Hungary on Music Theory Print

Aladar Rado

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Aladár Radó (26 December 1882, in Budapest – 7 September 1914, in Boljevci near Belgrade) was a Hungarian composer of classical music. Life and work Aladar Rado first studied under Hans Koessler (composition) at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music since 1904 with fellow students like Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly. He later continued his compositional studies under Leo Weiner. He was awarded the Hungarian State fellowship, the Franz-Liszt-fellowship of Budapest, a Bayreuth fellowship, and the Franz-Joseph-fellowship which allowed him to move to Berlin. There he continued to compose and also worked for the theatres of Max Reinhardt. In 1914 Aladar Rado was the designated principal conductor of the Reinhard Theatres with a contract starting on 1 September. But in July 1914 the World War I broke out and Aladar Rado enlisted for military service and was sent as a reserve officer to the front line in Serbia. There he was killed in action only a few weeks later. Compositions * Frühlingslied, for violin and piano (1906) * Suite for orchestra (1908) * String quartet * Symphony Petőfi (1909) * Symphonic poem for orchestra Falu végén kurta kocsma (1909) * Opera Der schwarze Kavalier (1910–11) on

Albert Szirmai

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Albert Szirmai (sometimes credited as Albert Sirmay) (2 July 1880 –15 January 1967) was a Hungarian operetta composer and music editor. Szirmai was a graduate of the Budapest Academy of Music, studying piano and composition (with Hans Koessler). Szirmai received a doctorate in music from the University of Budapest, and was devoted to creating works for the stage. He wrote music for 12 one-act plays and over 300 songs for the Budapest theater Népszínház-Vígopera, at which he was musical director. When his first operetta, The Yellow Domino, met with success, he decided to continue in the genre; it is due to the works of Szirmai, Emmerich Kálmán, and Victor Jacobi, among others, that the Hungarian operetta gained recognition internationally at the beginning of the 20th century. Szirmai was born in Budapest. On September 3, 1923, he arrived in New York City aboard the and took a post as music director for Chappell Music (a publishing house now owned by Warner Music Group). He was music editor for such Broadway luminaries as Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers and George Gershwin, and for a collection of the British duo Gilbert and Sullivan. Szirmai made headlines in 1965, when he

Alexander Albrecht

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Alexander Albrecht (12 August 1885, Arad, Hungarian Kingdom - 30 August 1958, Bratislava) was a composer, an important exponent of the Slovak music in the first half of the 20th century. Biography His father Ján (Johann) Albrecht was a professor at the gymnasium, and his mother Mária von Vaszary came from an old Hungarian family. From 1895 to 1903 he attended the Royal Catholic Gymnasium in Bratislava, where he met and befriended Béla Bartók. Following his return to Bratislava in 1908, he accepted the post of organist at the St. Martin’s Cathedral. Simultaneously he perfected his organ playing technique with Rudolph Dittrich in Vienna. He also worked as a teacher at the Mestská hudobná škola (“City Music School”) in Bratislava. In 1918 he married the linguist Margaréta Fischerová. In 1921, after the death of Eugen Kossow, the director of the “City Music School” and bandmaster of the Kirchenmusikverein zu St. Martin, Albrecht took over his place. He gradually developed his original music language already in his juvenile works, such as Andante con moto for organ, Piano Suite or the String Quartet in D major. His compositions were also slightly influenced by Art Nouveau. In the period

Alfred Szendrei

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Alfred Szendrei (29 February 1884 – 3 March 1976), also Alfred Sendrey and Aladár Szendrei, was an American musicologist, organist, conductor, and composer of Hungarian origin. He was one of the leading conductors and pioneers of German radio. In exile he changed his Hungarian surname “Szendrei” to the Americanized spelling “Sendrey”. Life and career Szendrei was born in 1884 to a Hungarian middle-class family in Budapest (Austria-Hungary); his father was a civil servant. From the age of six he learned to play the piano. At the request of his parents, he first studied jurisprudence at the Corvinus University of Budapest. From 1931 to 1933 he was music director of the Berliner Rundfunk and teacher at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory in Berlin. After his emigration to France, he worked from 1933 to 1940 as program director at Radiodiffusion nationale in Paris. When the Germans attacked France in May and June 1939, he fled to the United States. There he changed his name to “Sendrey”. He first worked as a translator for the United States Department of State. Later he was invited by Abraham Binder to the Jewish community center 92nd Street YMHA in New York City. From 1944 to 1952

Alois Gobbi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Alois Gobbi (; December 20, 1842 in Pest, Terézváros, Austrian Empire – July 27, 1932, Budapest, Hungary) was a Hungarian violinist, violin teacher, conductor and composer. Early life His father Alois Gobbi-Ruggieri born in Mantua, Italy, to an aristocratic family was a violin professor in Pest, where he settled after his marriage with Viennese singer Maria Roth, mother of Alois junior. Alois Gobbi Jr was a younger brother of the Liszt pupil Henri Gobbi (1841–1920) and a grandfather of the actress Hilda Gobbi (1913–1988). Career He studied singing with Mathias Engesser and Gotthard Wöhler, composition and piano with Carl Thern, and violin with Karl Huber (musician) (father of Jenő Hubay) and David Ridley-Kohne at the National Conservatory in Budapest. After 1862 during one year he studied in Munich violin with Ferdinand Laub, whom he also assisted. In 1863 he was invited as first violinist at the National Theatre in Budapest. He held this position as well as orchestra director during the next 19 years. From 1884 to 1888 he played in the Royal Opera House orchestra. He was also a first committee member of the Budapest Philharmonic Society. In 1871 Gobbi was invited to teach violin a

Andre Hajdu

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

André Hajdu (; ; 5 March 1932 – 1 August 2016) was a Hungarian-born Israeli composer and ethnomusicologist. Biography Hajdu studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest with Endre Szervánszky and Ferenc Szabó (composition), Erno Szégedi (piano), and Zoltán Kodály (ethnomusicology). As a Kodály disciple, he was involved for two years in research about Gypsy musical culture and published several articles on this subject. After the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Hajdu escaped to Paris and continued his studies at the Paris Conservatoire with Darius Milhaud (composition) and Olivier Messiaen (philosophy of music), obtaining the 1st prize in the discipline. Among his class mates were Gilbert Amy, William Bolcom, Philip Corner and Paul Méfano. In Paris he met a variety of stimulating people from the playwright Samuel Beckett to Prof. Israel Adler of the Hebrew University, who brought him on his first visit to Israel in 1966. Hajdu took up residence in Jerusalem in 1966. He taught at the Tel Aviv Music Academy from 1966 to 1991 and at Bar-Ilan University since 1970. He served as chairman in the Music Department there and founded a composition department. His notable students hav

Antal Doráti

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Antal Doráti (, , ; 9 April 1906 – 13 November 1988) was a Hungarian-born conductor and composer who became a naturalized American citizen in 1943. Biography Antal Doráti was born in Budapest to a Jewish family. His father Alexander Doráti was a violinist with the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra and his mother Margit Kunwald was a piano teacher. He studied at the Franz Liszt Academy with Zoltán Kodály and Leó Weiner for composition and Béla Bartók for piano. His links with Bartók continued for many years: he conducted the world premiere of Bartók’s Viola Concerto, as completed by Tibor Serly, with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1949, with William Primrose as the soloist. He made his conducting debut in 1924 with the Budapest Royal Opera. As well as composing original works, he compiled and arranged pieces by Johann Strauss II for the ballet Graduation Ball (1940), premiered by the Original Ballet Russe in Sydney, Australia, with himself on the conductor’s podium. For Ballet Theatre (later renamed American Ballet Theatre) he created scores for the ballets Bluebeard (1941) from music by Jacques Offenbach and The Fair at Sorochinsk (1943) from music by Modest Mussorgsky. After

Aristid von Würtzler

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

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

Árpád Doppler

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Árpád Doppler (5 June 1857 – 13 August 1927) was a Hungarian-German composer. He was born in Budapest, the son of Karl Doppler, and he studied at the Conservatory of Stuttgart. From 1880 to 1883 he was a teacher at the Grand Conservatory in New York City, after which he returned to the German Empire in order to teach at the Conservatory in Stuttgart. From 1889, he was also a choir leader at the court opera in Stuttgart. He composed several works for piano and for orchestra, choral works, lieder, and operas. His comic opera Halixula was first performed in 1891 at the court opera in Stuttgart; His compositional style is reminiscent at times of Edvard Grieg. He died in Stuttgart in 1927. References

Attila László

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Attila László (born 10 July 1953) is a Hungarian jazz guitarist and composer. László is one of the leaders of Hungary’s second generation of jazz musicians, which includes Lakatos, Dés, Kőszegi, and Pege. He was president of the Hungarian Jazz Federation (1999–2005) and performed with Anthony Jackson, Randy Brecker, James Moody, David Friedman, Gary Willis, Bob Mintzer, Peter Erskine, Hiram Bullock, Miroslav Vitous, Ilaiyaraaja, Russell Ferrante, and Jimmy Haslip. Laszlo won the Golden Cross of Merit prize. Biography After finishing his studies at Béla Bartók Secondary School of Music he performed with prominent jazz bands in Hungary. In 1975 he founded a jazz band by the name of Kaszakő and recorded his first album with them in 1983. He worked as a musician in the studio of Magyar Rádió, Hungary’s publicly funded radio broadcasting organization, from 1980 to 1988. In 1985 he joined Tony Lakatos to form his second band, Things. They performed at various events, including performances on Hungarian television. Since 1987 he has been teaching at Franz Liszt Academy of Music. He is the leader of its big band. It was not until 1992 that László formed his own band, the László Attila Band

Attila Pacsay

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Attila Pacsay (born October 30, 1970) is a Hungarian composer who is particularly known for his music written for films, television, and the theatre. His compositions encompass a wide variety of music from chamber music and symphonic works to jazz pieces and contemporary music. Career He began his musical studies in piano, trumpet, and trombone at age 7. A few years later, he started preparing for a career as composer. His compositions were performed by his own band. At age 14, he was accepted in the composition class of László Draskóczy and Attila Reményi at the János Richter Conservatory in the city of Győr. He received his college degree in composition at the Budapest Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, where he studied in the class of Emil Petrovics. After graduation, Mr. Pacsay began working as freelancer. Initially, he composed music for television and radio programs, and, in 1997, he met his childhood musician friend the director Géza M. Tóth, who was searching for a composer for his animated films. Their collaboration resulted in hundreds of short animated television ID-s and several animated short films. During these years, besides film scores, Mr. Pacsay composed music for the

Balázs Havasi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Balázs Havasi (born 18 September 1975) is a Hungarian pianist and composer. As a contemporary composer, he has founded four different musical projects, including compositions for a symphony orchestra, rock drums, and piano. Education Havasi first played the piano at the age of 4. During his years at the Academy of Music, Havasi won first prize at a piano competition of Yamaha Foundation of Europe. Early albums (2000–2005) In 2000, Havasi signed a five-year exclusive record contract with EMI. During the term of his EMI contract, he produced two soundtrack albums. Havasi did not extend the contract, instead establishing his own record company. The Unbending Trees Havasi founded the band The Unbending Trees with singer-lyricist Kristóf Hajós in 2006. The band was offered its first record contract by British record publisher and producer Ben Watt, and soon released its first album called Chemically Happy (Is The New Sad). Hajós wrote lyrics to the music of Havasi on the album. The Unbending Trees made its debut in London in 2007 and its first four-song EP was called “The First Day”. Later, their song “You Are A Lover” was reworked by British singer Tracey Thorn. The Guardian newspaper

Bálint Bakfark

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Bálint Bakfark (; in contemporary sources Valentin Bakfark or (from 1565 onward) Valentin Greff alias Bakfark, his name is variously spelled as Bacfarc, Bakfarc, Bakfarkh, Bakffark, Backuart) (c. 1507 – 15 or 22 August 1576) was a Hungarian composer of Transylvanian Saxon origin, and lutenist of the Renaissance. He was enormously influential as a lutenist in his time, and renowned as a virtuoso on the instrument. Life He was born in Brassó, Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary (today Brașov in Romania), into a family of Transylvanian Saxon origin. An orphan, he was brought up by the Greff family and was educated in Buda at the court of John Zápolya. Bakfark remained there until 1540, though he possibly traveled to Italy once during this time. Sometime in the 1540s he traveled to Paris, but, finding the position of lutenist to the king filled, he left for Jagiellon Poland in 1549, where he was employed as a court lutenist by Sigismund II Augustus. From then until 1566, he traveled extensively around Europe, with his renown increasing, but remained faithful to his employer in spite of numerous efforts by other monarchs to win him away; the riches bestowed on him by Sigismund may have aff

Barnabás von Géczy

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Barnabás von Géczy (4 March 1897 – 2 July 1971) was a Hungarian violinist, composer and bandleader. Biography von Géczy was born in Budapest, and studied at the Budapest Academy of Music. After World War I, he left Hungary and found work as a violinist in Trondheim, Norway before settling in Berlin in 1924; von Géczy also received offers from the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm and the Philadelphia Opera (then led by Leopold Stokowski), but turned them down. From 1925 to 1937 von Géczy’s orchestra had a long term engagement at the Hotel Esplanade in Berlin. He soon arose as one of Europe’s most popular bandleaders, and also appeared in films such as This One or None and The Countess of Monte Cristo. As the classically trained von Géczy favored strings over reeds and brass, he became a favorite of Hitler and Goebbels and continued his career in the Third Reich. His orchestra performed at the Volksbühne in Berlin in 1933–1934, and von Géczy was invested with the title of “Professor” by Hitler in 1939. After the fall of the Third Reich, von Géczy was banned from performing for a few years. In 1952, he formed a new orchestra at the Café Luitpold in Munich, a city in which he would liv

Béla Bartók

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Childhood and early years (1881–1898)#

Bartók was born in the Banatian town of Nagyszentmiklós in the Kingdom of Hungary, part of Austria-Hungary (present-day Sânnicolau Mare, Romania) on 25 March 1881. On his father’s side, the Bartók family was a Hungarian lower noble family, originating from Borsodszirák, Borsod. His paternal grandmother was a Catholic of Bunjevci origin, but considered herself Hungarian. Bartók’s father (1855–1888) was also named . Bartók’s mother, (1857–1939), spoke Hungarian fluently. A native of Turócszentmárton (present-day Martin, Slovakia), she had German, Hungarian and Slovak or Polish ancestry. Béla displayed notable musical talent very early in life. According to his mother, he could distinguish between different dance rhythms that she played on the piano before he learned to speak in complete sentences. By the age of four he was able to play 40 pieces on the piano, and his mother began formally teaching him the next year. In 1888, when he was seven, his father, the director of an agricultural school, died suddenly. His mother then took Béla and his sister, Erzsébet, to live in Nagyszőlős (present-day Vynohradiv, Ukraine) and then in Pressburg (present-day Bratislava, Slovakia). Béla gave his first public recital aged 11 in Nagyszőlős, to positive critical reception. Among the pieces he played was his own first composition, written two years previously: a short piece called “The Course of the Danube”. Shortly thereafter, accepted him as a pupil.

