Tudor Ciortea (28 November 1903 – 13 October 1982) 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, musicologist, and music educator.

Life and career

Ciortea was born in

Brașov Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County. According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...

and began his music studies under 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 ( ...

. He went on to study at the Bucharest Conservatory (now the National University of Music) under Ion Nonna Otescu and in Paris under

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

and

Paul Dukas Paul Abraham Dukas ( 1 October 1865 – 17 May 1935) was a French composer, critic, scholar and teacher. A studious man of retiring personality, he was intensely self-critical, having abandoned and destroyed many of his compositions. His best-k ...

. He lived most of his life 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 ...

where he taught for over thirty years at the Bucharest Conservatory.Sadie, Julie Anne (2005)
''Calling on the Composer: A Guide to European Composer Houses and Museums''
p. 150.

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

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 . Amongst his students there were the composers

Liana Alexandra Liana Alexandra Septefrati (born Liana Moraru; 27 May 1947 – 10 January 2011) was a Romanian composer, pianist, and music educator. Biography Alexandra was born in Bucharest, Romania, on 27 May 1947. From 1965 to 1971, she studied at th ...

, Irina Odagescu, Maya Badian, and Carmen Petra Basacopol. His compositions concentrated on

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 ...

and

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 ...

and were influenced by the French chamber music tradition and the traditional folksongs of

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

. According to Nicolas Slonimsky, Ciortea's best chamber music was remarkable for its "contrapuntal complexity." In 1964, Ciortea won the " George Enescu Prize" of the Romanian Academy for his octet ''Din isprăvile lui Păcală'' (Some of

Păcală Păcală (Romanian language, Romanian, from ''a păcăli'', "to dupe";Victor Crăciun, "Pe urmele unui personaj. Păcală", in ''Ateneu'', Vol. IV, Issue 5, May 1967, p. 8 Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: Пъкалъ; sometimes rende ...

's Exploits). He was awarded in 1971 the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic, 3rd class, The Tudor Ciortea Memorial House in Brașov contains some of his personal effects and instruments as well as a portrait of his wife, the dancer and choreographer . The music school, Liceul de Muzică "Tudor Ciortea", in Brașov is named in his honour, as is the city's annual chamber music festival.Liceul de Muzică "Tudor Ciortea"
''Istoric"
Retrieved 25 April 2013 A street in Cluj-Napoca also bears his name.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ciortea, Tudor 1903 births 1982 deaths Musicians from Brașov Romanian male classical composers 20th-century Romanian classical composers 20th-century Romanian male musicians National University of Music Bucharest alumni Academic staff of the National University of Music Bucharest Enescu Prize winners Recipients of the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic