Gregore Dinicu, who was born in Bucharest, Rumania, on April 5, 1889, is
a gypsy violinist who became popular in leading Rumanian cabarets and
restaurants. In 1939 he visited the United States, scoring a major
success with his gypsy orchestra at the New York World’s Fair. His _Hora
Staccato_, for violin and piano (or violin and orchestra)—a virtuoso
piece of folk character—is his only composition to become famous outside
Rumania. Jascha Heifetz, the famous virtuoso, heard Dinicu play it in
Rumania and was so delighted with it that he transcribed it, and
popularized it both at his concerts and on records. The Hora is an
exciting Rumanian folk dance with lively rhythms and a vertiginous
melody that shifts flexibly from major to minor or modal scales. These
traits are all found in Dinicu’s electrifying _Hora Staccato_.