Béla Kéler

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Béla Kéler (13 February 182020 November 1882) was a Hungarian composer of romantic music period and orchestral conductor. Béla Kéler was born as Albert Paul Keler (Adalbert Paul von Keler). He is also known in Hungarian as Kéler Béla. He was born on 13 February 1820 in City of Bártfa, Sáros County, Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire (present-day Bardejov, Slovakia), and died on 20 November 1882 in Wiesbaden, German Empire. He was active in Hungary, Austria and Germany. Biography Béla Kéler was born in 1820 in Bártfa (, ), Kingdom of Hungary as Albert Paul Keler, but German and Austrian sources also give Adalbert Paul von Keler. He descended from an ethnic German family on his father’s side, but was ethnic Magyar on his mother’s side. His father Stefan Keler (17811849) was a principal magistrate of Bártfa, from an old Bártfa burgher’s family. His mother Anna Bóth (17931848) was from the Hungarian Both de Botfalva noble family. They raised 13 children. Albert’s siblings were Frederika, Stefan, Emilia, Antonia, Matilda, Augusta, Apollonia, Ferdinand, Viktor, Josefina, and Amalia. The household was German speaking; the majority of residents of Bártfa that time were Carpathian Germans.

Béni Egressy

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Béni Egressy (; 21 April 1814 – 17 July 1851) was a Hungarian composer, librettist, translator and actor. He created a number of popular melodic compositions, including the one to Mihály Vörösmarty’s patriotic poem Szózat. He also authored the librettos of the operas Hunyadi László and Bánk bán by Ferenc Erkel. Biography Egressy was born in 1814 in Sajókazinc, today a part of Kazincbarcika, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County, Hungary, to a Protestant pastor. He entered the stage in 1834, like his older brother Gábor Egressy, and in 1837 became a member of the national theatre in Prague. During the Revolution of 1848, he took part in the fighting and became a member of the Hungarian Honvéd resistance. He was wounded in the Battle of Kápolna and was present during the defense of Komárom under György Klapka, where he wrote the Klapka March. After the rebellion, he received amnesty and returned to the stage. Works Egressy was more notable for his acting rather than his compositions. Nevertheless, he composed music for “Szózat”, a famous poem by Hungarian poet Mihály Vörösmarty. The song later became the unofficial “second Hungarian national anthem”, besides the Himnusz. His musical works are

Christoph Sonnleithner

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Christoph Sonnleithner (28 May 1734 in Szeged, Hungary – 25 December 1786 in Vienna, Austria) was an Austrian jurist and composer. He was the father of Ignaz von Sonnleithner and Joseph Sonnleithner. His daughter Anna was the mother of Franz Grillparzer. Life Sonnleithner studied legal science at the University of Vienna where he graduated with a doctorate. Later he was given work as a solicitor in the service of the princely House of Esterházy being his employer Prince Paul II Anton Esterházy de Galantha. Sonnleithner was appointed as Dean of the Juridical Faculty at the University of Vienna, and had thus the office of the court judge of the Scottish Abbey, the College of the Scots. As a composer, Sonnleithner was in contact with Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He composed 36 string quartets, all dedicated to Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, several symphonies and various church music. Additional information Sources * Notes References ;Attribution *This article is based on the translation of the corresponding article on the German Wikipedia. A list of contributors can be found there at the History section. External links *

David Popper

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

David Popper (June 18, 1843 – August 7, 1913) was a Bohemian cellist and composer. Life Popper was born in Prague, and studied music at the Prague Conservatory. His family was Jewish. He studied the cello under Julius Goltermann (1825–1876) and soon attracted attention. He made his first tour in 1863; in Germany he was praised by Hans von Bülow, son-in-law of Franz Liszt, who recommended him as Chamber Virtuoso in the court of Prince von Hohenzollern-Hechingen in Löwenberg. In 1864, he premiered Robert Volkmann’s Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 33, with Hans von Bülow conducting the Berlin Philharmonic. He lost this job a couple of years later due to the prince’s death. In 1866, after a successful season in London, he was invited by the court of Württemberg to stay at Friedrichshafen for two weeks. The invitation included the pianist Anna Mehlig as well. The two of them were expected to perform regularly for the royal couple, which they seemed to have fulfilled satisfactorily, as Anna Mehlig was awarded the honorary title of court pianist shortly afterwards. Popper composed a “Romance” for piano and cello during his stay which he dedicated to Mehlig. He made his debut in Vienna in 1

Dénes von Buday

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Buday Dénes (Denes von Buday) was a Hungarian composer, born in Budapest. He was a well known composer of both poems and music for films made between 1930 and 1950. Buday studied at the Academy of Music, which is today known as the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where his teacher, Hans von Koessler, held his lectures in German. Work Opera Buday’s only opera, the comedy Loreley, premiered in 1919 in Vienna. Operettas Buday authored many operettas and musical comedies, which were shown on stage between 1916 and 1947. Movie composer References Book Reference * * External links * by Gyula Juhász; the composer is singing and playing the piano * ≈I love you Ágnes with János Sárdy * ≈Hearth could not pour forth with Janka Sólyom

Dezso d'Antalffy

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Dezso d’Antalffy (born Dezső Antalffy-Zsiross; 24July 188529 – April 1945) was a Hungarian organist and composer. He was one of the most significant performing artists of his time. He composed pieces for orchestra, chamber orchestra, choir, piano and organ which were published by Schirmer, Ricordi, Leduc, Salabert, Steingräber, Breitkopf and Universal. Early life Dezso d’Antalffy was born into a musical family in Nagybecskerek, Banat, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary, (present-day Zrenjanin, Serbia). His mother, a pianist, recognized his musical talent when he was four. At the age of seven, d’Antalffy’s piano instruction was taken over by Ferenc Ripka. When he turned ten, Herr Ödön supervised his musical progress. As a secondary-school student he practiced eight hours a day, which gave him a firm basis for his technique. Academy of Music Study D’Antallfy moved to Budapest in 1902, where he attended the faculty of law at the Hungarian Royal University according to his father’s wishes, and studied the organ and composed music at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. For four years he was the student of Hans Koessler, who taught many Hungarian composers including Kodály, Bartók and Weiner

Ede Reményi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ede Reményi or Eduard Reményi (January 17, 1828 Miskolc, Austrian Empire May 15, 1898 San Francisco) was a Hungarian violinist and composer. His birth date is disputed, and variously given from 1828 to 1830. Biography Reményi was born in Miskolc, Hungary, as Eduard Hoffmann. He studied under Joseph Böhm at the Vienna Conservatory from 1842 to 1845. Banished from Austria for participation in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, he went to Germany, where he befriended the 15-year-old Johannes Brahms and introduced him to Hungarian music. Pursued by German authorities, he fled to the United States in December, 1849. He returned to Europe in 1852, toured with Brahms in 1853, and then sojourned for a time at Weimar, where he received the benefit of Franz Liszt’s instruction and friendship. In 1854 he became solo violinist to Britain’s Queen Victoria. He obtained his amnesty in 1860 and returned to Hungary, being soon afterward appointed soloist to Emperor Franz Joseph. He then retired for some years. While born Eduard Hoffmann, he started using the name Ede Reményi by the time of the Revolutions of 1848, and his entire family followed suit sometime by 1862. In 1865 he made a brilliant tour

Edvin Marton

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Edvin Marton (born Lajos Edvin Csűry, 17 February 1974, Vylok, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian-born Hungarian composer and violinist. He became known as the violinist of the skaters, mainly because Evgeni Plushenko, Stéphane Lambiel, Yuzuru Hanyu (as a tribute to Plushenko), and other famous skaters often skated to his music. Biography He was born in an area of Ukraine largely inhabited by ethnic Hungarians. He was born into a musical family and by the age of four was already learning the violin from his parents. He was eight years old when accepted into that alma mater for the most talented musicians of the Soviet Union, the Central Tchaikovsky Music School in Moscow to study under Leo Lundstrem. He continued his studies with Eugenia Tchougaeva. He gave his first important concert at the age of twelve, with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. At the age of seventeen, he became a student at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music Budapest, in the class of Géza Kapás. He took part in a masterclass given by Ruggiero Ricci, where he won the prize for the best participant. He was also the Grand Prize winner of the International Course Competition in Berlin, after having been invited by Ruggiero Ricci. Si

Egon Kenton

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Egon Francis Kenton (born Egon Ferenc Kornstein; May 22, 1891 – December 3, 1987) was a Hungarian and American musicologist, violist, music librarian, and educator born in the Transylvanian village of Nagyszalonta, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Salonta, Romania) on May 22, 1891 and died in Paris on December 3, 1987. Kenton began studying viola and violin at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music (known at the time as the National Royal Hungarian Academy of Music) in 1905 and graduated in 1911. Upon graduation he played in the , known simply at the time as the Hungarian Quartet, or as Kenton remarked, “the old one—the first Hungarian quartet.” Kenton’s tenure with this group led to encounters and friendships with some of the most significant composers of the twentieth century. The group performed Claude Debussy’s Quartet in Budapest with the composer in attendance, who was so impressed that he arranged for them to perform the work again in Paris. On his trip to Paris, Kenton became well-acquainted with Debussy and his family, having recounted instances of the French composer’s penchant for sarcasm. Of a performance by a well-known Hungarian pianist, Debussy commented, “‘I myself can’t go t

Emánuel Moór

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Emánuel Moór (; 19 February 1863 – 20 October 1931) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and an inventor of musical instruments. Life Moór was born in Kecskemét, Hungary, and studied in Prague, Vienna and Budapest. Between 1885 and 1897 he toured Europe as a soloist and ventured as far afield as the United States. His output of compositions amounted to 151 works including five operas, eight symphonies, four concertos for piano, four for violin, two for cello, a viola concerto and a harp concerto. Included in his works were also a triple concerto for violin, cello, and piano; chamber music; a requiem; and many songs. His three Piano Trios (in D major, op. 74, in C major, op. 81 and in B♭ major, op. 89), have been recorded by the Storioni Trio. They show the influence of Brahms, who befriended Moór. His best-known invention was the Emánuel Moór Pianoforte, which consisted of two keyboards lying one above each other and allowed, by means of a tracking device, one hand to play a spread of two octaves. Two new instruments In 1921 Emánuel Moór sparked a lively controversy in the world of music by presenting two revolutionary inventions in quick succession. First, “a giant violin, one and a

Emil Ábrányi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Emil Ábrányi (22 September 1882 11 February 1970) was a Hungarian composer, conductor, and opera director. Life He was conductor at the Royal Hungarian Opera House from 1911 to 1919, and director there from 1919 to 1920. In 1921, he became the director at the Budapest Municipal Theatre, where he remained until 1926. For many years he taught conducting at the Budapest Academy of Music. He composed twelve operas of which only six have been performed professionally. He was the grandson of the composer Kornél Ábrányi. Operas *A ködkirály (The King of Mist) (1 act, libretto by Á. Pásztor, 17 May 1903, Royal Hungarian Opera House, Budapest) *Monna Vanna (3 acts, libretto by Emil Ábrányi, Sr. (father of the composer) after Maeterlinck’s drama of the same name, 2 March 1907, Royal Hungarian Opera House, Budapest). *Paolo és Francesca (3 acts, libretto after Dante by Emil Ábrányi, Sr., 13 January 1912, Royal Hungarian Opera House, Budapest) *Don Quijote (3 acts, libretto after Cervantes by Emil Ábrányi, Sr., 30 November 1917, Royal Hungarian Opera House, Budapest) *Ave Maria: Májusi intermezzo (A May Intermezzo) (1 act, 25 February 1922, Budapest Municipal Theatre) *A vak katona (The Blind

Emmerich Kálmán

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Emmerich Kálmán ( ; 24 October 1882 – 30 October 1953) was a Hungarian composer of operettas and a prominent figure in the development of Viennese operetta in the 20th century. Among his most popular works are Die Csárdásfürstin (1915) and Gräfin Mariza (1924). Influences on his compositional style include Hungarian folk music (such as the csárdás), the Viennese style of precursors such as Johann Strauss II and Franz Lehár, and, in his later works, American jazz. As a result of the Anschluss, Kálmán and his family fled to Paris and then to the United States. He eventually returned to Europe in 1949 and died in Paris in 1953. Biography Kálmán was born Imre Koppstein in Siófok, then in Austria-Hungary, on the southern shore of Lake Balaton, to a Jewish family. Kálmán initially intended to become a concert pianist, but because of early-onset arthritis, he focused on composition instead. He studied music theory and composition at the National Hungarian Royal Academy of Music (then the Budapest Academy of Music), where he was a fellow student of Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály under Hans Kössler. His early symphonic poems Saturnalia and Endre és Johanna were well-received, although he fai

Endre Szervánszky

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Endre Szervánszky (27 December 191125 June 1977) was a Hungarian composer. Biography Szervánszky was born in Kistétény and studied the clarinet at the Budapest Academy of Music (1922–27). He played in various orchestras before returning to the academy to study composition with Albert Siklós (1931–36). He then worked as an orchestrator for the Hungarian Radio and taught musical theory. He was appointed professor of composition at the Budapest Academy in 1948. Szervánszky first came to public attention with his First String Quartet (1936–38) and his works of this period were influenced by his compatriots, Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók. Works for this time include the Clarinet Serenade (1950) and the Flute Concerto (1952–53). From the early 1950s Szervánszky embarked on a series of larger compositions, one of the longest being the Concerto for Orchestra in memory of Attila József. Each of the concerto’s five movements is based on a quotation from József. The fourth has folk music elements and the whole demonstrates the influence of Bartók. Both the String Quartet no.2 (1956–57) and the Wind Quintet no.2 (1957) also demonstrate the composer’s increasing interest in serialism. For his S

Ernest Manheim

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ernest Manheim (27 January 1900 – 28 July 2002), known as Ernő until 1920, Ernst until 1934, and then Ernest in the United States, was an American sociologist, anthropologist, and composer born in Hungary, at that time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Life Manheim attended a secondary school in Budapest from 1909 and graduated in 1917. Then he enrolled in the Military Academy for the Royal Hungarian Home Defense in Budapest and at the same time started chemistry studies at the der Royal Technical Joseph-Academy in Budapest. In 1918 he became a soldier in the Austro-Hungarian army ranking as a corporal. After World War I he resumed his studies in chemistry and mathematics at the Budapest University, and additionally attended lectures in philosophy, music and literature. From March to July 1919 Manheim was a volunteer in the Hungarian Soviet Republic or Republic of Councils founded by Béla Kun and was taken prisoner. He fled from the Romanian prison camp but could not stay in Budapest for long, since he had to face arrest as a supporter of the Soviet Republic. So he escaped to Austria in 1920, where he resumed his studies at the University of Vienna, first chemistry and physics a

Ernst von Dohnányi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ernst von Dohnányi (Hungarian: Dohnányi Ernő, ; 27 July 1877 – 9 February 1960) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and conductor. He used the German form of his name on most published compositions. Biography Dohnányi was born in Pozsony, Kingdom of Hungary (today part of Bratislava, Slovakia). Born into the old noble Dohnányi family, he was the son of (1843–1909) and his wife, Ottilia Szlabey. He first studied music with his father, a professor of mathematics and amateur cellist, and when he was eight years old, with Carl Forstner, organist at the local cathedral. In 1894 he moved to Budapest and enrolled in the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music, studying piano with István Thomán and composition with Hans von Koessler, a cousin of Max Reger. Thomán had been a favorite student of Franz Liszt, while von Koessler was a devotee of Johannes Brahms’s music. These two influences played an important part in Dohnányi’s life: Liszt for his piano playing and Brahms for his music. Dohnányi’s first published work, his Piano Quintet in C minor, earned the approval of Brahms, who promoted it in Vienna. Dohnányi did not study long at the Academy of Music: in June 1897 he sought to take the

