Charles Wood

The One-act Operas of Nicolae Bretan: Romania's Silenced Composer Charles Wood

While many artists enjoyed free expression and prospered during the twentieth century, others were stifled by suppressive rulers and regimes. The latter was the case with the Romanian composer, singer, and opera director, Nicolae Bretan. In 1947, the Communists demanded Bretan join the Communist Party of Romania (the PCR). Even after repeated demands and threats, Bretan refused to join the PCR and remained true to his family, friends and his own principles. In response, the PCRdeclared him a "non-person" and Nicolae Bretan, wellknown to the Romanian and Hungarian public as a singer, stage director, and promising composer, was silenced. Before his death in 1968, Bretan composed three one-act operas, "Luceafãrul" "Golem" and "Arald" and the Romanian National Opera "Horia" an opera in four acts. He also composed over 200 art songs in Romanian Hungarian and German and several sacred works including a Requiem. Thanks to the tireless efforts of his daughter JuditBretan's music is emerging from exile and is being heard in a free Romania and across the world."