Title
Legende (1906)
George Enescu (1881-1955)
Biographical Info
Pablo Casals described Enescu as “the greatest musical phenomenon since Mozart” and “one of the greatest geniuses of modern music”. Queen Marie of Romania wrote in her memoirs that “in George Enescu was real gold”.Yehudi Menuhin, Enescu’s most famous pupil, once said about his teacher: “He will remain for me the absoluteness through which I judge others”, and “Enescu gave me the light that has guided my entire existence.” He also considered Enescu “the most extraordinary human being, the greatest musician and the most formative influence” he had ever experienced. Vincent d’Indy claimed that if Beethoven’s works were destroyed, they could be all reconstructed from memory by George Enescu. Alfred Cortot, one of the greatest pianists of all time, once said that Enescu, though primarily a violinist, had better piano technique than his own.
Légende (1906) is a work for trumpet and piano, composed by George Enescu for the 1906 trumpet competition (concours) at the Paris Conservatory and premiered in the competition by students from the trumpet class of Professor Merri Franquin (to whom the work is dedicated). The fact that Enescu found it unnecessary to specify “chromatic trumpet” or “trumpet in C” in the work’s title (which might have been normal just a few years earlier) may be seen as a testament to Franquin’s influence in adopting of the modern, small trumpet (Shamu 2009, 1, 129–31).
A simple listing of the performance indications which follow each other in the score indicates the constantly evolving character of the music: doux, grave, hésitante, pathétique, gracieux, mouvement agité, chantant, vif, furieusement, rêveur(Hoffmann and Raţiu 1971, 328).
Suggested Equipment
I have performed the Legende on Bb and C trumpet and I strongly prefer C. While it is easier to control some of the low muted notes at the end by triggering on the Bb, the overall harmonic language of the piece works much nicer on C.
The last quiet coda section calls for mute but it is not specified. It seems most people prefer cup for this reflective section.
Practice/Performance Tips
The recording below is from a recital I played at UW-Platteville in 2017. (No editing or enhancing.) I used a Bach Artisan C trumpet and TrumCor fiber cup mute.
Suggested Recordings
There are probably hundreds of professional recordings of the Legende out there.