Erwin Lendvai

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Erwin Lendvai (4 June 1882 – 21 March 1949) was a Hungarian composer and choral conductor. He was an uncle of the composer Kamilló Lendvay. Lendvai was born in Budapest. He graduated from the National Music Academy of Budapest, studying with Hans von Koessler. He also studied with Giacomo Puccini in Milan. From 1906 on, he lived in Germany, where he began his teaching career. From 1913 to 1914, he taught at the J.-Dalcroze Institute in Hellerau, near Dresden, where he married the photographer Erna Dircksen. From 1914 to 1920, he taught composition at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory in Berlin and in 1923 choral singing at the Volksmusikschule in Hamburg. He was also director of a musical society in Koblenz and director of the popular choir of Munich. In 1929, he premiered Arnold Schoenberg’s choral work Glück Op. 35, No. 4. In 1933, he emigrated from Germany due to the Nazi regime and after that worked as a music teacher in Kenninghall, England. After the war, he headed the Györ Conservatory of Music. He became interested in Béla Bartók’s music there. He died in Epsom, Surrey, UK. Lendvai wrote one opera, Elga (1916, to a libretto by Gerhart Hauptmann), the festival music Völ

Erzsébet Szőnyi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Erzsébet Szőnyi (25 April 1924 – 28 December 2019), also Erzsébet Szilágyi, was a Hungarian composer and music teacher. Her works encompass symphonic compositions, chamber music works, art songs, and oratorios. She also wrote numerous stage works including eight operas. Biography Born in Budapest on 25 April 1924, Erzsébet Szőnyi studied composition and piano at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest with János Viski. She received a secondary school music teaching diploma. In Paris, she attended courses by Tony Aubin and Olivier Messiaen at the Conservatoire de Paris, obtained a prize for composition, and worked in private with Nadia Boulanger in 1947 and 1948. She was also a pupil of Zoltán Kodály, with whom she worked in close collaboration. Later, she taught at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, providing classes in musical education and directing choirs. From 1964 onwards, Szőnyi was a member directing the International Society for Music Education (ISME). She was vice-president of ISME from 1970 to 1974. She died on 28 December 2019 in Budapest. Prizes * 1947: Liszt-Preis * 1959: Erkel Ferenc-díj * 1995 and 2004: Bartók-Pásztory prize (Bartók Béla-Pásztory Ditta-díj) * 200

Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ferdinand III (Ferdinand Ernest; 13 July 1608 – 2 April 1657) was Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary and Croatia from 1625, King of Bohemia from 1627 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1637 to his death. Ferdinand ascended the throne at the beginning of the last decade of the Thirty Years’ War and introduced lenient policies to depart from the old ideas of divine right held by his father, as he wished to end the war quickly. After military defeats and against a background of declining power, Ferdinand was compelled to abandon the political stances of his Habsburg predecessors in many respects to open the long road towards the much-delayed Peace of Westphalia. Although his authority as emperor was weakened after the war, his position in Bohemia, Hungary and Austria was stronger than that of his predecessors before 1618. Ferdinand was the first Habsburg monarch to be recognised as a musical composer. Early life Ferdinand was born in Graz as the third son of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor of Habsburg and his first wife, Maria Anna of Bavaria, and was baptised as Ferdinand Ernst. He grew up in Carinthia with loving care from his parents and developed great affection for his siblings and h

Ferenc Erkel

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ferenc Erkel ( , ; November 7, 1810 – June 15, 1893) was a Hungarian composer, conductor and pianist. He was the father of Hungarian grand opera, written mainly on historical themes, which are still often performed in Hungary. He also composed the music of “Himnusz”, the national anthem of Hungary, which was adopted in 1844. He died in Budapest. Biography Erkel was born in Nyíregyháza to an originally Danube Swabian Erkel family, a son of Joseph Erkel who was a musician. His mother was the Hungarian Klára Ruttkay. The libretti of his first three operas were written by Béni Egressy. Beside his operas, for which he is best known, he wrote pieces for piano and chorus, and a majestic Festival Overture. He acquainted Hector Berlioz with the tune of the Rákóczi March, which Berlioz used in The Damnation of Faust. He headed the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra (founded in 1853). He was also the director and piano teacher of the Hungarian Academy of Music until 1886. The Hungarian State Opera House in Budapest was opened in 1884, of which he was the musical director. In 1839, he married Adél Adlers. Four of his sons participated in the composing of his later operas:Nyíregyháza (July 4, 1842, P

Ferenc Farkas

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ferenc Farkas (; 15 December 1905 – 10 October 2000) was a Hungarian composer. Biography Born into a musical family (his father, Aladár Farkas, was an Olympian and soldier who played the cimbalom and his mother played the piano) in Nagykanizsa; he began his musical studies in Budapest, at the Protestant Gymnasium (Grammar School) and later attended the Music Academy, where he studied composition with Leó Weiner and Albert Siklós. After his graduation in 1927, he worked as a repetiteur and conductor at the Municipal Theatre of Budapest and collaborated with the Diaghilev Ballet. From 1929 to 1931, he attended Ottorino Respighi’s masterclass at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. The years he spent in Rome had a decisive influence on him. He became acquainted with Italian and Mediterranean culture to which he felt a deep attraction. About this he said: “My principal aim has always been to attain for myself a latin clarity and proportion.”. Farkas returned to Budapest in the autumn of 1931. As he could not find any other assignments, he played the piano in various theatre orchestras. In 1932 he met the director Paul Fejos for whom he composed several film scores, first i

Francis Korbay

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Francis Alexander Korbay (May 8, 1846 – March 9, 1913) was a Hungarian musician. Life He was born in Pest His father was a landowner and his mother was a descendant of the poet István Gyöngyösi. His father joined the revolutionary party, and suffered imprisonment and the forfeiture of his estates. The youth turned his attention to music, studying piano with Moronyi and composition with Robert Volkmann. At nineteen, he found himself in possession of a robust tenor voice. He studied voice with Gustave-Hippolyte Roger, He died in London, which for many years was his home, March 9, 1913. References Sources * *bach-cantatas.com External links *Francis Alexander Korbay at the LiederNet Archive

Franz Lehár

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Franz Lehár ( ; ; 30 April 1870 – 24 October 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas, of which the most successful and best known is The Merry Widow (Die lustige Witwe). Life and career Lehár was born in the northern part of Komárom, Kingdom of Hungary (now Komárno, Slovakia), the eldest son of Franz Lehar Sr. (1838–1898), an Austrian bandmaster in the Infantry Regiment No. 50 of the Austro-Hungarian Army and Christine Neubrandt (1849–1906), a Hungarian woman from a family of German descent. He grew up speaking only Hungarian until the age of 12. He later put an acute accent above the a of his father’s surname Lehar to indicate the pronunciation of the vowel as , in accordance with Hungarian orthography. While his younger brother Anton entered cadet school in Vienna to become a professional officer, Franz studied violin at the Prague Conservatory, where his violin teacher was Antonín Bennewitz, but was advised by Antonín Dvořák to focus on composition. However, the Conservatory’s rules at that time did not allow students to study both performance and composition, and Bennewitz and Lehár senior exerted pressure on Lehár to take his degree in viol

Franz von Vecsey

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Franz von Vecsey (born Ferenc Vecsey; 23 March 18935 April 1935) was a Hungarian violinist and composer, who became a well-known virtuoso in Europe through the early 20th century. He made his public debut at the age of 10. He became one of the pre-eminent violinists in Europe in the 1910s and 1920s, at one point touring with Béla Bartók as his piano accompanist. Aged only 12, he became the re-dedicatee of Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto in D minor in 1905, when the original dedicatee, Willy Burmester, refused to play the work after he was unable to appear at the premiere of the revised version, which was premiered by Karel Halíř instead. Vecsey championed the Sibelius concerto, first performing it when he was only 13. He was the dedicatee of Hubay’s Violin Concerto No.3. He also spent time composing, and wrote a number of virtuosic salon pieces for the violin. Later life and career From 1926 until his death, he lived with his wife in Venice, at the “Palazzo Giustinian de’Vescovi” on Canal Grande. His career steadily faltered after the First World War, as he grew tired of constant touring and wanted to concentrate more on conducting. By the 1930s, he was about to embark on that dream

Frigyes Hidas

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Frigyes Hidas (; 25 May 1928 – 7 March 2007) was a Hungarian composer. Hidas was born and died in Budapest, where he studied composition at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music with János Visky. After his studies, he was the musical director of the National Theater in Budapest from 1951 to 1966 and also held the same role at the city’s Operetta Theater from 1974 to 1979. Following this, Hidas was a freelance composer. His oeuvre covered almost every genre, including operas, ballets, concertos, other orchestral works, chamber music, and vocal and choral music. He was one of the foremost names in the world of contemporary chamber and concert band music for wind instruments. In addition, he enjoyed various commissions from opera houses, radio stations, universities, ballet companies, and musical association and federations. He received many prizes and other forms of recognition for his musical services. Partial list of works *Concerto per oboe e orchestra (1951) concerto *1. VONÓSNÉGYES (1954) chamber music *SONATA for oboe and piano (1955) chamber music *Trumpet Concerto No. 1 (1956) concerto *SONATA for organ (1956) solo *Missa brevis (1956) choir and solo instrument(s) *Violin Concerto

Gábor Darvas

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Gábor Darvas (; until 1952 Gábor Steinberger; 18 January 1911 – 18 February 1985) was a Hungarian composer and musicologist. He was one of the first Hungarian composers to work in the field of electronic music. As a musicologist, his interest was primarily in music of the 15th and 16th centuries. Biography He was born at Szatmárnémeti (Austria-Hungary) in 1911. His family moved to Budapest in 1918, where he finished his high school studies. He studied piano from the age of nine, from 1926 until 1932 he attended the Academy of Music in Budapest as an instrumentalists and later studied composition under Zoltán Kodály. His orchestral compositions of the thirties were performed in concerts and in the Hungarian Radio. In 1939 he left the country. During the World War II, he lived in Chile, He died in 1985 in Budapest. Compositions * Improvisations symphoniques (1963) for piano and orchestra * Sectio aurea (1964) for orchestra * Medália (Medal) on a poem by Attila József (1965) for soprano, keyboard instruments, percussion and loudspeaker * Rotation for 5 (1967) for vibraphone, marimba, guitarre, cimbalom and piano * A torony (The tower) (1967) for voices and instruments * Magánzárka (So

Georg Jarno

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Georg Jarno (3 June 1868 – 24 May 1920) was a Hungarian composer, mainly of operettas. Biography Jarno was born in Buda. After he finished his studies in Budapest, he worked as Theaterkapellmeister in Bremen, Gera, Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Metz, Liegnitz, Chemnitz and Magdeburg, and also as opera director in Bad Kissingen, before settling in Vienna as a freelance composer. Before 1903, Jarno’s name was György Cohner. He died in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland), and is buried in the New Jewish Cemetery (field 17), found 16 June 2026 by ASF volunteers. Career Jarno’s greatest successes were Die Försterchristl (1907) and Das Musikantenmädel (1910). His operettas Das Farmermädchen and Jungfer Sonnenschein were well received, whereas Die Marine-Gustl, Mein Annerl, Der Goldfisch and Die Csikosbaroness could muster only passing interest. Much of the success of his works was due to the distinguished presentation of their title roles by his brother’s (Joseph Jarno) wife, the highly popular actress and soubrette Hansi Niese. He loved to introduce historically well known persons into his operettas; Kaiser Joseph II in Die Försterchristl, Prince Eugene of Savoy in Jungfer Sonnenschein, Joseph Haydn

George Szell

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

George Szell (; June 7, 1897 – July 30, 1970), originally György Széll, György Endre Széll, or Georg Szell, was an Austro-Hungarian-born American conductor, composer, and pianist. Considered one of the twentieth century’s greatest conductors, he was music director of the Cleveland Orchestra of Cleveland, Ohio, and recorded much of the standard classical repertoire in Cleveland and with other orchestras. Szell came to Cleveland in 1946 to take over its respected if undersized orchestra, which was struggling to recover from the disruptions of World War II. By the time of his death he was credited, to quote the critic Donal Henahan, with having built it into “what many critics regarded as the world’s keenest symphonic instrument.” Through his recordings, Szell has remained a presence in the classical music world long after his death, and his name remains synonymous with that of the Cleveland Orchestra. While on tour with the orchestra in the late 1980s, then-music director Christoph von Dohnányi remarked, “We give a great concert, and George Szell gets a great review.” Life and career Early life György Endre Széll was born in Budapest but grew up in Vienna. His family was of Jewish or

Géza Frid

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Géza Frid (25 January 1904 – 13 September 1989) was a Hungarian–Dutch composer and pianist. Early years Géza Frid was born in Máramarossziget in the Máramaros County of Austria-Hungary (present-day Romania) and studied piano and composition in Budapest with a.o. Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók. He settled in Amsterdam in 1929 and became a Dutch citizen in 1948. He died in Beverwijk and was buried at Zorgvlied cemetery. Activities Frid gave many piano recitals all over the world: Italy (1926, 1955, 1965), Indonesia (1948–1949, 1951, 1956), Siam and Egypt (1951), Israel (1962, 1965, 1967), the Soviet Union, (1963), South- and North-America (1965, 1967), Turkey (1965), The Netherlands (1967), Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles (1970), the United States (1970, 1974), Hungary (1971, 1974). During the Second World War Frid was active in the resistance. He taught chamber music at the Conservatory of Music in Utrecht. Publications In 1976 his book Oog in oog met… (Face to face with…Tolstoj, T. Mann, G. Bomans, B. Mussolini, W. Mengelberg, B. Bartok and M. Ravel) was published (publ. Heuff). In 1984 he published his memoirs In 80 jaar de wereld rond (publ. Strengholt). Prizes In 1949 he

Géza Horváth (composer)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Géza Horváth (* May 27, 1868 in Komárom, Hungary; † July 19, 1925 in Vienna ) was a Hungarian composer, arranger and music school director who worked in Vienna. Life Géza Horváth attended music school in his hometown of Komárom and became a full-time musician at the age of 18. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory and passed the state music teacher examination in 1892. After a few years as a music teacher, Horvath opened his own private music school. Around 1911 he was active as President of the committee of licensed music school owners. After his death in 1925, the private music school Horvath (Hirschengasse 15, 1060 Vienna) was continued by his daughter Blanca Horvath. Compositions During his time as music school director, Horvath created numerous works for learning piano and violin, which are often used in modern teaching materials to this day (e.g. Canzonetta). Horvath is considered one of the outstanding composers and arrangers for multi-handed piano playing. “The works by Wilhelm Kramer and Géza Horváth stand out from the estimated 400 pieces for piano duet in the 19th century. In their numerous original compositions and arrangements, both created a balanced piano setting wit

Géza Zichy

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Count Géza Zichy (23 July 184914 January 1924) was a Hungarian composer and was also renowned as the world’s first professional one-armed pianist. Zichy also published an autobiography (“Aus meinem Leben”, 3 vols, 1911–24) and some poetry. Zichy lost his right arm in a hunting accident at age 14 or 15. Instead of despair, he doubled his strive, to form himself into a true piano virtuoso. “I closed the door,” he says in his memoirs, “and got dressed alone. The door handle, the furniture, my legs, my teeth all helped. At lunch, I did not eat any food that I could not cut myself and did not accept the slightest service. Today I peel apples, cut my nails myself, dress alone, ride, drive four-in-hand, I am a good hunter with bullets and buckshot, and I even learned to play the piano a bit. You can be independent with one hand, you just have to know how." So, he persevered by writing and performing piano music for the left hand. In 1873 he began six years of study with Franz Liszt. He also studied under Robert Volkmann. In spite of his limitations, Zichy had a successful career as both a concert pianist and a composer for the next 40 years. He gave entire concerts playing music only for

