Description

GRIGORAȘ IONICA DINICU (BUCHAREST, ROMANIA, APRIL 3, 1889 – BUCHAREST, ROMANIA, MARCH 28, 1949)

Grigoraș Dinicu was a Romanian violin virtuoso and composer of Roma ethnicity. He is most famous for his often-played virtuoso violin showpiece “Hora staccato” (1906) and for making popular the tune Ciocârlia, composed by his grandfather Angheluș Dinicu for “nai” (the Romanian pan flute). It is rumored that Jascha Heifetz once said that Grigoraș Dinicu was the greatest violinist he had ever heard. He was born in Bucharest, in the neighborhood of the lăutari named Scaune (Chairs). Because his father was busy with his activity as a lăutar, he handed him over to “moș Zamfir”, an old violinist, who taught him the first tunes. He attended the Bucharest Conservatory, where he studied with Dumitru Georgescu-Kiriac. The most famous of his teachers was Carl Flesch, the violin pedagogue, with whom he studied in 1902. He received a scholarship at the Vienna Conservatory, but he was not allowed to go there because he was Romani, an episode that he never forgot. After graduation he played violin with the Orchestra of the Ministry of Public Instruction, and also performed as a soloist. Hora staccato dates from the beginning of this period; he wrote it as a graduation exercise. For forty years, from 1906 until 1946, he directed popular music concerts. He also toured abroad as a soloist and conductor, and he also played a great deal of light music in nightclubs, hotels, restaurants, and cafés in Bucharest and throughout Western Europe. His music is mostly for violin and piano, though some pieces (such as Hora staccato) have later been arranged for other combinations of instruments (for example, trumpet and piano, as well as violin and orchestra and a popular arrangement by Russian mandolin virtuoso Dave Apollon). He died in Bucharest of laryngeal cancer.

TRACKLIST

1. Cine-a pus cârciuma-n drum HMV JB 293
2. Hora boierească orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia DV 76
3. Jalea țiganului orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia DR 1012
4. Romanțe țigănești Columbia D 8414
5. Sârba și hora din Teiș Columbia DV 77
6. Aoleu, leliță Floare orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu HMV JB 298
7. Sârba Expoziției de la Paris HMV JB 296
8. Hora lui Timoșca Columbia D 8413
9. Căruța poștei orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia DR 1012
10. Hora lui Teișanu orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia DV 77
11. Souvenir orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia D 14143
12. Hora lui Ion Dinicu orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu HMV JB 296
13. Ciocârlia orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia D 8412
14. Plaisir d’amour Columbia D 8414
15. Ca pe luncă (Hora țăranului) Columbia DV 76
16. Doina Oltului orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia D 8412
17. Sârba Expoziției de la Paris orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu HMV JB 296
18. Hora mărțișorului orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia DV 496
19. Ceasornicul orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia D 8566
20. Sârba pompierilor orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia D 8413
21. Sârba lui Ilie (Vlădescu) orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia D 8411
22. Hora lui Dobrică orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia D 8411
23. Hora Staccato orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia D 14144