The Impact of French Pedagogy on Romanian Piano Art. Disciples of Alfred Cortot
The Impact of French Pedagogy on Romanian Piano Art. Disciples of Alfred Cortot

Author(s): Cristina Eleonora Pascu
Subject(s): Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Music
Published by: Editura ARTES
Keywords: French Pedagogy; Romanian Piano Art; peregrinatio academica phenomenon;
Summary/Abstract: A very special effervescence in terms of artistic life animated the C City of Cluj at the beginning of the 20 20th century. The city’s newly established institutions, after the historical moment of 1918, were increasingly asserting themselves, polarizing culture in its numerous forms and manifestations. This is the context in which the Academy of Music and Dramatic Art of Cluj (cu rrently “Gheorghe DimaDima” National Academy of Music) was founded by a team of professors, who had been trained at various higher music schools i in Western Europe and who implemented the highest standards meant to raise the new school at the level of the other European schools of this kind, in an effort to narrow the historical gap that separated the former from the latter latter. Among them stand out, due to their special artistic and pedagogical qualities, young pianists returned from Paris, where, within the prestigious École Normale de Musique de Paris, they had been trained by the renowned pianist Alfred Cortot. They werewere: Ecaterina Fotino Fotino-Negru, George Ciolac,Eliza Ciolan, Alexandru Demetriad, Viorica Adelina Radu, Gabriela Ţereanu. Our paper aims at providing a documented image of this significant direction of development, which relied on the artistic and pedagogical knowledge acquired by the Romanian musicians trained in the privileged environment of Paris and who later returned to work at the National Academy of Music in Cluj. We will tackle the subject from several points of view, namely the peregrinatio academica phenomenon, the socio-political background and the founding personalities of the École Normale de Musique de Paris, the pedagogical principles, their reception in Romania, and the evolution and current status of this noble lineage. A very special effervescence in terms of artistic life animated the City of Cluj at the beginning of the 20 20th century. The city’s newly established institutions, after the historical moment of 1918, were increasingly asserting themselves, polarizing culture in its numerous forms and manifestations. This is the context in which the Academy of Music and Dramatic Art of Cluj (currently “Gheorghe Dima” National Academy of Music) was founded by a team of professors, who had been trained at various higher music schools i in Western Europe and who implemented the highest standards meant to raise the new school at the level of the other European schools of this kind, in an effort to narrow the historical gap that separated the former from the latter latter. Among them stand out, due to their special artistic and pedagogical qualities, young pianists returned from Paris, where, within the prestigious École Normale de Musique de Paris, they had been trained by the renowned pianist Alfred Cortot. They werewere: Ecaterina Fotino-Negru, George Ciolac, Eliza Ciolan, Alexandru Demetriad, Viorica Adelina Radu, Gabriela Ţereanu. Our paper aims at providing a documented image of this significant direction of development, which relied on the artistic and pedagogical knowledge acquired by the Romanian musicians trained in the privileged environment of Paris and who later returned to work at the National Academy of Music in Cluj. We will tackle the subject from several points of view, namely the peregrinatio academica phenomenon, the socio-political background and the founding personalities of the École Normale de Musique de Paris, the pedagogical principles, their reception in Romania, and the evolution and current status of this noble lineage.

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