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Enescu performs Enescu: Glissandi in the Sonata op. 25 'dans le caractere

populaire Roumain'

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 R.A. Trillo: Enescu Performs Enescu: Glissandi in the Sonata IRASM 49 (2018) 1: 115-135
op. 25 ‘dans le caractère populaire roumain’

Roberto Alonso Trillo

University of Houston
Moores School of Music
3333 Cullen Blvd #120,
Enescu Performs Enescu: HOUSTON, TX 77004

Glissandi in the Sonata

U.S.A.
Email: [email protected]
op. 25 ‘dans le caractère UDC: 78.091 ENESCU, G.

populaire roumain’ Original Scholarly Paper

Izvorni znanstveni rad
Received: March 26, 2017
Primljeno: 26. ožujka 2017.
Accepted: March 12, 2018
Prihvaćeno: 12. ožujka 2018.

Abstract - Résumé
Performers and scholars regard
G. Enescu’s Sonata op. 25 for
Introduction violin and piano »dans le
caractère populaire roumain«
as one of the composer’s most
Performers and scholars regard George Enescu’s important works. Previous
Sonata op. 25 for violin and piano ‘dans le caractère research has explored the
history, the musical form, and
populaire roumain’ as one of the composer’s most the style of the Sonata from
important works. Previous research has explored diverse perspectives. From a
performative approach, the
the history, the musical form, and the style of the extensive use of different types
of glissandi is one of the most
Sonata from diverse perspectives. Enescu intro- salient elements that strikes the
duced a level of notational complexity and richness contemporary violin player
when facing this work. This
unprecedented at the time of its publication in 1926.1 aspect introduces in Enescu’s
meta-folkloric idiom a charac-
teristic trait of the Romanian
lăutar style(s) of violin playing.
1 However, the varied expressive
Hoffman quotes Yehudi Menuhin’s assertion that Enescu’s use of glissandi has become a
Sonata was ‘the greatest achievement of musical notation’ that he secondary element within
had ever known; see Alfred HOFFMAN, The Present State of contemporary schools and
Research Regarding the Life of George Enescu, Studii de muzicolo- violin playing styles. The author
takes Enescu’s own 1943 and
gie, 4 (1968), 343. Further analyses of Enescu’s notational practice 1949 recordings of the Sonata
are introduced by Alina Nuancef (2014) and Marcel Frandeş as enacted musical statements
(2002). See Alina NUANCEF, Semiography and Its Significance in of the composer’s intentions to
Improptu Concertant for Violin and Piano, by George Enescu, analyze the Romanian’s playing
and articulate a theory of his
Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov, 7, no.2 (2014), 79-84; expressive use of glissando.
and Marcel FRANDEŞ, George Enescu – Semiografie şi semnificaţie Keywords: George Enescu •
în creaţia pentru vioară [George Enescu – Semiography and its Sonata no. 3 Op. 25 »dans le
caractère populaire roumain«
Significance in his Works for Violin] (Bucharest: Luceafărul • violin glissando technique •
Foundation, 2002). Romanian music • lăutar style

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IRASM 49 (2018) 1: 115-135
op. 25 ‘dans le caractère populaire roumain’

The Sonata exemplifies as well the composer’s ability to create a unique musical
language that recreates Romanian caractère but avoids any direct quotation of folk
material. This approach, linked to the Mioritic dimension of Enescu’s composi-
tional aesthetics, distills Romanian popular music into a non-referential ‘super-
folklore’ or meta-folklore.2 Such folkloric ease remains rigorously articulated
within traditional formal structures yet it manages to sing ‘the dreams and
sorrows of an entire nation’.3 Furthermore, the idiomatic and notational complexity
demonstrates the exceptional command that the composer had of both instru-
ments; he interpreted and recorded the work on the violin and the piano indis-
tinctly throughout his late performance career.4
The extensive use of different types of glissandi strikes the contemporary
violin player when facing this work. This aspect introduces in Enescu’s meta-
folkloric idiom a characteristic trait of the Romanian lăutar style(s) of violin
playing.5 However, whilst the varied expressive use of glissandi was a common
feature on the violin schools from the early twentieth century it has become a
secondary, if not fully ignored element, within contemporary schools and violin
playing styles.6 This historical shift grounds my analytical approach. I take Enes-
cu’s own 1943 and 1949 recordings of the Sonata as enacted musical statements of

