George Breazul was born on September 14, 1887, in Amătăștii de Jos, Dolj County. He studied music at the Râmnicu Vâlcea Seminary and then at the Central Seminary Bucharest before enrolling at the Conservatory (the current National University of Music Bucharest), where he trained with Dumitru Georgescu-Kiriac, Ion Nonna Otescu and Alfonso Castaldi. Teaching at various private institutes between 1914 and 1916, he became music master and music teacher at the Mănăstirea Dealu Military High School Târgoviște and was co-editor-in-chief, with Maximilian Costin, of Muzica magazine Timișoara.
After pursuing further studies at the University of Berlin and training in the laboratory of Berlin’s Charité, George Breazul taught a variety of music-related disciplines (music pedagogy, theory of music, sight-singing, history of music, aesthetics, acoustics, psychology, music practice) at Mănăstirea Dealu Military High School, the National Office for Physical Education Bucharest, the Central Seminary Bucharest, the Bucharest Conservatory, the Academy of Sacred Music Bucharest, and was later appointed General Inspector with the National Inspectorate for Secondary Music Education.
George Breazul established the Phonogram Archives of the Ministry of Instruction, Religious Affairs and the Arts, founded the Melos musicology collection and published reviews, studies and articles. A choir and orchestral conductor, he was a member of the Romanian Academic Society Berlin and owned the largest music library in Romania.
Recipient of the Prize of the Romanian Academy (1931, 1933, 1937) and awarded the Labor Order 2nd class and the State Prize 1st class I (1955), George Breazul died on August 3, 1961 in Bucharest.
Petre Fugaciu