Ion Ivanovici

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Ion Ivanovici (alternatively Iosif Ivanovici, Josef Ivanovici, baptised as Jovan Ivanović) was a Romanian military band leader and composer.

Born 1845 in Timişoara, Austria-Hungary.

Died September 28, 1902 in Bucharest, Romania.

Orphaned early on, Ivanovici learned to play the flute while still a child. In 1858, at age 13, he joined the 6th Line Regiment in Galați, Romania, as a military musician. There the bandmaster, Alois Redl, discovered his talent and taught him the clarinet. Promoted to sergeant major and transferred to the 2nd Roşiori Regiment in Iaşi, then the capital of Moldova, Ivanovici studied harmony, orchestration, and conducting under that regiment's bandmaster, Emil Lehr, then a well-known musician, from 1874 to 1879. Thanks to Lehr, who also conducted the orchestra of the National Theater of Iași, Ivanovici also became familiar with the musical repertory of contemporary Romanian theater. In addition, Lehr introduced him to his first musical publisher, Constantin Gebauer from Bucharest.

In 1879, Ivanovici was appointed chief of music of the National Guard in Galați. Soon, he switched posts again to become chief of music of the 6th Line Regiment in Galați (1880-1894), then of the 11th Regiment Siret in Galați (1894-1895). With these last two bands, he began to tour all over Romania. In 1895, he was appointed Inspector General of Military Music, a position that he held until his death in 1902.

Ivanovici wrote more than 350 pieces, not just marches, but also waltzes, polkas, mazurkas, and quadrilles that his bands performed at open-air concerts, at weddings or at large balls. His most famous song is the waltz "Danube Waves" (a.k.a. Donauwellen Walzer or Valurile Dunării), written around 1880. In 1946, [a=Saul Chaplin] adapted this waltz as "The Anniversary Song" for the movie "The Jolson Story."

Other works include the "Carol I March" (dedicated to the King of Romania), the "Carmen Sylva" waltz (dedicated to Queen Elisabeth of Romania), the waltz "Romanian Heart" (op. 51), the waltz "La vie du Bucarest," the polka-mazurka "Souvenire de Sinaia," the quadrille "Souvenir de Brăila," the polka-mazurka "Souvenire de Lacul Sărat." At the 1889 World Exhibition in Paris, Ivanovici won the prize for the best march with a slow march entitled "Alexandre Marche" and was inspired to write the polka "Souvenir de l'Exposition."