Nicolae Bretan

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Nicolae Bretan (25 March 1887 – 1 December 1968) was an Romanian opera composer, baritone, conductor and music critic.

He studied in Cluj, Vienna and Budapest before becoming one of the pioneers of Romanian opera - his opera Luceafarul (1921) is cited as the first opera in Romanian. Bretan also composed many lieder. . In 1944 Bretan's wife and her family, who were Jewish, were transported to the Nazi extermination camp at Auschwitz and murdered.

Refusing to become a member of the Communist Party in 1948, he was not favoured by the Romanian communist regime, who treated the composer as a "non person".

[edit] Major operatic works

• Luceafarul (1921)
• Golem (1924)
• Eroii de la Rovine (1935)
• Horia (1937)
• Arald (1939)

[edit] Recordings

• "Arald" and "Golem" on Nimbus NI 5424 (1995)(Arald: Zancu, Agache, Voineag, Sandru; Golem: Agache, Dároczy, Sandru, Zancu

Both operas with the Moldavian Philharmonic Orchestra/ conductor: Christian Mandeal)

• "Horia" on Nimbus NI5513/14 (1997) (Cornelia Pop, Buciuceanu, Fanateanu; Bucharest National Opera Choir, Bucarest Opera Orchestra/ conductor Cornel Trailescu (live recording)

• "Luceafarul" (The Evening Star) on Nimbus NI 5463 (1996) (Voineag, Szabó, Casian; Transsylvanian Philharmonic Orchestra/ conductor Béla Hary

• Requiem (mezzosoprano, baritone,organ) + selection from "Spiritual Songs" (baritone, piano, organ) on Nimbus NI 5584 (1999)

[edit] Sources

• The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera, ed. Roger Parker (1994)
• Booklet accompanying CD of "Arald" and "Golem" (Nimbus NI 5424 (1995))