2
The Romanian term mioritic is related to the ballad of Miorița, one of the most important pieces
of Romanian folklore, and refers to any representation of the Romanian spiritual universe. The term
‘super-folklore’ is introduced by Pascal Bentiou in: Pascal BENTOIU, Masterworks of George Enescu: a
Detailed Analysis (Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2010), 286. It is also considered in: George
BĂLAN, George Enescu: Mesajul-Estetica [George Enescu: Message-Aesthetics] (Bucharest: Editura
Muzicală, 1962), 245-54; and Stanislas RENARD, The Contribution of the Lăutari to the Composition of
George Enescu: Quotation and Assimilation of the Doina (DMA diss., University of Connecticut, 2012), 43-
75.
3
P. BENTOIU, Masterworks of …, 287. Enlightening formal analyses of Enescu’s op. 25 have been
introduced by Bentoiu (2010), Helen Katharine Ayres (2007), Maria Zlateva Zlateva (2003), and Marka
Gustavsson (2005). See P. BENTOIU, Masterworks of…, 286-306; Katherine Helen AYRES, George Enes-
cu. The complete Musician: a Study of Violin Virtuosity in Enescu’s Third Sonata for Violin and Piano (D.M.A.
diss., University of Melbourne, 2007), 35-64; Maria ZLATEVA ZLATEVA, Romanian Folkloric Influences
on George Enescu’s Artistic and Musical Development as Exemplified by His Third Violin Sonata (D.M.A.
diss., The University of Texas at Austin, May 2003), 30-51; and Marka GUSTAVSSON, Compositional
Idiom in Two of the Late Violin and Piano Works of Georges Enescu (Ph.D. diss., University of New York,
2005), 47-80.
4
A complete list of Enescu’s performances of his Sonata op. 25, including dates and locations,
can be found in: Lynette C. RITZ, The Three Violin Sonatas of George Enesco (D.M.A. diss., University of
Kentucky, 1991), 176-79.
5
The historical significance, interpretative style and Enescu’s relationship with the lăutar tradi-
tions is analyzed by Liliana Apostu in: Liliana Isabela APOSTU, La violonistique populaire roumaine dans
les œuvres de Béla Bartók et de George Enescu (Paris: Harmattan, 2014), 77-106. A terminological clarifica-
tion must be made at this point: the Romanian term lăutar will be employed both as a singular noun
and as an adjective; the term lăutari will be used as a plural noun; and the term lăutărească will be in-
troduced as an adjective to refer to the music of the lăutari (muzica lăutărească).
6
All violin schools from the 1960s rejected the use of portamento in what Aaron Rosand refers to
as ‘The Inquisition’ period. See Aaron ROSAND, Aaron Rosand on Portamento, Aaron Rosand’s blog on

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op. 25 ‘dans le caractère populaire roumain’

the composer’s intentions to analyze the Romanian’s playing and articulate a

theory of his expressive use of glissando, making an original contribution to an
essentially overlooked aspect of the studii Enesciane.7
My discussion opens with a historical and musicological introduction to
Enescu’s Sonata op. 25, which provides a necessary referential framework for the
remainder of the document. In the first section I describe key aspects of the lăutar
violin glissando technique before I move on to present those methodological
considerations that articulate the analytical scheme employed throughout. I take
previous literature as a point of departure to explore terminological issues and to
introduce a selection of core theoretical elements that are used as the basis for the
model of glissando classification.8 All the glissandi in Enescu’s recordings are then
identified and subjected to a comparative analysis, reaching a first conclusion
with regards to the nature and variety of Enescu’s own approach. I subsequently
contrast this data with those elements of the lăutar style considered earlier and
explore Enescu’s recreation of the Romanian caractère. I argue that Enescu’s use of
expressive glissandi helps us understand the Sonata’s idiomatic features. More-
over, this article furthers the present state of scholarship on the Romanian
composer and introduces a model of glissando classification that works as a newly
opened path and springboard for future research.

‘Caractère populaire roumain’ in Enescu’s Sonata op. 25

George Enescu’s Sonata op. 25 plays a crucial role in the composer’s catalogue.
The Romanian never »returned to the musical typology so superlatively accom-
plished in 1926,« a year that traced an equidistant chronological line between the
composition of his op.1, the Romanian Poem, and that of his last work, the Chamber
Symphony op. 33.9 The third Sonata for violin and piano introduced a novel
approach to the use of folk material that rejected the direct employment of
complex musical development techniques on simple folk tunes. Instead, Enescu

The Strad Magazine, February 12, 2014. Accessed January 8, 2017. http://www.thestrad.com/cpt-latests/
aaron-rosand-on-portamento/
7
Enescu recorded the Sonata with Dinu Lipatti in 1943 and with Célliny Richez-Chaillez in 1949.
See George Enescu, Sonata for violin & piano No. 3 in A minor, Op. 25 (Enescu/Lipatti), Philips 426100,
2008, Compact disc, and George Enescu, Sonata for Violin and Piano no. 3 in A minor, Op. 25, (Enescu/
Chailley-Richez), Opus Kura 2086, 2010, Compact disc.
8
I will consider a selection of significant violin treatises that deal with the nature and use of
glissando, including those by Carl Flesch (1966), Abram Illich Yampolsky (1967), and Ivan Galamian
(1962). See Carl FLESCH and Boris SCHWARZ, Violin Fingering: Its Theory and Practice (New York:
Dover Publications, 1966); Abram Illich YAMPOLSKY, The Principles of Violin Fingering (London:
Oxford University Press, 1967); and Ivan GALAMIAN, Principles of Violin Playing and Teaching (Ann
Arbor, Michigan: Shar Products Company, 1985).
9
P. BENTOUI, Masterworks of …, 287.

