musicology todaymusicologytoday.ro/28/mt28studiesgheorghita.pdfstate policy when it came to culture....

Title: Military Music between Use and Abuse: Music, Ideology and Propaganda in the Music of the Romanian People’s Army

Author: Nicolae GheorghițăE-mail:

Source: Musicology Today: Journal of the National University of Music Bucharest / Volume 7 Issue 4 (28) / October-December 2016, pp 323-337

Link to this article: musicologytoday.ro/28/MT28studiesGheorghita.pdf

How to cite this article: Nicolae Gheorghiță, “Military Music between Use and Abuse: Music, Ideology and Propaganda in the Music of the Romanian People’s Army”, Musicology Today: Journal of the National University of Music Bucharest, 7/4 (28) (2016), 323-337.

Published by: Editura Universității Naționale de Muzică București

Musicology Today: Journal of the National University of Music Bucharest is indexed by EBSCO, RILM, and ERIH PLUS

Musicology Today Journal of the National University of Music Bucharest

Issue 4 (28) October-December 2016

Journal of the National University of Music Bucharest

Military Music between Use and Abuse: Music Ideology and Propaganda in the Music of the Romanian People’s Army*

Nicolae Gheorghiță National University of Music Bucharest

Keywords: Romanian music, military bands, totalitarian regime, socialist realism

F rom 23 August 1944, under continuous pressure on the part of the Soviet Allied Control Commission [Comisia Aliată de Control], the Romanian Communist Party and various opportunists, institutions

meant to safeguard the nation’s independence, sovereignty and social order were, paradoxically, made subordinate and placed under the direct control of the regime; the army was one such institution.1 The purpose was to annihilate the army elite and establish a “new,” “revolutionary” army as an instrument of oppression in the service of the totalitarian regime, and nonetheless an instrument incapable of replacing it.2 This meticulous process, aimed at wholly restructuring the armed forces, was undertaken in two stages (August 1944– 6 March 1945; March 1945–1948), and resulted in the swift disarmament of the country in relation to the Soviet military occupation, and in the recruitment of army personnel based on political criteria, something thitherto unthinkable. There was a massive “purge” and “unmasking” of military personnel, which the Communist regime termed “democratisation of the army,” with “healthy elements” comprising proletarian and peasant recruits.3

1 Constantin Hlihor, Armata Rosie în Romania: adversar, aliat, ocupant: 1940–1948. Un destin în istorie [The Red Army in Romania: Adversary, Ally, Occupier. A Historical Des-tiny] (Bucharest: Editura Militară, 1995), 311.2 Constantin Lățea, “Epurarea armatei române. Mecanisme juridice: 1945–1947” [The Purge of the Romanian Army. Judicial Mechanisms: 1945–1947], Arhivele Totalitaris-mului [Totalitarianism Archives] 4 (1994), 191.3 Dinu C. Giurescu, Romania în al doilea război mondial: 1939–1945 [Romania in the

* This paper has been published in Nicolae Gheorghiță, Musical Crossroads: Church Chants and Brass Bands at the Gates of the Orient (Bucharest: Editura Muzicală, 2015), 205–21.

Studies

324 | Studies | Nicolae Gheorghiță

Musicology Today Issue 4 | 2016

Ideology in ContextThe formation of a Romanian Homo sovieticus, with the massive and constant backing of Moscow, through implementation of the Soviet model, became state policy when it came to culture. The Zhdanovist thesis was pushed by Iosif Chișinevschi (1905–1963), ideologue and propaganda chief of the Romanian Communist Party, at the Second Congress of the Union of Artists, Writers and Journalists [Uniunea Sindicatelor de Artisti, Scriitori si Ziaristi], held on 18–19 October in Bucharest; the thesis stated that “there can be no great culture, viable art . . . unless they are grounded in progressive ideology,”4 and declared socialist realism the sole method of artistic creation and expression to be adopted by all who dealt with art and culture in the army. In the new regime, perhaps more than ever, military brass bands, which had always played an elite role in the Army and were of great educational importance to both military and civil society, were called upon, or rather summoned, to “give an affirmative answer” to the Party’s demand in its large-scale project to “forge the new man.”

