Paul Constaninescu stands out among the composers who followed George Enescu into the Romanian musical limelight during the first half of the 20th century. On the one hand, through his diverse oeuvre, which encompasses almost all of the genres from chamber music to film music, and on the other hand, through his own musical language, consisting of great colour and harmonic variety. Skilfully adapted ecclesiastic Byzantine modes and chants, modal scales, and the authentic and fascinating melodies of Romanian folk music merge with Constaninescu's oeuvre, which stands balanced somewhere between Western tradition and a national musical idiom.

Written in 1938, Wedding in the Carpathians, in which the Carpathian Mountains are cited as an intrinsic symbol of Romania, is a ballet in one act and a unique masterpiece by Constantinescu, who at this point was not yet 30 years old. The ballet had a highly acclaimed premiere on 5 May 1939, under the direction of George Georgescu at the Romanian State Opera in Bucharest. The direct source of inspiration for his composition - a score of great complexity and modernity - was an ethnosociological study carried out in 1928 in the remote village of 'Fundul Moldovei' in north-eastern Romania. The music, dances, costumes and customs of this region were meticulously recorded, as the village was regarded as the last bastion of genuine folklore not yet eclipsed by urban culture. Ten years later, Constantinescu's original ballet, which is authentic and highly stylised at the same time, captured a moment of this tradition that was already disappearing: the ceremony of a peasant wedding.