Anton Pann

Anton Pann
Born	1790s Sliven
Died	2 November 1854 Bucharest
Occupation	poet
Nationality	Wallachian
Period	1828–1854
Genre	lyric poetry, epic poetry, fable, satire, aphorism

Anton Pann (Romanian pronunciation: [anˈton ˈpan]; born Antonie Pantoleon-Petroveanu [anˈtoni.e pantoleˈon petroˈve̯anu], and also mentioned as Anton Pantoleon or Petrovici; 1790s—2 November 1854), was an Ottoman-born Wallachian composer, musicologist, and Romanian-language poet, also noted for his activities as a printer, translator, and schoolteacher. Pann was an influential folklorist and collector of proverbs, as well as a lexicographer and textbook author.

Pann was born sometime between 1794 and 1798, in Sliven, Rumelia (in today's Bulgaria). According to some accounts, his mother, Tomaida, was an ethnic Greek, while his father, Pantoleon Petrov, was Bulgarian; it is known that he worked as a coppersmith bucket-maker, which makes it likely that he was a Romani of the Kalderash caste. In Romania, the latter view is notably supported by Romani community activists, who cite Pann among the most prominent Romani artists. This view is also accepted by some Romanian authors. Various other interpretations state that Pantoleon Petrov, who died during Anton Pann's childhood, was Bulgarian, Aromanian, or Romanian. The writer, who was the youngest of Petrov and Tomaida's three sons, eventually adopted the family name Pann, as a colloquial contraction of his father's given name.

After he began primary education at the communal school in Sliven, the Petrovs fled the region during the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-1812 and settled in Chişinău, Bessarabia, where Anton was first employed by a Russian Orthodox choir. His two brothers were killed in the skirmishes around Brăila, as volunteers on the Imperial Russian side. Moving with his mother to Bucharest in 1810-1812, Pann would spend most of his life in the city.

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