The composer Eugen Doga admits his „naughty audacity” for not liking the music composed by others, but he believes that this is what helped him create unique soundtracks and waltzes in the world. He has worked on 200 films, including „Satra” and „Hunting Drama”, and two of his plays have been included in the top 200 of the best classic works of all time.
Eugen Doga (83 years old) remembers that in his childhood he lived in a village in Transnistria crushed by the Second World War, the inventions through which he tried to make up for the shortcomings and the moment when it entered his head to study music. He speaks with gratitude about the collaborations with Romanians that changed his life and with bitterness about the fact that he made only one film in Romania. PHOTO GALLERY He does not shy away from saying that he was naive about his short political career as a People's Deputy in the USSR (1989-1991). He was recently offered to return to politics, but he refused: his career as a composer is for life, not just for a term. He composed the soundtrack for about 200 films, including „Shadow” and „Hunting Drama”. Two of his waltzes have been included in the top 200 of the best classical works of all time. One of his plays was performed at the opening ceremony of two Olympics. He has a perfect career and is appreciated all over the world, but the composer Eugen Doga, at the age of 83, has a great regret: that he did not compose more music for Romanian films.
„Adevărul Weekend”: Mr. Doga, are you a true Bessarabian?
Eugen Doga: No! I am from Transnistria, but my roots are from Transylvania and at the foot of the Danube. The Moldovans from Transnistria appeared there expelled over time by the wars that always took place in the Transylvania area. According to my father, I am from Transylvania. My ancestors settled there, somewhere in the 18th century. According to my mother, they are at the foot of the Danube. Some Ion, shepherd of huge flocks of sheep, went in search of pastures on the banks of the Dniester and found the right place to settle - a place with a beautiful waterfall for watering sheep. There he built a house and from there he started this beautiful town called Saharna. So you spent your childhood in a village in Transnistria during World War II. What memories do you have from then? It is not fair to say that childhood was hard. I now describe my childhood was bad then I lived a happy childhood, I made jokes, we played, we made problems for my mother and grandmother. I did not know the hardships of life during that difficult time at all, because I did not know another life and I enjoyed that life. We, adults, think a lot about reproaches, but we have to enjoy what we have and then, as a child, we enjoyed what we had. We were a generation of war, and of course, we were at war. They were ours and the Germans.
RIFLE AND RADIO
- What did you dream of when you were little? My ultimate dream back then was to have a rifle, and I, as naughty as I was, made myself a rifle that exploded terribly. I was putting phosphorus from matches and I even had a projectile made of a molten bullet. As it was wet autumn, the rifle was no longer working, so I put it in the kitchen by my grandmother's stove so she wouldn't notice it. One day, I see the boys playing in that ravine next to their parent's house and I say, „Now I'm coming and I'll show you my rifle.” While he was in the kitchen, I thought that dust had dried up, so when I said, „Hands up!” and I pulled the trigger, the rifle snapped extraordinarily. The boys seemed to be blown away in fear by the wind. I don't know how it happened that the bullet was pointed at me. Luckily, the board resisted and didn't let him go, that he could reach me and I wouldn't be able to give this interview today (he says laughing). I was very scared too and threw the rifle into the ravine.
- What did you replace the rifle with?
I made all kinds of inventions like this as a child. I was looking for the things I was missing. I really wanted a turntable - maybe that's where my inspiration for „Gramophone” came from (n.r. - one of the most popular waltzes of the 20th century) - and because I didn't have record money, I ended up stealing it. Well, woe to the head of that turntable. That's how it was then, I remember how much I liked apples from our neighbour. I would watch him when he left home, jump over the fence and quickly, greedily fill the breasts of his shirts with these tasty white apples. What's more, it was a beautiful childhood. Then my dream was to have a radio. Because I was in fifth grade and knew a little about the magnetic field and coils, I built a radio that sounded better than the ones I had to buy. Then he rushed me to change his design. This was a turning point in my life.
- What happened?
I rewound the device, the magnetic field changed because it ended up receiving only one station: Chisinau only. Whether I wanted to or not, I only listened to Radio Chisinau and heard that the Music HighSchool in the Capital announces the awarding of the graduates. That's how it occurred to me to get to Music High School and I found myself in the world of music, thanks to this invention. Sounds silly, but I think that's supposed to happen. Destiny. Where do you get rid of him?
