Profeta, Laurenţiu

Profeta, Laurenţiu , Romanian composer; b. Bucharest, Jan. 12, 1925. He studied with Constantinescu and Mendelsohn (harmony, counterpoint, and composition) at the Bucharest Cons. (1945–9) and with Messner (composition) at the Moscow Cons. (1954–56). In 1945 he was awarded the Enesco Prize. He pursued his career in Bucharest, where he was asst. director of the Romanian Radio (1948–52). From 1952 to 1960 he was director of the music dept. of the Ministry of Culture. He was secretary of the Romanian National Committee of the International Music Council from 1960 to 1970. From 1968 he was also secretary of the Union of Composers and Musicologists, serving as a member of its directory council from 1990. It awarded him its prize 8 times (1968, 1969, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1986, 1990, 1993). In his music, Profeta has followed in the path of neo-Classicism while utilizing various contemporary elements in his scores.

Works

DRAMATIC: The Captain’s Wife, ballet (1946); The Prince and the Pauper, ballet (Bucharest, Sept. 15, 1967); The Wistful Mariner, ballet (1976); The Hours of the Sea, ballet (1979); The Triumph of Love, ballet (1983); Peter Pan’s Story, children’s comic opera (Bucharest, Dec. 20, 1984); Rica, ballet (1986); Hershale, musical (1989); The Loosers, musical (Bucharest, Oct. 22, 1990); Of the Carnival, ballet (1991); Eva Now, musical (1993); Kadar’s Legacy, musical (1999); Childhood Remembrances, radio musical (1999); film scores. O R C H.: A Suite for Marionettes for Chamber Orch. (1945); Days of Vac, suite (1956); The Prince and the Pauper, suite after the ballet (1975). VOCAL: The Happening in the Garden, oratorio for Soloists, Reciter, Children’s Chorus, and Orch. (1958); 6 Humorous Pieces for Soloists, Children’s Chorus, Small Orch., and Tape (1966); The Poem of the Forest for Children’s Chorus, Electric Organ, and Tape (1968); Romanian Christmas Carols for Children’s Chorus and Orch. (1994); Sholem Aleichem’s Musical World, Jewish songs (1996); Gypsy Songs for Soloist and Orch. (2000). OTHER: Symphonic Pop Music for Synthesizer (1994).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire