The Romanian singer,
conductor, composer, author and director
Nicolae Bretan was born in Transylvania.
He was proud of his roots but not in
a nationalist way. His pride was in
his humanity and early on he got to
know Romanians, Hungarians, Germans
and Jews. He learnt their songs and
later composed several hundred songs
to several of these languages, songs
with a relation to the different cultures
but at the same time borderless and
timeless. It is possibly in his songs
that his real greatness lies and I refer
readers to reviews of a number of discs
on Nimbus. (See bottom of this review).
He also wrote several
operas during the inter-war years and
Horia has claims to being his
masterpiece. It is based on real historical
events, an uprising by serfs in Transylvania
in 1784 - five years before the French
Revolution. The aim was largely the
same: to get rid of oppression from
the gentry. A troika of leaders was
chosen by the serfs, who were mainly
Romanians but also Hungarians, and the
supreme commander was Horia. The uprising
failed and Horia and the other leaders
were executed; before that Horia’s wife
had been killed, his daughter raped
and her betrothed Ionel committed suicide.
Horia lives in the consciousness of
the Romanian people and stands as a
symbol of humanity and freedom.
The opera follows the
progression of the uprising and the
final defeat of the serfs. It is in
seven emotionally charged scenes the
fervour of which is carried through
the music and the profound passion of
the libretto. It ends when the soldiers
are about to execute the leaders of
the revolt but the scene dissolves and
the wives and daughters of the serfs
are given the last word, singing – in
Michael Impey’s English translation:
Death passes through the garden,
Snapping flowers at the root,
And Horia at the heart,
And Horia at the heart.
Mother dear, daughter dear,
Give me your hand and forgive me,
If I have erred toward you,
If I ever erred toward you,
Give me your hand and forgive me!
In the midst of death
and disaster there is a ray of hope,
of faith in the future. These women
are going to carry on life – and one
day freedom will be theirs.
Nicolae Bretan believed
in humanity and this message is to the
fore in this opera, especially in Horia’s
monologues. Alas, Bretan was not rewarded
for his belief in mankind. His wife’s
entire family was deported to Auschwitz
and killed in 1944. Four years later,
when he refused to join the Communist
Party in Romania, he was declared a
non-person by the authorities and his
works were banned. Not until after his
death was he rehabilitated and only
then were his works again performed.
Several of the song discs mentioned
were recorded in the early-to-mid-1970s
at the same time as the staging of his
operas. Even in 1980, when the present
live recording was made, the original
text was changed in some places "as
biblical references were banned in Communist
Romania at the time …"
Recorded at actual
performances in monaural sound, with
stage noises, a clean but constricted
and fairly distant orchestra and a number
of soloists that were past their best
or maybe second-rate singers, this might
appear a non-starter. However in reality
it is far from a write-off. Such is
the power of the drama, the humanity
of the libretto and the expressive qualities
of the music. Being a drama about revolution
the music is anything but revolutionary,
considering the times in which it was
written. There are no jarring disharmonies,
no barnstorming modernity. Instead Nicolae
Bretan has, just as in his songs, found
a tonal, melodic idiom that perfectly
carries his message. This is achieved
without offending the ear and makes
every righteous human being react to
oppression, violence and inhumanity.
This is done in a tonal language that
has its roots in late Verdi as well
as in Mussorgsky. There are few real
arias but the monologues and dialogues,
more often than not, are condensed into
arioso episodes and very often the music
is achingly beautiful. At the end of
scene 1, there is a long duet for two
basses, no doubt inspired by the Philippo–Inquisitor
scene in Don Carlo. In the second
scene there is a duet for Ionel and
Ilona that grows to a trio with Dochia.
Again this is very Verdian and deploys
a melody that sticks in the memory (CD
1 tr. 8-9). A little later there is
an episode for women’s choir with reminiscences
of Puccini’s Humming chorus from Butterfly.
Some patriotic choruses and warlike
orchestral music may seem close to the
nationalist music of 1930s Soviet Union,
but they fill a need, just as Gott
erhalte Franz der Kaiser is quoted
after the death sentences have been
pronounced in the final scene. There,
close to the end, Horia’s farewell monologue
to his daughter is deeply gripping.
Gheorghe Crăsnaru
softens his voice and sings with a warmth
that he signally fails to muster earlier
in the opera.
The cast list is long,
in toto 26 roles; it goes without
saying that few opera houses have the
resources to fill a production of these
dimensions with world class singers.
Dan Zancu as Baron Kemény has
a splendid black bass. Cornelia Pop’s
Ileana is also good, especially in the
last scene. Others are wobbly or strained
to a greater or lesser degree, but every
role, however small, is sung with involvement
and conviction. The choruses, both male
and female, also give a good impression.
The accompanying book
(208 pages) has valuable essays on Nicolae
Bretan, the background of this opera,
a synopsis and full texts and translations
– exemplary presentation!
In the ideal world
one could hope for a new recording in
better sound and with a classier cast.
However I doubt this will happen in
the near future and once one gets involved
in the performance it’s easy to disregard
occasional weaknesses and instead concentrate
on the drama, which unfolds mercilessly.
I urge readers who want to widen their
operatic horizons to give Horia a
try. I don’t think anyone will be disappointed,
either on musical or dramatic grounds.
Göran Forsling
Other Bretan reviews
My
Lieder-Land Volume 1
My
Lieder-Land Volume 2 RECORDING
OF THE MONTH (April)
SONGS
Ruxandra Donose (sop)
SONGS Alexandru Agache (baritone)
Sacred Songs
Orchestra and Chorus of the Romanian Opera,
Bucharest/Cornel Trăilescu 
