Anton Pann | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1790 +- |
| Died | 2 November 1854 |
| Occupation | poet |
| Nationality | Wallachian |
| Period | 1828–1854 |
| Genre | lyric poetry,epic poetry,fable,satire,aphorism |
Anton Pann (Romanian pronunciation:[anˈtonˈpan]; bornAntonie Pantoleon-Petroveanu[anˈtoni.epantoleˈonpetroˈve̯anu], and also mentioned asAnton Pantoleon orPetrovici; 1790s—2 November 1854) was anOttoman-bornWallachian composer, musicologist, andRomanian-language poet, also noted for his activities as a printer, translator, and schoolteacher. Pann was an influentialfolklorist and collector ofproverbs, as well as alexicographer and textbook author.
Pann was born sometime between 1794 and 1798, inSliven,Rumelia (in what is todayBulgaria).[1][2] According to some accounts, his mother, Thomaida, was anethnic Greek,[1][3][4] while his father, Pantoleon Petrov, was Bulgarian; it is known that he worked as a coppersmith bucket-maker.[2][4][5] There is a commonly held view byRomani community activists, who consider Pann among the most prominent Romani artists.[6] This view is also accepted by some Romanian authors.[7] Various other interpretations state that Pantoleon Petrov, who died during Anton Pann's childhood,[1] wasBulgarian,Aromanian,[3] orRomanian.[1][3][4][8] The writer, who was the youngest of Petrov and Thomaida's three sons, eventually adopted the family namePann, as a colloquial contraction of his father's given name.[2]
After he began primary education at the communal school in Sliven, the Petrovs fled the region during theRusso-Turkish War of 1806–1812 and settled inChișinău,Bessarabia, where Anton was first employed by aRussian Orthodox choir.[1][2][4] His two brothers were killed in the skirmishes aroundBrăila, as volunteers on theImperial Russian side.[1][2][4] Moving with his mother toBucharest in 1810-1812, Pann would spend most of his life in the city.[2][4]
Anton Pann carried on with his choral activities in Wallachia, was employed as asexton by theRomanian OrthodoxOlari and Sfinților Churches, before being tutored by the Greek musicianDionysios Foteinos (1777–1821)[9] and allowed to attend the religious music school founded byPetros Ephesios (d. 1840).[1][2][8] Perfecting his craft, he came to the attention ofMetropolitanDionisie Lupu, who appointed him on a commission charged with translating liturgical works fromSlavonic to Romanian.[2][8] The memoiristIon Ghica later recounted that Pann attended theSaint Sava College, but this remains disputed.[2][4] In 1820, he first married Zamfira Azgurean, in what was to be the first of his unhappy romantic liaisons.[1][2]
In 1821, whenTudor Vladimirescu'srebellious forces occupied the city, Pann fled to theTransylvanian city ofKronstadt (part of theAustrian Empire), and was employed as acantor by theSaint Nicolas Church in the ethnic Romanian neighborhood ofȘchei.[1][2] This temporary refuge over theSouthern Carpathians mirrored that of other cultural and religious figures of the day, his fellow musicianMacarie Ieromonahul among them.[1]
He also spent time inRâmnicu Vâlcea (1827), where he was a teacher at the Orthodoxseminary and, in parallel, lectured on religious music to the nuns of theDintr-un Lemn Monastery [ro].[1][2][4] A scandal erupted after Pann used his position at the latter institution to seduce Anica, the mother superior's 16-year-old niece.[2] Unsuccessfully offering her legal guardians to marry Anica in church, he eloped with her back to Șchei.[2][4] While there, he became friends with the writerIoan Barac, whom he had probably met earlier, and who, according to Pann's own testimony, gave him lessons inmeter.[2] According to some sources, he also took a trip toBuda.[2] The literary criticTudor Vianu attributes to Barac andVasile Aaron, whose work constituted an adaption of variouschanson de geste themes, the merit of having inspired Pann to pursue a literary career.[4]
Returning toRâmnicu Vâlcea in 1828, he was officially expelled from his teaching position, and, in 1828, he returned to work as a cantor for the Bucharest school onPodul Mogoșoaiei.[2] Over the following decade, Pann authored a large panel of musical and literary works,[2] includingNoul Doxastar, which, adapted and partly recreated from Dionisie Fotino's version, assembled all officially-endorsed pieces ofChristian music, and which he prefaced.[1] According to his own testimony, this had required a major financial effort, one which almost caused his bankruptcy.[1]
In 1837, he separated from Anica, with whom he had fathered a son (Gheorghiță) and a daughter (Tinca).[1] Anton Pann married a third and final time in 1840, to Catinca (the more common name of Ecaterina).[1] All three of his wives survived his death;[2] his son by Zamfira, Lazăr, was to become an Orthodox priest.[1][2]
From 1842 to 1851, with support gained fromMetropolitan Neofit, Pann was employed as a music teacher by the main seminary in Bucharest (in parallel, he continued to sing at theAlbă Church [ro]).[1][2] During those years, he began associating with famouslăutari of his day, and regularly attended the lively social gatherings held in the gardens and orchards ofMitropoliei Hill.[4] A passionate collector ofclassical-Ottoman andRomani music, which formed the staple of thelăutari repertory ever since thePhanariote period, Pann later printed some of the earliestmaneletablatures.[10][11] This was matched by his interest in other musical traditions: in his churchly practice, he endorsed the tradition ofByzantine hymns and removedmodulations ofLevantine inspiration, while he was among the first of his generation to usemodern notation andItalian markings fortempo.[1]