The military song has taken on an important role in the patriotic and civic education of the personnel of our People’s Army. Its aim, once disseminated among our soldiers, will be to help promote the great ideas of our age, to mobilise the masses in their strug-gle for peace and socialism, to develop fervent patriotism, love for our proletarian people, and brotherhood between Romanians, the national minorities and other peace-loving peoples.5

One could not ask for a better formulation of the intentions, themes and aesthetic norms of socialist realism, or of art “in service to the people,” to which military music was expected to contribute.

Second World War: 1939–1945] (Bucharest: All Educațional, 1999), 268.4 Octavian Lazăr Cosma, Universul muzicii romanesti: Uniunea Compozitorilor si Muzi-cologilor din Romania: 1920–1995 [The World of Romanian Music: The Union of Roma-nian Composers and Musicologists: 1920–1995] (Bucharest: Editura Muzicală, 1995), 153. See also Valentina Sandu-Dediu, Rumänische Musik nach 1944 (Saarbrücken: Pfau Verlag, 2006), 15. 5 Ion Totan (Major), “Câteva probleme în legătură cu creația de cântece ostășești” [Sev-eral Issues Surrounding the Writing of Military Music], Muzica [The Music] 2 (1953), 27. For further details on Ion Totan’s career and musical works, see Viorel Cosma, Muzi- cieni din Romania: Lexicon biobibliografic [Musicians in Romania: A Bio-bibliographic Dictionary], vol. 9 (Bucharest: Editura Muzicală, 2006), 107–109.

Military Music between Use and Abuse | 325


RestructuringsThe drastic changes that affected the army after August 1944 were felt with the same intensity by military music. If in 1939, the Royal Army had 110 army bands,6 eight years later, by 1946, these had already dwindled to 47.7 Hundreds of officers and sub-officers left the military, either willingly (“on demand”), or after being dismissed as a result of the political “purge,” until only 300 sub-officers and 26 officers remained in 1946 in the newly constituted People’s Army.8 Lieutenant Colonel Iosif Klein (1897–1980?), who had occupied the position of inspector of military music in monarchic Romania, was replaced on 25 October 1944 by Egizio Massini (1894–1966),9 a conductor of Italian descent, whose working relationship with the Royal Army in 1932–1940, when he had occupied the same position,10 was well known to the Party.

Massini was politically “engaged” by the new state of affairs and seems to have adapted quickly and efficiently to the new ideological orientations and opportunities offered by triumphant socialist. Thus, on 12 November, less than a month after being put in charge of the bands of the People’s Army, at the first General Meeting of the Romanian Association for Friendship with the Soviet Union [Asociația Romană pentru Strangerea Legăturilor cu Uniunea Sovietică, ARLUS], an organisation that co-ordinated pro-Soviet propaganda in Romania and was the main proponent of Russification in culture and the arts, Colonel Massini

6 The Archive of the Military Music Service [Serviciul Muzicilor Militare]. Registrul Istoric (copy) de la 01.01.1939–31.12.1942. Sinteză [The Historical Register from 01.01.1939 to 31.12.1942. Synthesis], 3 (all further references abbreviated as MRRI/1939–1942). See also Registrul istoric al Inspectoratului Muzicilor Militare (1830–1992) [The Histor-ical Register of the Military Music Inspectorate (1830–1992)], vol. 1, 21 (all further references abbreviated as RIIMM).7 RIIMM, 26.8 RIIMM, 26r–v.9 “The Personnel Section via official request no. 102.006/09.11.1944 declares that Colo- nel Massini Egizio has been named General Inspector of Military Music as per Royal Decree no. 2004/25 October 1944, effective immediately” (RIIMM, 24).10 Following decree no. 3270 Colonel E. Massini’s resignation was approved on 1 Octo-ber 1940 (MRRI/1939–1942, 4).

