Romanian Folk Music

Subject: Romanian Folk Music
From: Jack Campin
Date: 31 Jul 26 - 04:55 PM

Does anyone know where I can find a copy of Tiberiu Alexandru's "Romanian Folk Music"?

I've read it in the library and it's wonderful. The ballads alone (done with AL Lloyd's assistance) are the finest translations of any folksongs I've seen. The text on the music is just brilliant (Alexandru was a real expert, his other work includes the standard text on the panpipe and he taught Gheorghe Zamfir).

I want a copy of my own.

Physical or a scan, free or paid for, I can't find it anywhere. Found a review by Barbara Krader, who presumably had one, but she's been dead for 20 years.

(Followup question: is there a source for Bartok's 5-volume set on Romanian music published by Indiana UP?)

Subject: RE: Romanian Folk Music
From: Helen
Date: 31 Jul 26 - 05:49 PM

Fishpond online book store has been my trusted site for decades. I found these pages when I searched for:

Romanian Folk Music

Most of page 1 of the search results are Bartok books but I haven't looked past page 1.

A search for Tiberiu Alexandru's name returned no results on Fishpond.

I also searched for the book title "Romanian Folk Music" (with the quote marks) and hit the "Shopping" link and found a lot of the Bartok books from various sellers.

Online digital book sites like Google Books and the Australian National Library Archives do not show the full book because it is still in copyright.

Subject: RE: Romanian Folk Music
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Jul 26 - 06:34 PM

If you use WorldCat it turns up because it looks at libraries around the world. (You may have to set up a free OCLC/WorldCat account to share if you don't have one already.)

A search on Romanian Folk Music Tiberiu Alexandru has 30 results. This first page shows a number of publishers to track down.

I'd suggest finding it through inter-library loan then see if there is a KIC (overhead large-format scanner) that will let you scan facing pages and turn it into a PDF. (Faster than a page at a time on a flatbed scanner). For personal use, of course.

Trying Google Books and clicking through different results I find this result from Music Publishing House, scanned by Google on July 21, 2009. The important point here is that they borrowed the book from Indiana University. You may be able to get inter-library loan from there. Or someone to check it out and scan it for you. The IU copy is in the Bloomington Music Library stacks on the third floor, call number ML3608 .A4413

Subject: RE: Romanian Folk Music
From: Helen
Date: 31 Jul 26 - 06:50 PM

Sorry, to clarify what I said earlier digital sites do not show the full *Tiberiu Alexandru* book because it is still in copyright.

It was first published in 1980 and often they go out of copyright after 50 years (according to my librarian experience some decades ago and I assume this is still the case) unless someone renews the copyright, so you might find some digital online copies after 4 years from now.

Subject: RE: Romanian Folk Music
From: Monique
Date: 01 Aug 26 - 02:09 AM

This is the only thing I found.

Subject: RE: Romanian Folk Music
From: Jack Campin
Date: 01 Aug 26 - 06:25 AM

That was Barbara Krader's review, I found that.

It's in copyright libraries, like the NLS where I read it. Hence the WorldCat entries. I suppose VWML will have it too.

It's not a very big or graphically complicated book, shouldn't be too hard to reprint.

Romania is collectively incompetent at making its folk culture generally accessible. Hungary and Bulgaria both do far better.