Ion Nonna Otescu (15 December 1888 – 25 March 1940) was a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n composer and head of the Bucharest Conservatory (now the National University of Music) from 1918 until 1940. He was born in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

and died there at the age of 51, having played an influential role in the musical life of his native country.

Life and career

Otescu was born in

and studied at the Conservatory there from 1903 to 1907 under

Dumitru Georgescu-Kiriac Dumitru Georgescu Kiriac (18 March 1866 – 8 January 1928) was a Romanian composer, conductor, and ethnomusicologist. He was particularly known for his sacred choral works and art songs which were based on the Romanian Orthodox tradition and Ro ...

and Alfonso Castaldi (1874–1942). He then went to Paris where he stayed until 1911 studying at the

Schola Cantorum de Paris The Schola Cantorum de Paris ( being ) is a private conservatory in Paris. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Bordes, Alexandre Guilmant and Vincent d'Indy as a counterbalance to the Paris Conservatoire's emphasis on opera. History The Schola ...

with

Vincent d'Indy Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the Pa ...

and at the

Paris Conservatory The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

with

Charles-Marie Widor Charles-Marie-Jean-Albert Widor (21 February 1844 – 12 March 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher of the late Romantic era. As a composer he is known for his ten organ symphonies, especially the toccata of his fifth organ sympho ...

. He began teaching at the Bucharest Conservatory in 1913, and in 1918 he became its head, a position he held until his death in 1940. Otescu played an active role in the musical life of Romania and was instrumental in the founding of the (the precursor of the Romanian National Opera), the Romanian Composers Society, and the music journal ''Muzika''.Randel, Don M. (1996)
"Otescu, Ion Nonna"
''The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music'', p. 657. Harvard University Press In 1913 he won the George Enescu Prize and in 1928 the Romanian National Prize for composition. His works were predominantly dramatic in nature: operas, ballets, and

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ( ...

s. However, he also composed

art song An art song is a Western world, Western vocal music Musical composition, composition, usually written for one voice with piano accompaniment, and usually in the classical music, classical art music tradition. By extension, the term "art song" is ...

s and

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

. Like his pupil

Tudor Ciortea Tudor Ciortea (28 November 1903 – 13 October 1982) was a Romanian composer, musicologist, and music educator. Life and career Ciortea was born in Brașov and began his music studies under in Cluj. He went on to study at the Bucharest Conservato ...

, Otescu's music was strongly influenced by the French compositional style of the time and by Romanian folk music traditions.

Slonimsky, Nicolas Nicolas Slonimsky ( – December 25, 1995), born Nikolai Leonidovich Slonimskiy (), was a Russian-born American musicologist, conductor, pianist, and composer. Best known for his writing and musical reference work, he wrote the ''Thesaurus ...

(1965)
"Modern Composition in Rumania"
p.240. ''

The Musical Quarterly ''The Musical Quarterly'' is the oldest academic journal on music in America. Originally established in 1915 by Oscar Sonneck, the journal was edited by Sonneck until his death in 1928. Sonneck was succeeded by a number of editors, including C ...

'', Vol. 51, No. 1. Retrieved 25 April 2013 .

Principal works

Stage * '' Bubi'', musical comedy (1903) * ''Ileana Cosânzeana'', ballet based on the mythical princess

Ileana Cosânzeana Ileana Cosânzeana is a figure in Folklore of Romania, Romanian mythology. She is represented as a beautiful and good-natured princess or daughter of an Emperor,Queen Marie of Romania Marie (born Princess Marie Alexandra Victoria of Edinburgh; 29 October 1875 – 18 July 1938) was the last queen of Romania from 10 October 1914 to 20 July 1927 as the wife of King Ferdinand I. Marie was born into the British royal fa ...

(1918) * ''Rubinul Miraculos'' (The Miraculous Ruby), ballet (1919) * ''Ilderim'', opera to a libretto by

Victor Eftimiu Victor Eftimiu (; 24 January 1889 – 27 November 1972) was a Romanian poet and playwright. He was a contributor to ''Sburătorul'', a Romanian literary magazine. His works have been performed in the State Jewish Theater of Romania. Eftimi ...

(1920) * ''De la Matei Cetire'',

opera buffa Opera buffa (, "comic opera"; : ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramma bernesc ...

based on

Matei Basarab Matei Basarab (; 1588, Brâncoveni, Olt – 9 April 1654, Bucharest) was the voivode (prince) of Wallachia from 1632 to 1654. Reign Much of Matei's reign was spent fighting off incursions from Moldavia, which he successfully accomplished in 1 ...

(composed between 1926–38). It premiered posthumously in

Cluj Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

on 27 December 1966, completed and revised by

Aurel Stroe Aurel Stroe (5 May 1932, in Bucharest – 3 October 2008, in Mannheim) was a Romanian composer, philosopher and linguist. In 2002 he was awarded the Herder Prize from the University of Vienna; and in 2006 he was awarded the Promaetheus Prize by the ...

. Orchestral * ''La Légende de la Rose Rouge'' (The Legend of the Red Rose), symphonic poem (1910)''

Enciclopedia Italiana Institute Giovanni Treccani for the publication of the Italian Encyclopedia (), also known as Treccani Institute or simply Treccani, is a cultural institution of national interest, active in the publishing field, founded by Giovanni Treccani ...

''
"Otescu, Jon Nonna"
Treccani. Online version retrieved 25 April 2013 * ''Narcisse'', ( Narcissus), symphonic poem (1912) * ''Din Bătrâni'' (From the Past), symphonic sketch (1913) * ''Le Temple de Gnide'' (The Temple of

Cnidus Knidos or Cnidus (; , , , Knídos) was a Ancient Greece, Greek city in ancient Caria and part of the Dorian Hexapolis, in south-western Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. It was situated on the Datça peninsula, which forms the southern side of the ...

), symphonic poem (1914) * ''Impresiuni de Iarnã'' (Impressions of Winter), symphonic tableau (1914) * ''Vrãjile Armidei'' (The Enchantments of

Armida Armida is the fictional character of a Saracen sorceress, created by the Italian late Renaissance poet Torquato Tasso. Description In Tasso's epic '' Jerusalem Delivered'' (), Rinaldo is a fierce and determined warrior who is also honorabl ...

), symphonic poem for violin and orchestra (1922)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Otescu, Nonna 1888 births 1940 deaths Musicians from Bucharest Academic staff of the National University of Music Bucharest National University of Music Bucharest alumni Schola Cantorum de Paris alumni Conservatoire de Paris alumni Pupils of Vincent d'Indy Pupils of Charles-Marie Widor Romanian male classical composers 20th-century Romanian classical composers Romanian opera composers Ballet composers Enescu Prize winners 20th-century Romanian male musicians