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op. 25 ‘dans le caractère populaire roumain’

created a folk language that is, in essence, a meticulously distilled invention. By

avoiding direct quotation the composer managed to represent Romanian folk
music through a personal, newly created idiom, in what Pascal Bentoui defines as
‘super-folklore.’10 The ensuing exploration of Enescu’s idiomatic recreation will
help us understand the nature, significance and the rationale that grounds the use
of expressive glissando in the Sonata op. 25.
Enescu refers to character instead of style when explaining the nature of his
idiomatic approach on this period. The work’s subtitle »dans le caractère populaire
roumain,« acquires from this perspective a new transcendence. The composer
writes, regarding his unfinished Caprice for violin and orchestra,11 a work connected
to the Sonata op. 25 that epitomized as well his use of folk material at the time:

[I am] writing the equivalent of a dialogue between the playing of a gypsy lautar (sic)
and the accompaniment of this band. I’m writing in the character of folk-music. I
don’t use the word ‘style’ because that implies something made or artificial, whereas
‘character’ suggests something given, existing from the beginning. You should
emphasize that the use of folk material doesn’t in itself ensure an authentic realization
of folk character: it contributes to it, circumstantially, when it is done with the spirit
of the people.12

Even if Enescu’s music moved in a dynamic balance between German, French

and indigenous influences, his personal idio-style established in this sonata,
through the treatment of the musical material in a ‘manner that [was] entirely sui
generis’, a new ‘Romanian sound world’.13 This article explores the impact that the
idea of a ‘caractère populaire roumain’ had on the composer’s writing and how
that imprint, exemplified by the depiction of elements typical of the lăutar tradi-
tion explored in the forthcoming section, determined the glissando technique(s)
delineated on this work.

The Lăutar Tradition, an Analytical Framework

I introduce here a brief consideration of Enescu’s relationship with the muzica

lăutărească as a referential framework that will be used to explore, in the ensuing

10
Ibid., 286.
11
The composer might have started the composition of the Caprice in 1925, a year before he com-
posed the Sonata. See Noel MALCOLM, George Enescu: His Life and Music, London: Toccata Press,
1999, 184.
12
Enescu in: Aurel BROTEANU, De vorbă cu George Enescu despre muzica românească,
Propăsirea, 2, no. 75 (17 December 1928), 2.
13
Jim SAMSON, Placing Genius: The Case of George Enescu (Trondheim: Norwegian University of
Science and Technology, 2006), 7.

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op. 25 ‘dans le caractère populaire roumain’

analyses, the nature of the composer’s recreation and his use of glissandi. Three
critical elements have historically differentiated, according to Liliana-Isabela
Apostu, the lăutar style from Romanian peasantry music: »the spirit of improvisa-
tion, the contrast of shades and accents and an often exaggerated lyricism.«14
Moreover, the combination of its improvisatory nature, significant alien influ-
ences and the professionalization of the lăutar craft have had a clear impact on the
nature and development of the Romani tradition.15 Apostu connects Enescu’s first
contact with the lăutari and his first impression of the lăutar style to the compos-
er’s rural upbringing in the small Moldavian town of Botoşani. Viorel Cosma goes
even further to hypothesize that Enescu’s first violin teacher, when he was only
four years old, was a lăutar named Lae Chioru.16 This early contact with rural
lăutari was soon to be reinforced by his acquaintance, after he moved to study in
Vienna in 1888, with internationally acclaimed Romani musicians.17 Even if
Enescu, following Bartók, repudiated some elements of the urban-salon lăutar
style, he always distinguished their music from that of the rural Tarafs that influ-
enced his writing and playing.18 In 1928, he already admitted that he had »derived
a great deal from the music of the lăutari.«19 On his interviews with Bernard
Gavoty in 1951 the Romanian further stressed this point, arguing that

the interpretative talent of the gypsies is not to be reduced to the village’s fiddler,
accompanied by the cozba. In short, the innovativeness of the gypsies are (sic) not
negligible. I would even add that some of them have had serious training and that
they became world-class musicians, keen to their art and traditions . . . this extremely
musical tribe does not deserve the disdain the connoisseurs are expressing at their
regard.20

14
Liliana-Isabela APOSTU, La violonistique populaire roumaine dans les œuvres de Béla Bartók et de
George Enescu (Paris: Harmattan, 2014), 97.
15
A. A. Lloyd traces the history of the doina, type of lyrical recitative on which Enescu based the
first movement of the Sonata, to Ukraine and Persia and asserts that »nowadays we know that, in fact,
doina-style melodies extend all the way from Albania to Tibet and Cambodia, and perhaps even
further.« See A. A. LLOYD, The Music of Romanian Gypsies, Proceedings of the Royal Musical Associa-
tion, 90th Session (1963-1964), 18.
16
Viorel COSMA, Date noi cuprivire la familia lui George Enescu, Studii di muzicologie (1957),
19-48.
17
Examples being violinists Grigoraș Dinicu, Nicolae Buică and Cristache Ciolac, and the
zymbalist Lică Ștefănescu.
18
A Taraf is an ensemble of lăutari musicians that might comprise a varying number of tradi-
tional and western classical instruments, including the violin, clarinet, cozba (lute), tambal (cimbalom),
drums, accordion and double bass. See Octavian COSMA, et al., Romania, in: Grove Music Online.
Oxford Music Online, Oxford University Press, accessed April 14, 2016, available from http://www.
oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/23736.
19
Georges ENESCU, Ce ne-a spus Maestrul Enescu, Revista muzicala 1, no. 1, 9.
20
G. ENESCU, The Souvenirs of George Enescu: Conversations with Bernard Gavoty, 1952 (Pella,
Iowa: Town Crier Ltd., 2005), 34.

