Ionel Fernic

Ionel Fernic (b. May 29, 1901 in Târgovişte – d. July 22, 1938 in Stulpicani) was a Romanian composer, aviator (civil pilot), writer and one of the first Romanian parachutists.^[1]

Early life

His family moved to Galaţi where Ionel attends the Vasile Alecsandri high school and where he met his mentor, the Romanian composer and music teacher Teodor Fuchs, who tutors him in the arts of piano and guitar music. Being a music enthusiast, and passionate about airplanes, Ionel Fernic is guided by his parents to attend a technical faculty but he eventually decides to go to the National University of Music Bucharest where he is admitted at the drama section with the highest grade average.^[1] Although he is remarked by his teachers, Ionel doesn't continue his acting career despite having the opportunity to play alongside many famous Romanian actors like Aristide Demetriade, Ion Manolescu or Mişu Fotino.^[1] He graduates in 1924 and is enrolled at the Reserve Officer School in Ploieşti and remaining in the city for a few years, period when he writes almost all of his works.

Under the guidance of professor Fuchs, Fernic composed in 1919, his last high school year, the ballad Cruce albă de mesteacăn, his first well known work.^[2] After settling in Ploieşti, having an urge to create successful music, he composes a number of romances and tangoes. His first tango, composed in 1931, was called Minciuna (better known by the name Pe boltă când apare luna), and was an adaptation of a French song proposed by Nicolae Kiriţescu.^[2]

Successful composer

In just a few years, Fernic wrote over 400 romances and songs.^[2] Many of his songs were local hits for that time. Since 1927, Fernic published a volume of sketch stories called Misterele din Mizil (wrote as a feuilleton which were very successful in Europe).^[2] In 1928 he published a volume of poems called Prăştii and several children books. He founded the satirical magazine Să nu te superi că te-njur, and moved to Bucharest in the early 1930s.^[2]

Flying career

Ionel Fernic graduated the Pilots School in Băneasa in the spring of 1935 and received a pilot brevet. Fernic also made the first parachute jump in Romania on May 31, 1936, at an aviation meeting held on the Băneasa Airport in Bucharest.^[3] His last jump was in an ARPA meeting held in Izmail, Ukraine (then in Romania) when he jumped from a height of 800 metres (2,600 ft) and landed in an unmarked place where he broke his left leg and had to carry a cane for the rest of his life.^[3] He is appointed director of the Cernăuţi Pilot's School, and will be decorated by the king Carol II with the Virtutea Aeronautică medal.^[3]

Death

Ionel Fernic lost his life in an aviation accident on July 22, 1938, at the age of 37. Hearing of the death of queen Marie of Romania in 1938, he desperately wanted to attend her funeral.^[3] Therefore, he embarked on a LOT Polish Airlines flight on the Warsaw-Cernauti-Bucharest–Thessaloniki route, but after half an hour the plane mysteriously broke in two pieces and crashed between Gura Humorului and Câmpulung Moldovenesc, in the Negrileasa forest, near the Stulpicani commune in Suceava County.^[3]

Musical plays

References