Gisella Selden-Goth

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Gisella Selden-Goth (6 June 1884 – 5 September 1975) was a Hungarian author, composer and musicologist who became an American citizen in 1939. She composed at least four string quartets and donated her large collection of original music manuscripts to the Library of Congress. Biography Selden-Goth was born in Budapest to Michael and Rosalia Schlesinger. Her music teachers included Béla Bartók, Ferruccio Busoni, and István Thomán. Her set of piano compositions, , was one of 10 winners (out of 874 submissions) in the 1910 competition in Germany. She married Ernst Goth and they had a daughter, Trudy Goth, who became a dancer and journalist. Selden-Goth lived in Berlin and Florence, Italy, before emigrating to America in 1938. She returned to Florence in 1950 and remained there until her death in 1975. She served as a music critic for newspapers in Berlin, Prague, Switzerland, and Budapest, most notably for Prager Tagblatt, a German newspaper in Prague. She maintained a lengthy correspondence with the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, often discussing their mutual interest in collecting original music scores. After Zweig’s suicide, Selden-Goth commented that, “A chamber group in a house or

Gregory Vajda

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Gregory Vajda (born Gergely Vajda; August 13, 1973) is a Hungarian clarinetist, composer and conductor. Early life and education He was born in Budapest in 1973 to bassoonist József Vajda (1947-2016) and operatic soprano Veronika Kincses. Vajda studied conducting at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music under Professor Ervin Lukács. He was also a conducting and composition pupil of well-known composer and conductor, Péter Eötvös. Career Conducting Following performances with the Montreal Symphony in Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Schoenberg’s Erwartung, Gregory Vajda gained international recognition. In 2011, he was appointed the sixth music director of the Huntsville Symphony. After completing his three-year tenure as Principal Conductor, he was named Principal Guest Conductor of the Hungarian Radio Symphony (MR Symphony) in 2014. Vajda also serves as the Artistic Director of the International Armel Opera Festival. In addition to his duties with these organizations, upcoming guest-conducting engagements during 2015-16 season include the Danubia Symphony, the Hungarian State Opera, the Pannon Philharmonic, the Szeged Symphony, the Launaudiere Festival and the Portland Festival Symphony

Gusztáv Szerémi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Gusztáv Szerémi (; also Gustave Szerémi, Gustav Szerémi; 9 May 1877 in Budapest – 16 August 1952 in Budapest) was a Hungarian violinist, violist and composer. Szerémi was professor of violin and viola at the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music (Országos Magyar Királyi Zeneakadémia, now the Franz Liszt Academy of Music) in Budapest around the turn of the 20th century. His pedagogical works for viola were introduced as the official curriculum of the Academy. Selected works ;Concertante * Concerto No. 1 in F major for viola (viola alto) and orchestra, Op. 6 (published 1890s) * Concerto No. 2 in g minor for viola (viola alto) and orchestra, Op. 57 (1911) * Concertino No. 1 in G major for violin and orchestra, Op. 63 * Concertino No. 2 in E minor for violin and orchestra, Op. 64 * Concertino No. 3 in D major for violin and orchestra, Op. 65 ;Chamber music * Rêverie for viola (viola alto) and piano, Op. 2 * Souvenir, Morceau de salon for violin and piano, Op. 3 * Rêverie in F major for violin and piano, Op. 5 * Öt előadást képző könnyü hegedűdarab (5 Easy Concert Pieces in Positions I–V; 5 Leichte Vortragstücke von I. bis V. Lage) for violin and piano, Op. 5 :# Gyermekjelenet (Kind

György Kósa

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

György Kósa (24 April 1897 – 16 August 1984) was a Hungarian composer. Life and career György Kósa was born in Budapest, Hungary on 24 April 1897. He began studying music with Béla Bartók when he was ten years old. From 1908-1912 he attended the Franz Liszt Academy of Music where he was a student of music composition with Zoltán Kodály, and Victor von Herzfeld. He also studied piano at that conservatory from 1908 through 1915, and later was a piano student of Ernst von Dohnányi in 1915-1916. Kósa worked at the Hungarian State Opera as a répétiteur in 1916-1917; notably serving in that capacity for the premiere production of Bartok’s opera The Wooden Prince (1917). After World War I, he gave tours of Europe and North Africa before ultimately settling in Tripoli, Libya where he worked as a pit orchestra conductor in the city’s theaters for two years. He returned to Hungary, and in 1927 joined the faculty of his alma mater, the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, as a professor of piano. He taught there for many years. Kósa was awarded the Ferenc Erkel Prize in (1955), and was later honored by the Hungarian People’s Republic as a Merited Artist and a Honoured Artist in 1972. Kósa died in Bu

György Kurtág

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

György Kurtág (; born 19 February 1926) is a Hungarian composer of contemporary classical music and pianist. Kurtág was an academic teacher of piano at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music from 1967, later also of chamber music, and taught until 1993. For decades, Kurtág and his wife Márta gave recitals on one piano of selections from his ten-volume collection Játékok and his Bach transcriptions. Life and career György Kurtág was born on 19 February 1926 in Lugoj, Romania, to Jewish Hungarian parents. He spoke Hungarian, Romanian, and German early. From the age of 14, he took piano lessons from Magda Kardos and studied composition with Max Eisikovits in Timișoara. He moved to Budapest in 1946 and became a Hungarian citizen in 1948. There, he began his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where he met his wife, Márta Kinsker, as well as composer György Ligeti, who became a close friend. His piano teacher at the academy was Pál Kadosa. He studied composition with Sándor Veress and Ferenc Farkas, chamber music with Leó Weiner, and theory with Lajos Bárdos, and graduated in piano and chamber music in 1951. He married Márta in 1947 and their son was born in 1954. He received his deg

György Ligeti

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Early life#

Ligeti was born in 1923 at Diciosânmartin (Dicsőszentmárton; renamed to Târnăveni in 1941) in Romania, to Dr. Sándor Ligeti and Dr. Ilona Somogyi. His family was Hungarian Jewish. He was the great-grandnephew of violinist Leopold Auer and second cousin of Hungarian philosopher Ágnes Heller. Some sources say he was Auer’s grandnephew, rather than great-grandnephew. Ligeti recalled that his first exposure to languages other than Hungarian came one day while listening to a conversation between Romanian-speaking town police. Before that, he didn’t know that other languages existed. He moved to Cluj with his family when he was six years old. He did not return to the town of his birth until the 1990s. In 1940, Northern Transylvania became part of Hungary following the Second Vienna Award, thus Cluj became part of Hungary as well. In 1941 Ligeti received his initial musical training at the conservatory in Kolozsvár (Cluj), He studied under Pál Kadosa, Ferenc Farkas, Zoltán Kodály and Sándor Veress. He conducted ethnomusicological research into the Hungarian folk music of Transylvania. However, after a year he returned to Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, this time as a teacher of harmony, counterpoint, and musical analysis. He secured this position with the help of Kodály and held it from 1950 to 1956. As a young teacher, Ligeti took the unusual step of regularly attending the lectures of an older colleague, the conductor, and musicologist Lajos Bárdos, a conservative Christian whose circle represented a safe haven for Ligeti. The composer acknowledged Bárdos’s help and advice in the prefaces to his two harmony textbooks (1954 and 1956). Due to the restrictions of the communist government, communications between Hungary and the West by then had become difficult, and Ligeti and other artists were effectively cut off from recent developments outside the Eastern Bloc.

György Orbán

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

György Orbán (born 12 July 1947 in Târgu Mureș, Romania) is a Romanian-born Hungarian composer. Biography György Orbán was born in Târgu Mureș, Romania on July 12, 1947. He studied music composition with Sigismund Toduță and Max Eisikovits and music theory with János Jagamas at the Cluj-Napoca Academy of Music where he was a student from 1968 through 1973. After completing his studies, he joined the faculty of that school where he taught both music theory and counterpoint for six years. In 1979 Orbán emigrated from Romania to Hungary when he accepted a position as a music editor with the music publisher Editio Musica Budapest. He remained in that position through 1990. In 1982 he became a professor of music theory and composition at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. In 1989 his avant-garde music composition Triple Sextet (1979) received honors at the in Paris. While his earlier music embraced the avant-garde style, he moved away from this beginning in the mid-1980s into a neo-Romantic aesthetic. In 1991 he was awarded the Bartók-Pásztory Prize. Works, editions, recordings Recordings Monographs * Orban: Hungarian Passion. Bartók Béla Chorus and University Orchestra dir. Gábor Baross

György Ránki

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

György Ránki (; 30 November 1907 – 22 May 1992) was a Hungarian composer. Life Born in Budapest, he studied composition with Zoltán Kodály at the Budapest Academy of Music from 1926-1930. He became interested in folk music and ethnomusicology, working with László Lajtha at the Museum of Ethnography in Budapest and later further studies in Asian folk music in London and Paris (at the Musée de l’Homme). He directed the music section of Hungarian radio in 1947–8, after which he gave his attention to composition. Ránki not only employed authentic folk melodies and musical idioms in his music but also pulled on jazz elements. He possessed a gift for the grotesque and unusual, the colourful and humorous, which may be traced in part perhaps to his studies of non-Western music. Works His greatest successes have been stage works, above all the opera Pomádé király uj ruhája (‘King Pomádé’s New Clothes’, based on the Andersen story), which draws most of its material from Hungarian folk music. He also wrote a two-act mystery opera, Az ember tragédiája (The Tragedy of Man), based on the eponymous play by Imre Madách. South Asian influences are particularly evident in Pentaerophonia for wind qui

Gyula Dávid

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Gyula Dávid (6 May 1913 – 14 March 1977) was a Hungarian violist and composer. Life and career Gyula Dávid was born in Budapest, Hungary on 6 May 1913. He studied composition with Zoltán Kodály at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music (FLAM) where he began his studies with the composer in 1938. He assisted Kodály with folk song collecting and a song he collected in Karád was utilized by Kodály as the basis for his composition Karádi nóták. Selected works ;Orchestral * Symphony No. 1 (I. szimfónia) (1947) * Tánczene, magyar népdalfeldolgozások (Dance Music, Based on Hungarian Folk Songs) (published 1952) * Symphony No. 2 (II. szimfónia) (1957) * Symphony No. 3 (III. szimfónia) (1960) * Sinfonietta for small orchestra (1961) * Színházi zene (Theatrical Music; Theatermusik) (published 1963) * Symphony No. 4 (IV. szimfónia) (1970) * Festive Overture (Ünnepi előjáték) (1972) ;Concertante * Concerto (Brácsaverseny) for viola and orchestra (1950) * Concerto (Hegedűverseny) for violin and orchestra (published 1970) * Concerto (Kürtverseny) for horn and orchestra (published 1976) ;Chamber music * Wind Quintet No. 1 (I. Fúvósötös) (published 1954) * Sonata (Sonata fuvolára és zongorára) for flute

Heinrich Berté

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Heinrich Berté (), born Heinrich Bettelheim (8 May 1857 – 23 August 1924) was an Austrian-Hungarian composer of operas and operettas. Life Heinrich Berté was born in Galgócz, Hungary (now Hlohovec, Slovakia) in a Jewish family. At the beginning of his career, he was a relatively unsuccessful composer of ballets and an opera. In 1911 he was offered a libretto by the writer Alfred Maria Willner for an opera about Franz Schubert, based on the novel, Schwammerl by Rudolf Hans Bartsch, but this was turned down and he was told to use Schubert’s music in a pastiche instead. On 15 January 1916, his first performed work, an arrangement of Franz Schubert’s Das Dreimäderlhaus was premiered in the Raimund Theater in Vienna, Gretl Schörg’s voice was discovered during the run. The operetta was translated into 22 languages and in 1921 it opened as Blossom Time in New York City, in 1922 as Lilac Time in London), and was performed in over 60 countries, it was a worldwide success. The operetta was filmed several times. Berté could not build on this success; his second Schubert operetta was unsuccessful. He died in Perchtoldsdorf, Austria, aged 66. Works Opera * Schneeflocke (Vienna, 1896) Operettas

Henri Berény

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Henri Weiss, better known as Henri Berény and also given as Henrik Berény and Henry Bereny (1 January 1871 – 23 March 1932) was a Hungarian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor, screenwriter and film director. He is best remembered as a composer of operas and operettas. The brother of composer and pianist Josef Weiss, his best known works are Lord Piccolo (also known as Little Boy Blue) and Das Mädel von Montmartre (English: The Girl from Montmartre), both of which were staged on Broadway and at theaters internationally. In addition to his work for the theatre, Berény wrote more than 300 popular dance works, and composed numerous songs in both classical and popular styles. He also published several ragtime piano works that were written in the style of Scott Joplin, and had a brief career as a film director and screenwriter for silent films that began with the 1907 short film The Hand. He notably directed his wife, the Danish actress Charlotte Wiehe-Berény, in the 1916 Danish film Lotte vil paa Landet. Both Henri and his brother were pupils of Franz Liszt at the Budapest Conservatory in their youth. As a young adult, Berény studied violin with Joseph Joachim at the Vienna Conserv

Henri Gobbi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Henri Gobbi ( or Henrik Aloiz Adalbert Gobby – or Henri Gobbi-Ruggieri), was a 19th-century Hungarian classical composer and piano professor. He was also a student and close friend of Franz Liszt. Many of Henri Gobbi’s most important works still remain unpublished to date. Gobbi had two children with Elisabeth Grimshaw. His daughter Gisela later became the second wife of Dr. Julius Adrian Pollacsek, while Franz Liszt took the sponsorship for his son Franz Xaver. the son of Alois Gobbi-Ruggieri ( – ) and Mary Gobbi-Ruggieri (née Roth, or Rott). His father was also a very talented musician and violin professor in Budapest who had come from an aristocratic Italian-Paduan family. After his marriage to a Viennese woman Mária Rott (Roth), he settled in Hungary. His eldest son, Henri Gobbi showed in childhood an extraordinary musical talent, playing violin at the age of seven and later the piano. At the age of 18 he had already become part of the then well-known trio Grünwald-Müller-Gobbi, where he played the piano part. He graduated from the Royal Conservatory, having studied with musicians János Nepomuk Dunkl and music theory and harmony classes with Károly Thern. But his financial prob

Henri Ketten

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Henri Ketten, also spelled Henry Ketten in English-language publications (25 March 1848 – 1 April 1883 ), was a Hungarian pianist and composer. Life and work Ketten was the son of a Jewish father, who, according to a contemporary report, was himself a musician and is variously described either as a Rabbi or—more commonly in the sources—as a “ministre officiant” including service at a synagogue in Paris. At the age of seven, Henri gained recognition as a child prodigy and received praise from Hans von Bülow (although not all critics agreed with this assessment ), who recommended him to Liszt. Press articles even promoted Ketten as a “second Mozart”, Ketten’s first concert in Paris is said to have taken place in the salon of Herz in the presence of the city’s musical elite. Those present, including Fromental Halévy and Giacomo Meyerbeer, reportedly praised the ten-year-old’s performance. A contemporary Hungarian newspaper report also relayed a favourable opinion by Franz Liszt and Daniel Auber. A portrait of the young Ketten, based on a lithograph by Émile Desmaisons , appeared in 1859 in The Illustrated London News under the heading “Master Henri Ketten”, in connection with a favour

Imre Czomba

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Imre Czomba (born September 9, 1972) is a Los Angeles-based Hungarian-American composer, film composer, orchestrator, conductor, arranger, music producer, and musician. He is a voting member of the Recording Academy (Grammy) and the Television Academy (Emmy). Active in the international music scene since 1993, he has worked across film, Tv, theatrical productions, international events, and dance theatre. He collaborated with ExperiDance, a Hungarian dance troupe, over an 18-year period, with productions performed in theaters across Europe and Asia. His credits include compositions for the 2008 Summer and 2014 Winter Olympic Games, the 2013 European Judo Championship, and the 2006 European Aquatic Championship. In 2008 and 2009, he composed music for the Hungarian National Day fireworks shows in Budapest, which drew audiences of over 3 million viewers. In 2024, he joined the ISINA Academy as a mentor, alongside Walter Afanasieff, Michael Bolton, Greg Phillinganes, Richard Marx, Robin Thicke, Humberto Gatica, Chris Lord-Alge, Paul Oakenfold, and Taika Waititi. Early life At an early point in his career, Imre was inspired by the blues, which can be clearly heard in his piano playing.

