CONSTANTIN SILVESTRI'S COMPOSITIONAL ACTIVITY. GENERAL AND STYLISTIC CONSIDERATIONS
CONSTANTIN SILVESTRI'S COMPOSITIONAL ACTIVITY. GENERAL AND STYLISTIC CONSIDERATIONS

Summary/Abstract: Silvestri belongs to the post-Enescian generation of composers. His creative activity unfolded only until 1953 and his musical output includes a relatively small number of works: piano pieces, lieder, chamber music and symphonic music. Silvestri's compositional output is in tune with the main European stylistic trends that fuelled the development of the Romanian art of composition in the first half of the twentieth century. He absorbed and synthesized, in his own personal way, the influences of late German Romanticism and of its modern offsprings (expressionism, atonalism), of Stravinsky's Russian and neoclassical periods, as well as aspects of Bartók's folklorism. Apparently, his music seems to follow the path of Stravinsky and Bartók. In reality, though, it is a synthesis of Enescu and Bartók. These influences generate a specific musical language that characterizes Silvestri's entire oeuvre, confirming his place in the avant-garde of the Romanian contemporary musical scene. This paper proposes a foray into the universe of Silvestri's oeuvre, structured on vocal and instrumental categories. It is intended as a general survey providing information on the existence and structure of the works, the date of their composition and first performance, but also of the locations of the scores and/or of other existing materials. The information provided herein is supported by testimonies of personalities who came into contact with Silvestri's music and/or personality, musical reviews and critical excerpts from the press of the time. Added to these are considerations on Silvestri's compositional style, with particular emphasis on the characteristic features of his piano writing, which was an important chapter in the context of the Romanian contemporary musical culture. The paper also includes an Appendix that lists Constantin Silvestri's works in the form of a catalogue compiled on the basis of the information available to date.

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