- How were your school years?
I lived in dormitories all the time, and as long as I worked at Mosfilm (one of the largest film studios in Russia) for 14 years, I lived in hotel rooms. I worked on big movies in a hotel room. So I am not pretentious, I do not want luxury, I even feel better in more modest, more restricted, more compact and more practical conditions.
"I COMPOSED SOMETIMES MORE RUSSIAN THAN THE RUSSIANS"
- You worked on the soundtrack of over 200 movies.
What music do you listen to and what movies do you watch? It was a time when I watched a lot of wonderful movies, especially in the 50's and 80's. I don't like today's movies. In fact, I don't like music either, which is no longer romantic, it doesn't restore the mood of the heroes, it lacks melody and even musical logic. You can often hear sound combinations that have nothing to do with music, with art as such. If I liked it, I would write this nonsense too. I don't like anything because I would do them differently. I do what is missing in my opinion. Can I do better than the classics? Not! That's why I don't try to imitate, I try to look for what is missing in my opinion in the world of music, in my feelings. I am very sorry that I was not invited to the studios in Romania.
- Why?
Because I would have made the soundtracks of some films differently, using my solid experience from other parts, maybe even closer to the Romanian style, as I understand it. Some composers strive to „flee” from his self, from those received from his parents, and from the heirs of this ancestral land. To the Russians I sometimes composed more Russian than the Russians, because I do not start, simply, only from intuition. I try to master intuition and direct it the way I want, not the way it wants. You don't have to give in to the whims of music. With music and creation you have to be respectful, they give in if you are kind. Intuition is what drives you, like the fuel that starts the car, you are only a driver.
ALL THE MUSIC, IN ONE SPLASH
- How come you had few collaborations with Romanian film producers?
„Maria Mirabela” was the only film I made in Romania, and it was half in collaboration with the Russians. I am sorry that I was not invited to work here and I do not want to diminish the contribution of Romanian composers, but I think that as I did almost 200 films at Mosfilm (one of the largest film studios in the Soviet Union / Russia- no), we can also do it in Buftea, otherwise, of course, because this area is my own. I've only made one movie so far. No notes were published in Romania and very few in Chisinau. Almost all of my compositions have been published in Russia. Why? Why not with us? Sorry. I am very pleased that I was born, as I said, in a God-given condition. I don't want anyone. The ballet „Luceafărul” (ballet after the poem of the same name by Mihai Eminescu), is not such a creation in the Romanian space, went to the Bolshoi Theater, was staged in the Kremlin Hall, was in Minsk, in Kyiv, received the State Prize of the Soviet Union, and it is not about North Korea or Moldova, as I call the Republic of Moldova, but it never reached Romania. In the immensity of the Soviet Union, he was appreciated with the State Prize, but in Bucharest, this ballet is not even known. At least he would have invited the Chisinau theater to present this show to the Bucharest or Iasi audience. Too bad, too bad. As the years passed, that potential I had in my youth decreased. I worked miracles overnight. In two and a half months I wrote the ballet „The Morning Star” so fast that the copiers were upset that they couldn't copy the notes. - It was also written that in ten minutes you would have composed the well-known waltz „My tender and the tender beast”... It's not really like that. In a few moments and a half night. If there was this technology to put the music of the ballet „Luceafărul” on notes in an instant, I would have done it, because I could feel it all. There was all the music here, but this process of writing these millions of fleas that you have to arrange on your laptop takes time. The idea starts from this sparkle, if you think about it again, which you have to decipher.
- What does sparkle mean?
As there is a chip in every mobile, there is a chip everywhere that you have to decipher. One can decipher it, but another is not, and that's how he goes into another world with this undeciphered chip that he didn't even suspect he had. After a lot of flashes in my mind, I let go of the feeling and the task that the director put on me. But also the time I didn't have, my hand was still like the cart's whip. Some notes I sang to Emil Loteanu were those from which the waltz scene was formed. I didn't have time to analyze what I did. Only in the evening in the studio did I hear this work at the end with clapping at the desks by the musicians as a sign of applause. Of course, the lessons I received at the Conservatory from my very well-trained teachers were very helpful. What 10 minutes can it be about? What was I holding with the second meter in my hand? I went into the alert zone. You can't give up there anymore. Giving up is usually a bad thing. And it's not just the case with the Waltz. All moments of creation are battle scenes, self-numb struggle several times, but every time you try to keep the drum major up, upright.
