Page 135 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2020. Konservatoriji: profesionalizacija in specializacija glasbenega dela ▪︎ The conservatories: professionalisation and specialisation of musical activity. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 4
P. 135
oi: https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-7055-86-3.133-141
Towards a Genuine University Status:
the National University of Music Bucharest
between the Two World Wars (1918–1940)
Antigona Rădulescu
National University of Music Bucharest
Neither of the stages of development of an institution such as the National
University of Music Bucharest – at least with respect to the interwar period
– can be understood without going back, even if only briefly, to the moment
it was established, under the name of the Bucharest Conservatory of Music
and Declamation - an event closely tied to the historical context and to the
evolution of Romanian culture in the middle of the 19th century.
In 1859, Romania as a country had just appeared on the map of the
world, as the direct result of the union between two Romanian territories,
Moldavia and Wallachia. Young Romania was at the confluence of two cul-
tures, Oriental and Occidental, the former being a consequence of the Ot-
toman domination exerted for a long time in the South-East of Europe and
the latter emerging as a viable alternative, desired and shared by all. The
first half of the century, culminating in the revolutions of 1848, had set the
stage for a gradual embracing of Western values, and the path that Roma-
nian history took represented a continuous consolidation of the new direc-
tion of development of the whole society: after the union, Prince Carol, of
German origin,1 becomes the young country’s leader, gaining, in war, its in-
dependence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, and turning it into a king-
dom in 1881. Romania would thus start on a profound change, a lengthy
process which would meet with such advantageous events as the annexa-
tion of Transylvania (the third province with a majority Romanian popula-
1 Full name: Karl Eitel Friedrich Zephyrimus Ludwig von Hohenzollern-Sigmarin-
gen.
133
Towards a Genuine University Status:
the National University of Music Bucharest
between the Two World Wars (1918–1940)
Antigona Rădulescu
National University of Music Bucharest
Neither of the stages of development of an institution such as the National
University of Music Bucharest – at least with respect to the interwar period
– can be understood without going back, even if only briefly, to the moment
it was established, under the name of the Bucharest Conservatory of Music
and Declamation - an event closely tied to the historical context and to the
evolution of Romanian culture in the middle of the 19th century.
In 1859, Romania as a country had just appeared on the map of the
world, as the direct result of the union between two Romanian territories,
Moldavia and Wallachia. Young Romania was at the confluence of two cul-
tures, Oriental and Occidental, the former being a consequence of the Ot-
toman domination exerted for a long time in the South-East of Europe and
the latter emerging as a viable alternative, desired and shared by all. The
first half of the century, culminating in the revolutions of 1848, had set the
stage for a gradual embracing of Western values, and the path that Roma-
nian history took represented a continuous consolidation of the new direc-
tion of development of the whole society: after the union, Prince Carol, of
German origin,1 becomes the young country’s leader, gaining, in war, its in-
dependence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, and turning it into a king-
dom in 1881. Romania would thus start on a profound change, a lengthy
process which would meet with such advantageous events as the annexa-
tion of Transylvania (the third province with a majority Romanian popula-
1 Full name: Karl Eitel Friedrich Zephyrimus Ludwig von Hohenzollern-Sigmarin-
gen.
133