Imre Széchényi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Count Emmerich “Imre” Széchényi of Sárvár-Felsővidék (15 February 1825 – 11 March 1898), was a Hungarian nobleman and landowner, and Austro-Hungarian diplomat and politician. He was Austrian ambassador in Berlin during the government of Bismarck. He signed for the Austrian emperor Bismarck’s Alliance of the Three Emperors 1873, and represented Austria at the Berlin Conference on the Congo 1884. Early life Széchényi was born on 15 February 1825 in Vienna into a prominent Hungarian noble family. He was the son of Count Ludwig “Lajos” Maria Aloys Széchenyi (1781–1855) and, his second wife, Austrian Countess Francisca (née von Wurmbrand-Stuppach) Széchenyi (1797–1873). The Széchényi family were one of the oldest and wealthiest in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His maternal grandparents were Count Heinrich von Wurmbrand-Stuppach and Baroness Josefa von Ledebur-Wicheln. His father was the eldest son of Countess Julia Festetics de Tolna and Count Ferenc Széchényi, founder of the Hungarian National Library (today named the National Széchényi Library) and the National Museum in Budapest. His paternal uncle was Count István Széchenyi, the Hungarian Minister of Public Works and Transport who is

István Anhalt

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

István Anhalt (April 12, 1919 – February 24, 2012) was a Hungarian-Canadian composer and teacher. Anhalt served as a professor of music at McGill University and founded the McGill University Electronic Music Studio. He also served as head of music at Queen’s University, Kingston. His works earned him recognition as one of the pioneers of electroacoustic music in Canada. In 2007, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Early life and education Childhood István Anhalt was born in Budapest, Hungary to a Jewish family on April 12, 1919. He was the son of Arnold Anhalt and Katalin Anhalt (née Herzfeld), When he was still an infant, Anhalt’s parents separated; he lived with his mother until age twelve, attending elementary school from 1925 to 1929. Although she had some interest in music and opera, his mother was not especially musical. However, there was a piano in the home and Anhalt began taking piano lessons at age six with a teacher who lived in his neighborhood and later from a family friend until he was twelve. He also learned to speak four languages: Hungarian, German, French, and English. His father’s financial troubles, his half-sister’s birth in 1935, and tension

István Láng

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

István Láng (; 1 March 1933 – 23 October 2023) was a Hungarian composer, academic teacher and member of the board for international music organisations. Besides freelance composing, he worked as an academic teacher of chamber music at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, lecturing internationally in the United States and Mexico. He was secretary general of the Association of Hungarian Musicians from 1978 to 1990, and a member of the board of the International Society for Contemporary Music and the International Music Council (UNESCO). In his compositions, Láng used serial techniques, influenced by composers such as Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen and others whose music he had met at the Warsaw Autumn and the Darmstädter Ferienkurse, in a synthesis with traditional Hungarian elements from Béla Bartók’s music. He was instrumental in creating a studio for electronic music in Hungary. His compositions have been described as theatrical even in concert pieces. Life Born in Budapest on 1 March 1933, Láng first took private music lessons. He studied composition at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music from 1950 to 1958, first with János Viski and later with Ferenc Szabó. He was a freelance co

István Sárközy

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

István Sárközy (26 November 1920 – 6 July 2002) was a Hungarian classical composer, music critic, editor and academic teacher. His compositions date from the 1940s to 1979, and include works for musical theatre, choral works and songs, orchestral and chamber works, and works for piano. Notable examples include the stage works Liliomfi (1950) and Szelistyei asszonyok (The Women of Szelistye; 1951), the chamber cantata Júlia énekek (Julia Songs; 1956), the overture Az ifjúsághoz (To Youth; 1957), and the Sinfonia concertante for clarinet and strings (1963). He taught at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music from 1959. Biography Sárközy was born in the Pesterzsébet suburb of Budapest in 1920. As a youth, he studied the piano with Lula Földessy-Hermann. He trained in composition with the composers Zoltán Kodály, Ferenc Farkas and János Viski at Budapest’s Higher Music School (1938–39) and the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest (from 1939). Sárközy was a confidant of the composer Endre Szervánszky, a leading composer of the post-1956 era, In a 1969 review, the British music critic Stephen Walsh describes his music as differing from that of other Hungarian composers of the time due to “it

Iván Erőd

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Iván Erőd ( ; 2 January 1936 – 24 June 2019; sometimes spelled Eröd) Kirill Petrenko, Nayden Todorov and Judit Varga. Life Erőd’s brother and grandparents were murdered at Auschwitz in 1944. He fled Hungary after the events of 1956. His chamber music includes three string quartets, Opp. 18, 26 and 78, two string sextets, Opp. 45 and 68, and Bukolika for chamber ensemble, Op. 64 (1994), on Hungarian rural life. his second trio Op. 42 in 1982; he wrote a trio for clarinet, violin and piano Op. 59 – commissioned by the Verdehr Trio – in 1991, as well as a piano quartet Op. 54 in 1987; the two sonatas for violin and piano Op. 14 (1970) and Op. 74 (2000) are among the most popular of his works. He composed lieder, such as Canti di Ungaretti (1988) Some of his vocal works are more serious, such as the Vier Gesänge, Op. 44 (1983), the song cycle Schwarzerde (Black Soil) for baritone and orchestra, Op. 49 (1984/85), and the cantata Vox Lucis (Voice of the Light), Op. 56 (1988/89). * 2006: Honorary member of the (Austrian Composers Association) Further reading * , “Eröd, Iván”. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians online. External links * * Iván Eröd (in German) Steirischer Tonkü

Iván Fischer

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Iván Fischer (born 20 January 1951) is a Hungarian conductor and composer. Biography Born in Budapest into a musical family of Jewish heritage, Fischer initially studied piano, violin, cello and composition in Budapest. His older brother, Ádám Fischer, became a conductor in his own right. He moved later to Vienna to study conducting with Hans Swarowsky at the University of Music and Performing Arts, where he also studied cello and early music, studying and working as assistant to Nikolaus Harnoncourt. He also studied with Franco Ferrara at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena. In 1976, Fischer won the Rupert Foundation conducting competition in London. He began thereafter to guest-conduct British orchestras such as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony and the London Symphony Orchestra, with whom he conducted a world tour in 1982. His US conducting debut was with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1983. Budapest Festival Orchestra Fischer returned to Hungary in 1983 to found the Budapest Festival Orchestra (BFO), which initially was intended for a limited number of concerts a year on a part-time basis. The BFO became a permanent institution in 1992, with a schedule of

János Bródy

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

János Kristóf Bródy (Hungarian: Bródy János, born 5 April 1946) is a Hungarian pop singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer and scriptwriter. Successful both with the bands Illés and Fonográf and in his solo career, writing lyrics for singers like Zsuzsa Koncz or for rock operas like István, a király, he was a major figure of the Hungarian music scene in the 60s–90s. Early years János Bródy was born on 5 April 1946 in Budapest as the child of András Bródy, Széchenyi Award-winning economist, and Márta Vajna, a teacher. After his graduation from the Puskás Tivadar Telecommunication Technical School, in 1964 he joined the beat band Illés after a recommendation from Zsuzsa Koncz. The band, which previously gained its Budapest-wide fame from small club concerts playing Italian and English hits (like ones from The Hurricanes, The Shadows and The Beatles) recorded its first albums Long Tall Sally and Little Richard/Chapel. The band was more and more often accompanied by the young Levente Szörényi, with whom Bródy began their acclaimed musical partnership. After many of the members finished university, the band went through multiple changes, but was becoming more and more famous. In 1969 Bró

Jenő Ádám

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Jenő Ádám (12 December 1896 15 May 1982) was a Hungarian music educator, composer, and conductor. Early life and education Jenő Ádám was born in Szigetszentmiklós (Kingdom of Hungary) on 12 December 1896. From 1911-1915 he attended the teacher-training college in Budapest where he received instruction in the organ and music theory. During World War I he was a prisoner of war (POW) in Russia from 1916-1920; His methodology has had a profound impact on music education internationally and is still studied today by students of the Kodaly Method. The Organization of American Kodály Educators has established an academic scholarship in his name Ádám was also involved in broader music education efforts targeted toward the general population in Hungary. He gave several public lectures that were broadcast on Hungarian television and radio that aimed to popularize both Hungarian folk music and Western classical music. One of these was his own radio program, Fifteen Minutes of Folksong. He also gave lectures on television and radio programs as a guest outside of Hungary; continuing his advocacy on the international stage. While employed as the chorus master of the Hungarian State Opera he cond

Jenő Hubay

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Jenő Hubay de Szalatnya ( ; 15 September 1858 – 12 March 1937), also known by his German name Eugen Huber (), was a Hungarian violinist, composer and music teacher. Early life Hubay was born into a German family of musicians in Pest, Hungary. He adopted the Hungarian version of his name, Jenő Hubay, in his twenties, while living in the French-speaking world. Hubay was trained in violin and music by his father, (Károly Huber, later ) from Varjas (), concertmaster of the Hungarian Royal Opera House and a teacher at the Budapest College of Music. His mother was of Italian descent. He gave his début public performance playing a concerto at the age of eleven. At the age of thirteen, Hubay began his studies in Berlin. He remained there for five years, receiving instruction from Joseph Joachim. In 1878, following the advice of Franz Liszt, he made his début in Paris, which was a great success. Sitting in the audience was Henri Vieuxtemps, with whom Hubay formed an intimate friendship and from whom he received instruction. In 1882 Hubay was employed at the Brussels music institute as the head of the department of violin studies. Returning to Hungary in 1886, he succeeded his father as head

Jenő Huszka

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Jenő Huszka (a.k.a. ; 24 April 1875, Szeged – 2 February 1960, Budapest) was a Hungarian composer of operettas. Life At the age of 5, he had his first performance – nicely played violin. He studied composition at the Academy of Music (Zeneakadémia) in Budapest. As a young man (in 1896) he was a member of the Lamoureux Orchestra in Paris. He also had to study law (this was the wish of his parents). After finishing his studies, he worked in the Ministry of Education in Budapest, in the department of art. His friend Ferenc Martos (1875–1938), a distinguished Hungarian librettist, worked in the same department and wrote all the librettos for his operettas. The music of Jenő Huszka is considered fresh, sweet and romantic. It is inspired by Hungarian folk music and the waltzes of Vienna. List of works (all to libretti by Ferenc Martos unless otherwise indicated) * Tilos a bemenet (No Entry) libretto by Adolf Mérei (1899) * Prince Bob (Bob herceg) (1902) * Aranyvirág (Golden Flower) (1903) * Gül Baba (1905) * Tündérszerelem (Fairy love) 1907 * Rébusz báró (Baron Rebus) 1909 * Nemtudomka (Night-club Girl) 1914 * Baroness Lili (Lili bárónő) (1919) * Hajtóvadászat (Riding to Hounds) 1926 * E

Jenő Takács

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Jenő Takács (; 25 September 1902 – 14 November 2005) was a Hungarian composer and pianist. Life and work Born in Cinfalva on 25 September 1902, he studied at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with Joseph Marx in composition and Paul Weingarten in piano until 1926 at the University of Vienna counterpoint with Hans Gál and musicology with Guido Adler. Since 1920, he had already undertaken tours through Germany, Hungary and Yugoslavia. In 1926 he made acquaintance with Béla Bartók; from which a lively contact arose until Bartók’s emigration to the United States in 1940. He was a professor of piano at the conservatory of Cairo, Egypt from 1927 to 1932, where he made Arab and Egyptian Music the subject of his research. He knew Egon Wellesz, Curt Sachs, Erich Moritz von Hornbostel and Paul Hindemith. In the years 1932 to 1934 he was a professor of piano and composition at the University of the Philippines, Conservatory of Music. He gave concerts in Japan, China and Hong Kong. Due to a new professorship in piano at the conservatory in Cairo in 1938, he made his first trip to the United States. In 1939, he moved to Sopron in Hungary, however the German authorities made his

Johannes Spech

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Johannes (or János) Spech (10 December 1767 – 24 November 1836) was a Hungarian classical era composer. He was born in Bratislava. Musicologist Dezsö Legány theorized that Spech must have been inspired to study music by the rich musical life of the city, where the opera theater regularly programmed works by Haydn, Mozart, and other acknowledged masters of the time. Spech received primary music education, but also studied law, and in 1792 he became a law clerk in Buda. A few years later he left for Vienna to study with Haydn. Researcher Tia DeNora notes that a discrepancy exists in biographical materials related to the next decades of Spech’s life. Sources chosen for the New Grove dictionary suggest that Spech subsequently left for Hungary and worked as a civil servant intermittently for a number of years, while also being a theater conductor and pursuing a composer’s career. However, Spech’s great-grandson, when interviewed by the legendary scholar H. C. Robbins Landon, claimed that Spech followed his studies with Haydn by an extensive four-year course in the Paris Conservatory, after which he returned to Hungary and concentrated entirely on his musical career. He died in Oberlimba

Joseph Joachim

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Joseph Joachim (28 June 1831 – 15 August 1907) was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most distinguished violinists of the 19th century. Joachim studied violin early, beginning in Buda at age five, then in Vienna and Leipzig. He made his debut in London in 1844, playing Ludwig van Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, with Felix Mendelssohn conducting. He returned to London many times throughout life. After years of teaching at the Leipzig Conservatory and playing as principal violinist of the Gewandhausorchester, he moved to Weimar in 1848, where Franz Liszt established cultural life. From 1852, Joachim served at the court of Hanover, playing principal violin in the opera and conducting concerts, with months of free time in summer for concert tours. In 1853, he was invited by Robert Schumann to the Lower Rhine Music Festival, where he met Clara Schumann and Brahms, with whom he performed for years to come. In 1879, he premiered Brahms’ Violin Concerto with Brahms as conductor. He married Amalie, an opera singer, in 1863, who gave up

Joseph Kosma

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Joseph Kosma (22 October 19057 August 1969) was a Hungarian composer who immigrated to France. His most famous composition is the standard Autumn Leaves. Biography Kosma was born József Kozma in Budapest, where his parents taught stenography and typing. He had a brother, Ákos. A maternal relative was the photographer László Moholy-Nagy, and another was the conductor Georg Solti. He started to play the piano at age five, and later took piano lessons. At the age of 11, he wrote his first opera, Christmas in the Trenches. After completing his education at the Secondary Grammar School Franz-Josef, he attended the Academy of Music in Budapest, where he studied with Leo Weiner. He also studied with Béla Bartók at the Liszt Academy, receiving diplomas in composition and conducting. He won a grant to study in Berlin in 1928, where he met Lilli Apel, another musician, whom he later married. Kosma also met and studied with Hanns Eisler in Berlin. He became acquainted with Bertolt Brecht and Helene Weigel. Kosma and his wife immigrated to Paris in 1933. Eventually, he met Jacques Prévert, who introduced him to Jean Renoir. During the 1930s Kosma teamed up with Prévert to set a number of Préve

