We are in the month of love, so let's find out a little behind the scenes of some love stories hidden in the corners of some memorable places in Bucharest, stories that, in their time, ignited the spirits in the capital.
The burning love between George Enescu and Maria Cantacuzino
Today, too few things are known about Maria Cantacuzino. One of the most eccentric present in the worldly life of the beginning of the 20th century was considered the most beautiful aristocratic princess of the time. Queen Maria's close friend, she fell in love with Prince Mihail G. Cantacuzino, with the philosopher Nae Ionescu, with the musician Dinu Lipatti, to later become the wife of the great composer George Enescu.
Born in 1878 in a family of Moldavian nobles from Tescani, a shy young woman with black-copper hair, tall and with a crystalline beard, she was asked to marry, at the age of 18, by a mountain noble from the great Cantacuzini clan, Mihail.
The marriage existed only on paper, after Maruca (as those close to him called him) discovered that he loves wine and ladies of consumption more, in contrast to her shy love. In addition, she caught her husband cheating on her with her sister, and this causes her to ask for a divorce, but Mihai Cantacuzino begs her to forgive him at least for the sake of the two children they had together. She can only separate mentally from him and decides to stay under the same roof. Shortly after this breakup, Mihai Cantacuzino dies in a car accident, a tragedy that makes Maruca take a different path and open her appetite for adventure. Thanks to the entourage, he benefited from the highest training in the spirit of philosophy and art. That's how he met the great philosopher Nae Ionescu, with whom he lived a devastating love.
The relationship with Nae Ionescu was consumed for almost 9 years, during which Enescu - withdrawn to Paris, waited for this passion to pass. When Nae Ionescu announced that their relationship was over and he left her for the pianist Cella Delavrancea, Maruca fell into depression. So Maruca decides to commit suicide by pouring acid on her face. An extreme and difficult gesture to understand, especially since she was obsessed with her beauty, and her every appearance was a real show of femininity.
After her suicide attempt, the news made the rounds of the Bucharest opposition and reached Enescu, who gave up all the concerts he had then and urgently returned to Bucharest. He was by her side and helped her recover, a recovery that lasted two years. Enescu was the one who hospitalized the princess in a sanatorium for nervous diseases in Vienna until her complete recovery. After she recovered, Enescu bought a house on Calea Victoriei and, in 1937, they got married.
The two children of Maruca disowned Enescu, especially because of his modest origin, considering him unworthy of their mother. However, Maruca developed several extramarital relationships with people in the music world, such as Dinu Lipatti. Enescu loved her blindly and overlooked all these love escapades.
In the end, they both gave up on Romania and moved to Paris. During his stay here, it was even said about Enescu that he had an extramarital relationship with the caretaker brought to the house here. Maruca remained his wife until the end. Weakened and half paralyzed, he remained lucid until the last moment. Maruca dies 13 years later in Switzerland, but both are buried in the same cemetery in Paris.
The love between Constantin Brancusi and Maria Tanase
Maria Tanase was born in a Bucharest slum, to needy parents, who had two other children. At the Girls' School, she remains good at mathematics and French, so she decides to abandon her studies, and at the age of 15 she registers for a Miss pageant, where she loses the swimsuit test. However, she attracts the attention of a young doctor with whom she lives and a short love story, ended with an abortion at only 16 years old. Following him, Maria learns that she will never be able to get pregnant again, and this will mark her for life.
She works as a saleswoman in a grocery store and entertains the audience with her songs. Later, she is noticed by the director of Carabus Excelsior, Constantin Tanase, who takes her in his revue theater troupe and promotes her in the country and abroad. He represented the country in all corners of the world, he loved a lot and suffered in measure. At 25, she met Constantin Brancusi, at an international exhibition, and fell in love with him, despite the age difference (Brancusi was 62 years old). The feeling is mutual, between the two starting a passionate love, marked by jealousy, which ended the relationship of the two.
Their love story ended after only one year of relationship, after Maria Tanase participated in the International Exhibition in New York, where she experienced a fulminant success. She never forgot Brancusi, being the great love of her life. It is said that many men came to her apartment at the Continental Hotel and that she loved them all with sincerity and fire. However, the only man she married was Clery Sachelarie, a former landlord who had lost all his money in horse racing.
In May 1963, she found out that she had cancer and refused the operation that was believed to be able to save her.
Scandal la Palatul Regal. Povestea de dragoste aprinsa dintre printul Carol si Elena Lupescu
The Royal Palace has been the scene of many love encounters over time, but nothing compares to the idyll born between King Carol II and his mistress, Elena Lupescu. The latter was born on September 2, 1899, in Iasi, in a Jewish bourgeois family.
Over time, Elena becomes aware of the attraction that men feel for her, she likes the game and looks for it with passion. She is invited in the circles of the royal family, but also in those of some people with a bad reputation, and she does not refuse to honor invitations from both sides.
During the First World War, he decides to join his destiny with a lieutenant from Carol's Hunter Regiment. After the marriage, there follows a series of meetings in the alcove, amorous ravings and glances thrown at evenings that ultimately lead to the divorce filed by her husband in 1920. Elena resumes her maiden name and social life, becoming Posmantir's protégé ( a rather strange individual, who, although posing as an honest journalist, deals with pornography, making nude albums with different women that he later tries to offer as escorts). Elena also posed for such a catalog, and the photos were later recovered by Carol for hard money.
The prince was one of Posmantir's most important clients, the latter arranging a meeting with the beautiful Elena at the Royal Foundation cinema. The two fall hopelessly in love with each other, especially since the prince's marriage with his wife was about to end. But the princess finds out about the king's idyll and decides to save her marriage. Thus, he proposes to the prince to go together with their son, Mihai, to Sinaia and to the Peles Castle. Carol accepts, but he does it in such a way that he also takes Elena Lupescu, whom he often visits secretly to the despair of his wife, who locks him in the room one night. But this is not an obstacle for him, the prince jumps from the balcony on the first floor and goes to his mistress. This is how Elena Lupescu takes full advantage of the reproaches brought to the prince by his jealous wife and the queen-mother, and shortly after the escapades in Sinaia, she decides to run away with the prince abroad.
After an attempt to give up all his prerogatives and become an ordinary man, Carol changed his mind and returned in 1930, taking advantage of the fact that his son had been appointed king, after the death of Ferdinand. Carol proclaims himself king and removes Mihai from the throne. Carol rules for ten years, during which Elena is the only woman he loves, although she also loves other men.
Carol abdicated in 1940 and left the country together with his mistress, in a train with 12 carriages full of paintings and royal jewels. After many countries refuse to receive them, they arrive illegally in Portugal. Although they also traveled through other countries, he legally married Elena Lupescu in 1947, also on Portuguese territory, and they lived their love story until 1953, when the former monarch died of a heart attack. Elena mourned him for 20 years and died in 1974.
With this guided walking tour, discover the historical buildings in Bucharest and the love stories hidden within their walls, whose well-known protagonists made history.