„Gopo gave me a task: «You have to write brilliant music»”
- How were the collaboration with the poet Grigore Vieru and the director Ion Popescu-Gopo for the film „Maria Mirabela”?
I lived unforgettable moments. Collaborating with these two geniuses has been a source of inspiration for me. There was excellent communication. Gopo gave me a task: „You have to write great music.” And I replied: „Leave me alone, darling, because the brilliant music was written by the classics and we have nothing left to do. We have only one thing left: to make even more beautiful music. „The collaboration with these two geniuses, Vieru and Gopo, was a source of inspiration for me. Plus there were others, like Emil Loteanu. This bundle, from this suite of friends, was very important for my creation. I add here that they are my creative friends, not friends going to the bodega, for a bottle of beer or brandy. Many people even ask me „how were they”. Even my wife asked me, „What is his family like?” I answer, „I know absolutely nothing because I know everything.” I've never been interested in such things. This is my character, I don't go where my pot doesn't boil. Gopo was not very picky. We did not "brutalize” this collaboration with him, we were happy to work together. Vieru and Gopo were two geniuses. Unfortunately, none of them was valued at fair value when they were alive. I was with Vieru when I crossed the Prut for the first time in Bucharest, in 1979. Then I felt another breath that I never explored, because I was writing in another space, I was writing Soviet music. I composed many works in another cultural space, where I ordered my music starting from the Russian-inspired source that is implanted in me, it is not organic, it is not natural, it is not genetic. But I tried to find my note in this world of music. That one worked, did many beautiful things. But the Romanian source, which is given from God, so in vain, smells like this and waits. I also don't know how long he will be here because I don't have the same capacity as at 16 and I regret it, because instead of joining forces... What's the problem, that I'm from Bessarabia? I have not heard such reproaches, but I imagine: „What do these Bessarabian predators want?” But I don't think this alienation came from real Romanians. The ideology of those times was aimed at dividing the nation, at alienating it. And they found food among the natives. But Eminescu, was he born in Bucharest? But George Enescu, what was in Wallachia? Ion Creanga? Goga? Almost all the great artists, but also the politicians, also from there, come from Moldova.
- What would be the explanation?
Only because we were always in cramped conditions were we spiritually oppressed and poor. We did not have ores, we did not have deposits, we did not have what Wallachia has, Transylvania. In Moldova, there was great poverty and that is why God, who is the most caring, looked at what he gave to these people who have nothing, he gave them this resistance. By what? Through the ability to think that helped him resist all these oppressions, the ability to expose these thoughts. And now all sorts of things are being said about Eminescu and Veronica Micle. I am happy to see that "Dialogues of Love" (a work of arias and romances inspired by the love of two poetic worlds, between Mihai Eminescu and Veronica Micle-nr) is sung in many places in Romania, even if you can not always easily note find in bookstores. In Veronica Micle's verses so much love, so much devotion, so much jealousy, so much hatred, which is all love, which could fill all the dry books of the poets of that time. In every word, in every sentence, living, feeling, commotion and reconciliation. But also music. It was said that he was of light morals, that he led a life not as they understand it. I would recommend to these "moralists" to gather all the women of this type who would rise to the level of at least one verse of Veronica Micle... A genius who was Eminescu could not love a fool. It is not in vain that they say, "Tell me who your friends are and I will know who you are."
„IN THE FILM «ŞATRA», I WAS A GYPSY”
- How did you get into the state of composing the soundtrack from „Şatra”?
The problem is specific to an artist. What does it mean to be an artist? It means you have the ability, the grace to transform. The artist can go from playing Shakespeare's Desdemona to Caragiale's Chiriţa. If he doesn't know how to transform, he's not an artist. During the collaboration with Loteanu at „Şatra”, I was a gipsy. Of course, at first, I listened to all his quarrels, reproaches and even quarrels, but I was reconciled to this thing. My goal was to take his idea, to take on the life of a gipsy, which was foreign to me. I tried to master the way of the gipsies to think, to sing, to dance.
