Abstract
This study aims to illustrate the circumstances in which performer George Enescu experienced his most fulfilling moments, as acknowledged both by himself and by those who admired him at the podium, whether in the audience or on stage under his direct guidance. In the first part of the study, I will resort to all of George Enescu’s identifiable statements about the art of conducting in general, as well as to the special significance it held for his musical training and career. Although these statements are numerous (and often brief), I believe that by grouping them according to specific thematic criteria, one can appropriately refer to a so-called “Enescian poetics of conducting”. In the second part of the study, I will further confirm this concept through various testimonies (musical chronicles, memoiristic evocations) of his contemporaries, and, additionally, I will integrate it into a historical overview of George Enescu’s rich conducting career.

Keywords: theory of musical interpretation, fin-de-siècle Vienna, musical memory

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DOI: 10.47809/MP.2025.40.01.02

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