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op. 25 ‘dans le caractère populaire roumain’

Liliana Apostu’s book21 La violonistique populaire roumaine dans les œuvres de

Béla Bartók et de George Enescu undertakes a detailed analysis of Enescu’s means of
adoption of the lăutari’s ’geste violinistique populaire’. My current argument will
focus instead on a consideration of the lăutari’s characteristic use of glissando that
might enlighten our understanding of Enescu’s own performing style. Expressive
chromatic glissando plays a central role in the lăutari’s violin technique. Apostu’s
work introduces and examines two key types but it simplifies the matter by over-
looking an endless number of further variations. The first type is a shaking vibrato,
implied in Enescu’s op. 25 by the combined use of a standard notated glissando
and a piangendo marking (see example 1.1). The second type is what Apostu terms
as coup de doigts, a glissando between two neighboring pitches that could be
termed as a same-finger slide (see example 1.2). Enescu provides extremely de-
tailed fingerings on the Sonata op. 25. Most coup de doigts are indicated by the use
of recurring fingerings on two consecutive notes, as shown by the ensuing use of
first and second finger in example 1.2. This article aims to expand Apostu’s analy-
sis, since it fails to engage on an examination of Enescu’s own performing tech-
nique and idiomatic writing as meta-folk recreations.22

Example 1.1. Enescu, Sonata op. 25, movt. I, mm. 51-52

Example 1.2. Enescu, Sonata op. 25, movt. I, mm. 3-6

Brief references to the lăutari’s glissando technique and Enescu’s recreation

can be found in other studies on the composer. Lynette C. Ritz’s work provides an
example of a valuable examination of the performative dimension of the Sonata.
Her focus differs from, and complements Apostu’s in that it explores fingering
flexibility, glissando variability, and the addition of non-notated glissandi as a
means to replicate the intricacies of the lăutar technique.23 The text does not offer

21
See S. RENARD, The Contribution of the Lăutari..., 43.
22
Apostu’s text ignores as well the fact that the lăutar tradition is not fully unified and presents
geographical variables within and outside the borders of present-day Romania
23
Lynette C. RITZ, The Three Violin Sonatas …, 153-61.

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op. 25 ‘dans le caractère populaire roumain’

a direct consideration of Enescu’s playing though, mentioning the extensive use

of portamento and making some reflections that connect it to the work of Deme-
trius Constantine Dounis, but remaining scattered and unsystematic on its
descriptive approach. The expansion of Apostu’s and Ritz’s work undertaken on
this paper aims to showcase how Enescu’s performance and notational choices in
his Sonata op. 25 can be linked, through the notion of a ‘caractère populaire
roumain’, to the lăutar tradition. The following section introduces some method-
ological considerations that examine previous research. It also proposes a
preliminary tabulating model before it moves on to consider Enescu’s own
employment of expressive glissandi in his own 1943 and 1949 recordings of the piece.

Methodological Considerations

Previous Research and Terminological Issues

The glissando/portamento terminological dualism permeates the analysis of

shifting and expressive sliding introduced in a number of key twentieth-century
treatises that represent the dominant performance practices during Enescu’s life-
time.24 These treatises examine a single technical dimension of glissandi: fingering
(see Table 1, p. 122).25 Ivan Galamian’s analytical proposal distinguishes between
four different shift-fingering patterns: same finger glissando; sliding with the ini-
tiating note or undersliding; sliding with the note of arrival or oversliding; and a
finger transfer that combines under and oversliding. Abram Illich Yampolsky
mentions the first three types of portamento, obviating the fourth, and makes a

24
The dominant view articulated by Carl Flesch and Abram Yampolsky differentiates between
glissando as ‘a technical device’ and portamento as ‘a means of expression’. See C. FLESCH and B.
SCHWARZ, Violin Fingering: Its Theory and Practice (New York: Dover Publications, 1966), 101; see also
A. I. YAMPOLSKY, The Principles of Violin Fingering (London: Oxford University Press, 1967), 120.
However, my approach will follow the alternative standpoint introduced by Ivan Galamian, who
makes a distinction between shifting as a position-changing technique and expressive glissando as a
stylistic tool. Heejung Lee proposes a similar model that distinguishes between technical shifting,
which should be unobtrusive, and musical shifting, which is often used in »melodic passages to
enhance expressiveness … the gliding is emphasized to heighten the emotion of the passage.« See
Heejung LEE, Violin Portamento: An Analysis of Its Use by Master Violinists in Selected Nineteenth-Century
Concerti (PhD diss., Columbia University, 2006). In this paper, I will use the terms glissando and
expressive glissando to signify any type of sonorous shift since no silent technical shifting will be
considered in my aural-based analyses. This perspective assumes that the underlying gesture is
essentially the same, a slide, audibility being the key discerning factor, (ideally) the result of the
performer’s conscious musical decision.
25
The treatises included in Table 1 were published between 1962 and 1967, a decade after Enes-
cu’s death. They nonetheless represent the views on the use of glissando that dominated the violin
schools of the early twentieth century as they were written in the late stage of their careers by some of
the Romanian’s most salient contemporaries.