Fig. 1. Egizio Massini.



appeared as a founding member, and was later named vice-president, while his wife, Dora, was appointed secretary of the Music subsection within the well-known Art and Propaganda section.11 Not lacking in initiative, Massini founded a jazz band for the mess hall of the Soviet Allied Control Commission at the Neptun restaurant, and the Army Symphonic Orchestra for Education, Culture, and Propaganda [Educație, Cultură si Propagandă, ECP].12

Fig. 2. The Army Symphonic Orchestra for Education, Culture, and Propaganda (1947).

Massini’s involvement became much more obvious when, as a member of the delegation of the ARLUS Control Committee, he visited Moscow in April 1946.13 His appointment as Director of the Romanian Opera in Bucharest on 29 November 1945, the numerous invitations he received to conduct abroad,14 and, perhaps, his ambiguous past, led Egizio Massini to leave his military career15 behind permanently and devote himself to running the new institution. He was quickly replaced in October 194716 by Savel Horceag (1898–1996), a former collaborator of the Italian conductor’s, although without the effect anticipated by the Communist Party. A young captain from

11 The founding General Assembly that took place on 12 November 1944 at the Uni-versity of Bucharest’s Faculty of Sciences included Egizio Massini among its members (http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARLUS, accessed 11 September 2014).12 RIIMM, 24v–25.13 Address no. 3870/24.01.1946 (RIIMM, 25v).14 RIIMM, 27.15 After August 1947, Massini no longer appeared in the official army list (MRRI/1947, 44).16 MRRI/1947, 54.



Sibiu (Transylvania), “of healthy origins” and “with willpower and optimism that are rarely seen,”17 was in turn put forward to replace him: Dumitru Eremia (1910–1976), who would guide the destiny of Romanian military music for the next 28 years (1948–1976).

Propagandistic InsinuationsConcurrent with the purging of “reactionary” elements from the army, Communist politicisation of the military was another factor that led to the deterioration of the former Royal Army. Thitherto unthinkable, the politicisation of the army became a matter of institutional policy, following the establishment of the Higher Directorate for Education, Culture and Propaganda [Direcția Superioară a Culturii, Educației si Propagandei], under the authority of the Ministry of War on 8 May 1945.18 A brief look at the content of concert programmes reveals that before the elections of 19 November 1946, fraudulently won by the Communists and their allies in the Bloc of Democratic Parties, propaganda techniques and strategies of political insinuation were also subtly used in the Army’s cultural sphere, which can be observed not

17 Viața si opera lui Dumitru Eremia [Dumitru Eremia’s Life and Work], 81, a mono-graph in the possession of his family. Apud Marian Sîlea, Istoria muzicilor militare [The History of Military Music] (Bucharest: Editura Militară, 2006), 255.18 Ion Șuta, Romania la cumpăna istoriei [Romania at the Crossroads of History] (Bucha-rest: Editura Științifică, 1991), 362.

Fig. 3. Dumitru Eremia.



just in Bucharest, but all over the country. One example of this was a concert organised by ARLUS and the Fourth Army’s Department for Education, Culture and Propaganda [Serviciul de Educație, Cultură si Propagandă al Armatei a IV-a] in Sibiu, Transylvania, on 10 and 26 May 1946, whose content might seem to be less propagandistic, and more humanitarian in terms of its connotations: “in the service of widows, war invalids and orphans.”19 Besides the fact that the show wilfully elided the popular meaning associated with 10 May (the independence of Romania, declared by Carol I Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen [1839–1914] in 1877 and the day of his coronation, 10 May 1881) and thus camouflaged and subverted a date of crucial importance to Romanian cultural memory, it is worth pointing out that the concert was organised by Mihail Lascăr (1889–1959), the Communist Commander of the Fourth Army, a man whose political past was tumultuous and who was soon to be appointed Minister of National Defence, following the November 1946 election.20 Who conducted the concert in Sibiu? None other than Captain Dumitru Eremia, whose career had been well regarded on the whole, but who would have the good fortune to belong to the entourage of several army officers who would go on to be official leaders of the Communist movement, a fact which was crucial to his appointment as Chief of the Romanian Military Music Service.