Josip Runjanin

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Josip Runjanin (8 December 1821 – 20 January 1878), born Josif Runjanin (), was an Austrian career military officer, politician and composer of Serb origin best known for composing the melody of the Croatian national anthem, Lijepa naša domovino (“Our Beautiful Homeland”), in 1846. Runjanin received his education in Vinkovci and later in Sremski Karlovci. As a young man, he served in the Imperial Austrian Army as a cadet in the town of Glina, along the Military Frontier with the Ottoman Empire. While serving in Glina, Runjanin attained the rank of captain and became proficient in playing the piano. He is known to have composed only a handful of works, most famously the musical accompaniment to Antun Mihanović’s patriotic poem Horvatska domovina (“Croatian Homeland”). The piece, under the title Lijepa naša domovino, was selected by popular acclaim as the anthem of the Croatian people at an economic exhibition in Zagreb in 1891. One of its stanzas was eventually integrated into the national anthem of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and the piece later served as the national anthem of several Croatian polities, including that of modern-day Croatia. A veteran of the Second a

József Soproni (composer)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

József Soproni (4 October 1930 – 24 April 2021) was a Hungarian composer. Biography After graduating from the , Soproni entered the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in 1949. He graduated in 1956. He taught music theory and composition at Béla Bartók Music High School from 1957 to 1972. In 1992, he was a founding member of the Széchenyi Academy of Literature and Arts. József Soproni died in Sopron on 24 April 2021 at the age of 90. Selected works ;Stage * Antigoné, Opera in 3 acts (1987) * Aranylövés (Golden Shot), Opera in 1 act (2004) ;Orchestral * Divertimento for string orchestra (1951–1952) * Concerto for string orchestra (1953) * Symphony (Szimfónia) for string orchestra, brass and percussion (1961) * Eklypsis for symphony orchestra (1969) * Symphony No. 1 for orchestra (1975, revised 1980) * Symphony No. 2 Seasons (Évszakok) for orchestra (1977) * Symphony No. 3 Sinfonia de Requiem for soloists, mixed choir and orchestra (1979–1980) * Comments on a Theme by Händel (Kommentárok egy Händel-témához) for orchestra (1985) * 3 Pieces (Három darab) for orchestra (1988) * Symphony No. 4 Találkozások Philipp Emanuel B.-vel (Encounters with Philipp Emanuel B.) for orchestra (1994) * Sympho

Kálmán Mihalik

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Kálmán Mihalik (21 February 1896 – 6 September 1922) was a Hungarian physician and composer, best known for setting the music of the Székely Himnusz. Early life and studies Mihalik was born in Oravicabánya (now Oravița) to a Székely woman from Csík County and a burgess from Kassa (now Košice). He absolved his high school studies in the Piarist and the Unitarian grammar school of Kolozsvár (now Cluj-Napoca), making his matura in 1915. Subsequently, Mihalik was enrolled at the Franz Joseph University, however, his studies were interrupted by the World War I, forcing him to spend several years on the front. In the final period of the war, after the Romanian forces took over Kolozsvár, the university moved first to Budapest and later to Szeged, where Mihalik followed them. After finishing his studies he remained in the university, became the assistant lecturer of Béla Reinbold and worked as a medical researcher. Composer of the Székely Himnusz In 1920, together with four others, György Csanády founded the Association of Székely University and College Students (Székely Egyetemista és Főiskolai Hallgatók Egyesülete; SZEFHE), a self-help organization that aimed to create a sense of belong

Kamilló Lendvay

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Kamilló Lendvay (28 December 1928; Budapest, Hungary − 30 November 2016; Budapest, Hungary) was a prominent award-winning Hungarian composer, conductor, and music educator of the 20th and 21st centuries whose works have been performed throughout the world, including in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He received, among others, the following awards: Erkel Prize (1962, 1964, 1978), Grand Prix International du Disque Lyrique (1979), Merited Artist (1981), Bartók-Pásztory Award (1989, 2005), Excellent Artist (1996), Silver Pen Award (1998), Kossuth Prize (1998), and Artisjus Music Award (2003). References External links *Kamilló Lendvay on Budapest Music Centre website *Kamilló Lendvay on Stormworks website *Kamilló Lendvay on Universal Music Publishing website

Karl Goldmark

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Karl Goldmark (born Károly Goldmark, Keszthely, 18 May 1830 – Vienna, 2 January 1915) was a Hungarian-born Viennese composer. Life and career Goldmark came from a large Jewish family. His father, Ruben Goldmark, was a chazan (cantor) to the Jewish congregation at Keszthely, Hungary, where Karl was born. Karl Goldmark’s older brother Joseph became a physician and was later involved in the Revolution of 1848, and forced to emigrate to the United States. Karl Goldmark’s early training as a violinist was at the Ödenburg music school in the city of Sopron (1842-3). The Revolution of 1848 forced the Conservatory to close down. Goldmark was largely self-taught as a composer. After the Conservatory’s closing, Goldmark played violin for theaters and taught music to make ends meet. During this time, he honed his compositional talents. To make ends meet, Goldmark also pursued a side career as a music journalist. Johannes Brahms and Goldmark developed a friendship as Goldmark’s prominence in Vienna grew. Death Goldmark died in Vienna and is buried in the Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery), along with many other notable composers. Many of his autograph manuscripts are in the collection of the N

Karl Hajos

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Karl Hajos (born Hajós Károly, January 28, 1889 – February 1, 1950) was a Hungarian composer who worked on many film scores. Born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Hajos emigrated to the United States in 1924 and worked in Hollywood. Beginning in the late silent era, he worked on over 100 films with a variety of directors and studios. He was one of nine composers employed on the 1931 Western Fighting Caravans. In 1934, he worked on Cecil B. Demille’s thriller Four Frightened People. He was nominated for two Academy Awards, in 1944 and 1945 in the Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture category for Summer Storm and The Man Who Walked Alone, respectively. Selected filmography * Loves of an Actress (1928) * The Woman from Moscow (1928) * Adoration (1928) * Beggars of Life (1928) * The Wolf of Wall Street (1929) * The Sea God (1930) * The Right to Love (1930) * The Night of Decision (1931) * Fighting Caravans (1931) * Four Frightened People (1934) * Werewolf of London (1935) * Summer Storm (1944) * Dangerous Intruder (1945) * The Man Who Walked Alone (1945) * Fog Island (1945) * Secrets of Linda Hamilton (1945) * The Mask of Diijon (1946) * Wild West (1946) * Wild Country (1947) * A

Károly Aggházy

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Károly Aggházy (30 October 1855, Budapest – 8 October 1918, Budapest) was a Hungarian piano virtuoso and composer. Aggházy was a pupil of Robert Volkmann, Anton Bruckner, and Franz Liszt. He later taught at the National Conservatory in Budapest. Besides several operas, most notably Maritta (1895), he chiefly wrote chamber music and pieces for piano. He died in Budapest at age 62. Works (selection) Discography * 2021: Acte Préalable AP0511 – Károly Aggházy - Works for Piano (Sławomir P. Dobrzański) References *Entry in the Magyar Életrajzi Lexikon External links * List of operas by Aggházy *

Károly Thern

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Károly (Carl) Thern (13 August 1817 – 13 April 1886) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor and arranger. He was of German descent, but was among the second generation of composers who developed the language of Hungarian art music. Thern was born in 1817, in Spišská Nová Ves (Zipser Neudorf in German, Iglo in Hungarian; now in Slovakia). He conducted at the National Theatre of Pest in 1840s, and at the Music Lovers’ Association of Pest between 1868 and 1873, in succession to Mihály Mosonyi. He was also active as a teacher at the National Conservatory. Thern’s incidental music included Svatopluk by József Gaál (1839) in which he introduced the tárogató alongside standard orchestral instruments. His operas included Gizul (premiered 21 December 1841), The Siege of Tihany (Tihany ostroma; 12 April 1845), and The Would-be Invalid (A képzelt beteg; 11 October 1855). Gizul was described as a “… remarkable reflection of the endeavour to give its schooling i.e. musical technique a Hungarian character, to adorn it as if it were in Hungarian garment”. His other music includes a Symphony (1871); a Trio in D minor for two violins and viola, Op. 60; a Hungarian March for piano 6-hands; L

Ken'ichiro Kobayashi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese conductor and composer. In Japan he is known among his fans as “Kobaken.” Biography Born in Iwaki, Fukushima, Kobayashi’s father was a high school music teacher, and mother was a primary school teacher. Kobayashi started composing music at the age of 11, studied composition and conducting under Mareo Ishiketa (composition), Kazuo Yamada (conducting), and Akeo Watanabe (conducting) at Tokyo University of the Arts. Kobayashi won the 1st prize and the special award at the International Conductors Competition on Hungarian television in 1974. He has led orchestras in Germany, Austria, Britain, and Netherlands. Kobayashi has been resident conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and Kyoto Symphony Orchestra. Kobayashi was appointed to the principal conductor of Japan Philharmonic Orchestra (1988–90), chief conductor (1990–94, 1997–2004), music director (2004–07) and conductor laureate since 2010. Kobayashi served the principal guest conductor of the Kansai and Kyushu Orchestras. He was general music director of Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra from 1998 to 2001, music director from 2001 to 2003, is now appointed to the conductor laureate since 2003. Kobayashi was

Lajos Bárdos

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Lajos Bárdos (1 October 1899 – 18 November 1986) was a composer, conductor, music theorist, and professor of music at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, in Budapest, Hungary, where he had previously studied under Albert Siklós and Zoltán Kodály. His younger brother, György Deák-Bárdos, was also a composer. Together with Kodály, Bárdos laid the foundations of 20th-century Hungarian choral music. From 1928 to 1967 he was a professor at the Academy, where he reformed the syllabus––emphasizing the training of choral conductors, the teaching of church music history, and instruction in music theory and prosody. In 1931, along with György Kerényi and Gyula Kertész, he founded the publishing company Magyar Kórus (Hungarian Chorus), publishing 2,000 works of old masters and modern composers over the next 20 years, before being shut down by the communist regime in 1950. As the most active disseminator of sacred music in Hungary, Bárdos was targeted at the time with threatening criticism. (For example, one writer in the new journal Éneklö Nép (Singing People) proclaimed, “We must take care to eradicate men such as Lajos Bárdos as soon as possible!”) The irony is that the rich supply of music p

László Lajtha

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

László Lajtha (; 30 June 1892 – 16 February 1963) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist and conductor. Career Lajtha was born to Ida Wiesel, a Transylvanian-Hungarian and Pál Lajtha, an owner of a leather factory. His father had ambitions to become a conductor, played the violin well and also composed. Lajtha studied with Viktor Herzfeld in the Academy of Music in Budapest and then in Leipzig, Geneva and finally Paris where he was a pupil of Vincent d’Indy. Before the First World War, in collaboration with Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, he undertook the study and transcription of Hungarian folk song, heading up a project to produce a series of folk music recordings. Throughout the war he served at the front as an artillery officer, an experience recalled in his sombre Second Symphony (1938) – a work that remained unperformed until 1988. In 1919 he married Róza Hollós, and began teaching at the Budapest National Conservatory. Among his pupils was the conductor János Ferencsik, who was later one of the principal champions of his music. From 1928 he was a member of the International Commission of Popular Arts and Traditions of the League of Nations. He was also a member of the I

László Sáry

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

László Sáry (born Győrasszonyfa, Hungary, 1 January 1940) is a Hungarian composer and music educator, founding member of Új Zenei Stúdió, brother of composer József Sári. He studied with Endre Szervánszky at the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest (1961–6). His early works show the strong influence of Bartók. In ensuing years, acquaintance with the music of Boulez and Stockhausen stimulated a change in his style. The experimental ideas he developed with Új Zenei Stúdió (Budapest New Music Studio), which he co-founded in 1970 with Zoltán Jeney and László Vidovszky, among others), led to group improvisation and collective compositions, of which Pentagram (1982) is an adaptation. His encounter with Christian Wolff at Darmstadt in 1972 led him to diverge further from traditional Western European styles. Much of his music of the 1970s and 80s employs repetitive patterns, such as chordal sequences (A Continuity of Rotative Chords), groups of scales (Ludus cromaticus) or small sets of pitches (Fives Repeated, made up of 120 permutations of five pitches). His interest in electronics and musique concrète led to Studies for Steam Engines (tape, 1996), which won third prize in the seventh Intern

László Tihanyi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

László Tihanyi (born 21 March 1956) is a Hungarian composer and conductor. Biography László Tihanyi was born in Budapest, Hungary, on 21 March 1956, and pursued musical studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, where he studied composition with Rezső Sugár and conducting with András Kórodi. Since 1979, Tihanyi serves as a devoted professor at the Academy of Music, where he acted also as vice-rector between 2000 and 2005. He regularly conducts at home and abroad, typically 20th century classical and contemporary programmes. He appeared with all major Hungarian orchestras and significant European contemporary music ensembles, as Ensemble Modern, Contrechamps and MusikFabrik. In 1991, he participated in the production of Maderna’s Hyperion at the Festival D’Automne à Paris and the subsequent European tour. In 2002, Péter Eötvös asked him to be second conductor of his opera Three Sisters for the 2002 production for the Wiener Festwochen (besides Eötvös being first conductor himself). In 1985, founded his own instrumental ensemble, the Intermodulation, dedicated to 20th and 21st Century music, and has been the artistic director since then. Tihanyi is the winner of prestigio

László Vidovszky

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

László Vidovszky (born Békéscsaba, Hungary, 25 February 1944) is a Hungarian composer and pianist. During the 1970s he began composing works in a minimal style. His music has been influential on the music of György Kurtág and other modern composers. Vidovszky studied composition with Géza Szatmári at the Szeged Conservatory in 1959, and with Ferenc Farkas at the Budapest Academy of Music from 1962 to 1967. In 1970–71, he studied in Paris, attending courses organized by the Groupe des Recherches Musicales as well as composition classes of Olivier Messiaen. In 1970, Vidovszky co-founded (together with Zoltán Jeney, László Sáry, Péter Eötvös, and Albert Simon) the Budapest New Music Studio and has been an active member ever since, both as composer and as performer. Vidovszky taught music theory at the Teachers’ Training College of the Budapest Academy of Music from 1972 to 1984. In 1984 he was appointed director of the music department at the University of Pécs in southern Hungary, a position which he held until 1988. In 1996 he was appointed as the first Dean of the recently founded Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts at the same university. Vidovszky was awarded the Erkel Prize (198

László Weiner

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

László Weiner (9 April 1916 in Szombathely, Hungary – 25 July 1944 in Lukov) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and conductor who was murdered in the Holocaust. Weiner studied piano and conducting at the Budapest Music Academy and was a composition student of Zoltán Kodály from 1934 to 1940. Weiner was married in 1942 to singer Vera Rózsa. By February 1943, Weiner had been deported by the Nazis to the Lukov forced labor camp in Slovakia where he was later murdered. Kodály attempted to save Weiner and colleague Jenő Deutsch to no avail. Due to the efforts of violist Pál Lukács, several of Weiner’s compositions were published by Editio Musica Budapest in the 1950s and 1960s. Selected works ;Orchestral * Concerto for flute, viola, piano, and string orchestra (1941?) * Overture (published 1995) ;Chamber music * 1938: String trio “Vonosharmas Szerenad” for violin, viola, and cello * Duo for violin and viola (1939) * Sonata for viola and piano (1939?) * Two Movements for clarinet and piano ;Vocal * Three Songs (published 1994) Discography * Weiner: Chamber Music with Viola, Hungaroton HCD 32607 * In Memoriam: Hungarian Composers, Victims of the Holocaust, Hungaroton HCD32597 References Ex

