Water Waves, Sound Waves, down the River, up the Staves:

Representations of the Danube in Romanian Music

Abstract

The present article is the second part of a study that explores, from a cultural studies perspective,
the way in which the Danube has inspired the music of its riparian countries across the ages.
The first part, which will appear in another publication, analyses significant works composed
in the other nine European countries crossed by the river, while this second part focuses on
folklore, urban songs, operetta, and film music composed in Romania – the land of the delta. As
chance will have it, the first part will be published later than the second. Starting from the
physical and metaphysical kinship between water and sound waves, this article shows how the
Danube has constantly loomed large in the musical creation on its Romanian banks, reflecting
the way of life of the inhabitants, their customs and traditions, their mentalities and
philosophies, also preserving information about long-gone local places and conferring
immortality (or at least an afterlife) to ephemeral generations. Stressing the river’s function as
border meant both to separate and to unite lands and peoples and to bring into bold relief both
their similarities and differences, the study underlines another paradoxical duality of the
Danube: its versatility and its individuality. Analysing a selection of folk songs, Ioan
Ivanovici’s famous waltz “Danube Waves”, George Grigoriu’s eponymous operetta, and four
films from the perspective of their soundtrack, the article concludes that it is opportune to tackle
the great shapeshifting river through music – a language that needs no translation and a journey
that knows no borders – in order to capture one more facet of its cultural significance.