Ideologies in ConflictUp until August 1944, the military music of the Royal Army followed the German tradition to a large extent, a development that stemmed not only from the ethnic background of the Hohenzollern dynasty and that of various conductors and military inspectors, but also from the genre-specific musical repertoires, which came from the Austro-German space for the most part. The archival documents from the Military Music Service in Bucharest from 1941–1944 demonstrate a

19 The event involved all of the city’s musicians: 150 instrumentalists, from the brass bands of the Cavalry Instruction Centre and the Infantry Military School for Officers, joined the local Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestra, the Instrumentalist Artists Union, and other musicians who wished to perform at the event.20 After seeing service on the side of the German forces at the Battle of Stalingrad, and being awarded prestigious decorations by Germany and Romania (The Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, The Order of Michael the Brave, second class), Gen-eral Mihail Lascăr was taken prisoner by the Red Army and switched sides. After his re-turn to Romania, after 23 August 1944, he held the position of President of the Army’s Electoral Commission, among others, contributing to the rigging of the November 1946 parliamentary elections. After the rise of Communism, he was appointed Min-ister of National Defence, but was removed from this position at the end of 1947 and replaced with Emil Bodnăraș (1904–1976), as his loyalty to the regime was considered unsatisfactory. He was later indicted for war crimes, but found innocent.



constant tendency to assimilate and promote the German model in the brass bands of the Romanian Army. Not only were German officers invited to instruct local conductors and drum majors,21 and not only were parades “after the German model”22 organised on the king’s birthday, but also there was an unsuccessful attempt to achieve terminological homogeneity in musical terminology.23 Because of pro-German propaganda, the bands of every military division were sent to the Soviet front for a three-month practice period,24 and, at the same time, every morning throughout the year 1942, the Radio broadcast repertoires were performed by “two bands, one Romanian and the other one German.”25

Xenophobia reached alarming levels, visible even in the art-related official documents of the Ministry of Defence: “it is forbidden that military bands play any musical compositions by Russian, Jewish, or Hungarian authors.”26 After Romania came within the Soviet sphere of influence, the situation changed radically, and the politicisation of military music became much more evident and coherent in the mechanisms of ideological propaganda. Military orchestras were now present in Transylvania and on the western front (Hungary, Czechoslovakia) for three months at a time, to boost the morale of the troops.27 In the new political context, Army Command—the Inspectorate of Military Music, through the Technical Bureau of Music—orchestrated, printed, and distributed to all band-equipped military units in the country the national anthems of states from the new alliance, such as

21 The event took place on 16–20 December 1941, when Iosif Klein was inspector: “following order no. 13463/2 December the Ministry of National Defence—the Gen-eral Secretary’s Office, all band leaders and drum majors were instructed by two Ger-man band leaders in order to reorganise Romanian music after the German model” (MRRI/1939–1942, 6).22 “On 10 May (1942), the Inspectorate organised a music parade after the German model, and the first band was led by Inspector of Military Music Major Iosif Klein” (MRRI/1939–1942, 7).23 “Official request no. 2789/01.03.1943 asks the Ministry of War to approve the at-tempt by the Chief of the Romanian Military Music Service together with Prof. Gh. Breazul (1887–1961, my note) of the Royal Academy of Music, to Romanianise and homogenise the terminology of the musical instruments used in our military music.” The answer of the Minister for Defence, Army General Constantin Pantazi (1888–1958) is very appropriate, considering the request: “I do not approve the 20,000 lei fee requested by Prof. G. Breazul. I find Romanianisation unnecessary. Music can very well be played with the existing terminology of musical instruments, and it might actually be possible that bands play badly if we Romanianise the names.” RIIMM, 23v.24 Order no. 92502/06.08.1942 (MRRI/1939–1942, 7).25 RIIMM, 22v. See also MRRI/1939–1942, 7.26 Order no. 2781/04.03.1943 (MRRI/1943, 9).27 Ioan Avesalon, Muzica militară în Romania: 180 de ani de la înființarea primelor fanfare militare în Romania [Military Music in Romania: 180 Years since the Establishment of the First Romanian Military Brass Bands] (Bucharest: Abeona Press, 2010), 42.