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direct reference to what he terms the Kreisler portamento and David Oistrakh’s
characteristic use of downward portamento in the cantilenas.26 Alberto Bachmann
introduces an alternative terminology to refer to the same idea; Galamian’s second
type is defined as direct action glissando, the third type as indirect action glis-
sando and the fourth is defined as circumspection glissando and linked to Pablo
de Sarasate’s style.27 Carl Flesch proposes the terms B-portamento, L-portamento
and their possible combination, which became standardized in later treatises, to
imply the same technical aspects as Galamian’s types one, two and three.

Type I Type II Type III Type IV

Same finger Initiating note Note of arrival Transfer fingering
Galamian Same finger Undersliding Oversliding Under + oversliding
Yampolsky Idem Idem Idem
Flesch B portamento L portamento B+L portamento
Bachmann Direct action Indirect action Circumspection
glissando glissando glissando

Table 1. Glissando-related terminology in selected treatises, 1962-1967

Heejung Lee has attempted to broaden this finger-based view on glissandi by

exploring recorded performances through spectrographic analysis. His model
expands the consideration of fingerings to include a reference to speed and
dynamic patterns. I argue that this model needs to be further elaborated in order
to account for all the possible elements that might determine the nature of any
given glissando. The following section explores such possibility.

Tabulating Expressive Glissandi

A first model of classification is proposed here to tabulate Enescu’s expressive

glissandi. Since this model is based on audibility, all mechanical means used to
create glissandi that are not directly related to the choice of fingering will not be
taken into consideration.28 My proposal takes previous scholarship as a point of

26
This term refers here to the slow singing movements of the instrumental concerti from the
Classical and Romantic period. For a definition see: Cantilena, in: Grove Music Online. Oxford Music
Online, Oxford University Press. Web. Available from http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/
article/opr/t114/e1133. Accessed 14 April 2016.
27
Alberto BACHMANN, An Encyclopedia of the Violin (New York: Da Capo Press, 1975), 209.
28
A detailed examination of wrist, finger and arm shifting movements might yield some interest-
ing conclusions exposing their relationship to the resulting sounds. However, these aspects will be
obviated here, the sound recording analyzed in this paper precludes a visual examination of Enescu’s
technique and there is no video recording documenting the Romanian’s performance of his op. 25.

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op. 25 ‘dans le caractère populaire roumain’

reference to introduce four key analytical areas that can be used to determine the
nature of any given expressive glissando: speed pattern, placement, fingering,
and vibrato.
The first aspect, speed pattern, refers to the tempo of motion of the glissando,
which might be the result of a steady or accelerated movement or one subjected to
a gestural ritardando. The second feature, the rhythmic placement of the glissando,
plays an important role as well, the slide might be started from the beginning,
middle or very end of the note’s duration or it might be an on-the-beat slide that
precedes a note after silence or within a new bow articulation. This last type was
acknowledged by Enescu through the introduction of a specific sign and an
explanatory note in the opening page of the Sonata op. 25 (see Figure 1) and will
consequently be referred to as the ‘Enescu Type’.29 The third analytical aspect,
fingering, has been thoroughly considered in previous scholarship, four possible
combinations are introduced here: same-finger glissando, a glissando that emerges
from the initiating finger, one that is created by the arrival finger, and a transfer
fingering, where both the initiating and the arrival finger play an active sliding
role. The use of different types of vibrato introduces a final discerning factor; the
glissando might be done with or without vibrato or it might be subjected to other
vibrato-like techniques such as that resulting in the intermittent ghost glissando.

Figure 1. Enescu, explanatory note for special glissando type, Sonata op. 25, p. 2

Appendix 1 (p. 130-131) includes an exhaustive model based on all the vari-
ables considered hitherto that renders a total of 144 different types of glissandi.
This model will be used as a classificatory framework in the forthcoming analyses
of Enescu’s playing.

Analysis of Glissandi in Enescu’s Recordings of the Sonata op. 25

In this section I will apply the previously proposed model to a consideration

of the expressive use of glissandi in Enescu’s 1943 and 1949 recordings of his So-
nata op. 25. I will then introduce a comparative analysis that explores the unique-
ness of the performer’s glissando technique as well as its overall stylistic coher-
ence. The analytical approach to the recordings employed throughout combines
an aural consideration with a spectrographic examination.30 The inclusion of

29
Enescu defines this type of glissando as an ‘upwards portamento on the beat’.
30
Spectrograms were obtained using the Sonic Visualiser software developed by the Queen
Mary University of London. The software can be downloaded from www.sonicvisualiser.org. An

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IRASM 49 (2018) 1: 115-135
op. 25 ‘dans le caractère populaire roumain’

spectrograms in this paper will be restrained to a necessary minimum in order to

keep my argument focused and succinct.

Enescu as a Performer, Types of Glissandi in the Recording of the Sonata op. 25

Glissandi in Enescu’s recordings were identified, extracted and subsequently

analyzed following four key factors: time location, measure/beat location,
marking-type, and glissando-type classification (see Tables 2.1, p. 132, for the 1943
recording, and 2.2, p. 133, for the 1949 recording, in Appendix 2).31 All data was
then arranged and used as raw analytical material to ground the discussion of the
Romanian’s use of expressive glissandi. 32
A consideration of the recurrence of glissando-marking types and glissando-
types can be used to raise a number of enlightening arguments. Table 3 (p. 133) in
Appendix 2 shows that 25.3% of the glissandi performed by Enescu are not
notated, a percentage that represents a rather significant deviation from an
extremely detailed and thus prescriptive score.33 Moreover, the most common
type of glissando, a 37.3% of the total, is the same-finger slide, that is, Apostu’s
coup de doigts. Secondly, Table 4.1, included below (p. 125), displays the exact

