In 1848, he was among the leaders, beginning with participation
in the Brasov delegation to the Blaj Assembly in May 1848. His
lyric poem, Un rasunet, (more popularly known as
"Wake Up Romanian!") became a kind of revolutionary anthem, set
to the melody of Anton Pann. The poem is the voice of a tribune
who speaks on behalf of and to his oppressed nation, invoking the
bravery of their ancestors, and announcing prophetically the
decisive moment of "awakening." "Better to die in battle,
covered with glory, tha to be slaves on our own ancestral land,"
he wrote. Balcescu called it the "Marseilles" of the Romanians,
mobilizing the people to the struggle and making Muresianu the
nationalist bard.
In 1848 and again in 1849, Muresianu was in charge of editing
Barit's publications. In spring 1849, he fled as a refugee to
Ploesti, where he was imprisoned briefly, and then to Bucovina.
After the revolutions, Muresianu worked as translator in Sibiu
and continued to publish in Telegraful Roman. His
works had a decided patriotic and social protest tone. In 1862,
his poetry was gathered into a volume. In ill health, he died in
Brasov in 1863.
Andrei Muresianu, Reflexii Cluj-Napoca, 1977
Ion Buzasi, Andrei Muresianu Bucuresti, 1988.
JGC revised this file
(http://www.ohiou.edu/~chastain/ip/muresian.htm) on
October 24, 2004.
Please E-mail comments or suggestions to chastain@www.ohiou.edu
© 1999, 2004 James Chastain.
ANDREI MURESIANU (1816-1863) The most important lyric poet in
Transylvania prior to George Cosbuc, Muresianu was born in
Bistrita in peasant family. He studied philosophy and theology
at Blaj, where he was a classmate and friend of George Barit.
Influenced by the cultural and educational milieu of Blaj, he
went into teaching at Brasov in 1838 at Barit's invitation. At
the same time he began to publish poetry in Barit's
Stelian Mandruti
Bibliography