the Soviet, American, English, and French anthems,28 along with a request to “identify and destroy the entire body of correspondence, brochures, and propaganda manifestos left behind by the German troops.”29 In preparation for the celebration of the International Workers’ Day (1 May), the same Technical Bureau worked tirelessly to edit marches such as Red Moscow, May Day, The Internationale, and The Workers’ Anthem,30 compositions which would be performed by choirs of civilian workers, accompanied, of course, by brass bands, both in Bucharest and the rest of the country. After long exhausting rehearsals in the ANEF (Academia Națională de Educație Fizică [National Academy for Physical Education]) stadium (named also the Republic Stadium), the military music bands of Bucharest, conducted by Colonel Egizio Massini, “participated in the demonstration of the workers and the parade that took place in Victoria Square, Bucharest.”31 Massini’s successful participation in this event, and his involvement and that of all the bands in the country in the festivities, parades and celebrations in city parks and public markets organised specifically for 23 August—a national Romanian holiday celebrating the moment when the army turned against Nazi Germany—made the state political regime aware of the extraordinary power it could summon in order to manipulate the masses, and, indirectly, to control and influence an important segment of the new cultural life that was then beginning to take shape. Since the elections of November 1946 were drawing near, the Quartermaster Corps of the Ministry of War, despite the disastrous post-war financial situation, set aside the sum of 305,350,000 lei from the budget for the year 1946–47 for the purpose of “repairing and buying musical instruments.”32 Conductors and performers were recalled after having been made redundant, most of them because of ethnic cleansing, and an orchestra was put together within the General Inspectorate of the Army for Education, Culture, and Propaganda [Inspectoratul General al Armatei pentru Educație, Cultură si Propagandă].33 Moreover, the aforementioned Inspectorate was required to ask the Polish, Hungarian, Czech, Albanian, and Bulgarian legations “to send the Military Music Service folk music and patriotic music so that it may be played by military bands.”34

28 RIIMM, 25v.29 General Staff order no. 564798/19.04.1946 (MRRI/1946, 20). 30 RIIMM, 25v.31 RIIMM, 25v.32 RIIMM, 26v.33 RIIMM, 27.34 Ministry of National Defence Address no. 1357/1947 (RIIMM, 27).



In the Service of Propaganda: Aesthetic Discourses and Musical GenresAfter 1947, bands such as the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Ministry of Armed Forces and that of the Ministry of the Interior were established within the institutions of national defence, modelled on the famous Alexandrov Ensemble of the Red Army, which was “known and appreciated the world over,” as one contemporary account put it.35 What was appropriated was not merely the Soviet uniform, but also the structure of the ensemble and its musical repertoire, which Romanian troops, and particularly the Tudor Vladimirescu Division, “the nucleus of the people’s army” as it was called, had learned while fighting shoulder to shoulder with Soviet troops against the Nazi army. As Major Ion Totan (1912–1983), one of the People’s Army’s expert musical ideologues, recounts:

Direct contact with the soldiers of the Soviet Army during the war against Fascism has afforded us detailed knowledge of the struc-ture and themes of the military song, as well as of the important part it plays in fostering the warlike élan, toughness, bravery and moral strength of the Soviet troops, who were capable of enduring and defeating all hardships.36

Fig. 4. The Song and Dance Ensemble of the Ministry of Armed Forces. Conductor Dinu Stelian (1912–1997).

35 Romulus Duma (Major), “Ansamblul de cântece ale M.F.A.” [The Song Ensemble of the M.F.A. (Ministry of Armed Forces)], Muzica 7–8 (1954), 68.36 Totan, “Câteva probleme în legătură cu creația de cântece ostășești,” 28.



