Aristid von Würtzler

Aristid von Würtzler (born as Würtzler Arisztid) (September 20, 1925, Budapest – November 30, 1997, Debrecen) Hungarian-American harpist, composer, leader of the New York Harp Ensemble. Biography Aristid von Würtzler was born into a middle-class family. His father was a violinist, a music critic and composer, who had devoted much attention to his sons’ musical education. His older brother, Béla Würtzler also became a musician. Aristid received his education at the Lutheran High School in Aszód and at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. Initially Aristid studied piano and cello, and then switched to harp at the age of 12–13 years. His first teacher was Henrik Rohmann. At the academy he studied harp with Miklós Rékai and composition with Zoltán Kodály. Würtzler was expelled from the academy once because he had not attended lectures on Marxism. But he was taken back by the intervention of Director Ede Zathureczky. Of his teachers he remembered Zoltán Kodály with pleasure. He considered him his mentor and invited him later to the USA. Würtzler’s last performance in Hungary took place on 22 November 1956, in the Opera House when he was substituting for the bedridden Rékai. Whe