International Conference Report: Elite Salon Music in 19th-Century South-Eastern Europe
Elites and Their Musics: Music and Music-Making in the 19th-Century South-Eastern Europe Salons
An international conference exploring salon music in South-Eastern Europe during the 1800s took place from November 21 to 23, 2019, organized in Bucharest, Romania. The event, hosted jointly by the National University of Music Bucharest (UNMB) and New Europe College, brought together scholars from across Europe and the United States to examine how elite social gatherings shaped musical life in the region. The conference was illustrated with Theodor Aman’s oil painting Petrecere cu lăutari.
Thursday, November 21
Sessions at New Europe College
The opening day began with a welcome address by researcher Haiganuș Preda–Schimek at the conference hall on 21 Plantelor Street in Bucharest.
Session I: Salon Music and Elite Taste
Stanislav Tuksar chaired the first session. Haiganuș Preda–Schimek discussed how salon music albums reveal shifting preferences among elites in the nineteenth-century Danubian Principalities. Florinela Popa examined the way Romanian art music was presented in the local press during the late 1800s. Derek B. Scott offered a comparative look at salon music in London and Bucharest.
Session II: Musical Manuscript Studies
Derek B. Scott chaired the second session. Speranța Rădulescu analyzed Musical Manuscript no. 2575 from the Library of the Romanian Academy in Bucharest. Bennett Zon explored how ekphrasis was integrated into The Child’s Pianoforte Book (1888) for teaching children interdisciplinary skills. Closing the session, Costin Moisil presented a case study of Salon music from early nineteenth-century Moldavia, focusing on Musical Manuscript no. 2663 (dated 1824).
Session III: Sociability and National Identity
Bennett Zon chaired the third session. Marijana Kokanović Marković investigated Princess Anka Obrenović’s salons in the Principality of Serbia as forms of sociability and entertainment. Valentina Sandu-Dediu examined examples of Romanian composition in the nineteenth century. Constantin Ardeleanu drew on a British journalist’s account of modern Romanian “Music and Manners.”
Following the session, Philip V. Bohlman delivered the keynote lecture:
“Balkan Borderlands” and “Transylvanian Transit”: Cabaretesque Topographies of East European Modernity
Friday, November 22
Sessions at the National University of Music Bucharest
The day’s events were held at the Auditorium Hall, 33 Știrbei Vodă Street. A ceremony conferring the title of Doctor Honoris Causa upon Professor Philip V. Bohlman took place mid-afternoon in the Concert Hall.
Session IV: Institutional Beginnings and Urban Salons
Philip V. Bohlman chaired the fourth session. Antigona Rădulescu traced the beginnings of institutional musical life in the Romanian Principalities. Vjera Katalinić explored ideology and music in Zagreb salons and gatherings during the first half of the century. Stanislav Tuksar followed with an examination of the “darker side” of the salon repertoire in the second half of the nineteenth century in Zagreb.
Session V: Salons Across the Region
Valentina Sandu-Dediu chaired the fifth session. Avra Xepapadakou discussed salon music in nineteenth-century Greece. Erich Türk examined the emerging music culture in Cluj during the early 1800s. John Plemmens presented on music connected with the Phanariot/Romanian nobility in the Danubian Principalities, describing how chords flattered “faltering lords.”
The day concluded with a concert in the Concert Hall, followed by a dinner.
Saturday, November 23
Final Sessions and Future Directions
The final day returned to the Auditorium Hall of the National University of Music Bucharest. Costin Moisil chaired the sixth and final session.
Session VI: Regional Networks and Church Music
Emese Sófalvi considered the place of music under Count Georg Bánffy’s reign, asking whether music belonged to salon, stage, or society. Laura Vasiliu and Dalia Rusu-Persic presented on salon music in the nineteenth-century city of Iași. Feza Tansuğ discussed Turkish-Romanian musical relations. Costin Moisil explored the ties between Orthodox Church music and Europe in nineteenth-century Wallachia and Moldavia.
The conference closed with conclusions and final remarks, along with a discussion about the future of the project. Organizers emphasized that ideas and expertise offered by all participants were valued.
Project Support
This international conference was supported by the Institutional Development Fund project CNFIS-FDI-2019-0171, coordinated by the National University of Music Bucharest. The project title, in Romanian, was Muzicile Elitelor. Orient și Occident în muzicile saloanelor princiare și boierești din Principatele Române în secolul al XIX-lea (The Musics of Elites. East and West in the Musical Salons of Princely and Boyar Courts in the Romanian Principalities in the 19th Century). It ran from May 20 to December 20, 2019.