introduction to some of the key analytical features of Sonic Visualiser can be found in Nicholas Cook,
‘Methods for analyzing recordings’ in the The Cambridge Companion to Recorded Music, eds. Nicholas
Cook, John Rink, Daniel Leech-Wilkinson, and Erik Clarke (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2009), 149-76.
31
The first column in Table 2.1 (Appendix 2) introduces the referential sound-snippet example
number. The second column includes the specific timing location of each example within the first
movement’s recording. The following column indicates the exact measure and number for each of
Enescu’s glissandi, obviating those examples that might be indicated in the score but were not
performed by the Romanian and including those that were performed even if no indication was given.
The next column divides those examples into four different types of glissando-markings, analyzing
their relation to the score: none, where Enescu performs an un-notated glissando; same finger, where
Enescu writes down the fingering to imply a same-finger glissando; notated, in which the composer
employs the standard line to indicate the expressive use of glissando; and special, where the Roma-
nian introduces the previously mentioned type of notation specially developed for this Sonata. The
final column includes the number that classifies those glissandi in relation to the model presented on
the previous section.
32
An interactive score with all the audio snippets included in the specific locations can be down-
loaded from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByK0yU-kAw_2bmdFODNlTXpRVmc/view?usp=sharing.
This score provides all the sound examples used in the remainder of the document.
33
The left column in Table 3 explores the relationship between Enescu’s performed glissandi and
their notated versions. Four glissando marking-types are distinguished: Enescu’s performance of non-
notated glissandi; his use of same finger glissando; the employment of standard notated slides; and the
introduction of the previously discussed Enescu-type glissando. The second column provides specific
notated examples that illustrate these options. The third column summarizes the total recurrence of a
given type in the 1943 and 1949 recordings, as well as the overall count. The final column shows the
percental recurring frequency of a given type over the total amount in a specific recording.

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op. 25 ‘dans le caractère populaire roumain’

recurrence of the different types of glissandi employed by Enescu. The diversity is

remarkable, with thirty different varieties being featured, but the prominence of
certain types is likewise telling. The seven most recurring glissando types, first
four rows of the left column in Table 4.1, are all same finger-glissandi. With the
only exception of type 134, all of these are steady slides, which represent the
dominant mode of speed pattern. Enescu introduces an accerlerated or slowed
tempo of motion in some slides as a special contrasting gesture. Glissandi with and
without vibrato are evenly combined.

Recurrence Glissando Type Percentage

8 1 10.4%
7 110 9.1%
6 2 7.8%
4 13, 25, 26, 134 5.2%
3 16, 29, 32, 62, 122, 128 3.9%
2 14, 28, 116, 140 2.6%
1 4, 5, 10, 17, 20, 23, 35, 38, 41, 44, 56, 61, 82 1.3%

Table 4.1. Recurrence of glissando types, Enescu’s 1943 recording

Table 3 (p. 133), included in Appendix 2, shows that the percentages of mark-
ing-types used by Enescu on the 1949 rendition of the Sonata are remarkably sim-
ilar to those of the 1943 version. Same-finger glissandi are still the most commonly
employed ones and the un-notated slides represent a significant 23.3% of the to-
tal. The data on Table 2.2, p. 133 (Appendix 2) has been used to extract the ratios
included in Table 4.2 (see below). Diversity plays a key role still, with thirty differ-
ent types of glissandi being introduced overall. Nonetheless, out of the eleven
highest recurring patterns, included in the first three rows of Table 4.2, three are
now slides initiated by the departing finger (types 4, 28 and 29) and thus not all of
them are same-finger glissandi.

Recurrence Glissando Type Percentage

6 2 8.2%
5 26, 50, 110 6.3%
4 1, 4, 25, 28, 29, 122, 134 5.3%
3 32, 116 3.9%
2 5, 35, 140 2.6%
1 8, 10, 16, 17, 20, 23, 27, 38, 44, 56, 62, 73, 109, 128 1.3%

Table 4.2. Recurrence of glissando types, Enescu’s 1949 recording

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These individual analyses of Enescu’s use of expressive glissandi on the 1943

and 1949 recordings demonstrate both the variety and complexity of his approach
to glissandi, the key role played by the same-finger glissando and Enescu’s
tendency to go beyond the densely notated markings to add new glissandi to
further the work’s ‘caractère populaire roumain’. The following section will
explore the relationship between both recordings, the divergent location of
glissandi and the different choice of glissando types in order to examine in great-
er depth Enescu’s style and its relationship with his notational depiction of the
work.

