Bass flute
Baroque
Classical
Romantic
20th century
21st century
Solo repertoire
Piccolo
Alto flute
Bass flute
Rotaru Doina
Dehnhard, Tilmann
Lavista, Mario
Meltzer, Harold
Rotaru, Doina
Yun, Isang
Mithya for bass flute solo
Doina Rotaru: Mithya for bass flute solo was written in 2007. While several of her flute works were written for collaborators like Ion Bogdan Ștefănescu, Mithya is closely associated with the Italian flutist Mario Caroli, who has championed her later solo works.
It was premiered by Mario Caroli in 2009 during the Acanthes Festival, Metz, July 2008.
The title Mithya (a Sanskrit term often translated as "illusion" or "non-absolute reality") refers to the interference between dream, desire, and illusion. The piece is structured as a cycle in three parts, each carrying a subtitle linked to Romanian traditional music and spiritual states:
1. Comme une prière ("As a prayer").
2. As a "colinda" (referencing a traditional Romanian Christmas carol).
3. As a "doina" (referencing the lyrical, improvisational Romanian folk song).
Rotaru utilizes the bass flute specifically as an "instrument of meditation and prayer," employing subtle effects to suggest pain or hope through a monodic, imploring line.
In 2007, Rotaru was deeply immersed in her "archetypal period," where her works sought to synthesize Japanese and Romanian archaic elements.
During this same year, she composed "Ielele" for chamber ensemble, another work heavily inspired by Romanian mythology.
Rotaru Doina
Doina Rotaru (1951) is a Romanian composer who often works with archetypes and symbols that she carefully weaves in her liquid-like heterophonies, blending archaic Romanian influences (particularly in the type of ornamentation or the frequent use of the flute) with contemporary techniques and structures.
Born in 1951 in Bucharest, she has written over 120 works to date, spanning nearly every musical genre: from solo, chamber, and choral works to orchestral pieces, and from works that combine instrumental and electronic music to music for puppet theatre.
Her music has been performed in numerous concerts and festivals worldwide. She has received commissions from Warsaw Autumn Festival, Radio France, Radio Graz, Suntory Hall Tokyo, French Ministry of Culture, various ensembles and soloists from Austria, Croatia, France, Germany, Iceland, Japan, The Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Doina Rotaru was awarded prizes by the Romanian Academy (1996) and the Romanian Composers’ Association (10 prizes between 1981-2015), as well as the First Prize at the Gedok – Mannheim International Competition (1994). She was invited to hold lectures about her music in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Japan, Iceland, Sweden, Poland, Italy, and Spain.
She has taught since 1990 at the National University of Music in Bucharest, where she was also Head of the Composition Department between 2008-2013.