- It was hard?
No, I easily assimilated the characteristics of gipsy life. Plus, they received me, and Loteanu, as their peers, they received us in their homes. I have remained friends with those gipsies to this day. Of course, in the rest of the movies, such as „Hunting Drama”, I became a cohabitant of that era, I studied that era, I looked for vintage music, but none of them matched.
- How so?
They seemed primitive to me. I have this naughty audacity not to like what others have done and it's very good. After all, what does creation mean? Creation appears when you do not like anything that has been done before you. Otherwise, you stop and say, „What should I do? Tchaikovsky, Verdi did everything.” They did their job in their time, other times require other sources, other generations, other feelings. I have a special focus on feeling. Just last year, an editor reproached me that something didn't sound very Romanian. I do not claim to know Romanian well, but on the feeling side, leave me alone! I can assume this audacity that I have this Romanian feeling much more sensitive than others who know those books written by others.
- Did you feel how the characters in the movie feel?
Yes, I felt like a gipsy, then I turned into Chekhov, Tchaikovsky. This is the artist, but again, if he once turned into Tchaikovsky, that's it, the second time it doesn't work. It only works once. This artistic transformation is for single-use, like a mask to be thrown away. I do this intuitively of course, but studies are also essential, which help me to manage this intuition, to direct it not only as She wants, but also to put it in certain arrangements, rules if you want. All life is a school. You have to be an apprentice all your life. Unfortunately, not everyone is able to understand this.
„WHEN I SEE THE BLANK PAPER IN FRONT OF ME, I FEEL LIKE MAGELLAN OR COLUMB”
„Adevarul de Weekend”: You once said that in the world of beauty you have to get involved like on the battlefield. How are the periods when you sit at your desk?
Eugen Doga: The Creator is a brave man. When I see the blank paper in front of me, I feel like Columbus or Magellan, who set out in search of the Indians and found themselves in America. It is the same state of search and perplexity. An „I don't know what” and an „I don't know how”. A state that helped them reach their destination. Many started but did not arrive. And in the case of the creator, it's the same - a single combination of two sounds can inspire you, move you, warm you up. It often happens that in a very bad poem there is a word somewhere that gives you a state in which you are no longer interested in anything. I'm used to being in this state. So you forget about these Americas and the Indians that you have to find, you have other shores, you are already in another world. You no longer need the world you were looking for in the beginning, you created your own world and you travel in this beautiful world. It's a story. When I was writing the ballet „Luceafărul”, Cătălina and Cătălin were no longer there, I was there implanting in them. This is the phenomenon. It's actually a secret. You have to go through this state of fear, of insecurity, because you have to be the commander of this enemy that is creation. You have to conquer it. Creation is a feminine trick. Do you give up? It is said that creative work involves a certain relationship between inspiration and perspiration (ie hard work, discipline and study). How are you? I don't know what inspiration means. I write and meditate on things I don't know, I can't define. For example, the volcano is the result of the energy that gathers in the depths of the Earth and when it has no place to gather, it erupts. The same thing happens with inspiration. It is the same law, according to which the whole universe lives and develops. It gathers, gathers and at some point bursts. We can also call it inspiration. But we leave this to the theorists. They know both percentages and perspiration. If your creation is tormenting you, stop doing it. Creation is great happiness, a great joy.
THE JOY OF LIVING ALL SEASONS AT HOME
- You said in an interview that you don't like what music the film industry demands now.
That's why I don't even write. I'm waiting for the romantic movie. There are two projects I'm waiting for, but the pandemic has stopped them. One in Moscow, and another, as strange as it sounds, in Bucharest. There are topics that I like. I'm waiting for this misfortune to pass. In both, the theme is love, as Veronica Micle put it, "this uncomforted love.” „Speaking of the pandemic, how did all its restrictive apples affect you?” I'm not too upset about her, because it's the first time I've seen all the seasons at home in Chisinau. After all, I've always been abroad. Besides, I wrote things I would never have written. I wrote a 56-piece piano songbook entitled "Summer Notebooks." I wrote two children's books, which immediately disappeared from bookstores. I attended shows staged in schools based on them. I generally like to play with life. Life, however, is a pleasant adventure, you just have to look at it that way. I don't like serious people, but I don't like people who are not serious.
