Įnescu conducted the First Rhapsody at what proved to be his New York farewell concert with members of the New York Philharmonic on 21 January 1950. As the work progresses, this tune grows faster and livelier to climax in a vibrant whirling folk dance. This is soon replaced with a slower melody first introduced in the violins. The tune was played by the Romani violinist Lae Chioru (Nicolae Filip), from whom Enescu had his first violin lessons at the age of 4, but there is some doubt whether Enescu actually remembered it from Chioru, since the tune had been in circulation in various collections printed as early as 1848 (alternative spelling: "Am un leu şi vreau să-l beu"), which Enescu could have consulted. It begins by quoting the folk song "Am un leu şi vreau să-l beau" (variously translated as "I want to spend my money on drink", "I have a coin, and I want a drink", "I want to spend my shilling on drink", or, more literally, "I have a leu and I want to drink it"), which is played by oboes and clarinets. The First Rhapsody is ebullient and outgoing. Īccording to the published score, the instrumentation is: 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets in A, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets in C, 2 cornets in A, 3 trombones, tuba, 3 timpani, triangle, snare drum, cymbals, 2 harps, violins I & II, violas, violoncellos, contrabasses. It was completed on 14 August 1901, when Enescu was still only 19 years old. Įnescu claimed that it was "just a few tunes thrown together without thinking about it", but his surviving sketches show that he carefully worked out the order in which the melodies should appear, and the best instrumental setting for each one. The essence of this rhapsody is the dance. 1 in A major is dedicated to the composer and pedagogue Bernard Crocé-Spinelli (a fellow student with Enescu in André Gedalge's counterpoint class at the Conservatoire), and is the better known of the two rhapsodies. The Second Rhapsody was played first, and Enescu maintained this order of performance throughout his life. The concert took place on 23 February 1903 (according to the Julian calendar in use in Romania at that time 8 March 1903 Gregorian). The composer conducted all three of his own works, which were preceded on the programme by Berlioz's Overture to Les francs-juges and Schumann's Symphony No. The two Romanian Rhapsodies were composed in Paris, and premiered together in a concert at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest which also included the world premiere of Enescu's First Suite for Orchestra, Op.
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