Nottara, Constantin

Nottara, Constantin, Romanian violinist, conductor, teacher, and composer; b. Bucharest, Oct. 13, 1890; d. there, Jan. 19, 1951. He studied with Klenck (violin), Kiriac (theory), and Castaidi (composition) at the Bucharest Cons. (1900–07), with Enesco and Bethe-lier (violin) in Paris (1907–09), and with Klinger (violin) and Schatzenhalz (composition) at the Berlin Royal Academy (1909–13). His career was centered in Bucharest, where he was a violinist in the Phil. (1905–07; 1918–20) and first violinist in a string quartet (1914–33). From 1916 to 1947 he taught at the Cons. He also was a conductor with the Municipal Orch. (1929–32) and the Radio Sym. Orch. (1933–38).

Works

dramatic: Iris, drama (1926; Moravska Ostrava, Nov. 13, 1931); La drumul mare (In the Highway), opera (1931; Cluj-Napoca, Oct. 3, 1934); Cu dragostea nu se glumette (Love is Not a Joke), comic opera (1940; Bucharest, Feb. 8, 1941); Ovidiu (Ovid), opera (1941–43; unfinished; completed by W. Berger); Se face ziuã (At Dawn), opera (1943); ballets. orch 3 suites: No. 1 (1917; Ia§i, Feb. 28, 1918), No. 2 (1930), and No. 3 (1930; Bucharest, Dec. 9, 1932); Poem elegiac for Cello and Orch. (1919); Poem for Violin and Orch. (1920; Bucharest, April 10, 1932); Schisslig; simfonicã olteneascã (1943); Variatiuni pe un cîntec popular bihorean (1943); Poemul pãcii (1947); Poemul pentru pace (1948); Violin Concerto (1950; Bucharest, Oct. 10, 1951). chamber: 2 violin sonatas (1914, 1949); Suitã romanescä for Viola and Piano (1945); Suite for Piano, Violin, and Cello (1949); Suitã in stil românesc for Cello and Piano (1949); Nonet (1950); piano pieces, including Rapsodie olteana (1943) and a Sonata (1947). vocal:Mircea §i Baiazil for Baritone and Orch. (1931); many solo songs.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire