Felicia Donceanu

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| name = Felicia Donceanu

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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1931|01|28|df=y}}

| birth_place = Bacău, Romania

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| death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|1|21|1931|1|28|df=y}}

| death_place = Drăgoești, Romania

| resting_place = Bellu Cemetery

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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}Felicia Donceanu (28 January 1931 – 21 January 2022) was a Romanian painter, sculptor, pianist and composer. She composed works that were performed internationally, and was particularly noted for her harp compositions and choral works. Donceanu was awarded the Romanian Academy George Enescu Prize in 1984.

Life and career

Donceanu was born in Bacău on 28 January 1931.{{cite book | first=Heide M. | last=Boenke | title=Flute Music by Women Composers: An Annotated Catalog | location=London | publisher=Greenwood | year=1989 | page=33 | isbn=978-0-31326-019-3}} She originally planned to be a stage director, but became interested in music and studied composition at the Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatory in Bucharest (now the National University of Music) with Mihail Jora. She also studied harmony with Paul Constantinescu, theory and solfege with Ioan Chirescu, and orchestration with Theodor Rogalski. She also studied piano with Eugenia Ionescu. After completing her studies in 1956, she worked as an editor for ESPLA until 1958, and then for Editura Muzicala in Bucharest until 1966. After leaving her editorial position, she worked full-time as a composer, producing works that have been performed internationally. She is a member of the Romanian Composers' Union, and has won their composition prize a number of times. Donceanu performed on radio, and also given radio lectures.

Donceanu composed incidental music for plays by Thornton Wilder, Moliere and Shakespeare, among others. She was particularly noted for her harp compositions and choral works. According to Viorel Cosma, Donceanu "delights in mixing the timbres of old and modern instruments...to produce light, sonorous works with a truly Romanian spirit." She also painted and sculpted.

She was married to the poet Alexandru Voitin.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IvoQQU1QL_QC&q=Felicia+Donceanu+%28born+1931%29&pg=PA147|title=The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers|first1=Julie Anne|last1=Sadie|first2=Rhian|last2=Samuel|year=1994|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |accessdate=7 December 2010|isbn=9780393034875}}{{cite book |author=Cohen, Aaron I. |title=International encyclopedia of women composers: Volume 1 |year=1987 |pages=202}} Donceanu died in Drăgoești on 21 January 2022, at the age of 90.{{Cite web |last=AGERPRES |title=A murit poeta şi pictoriţa Felicia Donceanu |url=https://www.agerpres.ro/cultura-media/2022/01/21/a-murit-poeta-si-pictorita-felicia-donceanu--851865 |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=www.agerpres.ro |language=ro}}

Honors and awards

Honorable mention, International Composition Competition in Mannheim, 1961
Romanian Union of Composers’ prize in 1984, 1984?, 1986, 1988, 1993, 1996, and 1997
Order of Cultural Merit, 1981
Romanian Academy George Enescu prize, 1984{{cite web |title=Felicia Donceanu |url=http://www.romanianmusiconline.com/Articles/FeliciaDonceanu.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715201128/http://www.romanianmusiconline.com/Articles/FeliciaDonceanu.htm |archive-date=15 July 2011 |accessdate=7 December 2010 |website=Romanian Music Online}}

Works

Donceanu composed for stage plays and instrumental ensemble, but focused mostly on chamber works. Her music is influenced by Romanian folk music, sometimes featuring traditional folk instruments. Selected works include:

Arie de Concert (1973) for baritone and orchestra
Măiastra (1973) for soprano, chorus, and string orchestra
Picolicomando (1984) for tenor, children's chorus, organ, violin, and percussion
Yolanda (1993) for soprano and orchestra
Rugăciunea Domnească (1992) for voice, string orchestra, and percussion
Rugăciunea Domnească (1998) for male chorus, string orchestra, and percussion
Invocatio (1999) with Biblical texts and fragments of verses by Ovid, scored for soprano, piano, violin, and chamber orchestra
Clopote la soroc (1999) a cantata for SATB chorus and orchestra
Retro-Tango, for bassoon ensemble
Inscription on a Mast for harp
Odinioară, song-cycle for mezzo-soprano and piano
Mărgele (Beads) (1962) four songs to verses by Tudor Arghezi
Trei Cântece pentru Til (1964) to verses by George Călinescu
Dor I for contralto
Dor II for contralto
Imagini pe versuri de Eminescu (Pictures on Verses of Eminescu) (1963–1965) for soprano
Cu Penetul (With Plumage)
Mărturisiri (Confessions), cycle of five songs for bass-baritone to poems by Alexandru Voitin, from 1975 to 1978 and 1986
Cântece de fată frumoasă
Cântând cu Ienăchiţă Văcărescu
Sincron
Ponti Euxini Clepsydra (1971) for soprano, clarinet, oboe, percussion, and harp
Mai sunt încă roze (1972), to texts by Macedonski, is a five-song work for soprano and instrumental ensemble
Two Serenades (1973) for baritone, flute, and harp, to verses by Baconski
Cântece de fată frumoasă (1976) three-movement work for mezzo-soprano, English horn, and marimba
Cântând cu Ienăchiţă Văcărescu (1983) for soprano, lute, viola da gamba, flute, harpsichord, and percussion, text from Ienăchiţă Văcărescu
Abţibilder după Tristan Tzara (1996) semi-staged work for soprano, harpsichord, and two viola da gamba
Cutia cu surprise … şi pentru oameni încrutaţi (The Box with Surprises) (1998) for soprano, two viola da gamba, harpsichord, piano, and puppets
Tablouri vivante (Living Tableaux) (1999), for voice and instruments