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Abstract: A few months after the passing of George Enescu, a contest was organised by the Ministry of Culture and the People’s Council of Bucharest, held in order to select the sculptor who would create a bronze monument depicting the most important Romanian musician, a statue which would be placed in front of the Romanian Opera House. The statue would also have to harmoniously integrate with the environment through its composition and dimensions. In order to take part in the competition, the contestants had to present a model of the monument. The judging process for the models was secret. The first meeting of the panel of judges took place on October 27th 1955, when the 42 projects submitted for the contest were analysed. Out of these, only 25 abided by the required criteria. It was decided that the proposals with artistic value would remain in the competitions, the others being removed. Sculptor Corneliu Medrea withdraws from the panel of judges, as he did not agree with the way projects were rated and with the fact that the judges who were sculptors were not allowed to express their opinions. Medrea’s action brings the contest to a halt for a while. It resumes eventually, announcing its winners during the November 17th 1955 meeting. Although Constantin Baraschi was announced as the contest winner, with two variants projects submitted individually for the competition, the statue that was placed in front of the Romanian Opera House in 1971 was made by Ion Jalea, one of the competition judges in 1955. Another work dedicated to George Enescu was created by sculptor Boris Caragea, and placed in front of the Bucharest National University of Music. It was only in 2013, when the George Enescu Festival began, that the work created by Constantin Baraschi was placed in Bucharest, on street level, at the crossing of Magheru Boulevard and George Enescu Street. There are other statues of George Enescu in Bucharest: in front of the Music Lyceum and within the Athenaeum (both by Gheorghe Anghel) and a bust, part of the ,,Garden of Romanian values” ensemble in ,,Children’s world” Park. |
