking in originality, being accommodated after all foreign operas and operettas. Dsa also worked on the music of the operettas Hatmanul Baltag and Beizadea Epaminonda, which were not successful and which Adevărul Magazine does not even hear mentioning - as about Olteanca - because it does not make the slightest mention” (Roșca, 1987, pp. 195-196). The taste of the public, of symphonic music lovers, of opera lovers, and chamber music was not effectively emancipated either, but often acted negatively on the local compositional preoccupations, from the opposite direction. Thus, if a composition reflected a more evolved musical language, closer to the contemporary Western, although it did not yet resort to Wagnerian chromaticism or Franckian symphony, but had certain reverberations identifiable in the creation of Schumann, Weber, Berlioz, Liszt from rhapsodies, he was considered too bold, too advanced: „In a disguised form, Caudella is reproached, for the music of Petru Rareș, that compared to the era in which the action takes place, music is too modern. In this way, the direct opinion is expressed about the style of the work in which modulations, diminished seventh chords, ninth chords, delays, etc. are encountered” (Cosma O. L., 1976, p. 311). Of course, the assimilation of classical forms, starting from choral musical genres to symphony and opera, as well as micro-structures starting from the phrase to the sonata form, was in the process of being recognized in the creations of the time, with more or fewer examples. punctual: in choral music the strophic form dominated, reaching as a genre the vocal-symphonic and operetta, in orchestral music the genre of the overture was outlined, with successive structures of moments, with motives treated developer, even pure symphony in the incipient form11 . The experience of conductor of the National Theater orchestra makes it appropriate and natural for Caudella to lean towards more complex forms of the lyrical genre, thus, after 1882 to 1898, he composed two works of romantic influence, the operas Dorman or Romanii şi Dacii, in which he uses the French Grand Opera model and opera Petru Rareș. Both are focused on the "national foundation of musical substance" (Cosma O. L., 1976, p. 519) while retaining the influence of European music. The historical past, perceived in a patriotic spirit, was the source of inspiration and their thematic substance. On the other hand, a voice present at the premiere of the opera Beizadea Epaminonda, from 1885, categorized the work as „dry music” (Maiorescu, p. 292). This remark was not one of a specialist, but of a man of letters – Titu Maiorescu, who looked at everything in the context indicated above, probably this work did not shine at all compared to the previous compositions signed by Caudella. The musicological perspective of the twentieth century already looks more relaxed and appreciates the consistency of the melodic substratum, of the composition technique, with appreciations, but also reservations about maintaining the title in the stage repertoire: „due to some emotional songs, their ingenious attire, the supple treatment of the voices (including the choir). [...] What is not capitalized

8 Romanian folk game with binary rhythm, which is danced in a semicircle formation, with arms on shoulders, with lively, fast development, in detour or on the spot, with jumped or crossed steps. 9 The doina is a specifically Romanian vocaland instrumental genre in which the unknown author expresses directly the feeling of longing, lament, alienation, revolt, sadness, love. It is inspired by the life of the Romanian people, reflecting the communion between man and nature, the attitude towards life and death, towards the passage of time. 10 Probably Mr. (himself, the use of the feminine is unitary throughout the article). 11 In 1869, George Stephănescu composed the first Romanian symphony.

Vol . XX, 2021 Vol. XX, 2021 on according to the motivation provided by the subject is the popular melody, which does not reach the proportions of the Laughter Girl. For this reason, the sound substance of the work, described by T. Maiorescu, laconic and without comments, as «dry music» cannot be appreciated without serious reservations” (Cosma O. L., 1976, pg. 490-491).

CONCLUSION

The taste of the public and the critics had changed. The second half of the nineteenth century opened the horizon of our intellectuals to the evolved forms of Western literature and music. The early comic genres were fading, and the inclination towards national music takes on other dimensions. The recognition of folklore as an intrinsic poetic-musical value generated a refreshment for the Romanian compositional environment. The problem of capitalizing the verse and the popular song in the cult creation was imposed, triggering a wide effervescence in the sphere of the principles of collection and transposition, which was decisive for the musical composition. The beginning is modest in our country, referring to the advanced state of taking over this fund in Western culture or by Russian composers. This new pulsation will reach maturity only in the first half of the twentieth century, through the national school of composition supported by George Enescu, the creator of the Romanian musical style of universal circulation; but the forerunner Eduard Caudella contributed substantially to the development of local heritage in the second half of the nineteenth century. His compositional preoccupations were oriented towards what the musician considered to be able to correspond so much to the “national specific” phrase: miniature for piano, pieces for voice and piano, concerto for violin and orchestra, piano quartet, opera with a historical subject. Everything that Eduard Caudella created fully illustrates the assiduous effort to consolidate a new style, which would emanate more strongly the Romanian specificity compared to what was used until then. There are small compositions, miniatures, and cycles of miniatures with different characters: occasional entertainment music, improvisations in which stylized folk intonations appear, larger programmatic works, transcriptions of his orchestral creations, a convincing ensemble regarding the Romanian composer's attempt to overcome the limits of the epoch, in the longing for what had not yet been defined, namely, the right genre for Romanian music to “have a voice” in an international context, to shape its own identity; an identity that today, after 180 years from its birth, perhaps would not have the same substance, the same qualitative and quantitative compositional values, would not have had an Enescu of the size we know.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

***. (n.d.). Lista domnilor Moldovei Secolul al XVIII-lea. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lista_domnilor_Moldovei#Secolul_al_XVIII-lea Cosma, O. L. (1976). Hronicul muzicii românești, vol. IV: Romantismul (1859-1898). Bucharest: Editura Muzicală. Cosma, V. (1989.). Muzicieni din România: Lexicon biobibliografic (Vols. I (A-C)). Bucharest: Editura Muzicală. Cozmei, M. (2008). George Enescu în viața muzicală a Iașului. Yassy: Editura Artes. Laura Vasiliu, Carmen Chelaru, Dalia Rusu-Persic. (2020). Arte muzicale. In ***, & c. A. Bălăiță (Ed.), 160 de ani de învățământ artistic modern la Iași, partea I, 1830-1950 (p. 33). Yassy: Editura Artes. Maiorescu, T. (***). Însemnările anului 1885. Însemnări zilnice (Vol. II). Bucharest: Editura Librăriei Socec & Co. Pascu, G., & Boțocan, M. (1997). The Chronicle of Iași Music. Yassy: Nőel Publishing House. Roșca, I. I. (1987). De prin Bucuresci: Muzica la sfârșit și început de secol 1882-1904. Bucharest: Editura Muzicală. Studii. (2019). Retrieved from Musicology Today: http://www.musicologytoday.ro/40/studies5.php.