„I DON'T KNOW WHAT LOVE IS”
- But what people do you like?
I like frivolous people who do serious things. I don't expect anything good from people who are like this, very serious, tense. Analyzing the lives of famous people, I noticed that most of them were funny, but what legacy did they leave... Branch, for example, walked around the bodegas. The ordinary man could say: "Here is this drunkard”, but what legacy he left... About Veronica Micle it was said: "Here is this easy-going woman, she caught Eminescu”. Wrong, she did not cling to him as a natural person, she clung to this spirit that Eminescu had because this spirit was also soaked in it. There is talk of dialogues between Eminescu and Veronica Micle as dialogues between two individuals. It is not so, we are talking about love dialogues between two spiritual, poetic worlds, which were created by Eminescu and Veronica Micle. Here was the dialogue of love. It was not until 1993 that a small, very small booklet with a few dozen poems by Veronica Micle was published. Since 1914, I think, nothing has been published, because they did not take her seriously as a poet. All the adventures, but also the gossip was swallowed by time. Her books remained a sure and authentic confession that represents her as a great Romanian spirit, a poet of great spiritual breath and human feelings. This is a truth that cannot be disputed, the rest has no value.
- You said you wanted to work on the soundtrack of some romantic movies. Where does this strong desire to compose on the theme of love come from?
„But to whom is this state of love foreign?” I feel like there's something wrong here. Man all his life is dissatisfied with what he has, time, money, neighbours, love. Even by yourself. Veronica Micle spoke with so much passion and deep pain about the careless longing. She lived the earthly love and demanded this love from Eminescu, which she understood, but she could not come to terms with it. As an artist, I have lived hundreds of love stories in films and shows for which I have written music. If in every film there is the theme of love, I have lived the state of this love hundreds of times. What's left for an individual? I'm not talking about love in the way - he saw a babe and fell in love. I'm talking about the condition, which is „I don't know what and I don't know how.” It is not enough for the creative man to reduce love to one person, even if he mentions his name. For an artist, but for a genius even more so, love is an immensity, a commotion, happiness, a torment, a restless feeling and always agitated by some impulsions that it is not known where they come from and how long they will keep you. Eminescu wrote about Veronica Micle from there, from space. He outlined it through this Cătălină from „Luceafărul”. That was Catalina, not Veronica. Of course, I too would have wanted an earthly love, even as an ordinary man, as they say. Maybe she was or is, but this immense artistic love, without limits, without spaces, without mastery, covered the natural, earthly one.
THE NAIVETY OF POLITICS
- Beyond the stage, you also had political experience. How do you view politics now?
Unfortunately, we are all naive, believing every time the new political artists tell us that they will change our lives, we will have one, and two, and even golden eggs. And I thought I was leaving music for a year, two, three and I would change the course of my life. The naive in me. I thought that politics was done there in Parliament, on the forefront. When I see there that the real politics is done not where fiery speeches and empty promises are made but behind the scenes. I thought I would at least change the lives of my poor voters, peasants in southern Bessarabia who expected from me the fulfilment of the commandments delegated to me. I did something right. I even opened a church, when everything around was locked. That's when I gave up on this dirty show. Right now, three teams have come to me to ask me to run for president. It's like I'm sleeping and only dreaming of being president.
- Why did you refuse?
It's late. We have quite a few well-trained young people with modern pro-European visions. May the Lord only allow them to unite, to end with endless quarrels and competitions who is bigger and stronger I would also like the voters to realize what is happening in the country, who are the ones who brought them to the greatest poverty in Europe. Today, they still claim power. Do not rush after a kilo of buckwheat stolen from them or a hundred lei for their vote. In fact, for their cheeks. I realized that much more can be done through music than in the gathering of people of petty interests whom I call parties. Of course, I have my vision regarding the development and direction of the Republic of Moldova. I do not remain an abstract observer of what is happening to us. But I'm already President. Of my music. Forever. Given by God. And not on a fraudulent election mandate. Lord, remember my people. And not the last.
The interview was conducted by Remus Florescu and published on September 26, 2020.
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