It is a story where music, memory and history intersect. In The Twilight CantataRobert Girolami looks back on a founding experience: his discovery of communist Romania at the beginning of the 1980s, until the revolution of 1989 and the lasting links forged with the Sibiu orchestra. Well known in Corsica, this ensemble notably inaugurated the reopening of the Bastia theater in 1981 and performed there on numerous occasions. “The Corsicans know this orchestra well”recalls the author, who has collaborated with him for more than forty years. An artistic and human relationship which constitutes the spine of the book.
An immersion in the heart of an authoritarian system
Arriving in 1982, the conductor discovered Romania under the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceauèscu. A country marked by increased surveillance, but also by an intense artistic life. The story, entirely inspired by real-life events, follows the author’s alter ego in a political, human and cultural exploration. “This book is a kind of logbook, with my memories and my feelings“, said Robert Girolami, originaire of Sisco.
Through Bucharest, Sibiu or Craiova, encounters punctuate his adventure. He crosses paths with musicians engaged in the life of their country. In this context, music becomes a space of freedom in this repressive Romania. “It made it possible to speak out despite pressure from the regime and its secret police, the Securitate.”he explains.
This immersion also involves notable figures. Bianca, a young woman with whom the narrator falls in love, illustrates both an intimate relationship and a brutal political reality: their story is prevented by laws which prohibit intimate relations with foreigners. Through it, all the fragility of individual trajectories in a constrained system emerges. Another central character, Toma, musical secretary of the orchestra described as a “flamboyant character“, accompanies the conductor in his travels. At the same time guide, protector and figure of power, he embodies the contradictions of the regime: humanist and cultured, but caught in an ideology that he does not entirely master.
When Corsica resonates in Romania
The Twilight Cantata also highlights an unexpected link between Corsican and Romanian culture through musical art. At the heart of the work is a work composed by the author, which combines two themes: the God Save you Queenand the song of happy birthday.
Robert Girolami recalls that Corsican sensitivity found a particular echo in the Carpathian country: “The Romanian people recognized themselves in the Diu vi Salvi Regina, it was taken up during the three weeks of the 1989 revolution“. A feeling of familiarity which reinforces the idea of a deep bond between the two peoples, beyond political contexts.
Through this story, Robert Girolami delivers a universal message. “There is no stranger“, he affirms. A conviction forged by encounters and trials and extended by another certainty: “Freedom is never acquired.”
*The Twilight Cantata, François-Robert Girolami, Éditions Les Impliqués, 150 pages, 17 euros.