In 1843, Pann established aprinting press inside theOlteni Church, which published works by several authors of his day, as well as a long series ofalmanacs.[1][2][4] He later confessed that this enterprise had drained his economies, and that he had relied on support from various benefactors.[1] Upon Neofit's request, he also began the translation of various religious texts.[2] Pann's comprehensive and innovative textbook for music,Bazul teoretic şi practic al muzicii bisericeşti ("The Theoretical and Practical Basis of Church music or the Melodic Grammar"), was officially endorsed by the Metropolitan and taught at the seminary after 1845 and became a template for similar works;[1][2] in addition, his printing shop sold cheap copies of popular novels, such as theAlexander Romance, theBook of 1001 Nights, theBook of Til Owl-Mirror, and theStory of Genevieve of Brabant.[4] In March 1847, Anton Pann authored an account of theGreat Fire of Bucharest.[2] During the latter disaster, his printing shop was heavily damaged, and he was only able to salvage the presses.[1] He resumed his activities only in 1849, when he moved the business to a house owned by Catinca Pann on Taurului Street.[1]
In 1848, he published alexicon of words and expressions in Romanian,Russian, andOttoman Turkish.[2] Later in the same year, Pann sided with theliberal revolutionaries in their action againstPrinceGheorghe Bibescu, was a supporter of the new Wallachian Provisional Government, participating in popular rallies inCraiova andRâmnicu Vâlcea (see1848 Wallachian revolution).[1][2] The following year, after falling severely ill, he wrote down the first version of his testament in verse (Adiata), in which he asked to be buried inViforâta Monastery [ro] (where he hoped that his wife Catinca would become a nun).[2] After a series of other satirical works, Pann produced a collection of writings centered on the figure ofNastratin Hogea and owing inspiration toBalkan folklore at large (first published in 1853).[2][3]
In autumn 1854, Pann fell ill withtyphus and thecommon cold during a visit to Râmnicu Vâlcea, dying soon after at his Bucharest residence; he was buried in theLucaci Church of Bucharest,[1][2][8] although, in his second will of August, he had asked for his final resting place to be the hermitage of Rozioara (this failure to comply was attributed to the difficulties in transportation).[1] Catinca Pann remarried soon after this.[2] During the early 1900s, Lucaci Church became home to a monument in Pann's honor, donated by the General Association of Church Singers — an institution presided over byIon Popescu-Pasărea [ro].[1]
Pann's literary creation was noted for its reliance on a vastoral tradition, which he claimed to have codified, thus drawing comparisons to his predecessorsFrançois Rabelais,Giovanni Boccaccio, andMiguel de Cervantes.[4] The Romanian literary criticGeorge Călinescu drew a direct comparison between Pann and his contemporary, theWallachian Jewish peddlerCilibi Moise, who, without producing any written works, was made famous by a series of bitter puns in which he referred to himself in the third person (such as "For a few years now, Cilibi Moise has been begging Poverty to leave his house, at the very least for as long as it takes him to get dressed").[12]
Together withIon Creangă andPetre Ispirescu, Pann was among the first major interpreters of Romanian folklore in 19th-century literature.[4] Appealing primarily to a semi-educated audience, his creations have been celebrated for their familiar tone and use of plainRomanian, during a period when literary language was beginning to rely onformalism and a large number ofneologisms.[8] The writer himself made frequent excuses to the more educated of his readers for any flaws they were to find in his texts, specifying that he lacked in formal training.[1][4] In the final decades of his life, several of his printed works, especiallyMemorialul focului mare and themanele lyrics collectionSpitalul amorului, came to be appreciated by a younger generation ofboyars.[8] TheMoldavian poetVasile Alecsandri noted, in an 1872 letter quoted byGarabet Ibrăileanu: "Anton Pann has not yet been appreciated to his full value, and moreover, in Wallachia his merits are even being held in contempt by most modern men of letters".[13]
Pann's poetic language often relies on elaborate successions of images, metaphors, or maxims.[14] According to Călinescu, "the fundamental method" used by Pann is "the almost monstrous accumulation of aphorism, around an initial idea and through a very wide [process of] association", amounting to "aburlesque effect".[14] He illustrated this view with a sample of proverb-lyrics:
Aideți să vorbim de geabă
Că tot n-avem nici o treabă,
Fiindcă,
Gura nu cere chirie,
Poate vorbi orice fie.
De multe ori însă,
Vorba, din vorbă în vorbă
Au ajuns și la cociorbă.
Și atunci vine proverbul:
Vorba pe unde a ieșit
Mai bine să fi tușit.[14]
Let's talk for nothing
It's not like we have something else to do,
Because
The mouth requires no rent
It can talk come what may.
