George Enescu, violin art titan

"The history begings all over there, in the Moldave plain..."



The native house of George Enescu from Liveni (now Botoşani
county) where he was born on 19th of August 1881

With his parents, Costache and Maria Enescu. From their eight

children, he is the last born and at the same time the only one alive

One of little George's drawings

Enescu at 5 years old

"Hora Sinaia", one of is first compositions (1887)

Peasant hora (round) at Caracalia, one of Enescu's
childhood villages, where he often had the occasion to listen
to sons performed by the fiddlers as well as popular songs

At 8 years, a Conservatoire student

 Richard Wagner

Johannes Brahms

Robert Fuchs

Finishing his studies at the Paris Conservatory, he obtains "Premiere Prix de violin " (August 2, 1899)

The young musician becomes member of the French Composers Society (April 10, 1902)

Manuscript page of the symphonic suite Romanian Poem (1897), played in premiere in Paris (1899)

With Pablo Casals and the professional singer Marie Gai

(Bordeaux, 1904)

George Enescu at 25 years old

A group of talented coleagues, whom George Enescu had a closed friendship with:

Maurice Ravel

Jacques Thibaud

Florent Schmitt





Alfred Cortot

1946 autograph, with the 3rd Symphony debut (1919-1921)

Guest composer-conductors at Carnegie Hall, New York
in 1936, with Igor Stravinsky and Carlos Chavez

His violin and wand virtuoso tours took Enescu to lots
of countries. He played many times in the States,
where he was always welcomed enthusiastically by the public
and the music professionals. The Philadelphia Symphonic orchestra offered him an autographed picture of its members (1923).
Leading them and The New York orchestra too, he plays later (february 1939) two concerts of Romanian music, those programs containing his countrymen's works, he adds the premiere of the
 3rd Suite for orchestra.

"Let's thank heavens for this god of music... George Enescu.
Let's thank Romania for sending him to brighten our lives"
(The President of "The Bohemians" society, New York, 1947)

Enescu and his disciple, the violin player Yehudi Menuhin, 1931

In 1954, a short time before the Master's passing away

The first and the last page of the Oedip manuscript (1920-1932)

The Paris Opera, where the opening of "Oedip" took place (Friday 13 march 1936)

Leading at the Romanian Atheneum, Bucharest (1945)

"There are few who - among the great orchestra leaders
in the world - are gifted with Enescu's great feel,
with his unique sense of instrumental balance and his great
skill to clear even the most complex compositions that he read
like a regular book. He was always leading by heart,
not just to show the audience his perfect knowledge
of the piece, but to be able to identify himself with
the composer, to feel during the play the same emotions
felt by the composer during the creation. Enescu had an
unique power of suggestion over the orchestra, that he ruled
over with strength and authority, suggesting them
all his artistic intentions. His interpretations had a strong personality touch, by the deep respect for the composer's ideas,
for the opus authentic style. Enescu's composure had all the sobriety, impetuosity or the kindness needed; no exaggeration,
no useless gesture did not disturb the perfect harmony o
f his composure." Alfred Alessandrescu

The eminent teacher Enescu, at the performing classes, 1947

Three of the 20th century violin art titans:
Fritz Kreisler, George Enescu, Jacques Thibaud (1949)

George Enescu in 1950
"All that remains of my force and energy, I devote to my musical creations, by which I intended to serve our Romanian nation”

Enescu on his death bed. "To go from my native village
in large city where my road end, I took a dusty path,
bordered with trees that go, go towards the infinite.
It was long, undoubtedly, this road.
How short it appeared to me..."

The tree alley from Tescani, "the path bordered with
trees that go, go to the infinite...", an image that
George Enescu kept alive in his soul until his last moments.

Last Wishes, written in Tescani, 1946
"...I wish to be buried in tescani, Bacău, close to my wife."