Today is the 115th birth anniversary of the Albanian composer and conductor Pjetër Dungu. He was born on February 27, 1908 in Shkodra.

Music was one of the most important and powerful things in his life. He received his first lessons in this art discipline in his hometown from the composer and Franciscan priest, Father Martin Gjoka. At the age of 11, he owned four instruments. At that time, Dungu, although a young boy, could perform dozens of pieces of music on the piano. While, among wind instruments, he could play the oboe, the trumpet and the harmonica.

In the 30s, he began to be known in artistic circles as a piano accompanist of popular songs. In this decade, he worked in the wind orchestra of Tirana. In 1937, he founded the music department at “Radio Tirana”. At the beginning of the new decade, he crowned his deep knowledge in musical folklore with the publication of the anthology “Albanian Lyra”. This publication contained 50 Albanian folk songs, covering all the provinces of the country.

In the following years, 1944-1951, Dungu founded the brass band of Durrës, which he gave further shape by serving in its direction. His artistic career is characterized by musical varieties, summarizing in a wide repertoire tangos, cantatas, serenades, marches, waltzes, arias, operettas, etc.

Dungu passed away on November 23, 1989. The personal piano became a symbol of the composer’s immortality, being donated to the Shkodra Cathedral, in accordance with his living will.

/k.s/