Leó Weiner

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Leó Weiner (16 April 1885 – 13 September 1960) was one of the leading Hungarian music educators of the first half of the twentieth century, and a composer. Life Education Weiner was born in Budapest to a Jewish family. His brother gave him his first music and piano lessons. As children, he and Fritz Reiner played piano four hands. Weiner later studied at the Academy of Music in Budapest, studying with János (Hans) Koessler. While there, he won numerous prizes, including the Franz Liszt Stipend, the Volkmann Prize and the Erkel Prize (all for one composition, his Serenade Op. 3); the Haynald Prize for his Agnus Dei; and the Schunda Prize for the Hungarian Fantasy for tárogató and cimbalom. Teaching career In 1908 he was appointed music theory teacher at the Budapest Academy of Music, professor of composition in 1912 and professor of chamber music in 1920. Peter Erős, Béla Síki, and Georg Solti; violinist Tibor Varga; cellists Edmund Kurtz and János Starker; and pianist György Sebők. He died in Budapest. Compositions The early Romantics from Beethoven through Mendelssohn most strongly influenced Weiner’s compositional style. His orchestration seems much indebted to later Romantic Fre

Leopold Auer

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Leopold von Auer (; June 7, 1845 – July 15, 1930) was a Hungarian violinist, academic, conductor, composer, and instructor. Many of his students went on to become prominent concert performers and teachers. Early life and career Auer was born in Veszprém, Hungary, 7 June 1845, to a poor Jewish household of painters. He first studied violin with a local concertmaster. He later wrote that the violin was a “logical instrument” for any (musically inclined) Hungarian boy to take up because it “didn’t cost much.” At the age of 8 Auer continued his violin studies with , who also came from Veszprém, at the Budapest Conservatory. Kohne was concertmaster of the orchestra of the National Opera. A performance by Auer as soloist in the Mendelssohn violin concerto attracted the interest of some wealthy music lovers, who gave him a scholarship to go to Vienna for further study. He lived at the home of his teacher, Jakob Dont. Auer wrote that it was Dont who taught him the foundation for his violin technique. out of poverty. An audition with Henri Vieuxtemps in Graz was a failure, partly because Vieuxtemps’ wife thought so. A visit to Paris proved equally unsuccessful. Auer decided to seek the advice

Márk Rózsavölgyi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Márk Rózsavölgyi (; born Mordecai Rosenthal; 14 August 1787 – 23 January 1848) was a Hungarian composer and violinist. He has been called “the father of csárdás”. Life and music Rózsavölgyi was born to a poor tradesman’s family in Balassagyarmat, where his bust (made by Jelena Veszely in 1973) can be found in the Palóc-parkland. His family is believed to have had klezmer connections. From the ages of 11 to 19 he worked as a clerk in Vienna, Pressburg (now Bratislava), and Prague, teaching himself to play the violin. Returning to Pest, he dedicated himself to music, composing in the Hungarian traditional styles, including the verbunkos. His first works were published in Pest in 1811; eventually he published over 200 works. In 1812, he was appointed conductor of the orchestra at the German Theater in Pest. Basing himself in Pest, he travelled through the Habsburg Empire for many years, including extended stays in Baja and Temesvár (now Timișoara, Romania). In 1824, he was made a regular salaried member of the Philharmonic Society of the county of Veszprém, and his name “Rosenthal” was Magyarized to “Rózsavölgyi” (both mean ‘rose valley’ in German (or Yiddish) and Hungarian respective

Márton Illés

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Márton Illés (born 12 December 1975 in Budapest), is a Hungarian composer and pianist. Illés received musical training in piano, composition and percussion in Győr from 1981 to 1994. In 1993, he spent one academic term at the conservatory of Zurich with pianist Hadassa Schwimmer. He studied the piano with László Gyimesi at the Hochschule für Musik Basel, completing his solo diploma in 1998. Later, he continued his piano studies with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling in Hannover. He studied composition with Detlev Müller-Siemens from 1997 to 2001 in Basel, with Wolfgang Rihm and music theory under Michael Reudenbach at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe from 2001 to 2005. In 2006, Illés founded the Scene Polidimensionali chamber music ensemble He won an Ernst von Siemens Composer Prize in 2008, and a scholarship to the Villa Massimo in 2009. His first large scale stage work, Die weiße Fürstin, was given its world premiere in April 2010 at the Munich Biennale in a co-production with Theater Kiel. Further performances then took place in Kiel in May and June of that year. Works The works of Illés are published by Breitkopf & Härtel. * Víz-Szín-tér, for orchestra (2019) * Vont-tér, for violin and c

Máté Balogh

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Máté Balogh (born 9 November 1990 in Győr) is a Hungarian composer, performer and assistant professor at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest and at the University of Szeged. His works have been performed internationally at contemporary music festivals and concert series in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America, and he has received composition awards in a range of competitions and artistic programmes all over the world. Early life and education Balogh was born in Győr, Hungary, in 1990 and raised up in the industrial town of Dunaújváros, formerly known as Stalin City. He studied composition at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he was a student of Zoltán Jeney. During his studies, he spent an academic year at the Conservatorio di Musica Giuseppe Tartini in Trieste, Italy, studying with Fabio Nieder. He later was the mentee of Péter Eötvös and also attended the masterclasses of György Kurtág, Louis Andriessen, Christian Wolff, Heinz Holliger, Philip Glass and Toshio Hosokawa. Composer’s career His pieces have been performed throughout Europe as well as in China, Japan, Taiwan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Ethiopia, South-Africa, Canada and the United States of Ameri

Máté Bella

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Máté Bella (, ; born 28 November 1985) is a Hungarian composer and university professor at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Hungary. He has worked across multiple genres of music, including classical contemporary, opera, choir, musicals, theater music and pop music. Early life and education Máté Bella was born 28 November 1985 in Budapest, Hungary. Bella began his musical studies at Ferenc Erkel Primary School for Music. He later attended the Weiner Leó Secondary Music School in Budapest, where he specialized in composition and piano. He continued his music education between 2002 and 2006 at the Béla Bartók Music Institute, where he focused on composition under the mentorship of Miklós Kocsár. After graduating in 2006, he was admitted to the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where he completed his studies in 2011. In 2013, he spent a semester at the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków on an Erasmus scholarship. Máté was awarded a scholarship for the New National Excellence Program in 2017, and in 2018, he received his summa cum laude doctoral degree. This was followed by the recognition of his ensemble piece Chuang Tzu’s Dream by the International Music Council in Lisbon

Mátyás Seiber

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Mátyás György Seiber (, sometimes given as Matthis Seyber; 4 May 1905 – 24 September 1960) was a Hungarian-born British composer who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1935 onwards. His work linked many diverse musical influences, from the Hungarian tradition of Bartók and Kodály, to Schoenberg and serial music, to jazz, folk song, and lighter music. Early life Seiber was born in Budapest. His mother, Berta Patay, was a well known pianist and teacher, so the young Seiber gained considerable skill with that instrument first. At the age of ten, he began to learn to play the cello. After attending grammar school, where he was regarded as “outstanding” in mathematics and Latin according to the almanacs of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, he studied the cello and composition from 1918 to 1925, and composition with Zoltán Kodály from 1921 to 1925. For his degree, he wrote his String Quartet No. 1 (in A minor). Pieces composed at this time, such as the Serenade for Six Wind Instruments of 1925, show him combining traditional Hungarian folk tunes with the forms of Western art music. Seiber submitted his Serenade to a composition contest in Budapest shortly after its completion. W

Melinda Kistétényi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Melinda Kistétényi (25 July 1926 – 20 October 1999) was a Hungarian classical organist, composer and chorus master known for her improvisations. She worked as a professor of music at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest for 53 years. Early life and education Melinda Kistétényi was born in Budapest on 25 July 1926. From 1946 to 1953, she attended the Budapest Academy of Music, where she was taught composition by János Viski, organ by Sebestyén Pécsi, conducting by János Ferencsik, András Kórodi and László Somogyi and church music by Jenő Ádám and Lajos Bárdos. She received a chorus master diploma in 1949. Kistétényi was a professor of music theory at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music for 53 years from 1956 to 1989. In her teaching, she was one of the most prominent Hungarian followers of the Kodály method, and wrote poetic texts to Kodály’s Epigrammák and Tricinia series. Her students include Andras Schiff, Zoltán Kocsis, Ivan Fischer, Dezső Ránki, Sylvia Sass, Xaver Varnus and Veronika Kincses. When Igor Stravinsky heard a recording of Kistétényi in the 1960s, he compared her to both Kodály and Béla Bartók. In addition to teaching, she also performed regular organ concerts i

Mihály Víg

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Mihály Víg (born 1957, Budapest) is a Hungarian composer, poet, songwriter, guitarist, singer and actor. Career Born into a family of musicians. He is the co-founder of bands Trabant (1980–1986) and Balaton (1979–present). Although the bands’ songs were not officially released in the 1980s, they became underground hits. He composed film scores for the films of János Xantus, András Szirtes, Ildikó Szabó, Péter Müller Sziámi and Béla Tarr. He also plays the lead role - Irimiás - in the film Sátántangó. His score for the film The Turin Horse was nominated for the European Film Prize for Best Composer in 2011. He also appears in the cast of Gábor Fabricius’ film Erasing Frank. Personal life In 1986, at the invitation of Tamás Pajor, he and his wife became members of the Faith Church. After a short time he left the religious community in disappointment, but the memory of this bitter encounter stayed with him, and for a long time caused him a creative crisis. In 2020, he made serious accusations in László Bartus’s book, Fesz lesz, against the congregation and personally against Sándor Németh, the leading pastor of the congregation, in connection with the loss of his wife and son. Awards

Miklós Both

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Miklós Both (born 3 June 1981, Budapest) is a Hungarian composer, performer, folklorist, singer for the band , guitarist, and vitar violin player. He won the Fonogram and Budai awards, and honored with the Hungarian Gold Cross of Merit. His folklore film database has recordings from Ukraine, China, Transylvania, Iran, India and others. In 2015, he was chosen by Öröm a Zene! as musician of the year. Career Both attended Pázmány Péter Catholic University, majoring in aesthetics and also studied communications. He independently learned to play the guitar. In 2000, for a short period, he participated in the Galloping Coroners and Kárpát Möbiusz bands. In 2004, he founded his own band called Napra, and joined the legendary Hungarian band Barbaro. Napra’s debut album, produced in 2007 by Ben Mandelson, won a Fonogram award, Best World Music Album of the Year. In 2009, at the 100th anniversary celebration of Miklós Radnóti’s birth, with Dániel Gryllus as host, Both was commissioned to create music for a reading of the poet’s works by the series editor of Helicon Audio album. The album was recorded at the Budapest International Book Festival and received the Buda Award. In 2011, he became

Miklós Kocsár

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Miklós Kocsár (21 December 1933 – 29 August 2019 ) was a Hungarian composer. Biography He was born in Debrecen, Hungary, (son of László Kocsár and Erzsébet Borsy) and studied composition at the Academy of Music in Budapest with Ferenc Farkas, graduating in 1959. After completing his studies, he took a position in 1972 as Professor at the in Budapest, teaching theory and composition. From 1974–95, he worked in Hungarian Radio. In 1973 he won the Erkel Prize. Selected works *Duó-Szerenád (Duo Serenade) for violin and viola (1955) *String Quartet (1960) *Szonáta szólóhegedűre (Sonata) for violin solo (1961–1991) *Hét változat mélyhegedűre (7 Variations) for viola solo (1983) *Concerto lirico for viola and orchestra (2000) Discography Kocsár’s works have been recorded an issued on media including: *Miklós Kocsár: Choral Works Label: Hungaroton *Miklós Kocsár: Concerto in memoriam Z.H. Label: Hungaroton *Miklós Kocsár: Repliche Nos. 1–3 / Music of the Seasons / Songs on Poems by Lajos Kassak Label: Hungaroton *Miklós Kocsár: Echos Nos. 1–4 / Hollos: Ciklus / Buyanovski: 4 Improvisations for horn solo Label: Hungaroton *Horusitzky / Sugar, R. / Kosa / Balassa / Kocsar: Hungarian Contempo

Miklós Radnai

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Miklós Radnai (1 January 1892 – 4 November 1935) was a Hungarian composer, critic and music writer. From 1925 to his death in 1935, he was a noted Intendant of the Hungarian Royal Opera House in Budapest. Biography At an early age he had lessons with the blind pianist Attila Horváth, and also studied the violin. While still in secondary school, he entered the Academy of Music in Budapest, where he studied under János Koessler and Viktor Herzfeld. He taught theory at another music school, and had an extended tour of European countries. In 1919 he became a teacher at the Academy of Music. In 1924, with some associated artists, he gave a performance of his own works, including his Violin Sonata, Poems for piano, and songs. In 1925 he became director of the Hungarian Royal Opera House, the youngest director since Gustav Mahler. He restored the institution’s artistic reputation that had deteriorated during and after World War I, and put its financial affairs on a sound footing. His first venture was to stage the Hungarian premiere of Claude Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande. These were followed by the Hungarian premieres, mostly shortly after their world premieres, of Stravinsky’s Oedipus

Miklós Rózsa

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Miklós Rózsa (; April 18, 1907 – July 27, 1995) was a Hungarian-American composer trained in Germany (1925–1931) and active in France (1931–1935), the United Kingdom (1935–1940), and the United States (1940–1995), with extensive sojourns in Italy from 1953 onward. Best known for his nearly one hundred film scores, he nevertheless maintained a steadfast allegiance to absolute concert music throughout what he called his “double life”. Rózsa achieved early success in Europe with his orchestral Theme, Variations, and Finale (Op. 13) of 1933, and became prominent in the film industry from such early scores as The Four Feathers (1939) and The Thief of Bagdad (1940). The latter project brought him to Hollywood when production was transferred from wartime Britain, and Rózsa remained in the United States, becoming an American citizen in 1946. During his Hollywood career, he received 17 Academy Award nominations including three Oscars for Spellbound (1945), A Double Life (1947), and Ben-Hur (1959), while his concert works were championed by such major artists as Jascha Heifetz, Gregor Piatigorsky, and János Starker. Early life Miklós Rózsa was born in Budapest and was introduced to classical

Miklós Sugár

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Miklós Sugár (born 2 July 1952) is a Hungarian conductor, music educator, and composer. Life Sugár is the son of the composer Rezső Sugár and he was born in Budapest. Sugár studied at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music with Kórodi Andrásné and Emilnél Petrovich. After completing his studies, he took a position from 1978 to 1984 as the Army Art Ensemble Symphony Orchestra conductor. In 1978 he also took a position teaching at the Theater and Film Academy in Budapest, where he worked until 1991. From 1984 to 1988 he led the Békéscsabai Symphony Orchestra, and from 1988 to 1990 worked as an editor for Hungarian Radio’s music department. In 1991 he took the position of National Philharmonic’s manager. The same year, he was a co-founder of EAR, a contemporary electro-acoustic ensemble. Between 1991 and 1999, he worked with the Alba Regia Symphony Orchestra. From 1979 to 1987 Sugár was a member of the Hungarian Composers ‘Association of Young Composers’ Group, and from 1983 to 1987 served as secretary to the organization. Private life He is married to musicologist Zsuzsánna Mindszenty and they have three adult daughters. Honors and awards *1981, scholarship from the Albert Szirmai Foundat