The article in question, the first of its kind written by a professional in the field and published in Muzica [The Music]—the official journal of the Union of Composers of the People’s Republic of Romania and which is now the Union of Composers and Musicologists of Romania [Uniunea Compozitorilor si Muzicologilor din Romania]—, catalogued, analysed and hierarchised a corpus representative of the most important military compositions written by the new Soviet musical elite. By revealing the thematic diversity of Soviet military repertoires, their wide accessibility—to the point that Romanian children are claimed to have sung along to them37—Major Ion Totan (1912–1983), one of the People’s Army expert musical ideologues, does little more than reaffirm the aesthetic programme of socialist realist music:

A good military song must achieve at least two requirements: a) its text must contain the progressive ideals of our age regarding the nature and mission of our people’s army; b) its melody must be straightforward, easily sung and entertaining, with a simple, flow-ing line that is easy to remember.38

Since compositions written during the time of the Monarchy “were of a character that was increasingly chauvinistic in terms of subject matter and increasingly hybrid and minimalist in terms of musical structure,”39 the newly established Subcommittee for the Guidance of Military Music [Subcomisia de îndrumare a cantecului ostăsesc] within the Union of Composers of the People’s Republic of Romania was called upon to find solutions and to remedy this shortcoming. Since Soviet composition employed great literati such as Yevgenij Aronovich Dolmatovsky, Lev Ivanovich Oshanin, Yakov Shvedov, S. Alimov, Aleksandr Alekseevich Zharov, Aleksandr Kovalenkov, among others, and great musicians such as Alexander Alexandrov, Anatoliy Novikov, Isaac Dunayevsky, Dmitri Dmitrievitch Shostakovitch, V. Kruchinin, Tikkon Khrennikov, Leonid Bakalov, among others, each of whom “found glory in writing songs for the brave Soviet soldiers,”40 so too Romanian poets and composers had to work hand in hand to craft new songs and military repertoires.

37 Ibid., 28.38 Ibid., 29.39 Ibid., 28.40 Ibid., 29.



The new political regime developed a framework within which such compositions could appear, even though some of them did not toe the official aesthetic line, despite their authors’ “possessing the art of the song of the masses.”41 Other musicians either treated the genre in a superficial or extremely academic manner, such as Anatol Vieru (1926–1998) and Sergiu Paiu (1907–1989). What was demanded was a simple, persuasive, and perfectly intelligible language: “The Soldier wants good songs that touch his heart; he knows what a good song is and can feel one straight away; you cannot fool him with academic artifice,” writes Totan.42

Along with choral composition, brass band music was of crucial importance to the people’s army’s totalitarian music. Holidays of Soviet origin43 or those of great importance to the new Romanian regime44 were celebrated with parades and proletarian events, accompanied by grand concerts. Ideological propaganda was the clear purpose of such spectacles and brass bands became persuasive tools in the service of the ruling power. For propagandistic and aesthetic purposes, brass band and choral compositions stressed accessibility, rallying power, and the greatness and grandeur of socialist conquest—compelling strategies meant to manipulate the masses and convince them of the soundness of communist ideology. These methods promptly proved their efficacy: promotional tours were soon organised nationwide, brass bands and choirs sprang up in villages and cities, amateur bands were organised in mills and factories (employing the structure of the old peasant brass bands, especially in Transylvania and the Banat), and festivals and competitions were soon held. The composers of the People’s Army were tremendously industrious. There was not one area of national folklore that they did not “exploit” in a constructive socialist manner through compositions for different types of brass bands. At the same time, Proletkult-inspired collections and brochures of marching songs were printed, alongside the anthems of the democratic republics in their native languages (albeit

41 Vasile Popovici, Gheorghe Danga, Ana Severa Benția and Elly Roman are exam-ples of such composers. Totan, “Câteva probleme în legătură cu creația de cântece ostășești,” 30.42 Ibid., 29.43 The National Day of the Soviet Union, the Anniversary of the Red Army and Generalis- simo Stalin, the Great October Socialist Revolution, etc.44 23 August 1944, a date symbolising the country’s switching of sides to the Allies and its subsequent military collaboration with the Soviet Union, May Day, “a day of international solidarity among workers,” 30 December, the day on which Monarchy was abolished, as well as the anniversary of the official party newspaper, Scanteia [The Spark].



transliterated). In 1948, no less than 4,500 such books were distributed to army units, alongside the Imnul lui Stalin [Hymn to Stalin], Cantata lui Stalin [Cantata to Stalin], and Victoria [Victory] march by Karastoyanov45.

