Ștefan Neaga (russian: Степан Тимофеевич Няга; – 30 May 1951) was a Moldovan and Soviet composer. He was the son of the Moldovan "Lautar" folk musician Timofei Neaga.

Biography

From an early age he was a pianist in his father's orchestra. At the age of 18, he graduated with high distinction the School of Music in Chișinău in the class of piano of the prominent teacher and pianist from

Odesa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrati ...

Iuliu Guz. By that time he met the Romanian virtuoso Grigoraș Dinicu who invited him in his ensemble as a concert pianist, accompagnateur and arranger. In 1920 he entered the class of piano at the

National University of Music Bucharest The National University of Music Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea Naţională de Muzică București, UNMB) is a university-level school of music located in Bucharest, Romania. Established as a school of music in 1863 and reorganized as an academy in ...

. He did not finish his course in composition due to his concert tours as a virtuoso pianist whose repertoire included works of

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wor ...

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, Ravel, R. Strauss, etc. In 1926 he entered again the Academy of Music, Theater and Fine arts in the class of composition of Dimitrie Cuclin. There he was absorbed by the enthusiasm of composing, and, after graduating the Academy (in 1931), he decided to go to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

where he met again Grigoraș Dinicu. There he was advised to enter

École Normale de Musique de Paris The École Normale de Musique de Paris "Alfred Cortot" (ENMP) is a leading conservatoire located in Paris, Île-de-France, France. At the time of the school's foundation in 1919 by Auguste Mangeot, Alfred Cortot. The term ''école normale'' (Eng ...

in the class of composition of

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. From a ...

, piano - with Alfred Cortot, and conducting - with Charles Munch.

Awards

Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...

(1950) *

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration ...

Honored Worker of the Moldavian SSR

Legacy

The Chișinău College of Music (which has a monument in his honor) is named for him. In 1952, a street was named after him in the

Sectorul Buiucani Sectorul Buiucani is one of the five sectors in Chişinău, the capital of Moldova, and the most affluent. The local administration is managed by a pretor appointed by the city administration. It governs over a portion of the city of Chişinău i ...

of the capital. His son Gheorghe was also a composer. The following is a list of his more famous works: *

Anthem of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic The State Anthem of the Moldavian SSR, Moldovan Cyrillic: Имнул де Стат ал РСС Молдовенешть; russian: Гимн Молдавской ССР, Gimn Moldavskoj SSR was the regional anthem of the Moldavian Soviet Socia ...

(1945) * Stefan cel Mare (1945) * Bessarabians (1947) *Jubilee Cantata (1949) *The Song of Revival (1951) In regards to the melody for the MSSR anthem, Neaga said that he wanted to represent with his work "the creativity and love of Great Stalin, the certainty of the victory of

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

, and his desire to give all his forces in this unique case" and that he wanted to "create the symbol of these historic victories, in which the

Moldovan people Moldovans, sometimes referred to as Moldavians ( ro, moldoveni , Moldovan Cyrillic: молдовень), are a Romance-speaking ethnic group and the largest ethnic group of the Republic of Moldova (75.1% of the population as of 2014) and a sign ...

regained their freedom."MS 1945

References

1900 births 1951 deaths Musicians from Chișinău Moldovan composers Male composers 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century composers National anthem writers Romanian people of Moldovan descent {{moldova-composer-stub