Musicatlas
Music
- The most famous piece is his ballad for violin (piano acc.), 1880. it is now best known in the orchestral version by T. Rogalski (1901-1954).
- The Romanian anthem (used until 1990) was composed by C. Porumbescu.
- The Albanian national anthem was also composed by Porumbescu, see http://www.albanian.com/information/countries/albania/general/anthem.html
- Another remarkable piece is his Rumanian rhapsody for piano (1882), that was compared to Liszt’s Rhapsodies. the orchestral version, by C. Bobescu, is colourful.
J.Koll <JimTieW
aol.com> adds:
Crai nou (New King); Trei culori. One of his famous violin pieces was featured on the film Young Frankenstein, with Gene Wilder.
Life
Learning music from his father at an early age, Porumbescu was duly prepared for matriculation at the Vienna Conservatory where he became the student of Krenn and Bruckner. He helped to establish the Conservatory in Romania for instrumental and vocal music and had ample experience to do so given his compositions of operettas and numerous pieces for piano and violin. "Crai nou" was an operetta Porumbescu composed in 1882. By 1900 it had become the most popular of Romanian works in this genre. For political reasons he was confined to a specific district and was a leading musical organizer and musician of the area. He conducted, composed and helped to establish a society for students. Subsequently, his music became the rallying cry for young Romanian students. Popular music was Porumbescu’s inspiration. He composed most of his music during his later years while in service at St. Nicholas’ Church in Brasov. [Source: Keith Johnson, All Music Guide]
(Contribution by <finutsayahoo.com>.)