The Songs of Nicolae Bretan

Bretan’s operas, and above all his monumental folk epic Horia, can perhaps be seen as his main body of work; and yet it is song that runs like a connecting thread through his entire creative life. Whereas the operas were largely written during the time of his activity at the two theatres in Cluj, the composition of songs occupied him from his youth until the late years of his life. Bretan, who discovered his passion for singing very early and began to cultivate his voice, felt just as early the urge to express himself in songs of his own, to give musical form to his feelings.Although he availed himself of poems in various different languages for that purpose, his own language seems to have been music, and his true home the realm of tones.