Though it traces its roots to a Jesuit school founded in 1581, prior to 1919 all teaching at the university we know today as Babeş-Bolyai was either in Hungarian or in Latin. Ninety years ago, with the unification that incorporated Transylvania as a region of Romania following World War I, the new Romanian-language Babeş University was founded in Cluj. About forty years ago, under the Communist government, Babeş-Bolyai University was formed by the merger of Cluj's Hungarian-speaking institution of higher learning with its Romanian-speaking one, and together they formed the amazing multicultural, polylingual university in which I have taught this year.
To celebrate the Nintieth Anniversary of there being a Romanian University in Cluj, Rector Marga today hosted a glorious musical event at the UBB Auditorium Maximum. The concert lasted almost three hours, and I wept each hour. First, I was moved to tears by the beauty of the music provided by the Transylvanian Symphony Orchestra. Then came a romantic operatic duet performed by a magnificent tenor and soprano from Bucharest. Then, I wept with emotion at having to leave Romania when traditional folk singers came on stage in their regional finery, and sang Romanian tunes.
I will detail the concert in a later post, for it deserves a full report. For now, suffice it to say, 'tis trrrrue: "We Scots ha'e but two emotions, weepin' and angerrrrr." Today, mine wa' weepin'.
And, to make perfect the event as a cultural culmination of my Romanian Fulbright adventures, during the standing ovation that followed the finale (Brahms' "Academic Overture," which ends with the famous theme known as "Gaudeamus Igitur"), the world-famous Romanian soprano Florentina Văduva tossed a rose from her bouquet to the audience, and I caught it.
Upon reflection, of course it was I who caught Florentina's rose. If this year has taught me anything, it is that there are no coincidences. She was but Fair Romania, bidding farewell to her latest lover.
To celebrate the Nintieth Anniversary of there being a Romanian University in Cluj, Rector Marga today hosted a glorious musical event at the UBB Auditorium Maximum. The concert lasted almost three hours, and I wept each hour. First, I was moved to tears by the beauty of the music provided by the Transylvanian Symphony Orchestra. Then came a romantic operatic duet performed by a magnificent tenor and soprano from Bucharest. Then, I wept with emotion at having to leave Romania when traditional folk singers came on stage in their regional finery, and sang Romanian tunes.
I will detail the concert in a later post, for it deserves a full report. For now, suffice it to say, 'tis trrrrue: "We Scots ha'e but two emotions, weepin' and angerrrrr." Today, mine wa' weepin'.
And, to make perfect the event as a cultural culmination of my Romanian Fulbright adventures, during the standing ovation that followed the finale (Brahms' "Academic Overture," which ends with the famous theme known as "Gaudeamus Igitur"), the world-famous Romanian soprano Florentina Văduva tossed a rose from her bouquet to the audience, and I caught it.
Upon reflection, of course it was I who caught Florentina's rose. If this year has taught me anything, it is that there are no coincidences. She was but Fair Romania, bidding farewell to her latest lover.
