”The axis and anchor of his life”

The house at 9 Washington Str. was Father’s first true home (before that he had only rented), and he lived there from 1933 until his death in 1964. The axis and anchor of his life, it was where he felt comfortable, where he looked forward to returning to after his tours, to it, his habits, and the beauty that Mother created around him.

The house, designed by architect Duiliu Marcu, a family friend, was divided into two areas, the space for socializing on the ground floor and the chambers on the upper floor. Father’s quarters were peaceful. He heard none of the fights between the many women who were living with us after 1947-48, the period of expropriations: there was Elena Bușilă, my grandmother and his mother-in-law, who came to us after her husband Constantin was imprisoned and died in Aiud, their house nationalised; my two cousins, Constantin Argetoianu’ nieces, the daughters of Mother’s brother; his third wife; my governess; the cook and the housekeeper. Different personalities, small antagonistic groups, sometimes prone to arguments. Father’s quarters were however on the upper floor, he was the only one in the house whom we all strived to save from strain and discomfort. The little he saw at lunch or dinner of these women and of the female guests who visited us almost daily amused and diverted him. After a while he would leave us and go upstairs, back to his room which served as bedroom, study, library, a place to listen to music or to the radio… There he worked, practiced, or studied some new score while he made mechanical movements – dusting, for instance, with a feather duster especially brought from abroad. We had to keep quiet so we wouldn’t not disturb him. No noise!

Father found pleasure in the little things at home. In his leisure moments he would listen to the radio, be it the news or his favourite program on Radio Monte Carlo, “La famille Duraton”. He read history books and listened to music. He also liked, on a summer evening, when the sun was setting, to water the garden and tend to the flowers. Afterwards, he would sit with us on the small balcony at the entrance, in one of the rocking chairs made of white fabric and wood, as we waited for the sour cherry jam or for some other small culinary wonder accompanied by the customary glass of cold water…

Looking at the dedications and notes in our visitor’s book – inaugurated on the occasion of the blessing of the house in 1933 – I now realise how many notable figures in the field of music, literature, theatre, the arts called on us, and with whom we shared privileged moments: Enescu, Lipatti, Mihail Jora, Ionel Perlea, almost all the soloists who performed with Father at the Romanian Athenaeum – Claudio Arrao, Wilhelm Backhaus, Cella Delavrancea, Pablo Casals, Alfred Cortot, Jacques Thibaud, Alexander Brailowsky, Grzegorz Fitelberg, Wilhelm Kempff, then Karl Böhm or Egizio Massini, writers Mihail Sadoveanu, Ion Marin Sadoveanu, poet Minulescu, politician Constantin Argetoianu, poet Octavian Goga and many others. It’s like being in another world, seeing all these signatures, these names belonging to the cultural elite in the inter-war period and after 1945.

I personally remember the wonderful times when Sviatoslav Richter, David Oistrakh, Monique de la Bruchollerie, the Gheorghiu brothers, Ștefan and Valentin, Ion Voicu, Vladimir Orloff, Radu Aldulescu, Constantin Silvestri and many others stayed with us, enjoying themselves so much. I also recall the dinners or lunches such as only Mother could organise: creative recipes, an ambiance full of warmth and beauty, the table so beautifully laid with an embroidered tablecloth or with cobalt blue or white on white table sets, the shining silverware, for which Mother had a passion, the flowers, matching the dishes, in the two rectangular Baccarat crystal vases. The evenings were mostly candle-lit, the candles in two wonderful Italian chandeliers, and dinner would be served by our housekeeper Maria, who, wearing a white apron and carrying a full tray, would enter the room by the pantry, her appearances announced by the silver bell…