Fig. 5. Marșuri și cântece ostășești [Military Marches and Songs], no. 1 (Bucharest, 1948). The General Inspectorate of the Army for Education. Artistic Directorate [Inspectoratul General al Armatei pentru Educație. Direcția Artistică].

No brass band concert or musical event was held without performance of works by Soviet composers such as Alexander Alexandrov, Nikolai Miaskovsky, Boris Runov, Vladislav Mikhailovich Blazhevich, Semen A. Chernetskiy, Konstantin Listov, Vano Muradeli, Assen Karastoyanov, and others.

The solemn 1812 overture by Tchaikovsky—a composer rehabilitated and mythologised after 1932 in the Soviet Union as Marina Frolova Walker notes46—would go on to have resounding success during the regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu (1918–1989), with almost every military music concert concluding with the work. Among Romanian composers, besides military officers (such as Dumitru Eremia, Ion Totan, Sergiu Paiu, Constantin Fanciali [1905–1990], Dumitru Crăciunescu [1905–1967], Ion Chiorean [1912–2000], etc.), the works of Anatol Vieru (1926–1998), Ion Dumitrescu (1913–1996), Ioan D. Chirescu (1889–1980), Viorel Doboș (1917–1985) and others were arranged and orchestrated

45 MRRI/1948, 52–53. 46 Marina Frolova-Walker, “‘National in Form, Socialist in Content’: Musical Na-tion-Building in the Soviet Republics,” Journal of the American Musicological Society, vol. 51, no. 2 (summer, 1998), 333.



for the Army’s symphonic and wind bands. And not to lose sight of one of the fundamental principles of Stalinist aesthetics, that is, monumentality, the works of all these composers were performed at events and parades involving 600 or 1,200 instrumentalists—as was the case, for example, on 7 May 1949 at the festive concert in honour of Romanian Victory and Independence Day, which was held in the National Park,47 and in 1955 when the number of the performers numbered 4,000, including both choirs and instrumentalists.48

What was undertaken was a process whereby brass band compositions were flattened and homogenised, a process that officially commenced after 30 December 1947, following the forced abdication of King Michael I (b. 1921), and which was gradually relaxed only after Stalin’s death. Day after day, military music became progressively more involved in “educational missions” among the people—a sign that the Army, along with the whole of Romanian society and its institutions, had to take part in a vast programme of revolutionary “transformation,” of Sovietisation.

References

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Cosma, Viorel2006 Muzicieni din Romania: Lexicon biobibliografic [Musicians in Romania: A Bio-bibliographic Dictionary], vol. 9 (Bucharest: Editura Muzicală).

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47 RIIMM, 30v. 48 Sîlea, Istoria muzicilor militare, 257.



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Lățea, Constantin1994 “Epurarea armatei române. Mecanisme juridice: 1945–1947” [The Purge of the Romanian Army. Judicial Mechanisms: 1945–1947], Arhivele Totalitarismului [Totalitarianism Archives] 4, 190–206.

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***ARLUS, http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARLUS, accessed on September 11th, 2014.

Documents in the archive of the Military Music Service [Serviciul Muzicilor Militare].

Registrul istoric de la 01.01.1939–31.12.1942. Sinteză [The Historical Register from 01.01.1939 to 31.12.1942. Synthesis], (abbreviated as MRRI).

Registrul istoric al Inspectoratului Muzicilor Militare (1830–1992) [The Historical Register of the Military Music Inspectorate (1830–1992)], (abbreviated as RIIMM).