Virtuosity and Dor: George Enescu and the Hora Lungă

Abstract

George Enescu’s aptitude as a virtuoso musician, developed at the conservatoires of Vienna and Paris, built on childhood experiences with Romani-Romanian musicians (the muzica lăutărească tradition), and Romanian folk music. The doina, a folk genre constructed from improvisatory repetitions of melody, and particularly associated with the concept of dor, “longing,” served as an inspiration throughout Enescu’s compositional career. This study examines virtuosity in relation to Enescu’s musical expressions of dor, specifically in his approach to the hora lungă, a sub-class of the doina. The virtuosic zenith of his Third Violin Sonata involves blurring the lines between emulation of muzica lăutărească performance with traditional vocal hora lungă delivery. The later Second Cello Sonata is contextualised with reference to Lucian Blaga’s formulation of the “stylistic matrix” as a means for depicting dor in connection to the temporal. Virtuosity here rather relates to interpretation: evoking the unconscious and the “mioritic space” by contrast to emulation of muzica lăutărească or the spontaneity of improvised hora lungă performance. Considering these examples with reference to personal and historical context, the present study suggests these passages perform the traditional function of the hora lungă: catharsis.