Between Periphery and Centrality: Byzantine Musicology during Communist Romania

After 1950, in the writings on the history of Romanian music, there is a constant preoccupation in approaching the Byzantine musicology topics, being a domain able to adequately justify the presence of local “multisecular” musical practices. The Communist Party’s strategy of reaffirming national identity and cultural heritage on an international level will create unexpected opportunities for researchers of sacred music. Due to its ability to build solid historical bridges to the ancient past, Byzantine musicology, once largely overlooked and censored, would gain increasing importance. Since it could conveniently link modern Romanian culture to that existing on the territory of the former Dacia, this field began to be employed in official publications, having the usefulness of a vehicle that could successfully deliver the mainstream themes promoted by the regime, such as nationalism, bimillenarism and Romanian exceptionalism.