Some people show their qualities so constantly and undisguised, that they often provoke an instinctive and collective opposition from others. These are the so-called "unlucky people of history" or, in popular terms, those who "have no luck". In the opinion of the author of this work, Petru Manuil Efesiu is one of these forgotten people of history, at least in terms of his biography, if we take into account the fact that his musical work was nevertheless appreciated over time, although perhaps it was not after the due reception.
The contribution of Petru Efesiu to the edification of modern Romanian psaltery cannot be quantified, given that he is the one who introduced the new system in Wallachia, later spread throughout the Romanian space through his disciples, as well as the manuscripts and prints containing his works. Also, the prints themselves probably represent the most valuable legacy that this psalt native from New Ephesus left to posterity, as the founder of Eastern musical print.
A technical personality par excellence, most likely with long years of study and practice, given that he came to Bucharest after forty years had passed, Petru Efesiu was, perhaps, too preoccupied with his art to pay attention to major events that happened around him - be they political or cultural - and that made his efforts seem, at least during his life, to be in vain. Even so, as a testimony of his tenacity, he did not give up making plans for new compositions and musical editions until the end of his life.
The period of approximately five years in which the school and - later - the printing house led by the psalter originally from New Ephesus was active, represents, in my view, the founding moment of the current Romanian psalter, by transposing a significant number of compositions into the new system, printing the first church music books and the formation in the spirit of the reform of some of the most important psalters, such as Macarie Ieromonahul, Anton Pann, Costache Chiosea, Panaiot Enghiurliu s.a.m.d.
Personally, my affinity for Petru Efesiu manifested itself from the moment when my professional development brought me to the place where he is supposed to have once been, namely a singer in the right pew of the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest, as well as by participating in the many concerts in Greece, where I came into direct contact with the living legacy of this psalt, to which I considered it appropriate, in the view of posterity, to dedicate the present work.