1943 and 1949 Recordings, Exploring Stylistic Coherence and the Divergent Use of
Glissandi

A comparative analysis of the location of glissandi between the 1943 and 1949
recordings shows that they coincided in a 71% of cases, with the same glissando-
type being used in a 46% of the slides (see Table 5, p. 134, included in Appendix 2).34
The divergent use of glissandi on the same location is also consistently linked to a
change in a single analytical parameter, be it speed pattern (i.e. 7/4, 17/1, 65/4 and
99/4), rhythmic placement (i.e. 25/2 and 26/1) or use of vibrato (i.e. 42/2, 58/2 and
95/4). An exception, a double change of parameters, can be found on the third beat
of measure 39 (see Example 2, p. 127). Its comparative spectrographic analysis,
which examines the same time length (horizontal axis) and frequency range (verti-
cal axis) on both recordings, is shown in Figure 2 on p. 127. In the 1943 version the
beginning of the note is steadier and a clear descending undulatory, thus vibrating,
movement starts midway before it reaches the destination pitch.35 In the 1949
performance, the descending movement starts from the note’s outset and is a
smooth line, with no vibrato, even if it accelerates towards the end of the glissando.

34
Table 5 (p. 134) presents a repeated three column-pattern with a comparative analysis that
contrasts Enescu’s performed glissando-types on the 1943 and 1949 recordings of the Sonata and
includes specific score locations. The left column provides score location data with a numeric measure/
beat model. The second column introduces the glissando type number, according to the classificatory
model introduced earlier and included in Appendix 1, on the 1943 recording. The third column intro-
duces the same data on the 1949 recording.
35
The sound sample is available from https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByK0yU-kAw_
2X3pCaVdyRl9EQjg

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Example 2. Enescu, Sonata op. 25, movt. I, mm. 3936

Figure 2. Spectrogram of 1943 (left) and 1949 recordings (right), m. 39, b. 3

One further approach to the comparative analysis of glissandi takes into

consideration the commonality or divergence of glissando types (see Table 6, p.
128). The overall ratio of common glissando types is significant, a 66%. Further-
more, the types that are exclusively employed in the 1943 and 1949 are predomi-
nantly same-finger glissandi, with a proportion of eight out of eleven. This data
shows that the level of stylistic coherence between both recordings with regards
to the use of glissandi is substantial. Nonetheless, given the notational precision
the divergences become noteworthy and point towards some common trends, all
of them related to elements of the lăutari technique previously explored in the
text: predominance of the coup de doigts, performative variability, and inadequacy
of the notational means.

36
The sound sample is available from https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByK0yU-kAw_
2bUpwWUNvc0xYREk

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Common 1943 Only 1949 Only

1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 16, 17, 20, 23, 25, 26, 28, 29, 32, 35, 13, 14, 41, 61, 82 8, 27, 37, 50, 73, 109
38, 44, 56, 62, 110, 116, 122, 128, 134, 140
Table 6. Glissando types, comparative analysis,
Enescu’s 1943 versus 1949 recordings

Enescu’s Recreation of the Lăutari Technqiue, Referential or Artificial?

Enescu’s Sonata op. 25 introduces various elements that are openly related to
the lăutar tradition: tuning nuances that recreate their traditional violin mistuning
or ‘spoiling’ systems, ornamental writing including different types of trills,
specific forms of right-hand articulation and extended techniques, the use of
vibrato and the imitation of the sounds of nature.37 In addition, the analysis
discussed hitherto exemplify the extensive use of chromatic/expressive glissandi
and their diversity, as well as the prominent use of the coup de doigts, technical
devices linked to the lăutar style of violin playing. Those features partially capture
the essence of what the composer envisioned as a ‘caractère populaire roumain’.
But the Sonata is not pure recreation, it also expresses Enescu’s own understand-
ing of music and his vision of the true musician as a cogitant individual, becom-
ing a reflection on his own playing style. As Pascal Bentoiu points out, »although
in Romanian Folk character, [the Sonata] proves to be … the creation of a special
man, impossible to separate from his personality.«38
This understanding of the work provides a new insight into Enescu’s musical
idiom, his recreation of the Romanian essence and of the lăutar craft. First, Roma-
nian identity cannot be conceptualized univocally, Romania’s history and its
evolving relation with its surrounding geopolitical environment has determined
the plurality of Romanian identitie(s). In that sense, »the supreme quality of the
Sonata consists on the fact that it is profoundly representative, even if confined to
strictly selective procedures,« as well as limited at a geographic and historical
level.39 Secondly, as Jim Samson points out, at the heart of this Sonata lies a
»dialectic between improvisation and composition, operating on several different
levels.«40 That dialectic exposes Enescu’s complex personality, represented on the
one hand by the Viennese violin prodigy and France-educated composer and, on

37
See L. C. RITZ, The Three Violin Sonatas of George Enesco (DMA diss., University of Kentucky,
1991), 146; and L.-I. APOSTU, La violinisteque …, 133-56.
38
P. BENTOIU, Masterworks of George Enescu: A Detailed Analysis (Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow
Press, 2010), 288.
39
P. BENTOIU, Masterworks of …, 287.
40
J. SAMSON, Placing Genius, 17.