Many times however,
The word, between exchanges,
Makes people reach for theirstokers.
And that is where a proverb fits:
Instead of uttering a word
It is better to have coughed.
Almost all of Pann's work drew on recent or ancient sources, which he reinterpreted to suit the tastes of his public.[4] In the 1880s, the scholarMoses Gaster revealed that one of Pann's major works,Înțeleptul Archir și nepotul său Anadam ("The Wise Archir and His Nephew Anadam"), made ingenious use of an old and much-circulated biography ofAesop.[4] In researching variousfables which Pann had used to expand on his proverbs, Gaster noted that they echoed obscure medieval material (including theGesta Romanorum,Giulio Cesare Croce'sLe sottilissime astutie di Bertoldo, and evenSiberianTurkic folklore).[4] One of his main pieces, the fable of the mouse who pictures himself king of all animals, originated with thePanchatantra.[8]Tudor Vianu indicated that, in writing his book on morals (Hristoitia), Pann integrated text fromDesiderius Erasmus'Adagia.[4]
As an original element, Anton Pann used the diverse sources of his work to complement his own view of the world; according to Vianu, the latter's main traits were Pann's religious tolerance and fervor, as well as hisLevantine outlook on social matters.[4] Călinescu definedPovestea vorbei as "a false collection of folklore, given that Pann does not abide by peasant authenticity, but embellishes popular language with the cultured one, often obtaining an amazing chromatic effect".[14] While commenting on Pann's focus on social developments of his time as "the completely mechanical ease with which current issues are put into verse", Călinescu noted thatHristoitia contained "advices which presume a state of supreme animality".[14] In drawing the latter conclusion, he cited astanza in which Pann asked people not to touch their genitalia in public.[14]
O șezătoare la țară, believed to be one of Pann's most accomplished works, is written as anepicframe story in verse, and constitutes a satire of life in mid-19th century Wallachia.[4][8] Reflecting the perspective of simple folk, the poem is marked by sarcastic remarks on social contrasts,Westernization,superstition, as well as tensions betweenestate lessors and workers (with the former stereotypically depicted asGreeks).[4] Its final part, a denouement, went unpublished.[8]O șezătoare la țară was also noted for the lengthy and meticulously detailed conclusions to each story, which evidenced a style borrowed from traditional storytelling.[8] Vianu argued that the poem stands as a Romanian equivalent toThe Decameron,Till Eulenspiegel, orSimplicius Simplicissimus.[4] The text itself later became a source for aphorisms: the colloquial expressionba e tunsă, ba e rasă ("it is either trimmed or razed"), which Pann originally made in reference to an irrelevant debate over the state of an orchard, has survived as a tongue-in-cheek view of arbitrary conclusions.[8]
Pann's influential taste formanele and their sentimental lyrics, as exemplified in hisSpitalul amorului and other printed brochures, has been the target of criticism ever since the early 20th century.[11] Tudor Vianu stressed that these works showed the influence of "the trivial popular music of his day", while Călinescu dismissed them as "lamented vulgarity and eroticism".[11][14]
Pann is generally believed to have authored the music toDeșteaptă-te, române!,Romania'snational anthem. His associateGheorghe Ucenescu is known to have arranged the melody to the lyrics ofAndrei Mureșanu,[5][15] but Pann's direct implication in the creative process was allegedly not confirmed by sources.[15] According to one account, Ucenescu had used aromanza composed by Pann in 1839, in turn complementing the lyrics ofGrigore Alexandrescu.[5] It has also been argued that the music was that of a popularlied,[15] and first published in one of Pann'smanele collections.[10] The ethnographic research carried out byDimitrie Gusti confirmed that the same melody was being sung as a folk song bySouthern Dobrujanethnic Turks in the 1930s.[5]
Mihai Eminescu, one of Romania's most influential poets, made a reference to Pann in his poemEpigonii (1870), which, in its opening verses, traces the development of early literature and the impact ofRomanticism. Cited alongsideDimitrie Cantemir,Dimitrie Țichindeal [ro],Vasile Cârlova,Ienăchiță Văcărescu,Alexandru Sihleanu,Ion Heliade Rădulescu,Cezar Bolliac and others, Pann is referred to as the son ofPepelea, the witty hero of folk literature, and complimented with the words "as clever as a proverb".[1][16] During theinterwar period, the works of Anton Pann were reflected and complimented in themodernist poetic art ofIon Barbu.[17] Barbu'sNastratin Hogea la Isarlâk uses Pann's main character to tragic effect, depicting, in willing contrast to the proverbial setting, Nastratin's violent self-sacrifice.[17]George Călinescu noted that Pann's "mix ofbuffoonery and seriousness" present in the works of poetTudor Arghezi, came "in the line of Anton Pann".[18]
In 1945,Lucian Blaga authored a three-act play namedAnton Pann, centered on the poet'sȘcheii Brașovului period.[2] A museum of the life and activity of Anton Pann exist inRâmnicu Vâlcea, and, since 1990, a public theater in the same city bears his name.