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the other, by the young student of a Romanian lăutar and the self-admitted nostal-
gia of a romantic individual. It is there that the work becomes a reflection on
Enescu’s own playing style. Carl Flesch, one of his contemporaries, recalls hearing
the Romanian perform with the following words: Enescu’s playing seemed to
display originally

a highly attractive combination of gypsy daredevilry and cultivated artistry, based on

an extraordinary talent for the instrument. But in later years a strange cleavage
seemed to develop between these two qualities … in those days he was unable to weld
together the individual elements of his artistic character … in Paris in 1935 … after a
pause of two years, which he had devoted to the composition of an opera, he struck
me as far more mature, balanced, and perfect technically than before. Through certain
peculiarities in his mechanics he achieved uncommon expressive effects … what gave
his playing a pronounced personal quality was his habit of starting expressive,
sustained notes a few vibrations below their proper pitch and then to raise them to
their correct level by way of this vibrato. This device gave his expression a strange
ambiguous, somewhat lascivious tinge.41

The recreation of the ‘caractère populaire roumain’ can thus be seen as fabri-
cated or even spurious but Enescu’s musical achievement transcends a simplistic
reading. The work is Enescu’s reflection on his own ‘Romanian-ness’. The Sonata
might then be seen as a learned construct carved out of the flesh of a folkloric
tradition. The performer has to learn it, decipher and understand its complexity
as a classically trained musician but can only truly perform it as a lăutar.
In its analytical specificity, the consideration of Enescu’s use of glissandi in his
recordings has served to exemplify this argument and has extended the field of
studii Enesciane in three essential ways. Firstly, it has examined Enescu’s playing
in addition to his score, exposing the relationship between Enescu’s intentions as
a composer and his musical realizations as a performer; secondly, it has explored
in depth a specific element of his technique and its relationship with the lăutar
tradition; and thirdly, it has introduced a methodological approach that has
generated a comprehensive analytical/classificatory model of violin glissandi. The
various further analytical possibilities that arise from such considerations take me
back to the Romanian’s performance: the time to re-hear Enescu has finally
arrived.

41
C. FLESCH, Memoirs (New York: Da Capo Press, 1979), 178-80.

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Appendix 1
Types of Glissandi - A Model Based on Audibility

a. Speed Pattern b. Rhythmic Placement

i. Steady i. Beginning of the note
ii. Slow to fast (accelerando) ii. Middle of the note
iii. Fast to slow (ritardando) iii. At the very end of the note
iv. Enescu type: leading into a
note following silence or after
a new bow articulation

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c. Fingerings d. Vibrato
i. Same finger i. With
ii. Initiating finger ii. Without
iii. Arrival finger iii. Other
iv. Transfer

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Appendix 2

Table 2.1. Glissando Classification: 1943 Recording

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Table 2.2. Glissando Classification: 1949 Recording

Table 3. Marking-Type Frequency

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Table 5. Comparative Analysis: Glissando-Type vs Glissando-Location

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Sažetak

Enescu izvodi Enescua: glissandi u Sonati op. 25

‘u rumunjskom narodnom duhu’

Izvoditelji i znanstvenici smatraju Sonatu op. 25 za violinu i klavir Georgea Enescua

»dans le caractère populaire roumain« (u rumunjskom narodnom duhu) jednim od sklada-
teljevih najvažnijih djela. Prethodna su istraživanja obuhvatila povijest, glazbenu formu i stil
ove Sonate iz različitih perspektiva. S izvedbenog stajališta obilna uporaba raznih tipova
glissanda jedan je od najistaknutijih elemenata što ga otkriva suvremeni violinist kada se
suoči s tim djelom. Ovaj aspekt uvodi u Enescuov meta-folklorni idiom karakterističnu crtu
rumunjskih lăutarskih stilova sviranja na violini. Međutim, dok je razna ekspresivna upora-
ba glissanda bila uobičajena crta violinskih škola na početku 20. stoljeća, ona je u suvre-
menim školama i stilovima sviranja violine postala drugorazredan, ako ne i odbačen ele-
ment. Ta povijesna promjena leži u temelju autorova analitičkog pristupa. Enescuove vla-
stite snimke ove Sonate iz 1943. i 1949. uzimaju se kao određujući glazbeni stavovi u
skladateljevim intencijama da analizira rumunjsko sviranje i artikulira teoriju svoje ekspre-
sivne uporabe glissanda, dajući tako originalni prilog jednog u biti previđenog aspekta u
okvirima studii Enesciani.
Rasprava započinje s povijesnim i muzikološkim uvodom u Enescuovu Sonatu op. 25,
koja pruža nužni referentni okvir za ostatak teksta. U prvom se odlomku opisuju ključni
aspekti lăutarske tehnike violinskog glissanda, a potom se prelazi na predstavljanje onih
metodoloških razmatranja koje artikuliraju analitičku shemu što se upotrebljava kroz cijeli
članak. Ranije objavljena literatura uzima se kao polazište za istraživanje terminoloških
aspekata i za uvođenje odabranih ključnih teorijskih elemenata koji se koriste kao temelj za
model klasifikacije glissanda. Potom se identificiraju svi glissandi u Enescuovim snimkama
i podvrgavaju komparativnoj analizi, čime se dolazi do prvog zaključka glede prirode i ra-
znolikosti Enescuova vlastitog pristupa. Zatim se ovi podatci suprotstavljaju onim elemen-
tima lăutarskog stila koji su bili razmatrani prije toga, te istražuje Enescuovo ponovno kon-
struiranje rumunjskog karaktera. Autor tvrdi da nam Enescuova uporaba ekspresivnih glis-
sanda pomaže u razumijevanju idiomatskih crta Sonate. Štoviše, ovaj članak unaprjeđuje
sadašnje strane znanosti o ovom rumunjskom skladatelju i uvodi model klasifikacije glis-
sanda koji nudi otvaranje novog puta i predstavlja odskočnu dasku za daljnje istraživanje.

135

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