Nicolae Bretan

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Nicolae Bretan (; 25 March 1887 – 1 December 1968) In 1916, he received a degree in law at the University of Cluj. In addition to composing, Bretan held various positions as baritone singer, actor, stage director, and director-general. He made his professional debut as a singer in 1913 in Bratislava, continuing to roles in Oradea and at the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj, where he served as first baritone from 1922 to 1940. Over his career he performed works by Verdi, Gounod, Bizet, Puccini, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Delibes, and Rossini. Bretan also worked as a translator of libretti, translating his own Luceafărul into Hungarian and Golem into Romanian and German. In 1915 Bretan married pianist Nora Osvát. Together they had two children: (baritone) and Judit (actor and educator). In 1944, Osvát’s family, who were Jewish, were transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp and murdered. Refusing to become a member of the Romanian Communist Party in 1948, he was not favoured by the Romanian communist regime, who treated the composer as a “non-person”. Biographer Hartmut Gagelmann attributes Bretan’s lack of wider recognition to censorship by the Communist Party of Romania, though this claim

Ödön Mihalovich

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ödön (Edmund) Péter József de Mihalovich (September 13, 1842 in Fericsánci, Slavonia – April 22, 1929 in Budapest) was a Hungarian composer and music educator. Mihalovich first studied in Pest with Mihály Mosonyi. In 1865, he moved to Leipzig, studying there with Moritz Hauptmann, and, in 1866, he completed his studies in Munich with Peter Cornelius. Mihalovich then moved back to Pest; in 1872, he became president of the city’s Wagner Society and, in 1887, he followed Franz Liszt as the head of the Budapest Academy of Music, a position he held until 1919. He was also, according to a contemporary source a pupil of Hans von Bülow. While Mihalovich’s works are thoroughly Wagnerian in style, he was supportive of Hungarian nationalism and encouraged composers such as Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály. A symphony in D minor was published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1883. Works Note:this list is incomplete. ;Operas *Hagbart und Signe (1867-1881), prémieres: Dresden, 1882 by Franz Wüllner; Budapest, 1886 by Sándor Erkel. *Wieland der Schmied (1876–78, unperformed) *Eliane (1885–87), prémieres: Budapest, 1908 by István Kerner; Vienna 1909 by Karl Gille. *Toldi (The Knight Toldi) (1888-1891), prémi

Ödön Pártos

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ödön Pártos alternate transcription in English: Oedoen Partos, , (Eden Partosh) (1 October 1907 in Budapest – 6 July 1977 in Tel Aviv) was a Hungarian-Israeli violist and composer. A recipient of the Israel Prize, he taught and served as director of the Rubin Academy of Music, now known as the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv. Biography Partos was born in Budapest (at that time, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) and studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, together with Antal Doráti and Mátyás Seiber, studied the violin with Jenő Hubay and composition with Zoltán Kodály. Upon completing his studies, he was accepted to the position of Principal Violinist in an orchestra in Lucerne, after which he played in other European orchestras, among them, in Berlin. In 1934, following Hitler’s ascendance to power, Partos returned to his birthplace, Budapest, where he was Principal Violinist in the city’s symphony orchestra. In 1936, Bronisław Huberman founded the Palestine Orchestra (now: Israel Philharmonic Orchestra), for which he recruited Jewish musicians cast out of Europe’s orchestras. Huberman sought to include Partos, though the latter’s take-up of the post was delayed

Ottokar Nováček

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ottokar Eugen Nováček (13 May 1866 – 3 February 1900) was an Austro-Hungarian violinist, violist and composer of Czech descent. He is perhaps best known for his work Perpetuum Mobile (Perpetual Motion), written in 1895. Life Nováček was born at Weißkirchen (, ), southern Austrian Empire (today Serbia). He studied successfully with his father Martin Joseph Nováček, with Jakob Dont in Vienna (1880–83), and with Henry Schradieck and Brodsky at the Leipzig Conservatory, where he won the Mendelssohn Prize in 1885. He played in the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and in the Brodsky Quartet, originally as second violin and later as viola. He subsequently immigrated to the United States, where he was a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Arthur Nikisch (1891) and was appointed principal viola in the Damrosch Orchestra, New York (189293). He also played in the re-formed Brodsky Quartet. In 1899, after a heart condition forced him to retire from playing, he devoted himself to composition. His works include a piano concerto (1894, dedicated to, and first performed by, Ferruccio Busoni), Perpetuum mobile (Perpetual Motion) for violin and orchestra (1895), three string quartets (publishe

Pál Kadosa

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Pál Kadosa (; 6 September 1903, Léva, Austria-Hungary (now Levice, Slovakia) – 30 March 1983, Budapest) was a pianist and Hungarian composer of the post-Bartók generation. His early style was influenced by Hungarian folklore while his later works were more toward Hindemith and expressively forceful idioms. He was born in Levice. He studied at the national Hungarian Royal Academy of Music under and Zoltán Kodály. He was appointed to the faculty of the Fodor School in 1927 where he taught until 1943 when he was forced out due to wartime political issues. In 1945 he joined the faculty of the Franz Liszt Academy where he taught, eventually becoming head of the piano department, until his death in 1983. His students included such leading musicians as György Ligeti, György Kurtág, Iván Erőd, Ferenc Rados, Arpad Joó, András Schiff, Zoltán Kocsis, Dezső Ránki, Valéria Szervánszky, Ronald Cavaye, Jenő Jandó, Kenji Watanabe, István Kassai, and Balázs Szokolay, among others. Kadosa served on the Hungarian Arts Council and become an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music. Kadosa’s work included two operas, eight symphonies, four sonatas, and six concertos. References External links * *

Paul Abraham

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Paul Abraham (; 2 November 1892 – 6 May 1960) was a Jewish-Hungarian composer of operettas, who scored major successes in the German-speaking world. Abraham was born in Apatin, Austria-Hungary (today Serbia), and studied at the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music in Budapest from 1910 to 1916. He studied cello with Adolf Schiffer and composition with Viktor Herzfeld. Career Abraham was a son of Jakab Ábrahám (c. 1859–1909) – who was a merchant from Apatin, later head of a small private bank – and Flóra Blau (1872–1943), who came from Mohács (South-Hungary, next to Danube). Like many other composers of operettas, Abraham started with works of a serious nature. During the decade following his studies he wrote, among other things, sacred music, string quartets and a concerto for violoncello. When he was appointed conductor at the Budapest Operetta Theatre in 1927 he found his way to this more popular art form which was more suited to his talent. He wrote his first operetta, Der Gatte des Fräuleins, in 1928. With his third, Viktoria und ihr Husar (1930), he achieved a resounding success. Through this work, and the next two operettas from 1931 and 1933 Die Blume von Hawaii (The Fl

Paul Hermann (composer)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Paul Hermann (Budapest, 27 March 1902 – unknown 1944), also known as Pál Hermann, was a virtuoso cellist and composer. Career Hermann was born in Budapest, Hungary, on 27 March 1902 and came from a Jewish family. About his early childhood not much more than an anecdote remains: he was only prepared to study for his piano lessons if for every étude he prepared, he would receive one cent. He studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music from 1915–1919 and developed close relationships, both musical and personal, with his teachers of composition Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, violinist Zoltán Székely, and pianists Géza Frid and Lili Kraus. At the Franz Liszt Academy of Music he studied cello under Adolf Schiffer and composition, first under Leo Weiner, who was also his teacher of chamber music. Already during his studies, Hermann was a frequent performer within and outside of the Liszt Academy. He started his international cello career at the age of 16, playing as a soloist music venues in Europe. Hermann felt that there was no need to finish his studies at the Liszt Academy. Among the works Hermann premiered or gave notable early performances of as a virtuoso cellist during the 1920s w

Paul I, Prince Esterházy

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Paul I, 1st Prince Esterházy of Galántha (), () (8 September 1635 He actively participated in various battles against the Ottoman Turks during the Fourth Austro-Turkish War (1663–1664) and the Great Turkish War (1683–1699). Paul is credited with establishing the wealth, power, and influence of the Princely House of Esterházy. His father, Nicholas, bore the office of the Palatine of the Kingdom of Hungary. He displayed literary talents at an early age. On 16 August 1652, Paul’s elder brother Ladislaus was killed in the Battle of Vezekény (Vezekey) against the Turks. While serving as a commander-in-chief, Paul defeated malcontents at Leutschau and Győr. The title of Prince was extended to his male descendants in 1712. Paul’s loyalty was also demonstrated in his cooperation with the Habsburg court in the subversion of civil and religious liberties. Paul began his renovations of Schloss Esterházy in 1663. The additions made by Paul took nearly ten years to complete and gave the palace the façade it has retained to the present. Paul further extended, ornamented, and fortified Forchtenstein Castle with architect Domenico Carlone. Death and legacy Paul died in Eisenstadt on 26 March 1713.

Petar Stojanović (composer)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Petar Stojanović (7 September 1877 – 11 September 1957) was a Serbian violinist and composer of operettas, ballets and orchestral music. (His birthday is also variously given as 6 September and 25 August.) Life He was born in Budapest and studied the violin there with Jenő Hubay. At the Vienna Conservatory, he studied violin with Jakob Grün and composition with Robert Fuchs and Richard Heuberger. In 1925, he became professor of violin in Belgrade, where he lived until his death. A music college in the town of Ub is named after him. Selected works ;Stage *Tigar (The Tiger; Der Tiger), comic opera; libretto by R. von Perger, Budapest, 14 November 1905 *Devojka na Mansardi (The Girl from the Garrett; Liebchen am Dach); libretto by Viktor Léon, 1917 *Vojvoda od Rajhštata (The Duke of Reichstadt; Die Herzog von Reichstadt); libretto by Viktor Léon and , Vienna, 1921 *Mirjana, ballet (1942) *Devet čiraka (Nine Candlesticks), ballet (1944) ;Orchestral *Smrt junaka (The Hero’s Death), symphonic poem (1918) *Sava, symphonic poem (1935) ;Concertante *Violin Concerto No. 1 in D minor, op. 1 (1904) *Violin Concerto No. 2 (Prague, 1916) *Violin Concerto No. 3 *Violin Concerto No. 4 *Violin Conc

Peter Bence

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Peter Bence (; born 5 September 1991) is a Hungarian pianist, composer and music producer. He has gained considerable popularity with his piano arrangements of “Despacito”, Michael Jackson, Queen and Sia collecting over 500 million video hits and a popular following on his YouTube channel and Facebook page. His most viewed video of all time is his lively rendition of “Despacito.” Bence holds a Master of Arts in Film Scoring and Electronic Production & Design from the Berklee College of Music (2010-2015). Between January 2012 and March 2017 he held the world record for most piano key hits in one minute (765) according to the Guinness book of records. Life Peter Bence started playing the piano at an early age and finished his first original composition, at age 7, which was heavily influenced by the music of Mozart and Chopin. In 2002, at 11 he published his first solo piano album of his early compositions called Green Music. In 2008 he released his second album, Nightfall. The sheet music for his composition Piano Piece Based on Fibonacci Sequence, an audition piece performed in 2009, was requested by many pianists. He was considered a musical prodigy by teachers and peers, and was a

Péter Eötvös

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Péter Eötvös (, ; 2 January 194424 March 2024) was a Hungarian composer, conductor and academic teacher. After studies of composition in Budapest and Cologne, Eötvös composed film music in Hungary from 1962. He played with the Stockhausen Ensemble between 1968 and 1976. He was a founding member of the Oeldorf Group in 1973, continuing his association until the late 1970s. From 1979 to 1991, he was musical director and conductor of the Ensemble InterContemporain, and from 1985 to 1988 he was principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, after which he conducted several other orchestras. As a composer, Eötvös was known for the operas Love and Other Demons and Three Sisters, both of which were performed outside Hungary. He was open to influences from different cultures. Life and career Péter Eötvös was born on 2 January 1944 in Székelyudvarhely, Transylvania, then part of Hungary, now Romania. leaving for Cologne following the examples of Kurtág and Ligeti. In 1978, Boulez asked him to conduct the opening concert of IRCAM in Paris. He was then appointed musical director of the Ensemble InterContemporain, holding the position until 1991. Jean-Pierre Brossman, director of the

Péter Kőszeghy

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Péter Kőszeghy (born 2 September 1971) is a Hungarian composer and music educator. Life Kőszeghy was born in 1971 in Balassagyarmat, Hungary. From 1985 to 1989 he attended the Béla-Bartók High School of Music in Miskolc, where he received flute lessons. From 1989 to 1992 he studied flute and music pedagogy at the Pedagogical Faculty of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Győr. He also took private composition lessons with Attila Reményi and Endre Olsvay. From 1992 to 1993 he was a member of the “Group of Young Composers” (Fiatal Zeneszerzők Csoportja (F.Z.CS.)) in Budapest. In 1993 he moved to Germany and studied musical composition with Paul-Heinz Dittrich and electronic music with Andre Bartetzki at the Studio für Elektroakustische Musik (Berlin) (STEAM) of the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” until 1999. From 2000 to 2001 he attended the composition class of Hans Zender at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt. He attended seminars by Edisson Denissow, Gerhard Stäbler, Mathias Spahlinger and Friedrich Goldmann. He was also a guest at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse. Since 1999 he has lived in Berlin as a freelance composer and music teacher. His works have bee

Péter Máté

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Péter Máté (4 February 1947 – 9 September 1984) was a Hungarian pop singer, composer, and pianist. He was the composer and performer of nearly 150 songs, achieving cult status in Hungarian pop music. Career Péter Máté was born on 4 February 1947 in Budapest. He learned singing, playing piano and guitar from age 6 with a private teacher, and from 14, in a school of music. Discovering his talent and wide-spectrum voice, he was taught by known figures like composer György Geszler and András Bágya. He gained a wide spectrum of musical knowledge, which allowed him to write, compose, score and play his own music all by himself. These skills proved to be important in gaining his later fame. After some years in a runner-up band from 1965, he made his first recordings at the Magyar Rádió in 1965, including Úgy várom hogy jössz-e már?, and Mondd már, in cooperation with Illés. The two songs, and his first prize at the largest pol-beat festival of the Eastern Bloc in Sochi made him well known in the region. Several awards on festivals followed, notably in Cuba, Canada, Germany and Ireland. Besides pop music, he also scored musicals (including the Hungarian version of Jesus Christ Superstar),

Rezső Kókai

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Rezső Kókai (15 January 1906 – 6 March 1962) was a Hungarian composer and musicologist. Life Kókai studied composition with János Koessler and piano with Emánuel Hegyi at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. In 1933 he received his doctorate in musicology from the University of Freiburg where he wrote the thesis Franz Liszt in seinen frühen Klavierwerken (Franz Liszt in His Early Piano Works). Between 1926 and 1934 he was professor of piano at the National Conservatory, and from 1929 taught composition, aesthetics, music history, and pedagogy at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. Kókai was director of music for the Hungarian Radio from 1945 to 1948. Kókai was awarded the Ferenc Erkel Prize (Erkel Ferenc-díj) three times in recognition of his work (1952, 1955, 1956). Rezső Kókai composed in a variety of forms including stage works, orchestral compositions, a violin concerto, chamber music, works for piano, as well as film and radio scores. His scores are largely published by Editio Musica Budapest and Zeneműkiadó Vállalat. Selected works ;Stage * István király (King Stephen), Scenic Oratorio in 2 acts, 5 scenes (1941) * A rossz feleség, Táncballada (A Bad Wife), Dance Ballad (1942–1945)

Rezső Seress

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Rezső Seress (Hungarian: Seress Rezső, ; 3 November 1899 – 12 January 1968 ) was a Hungarian pianist and composer. Some sources give his birth name as Rudolf (“Rudi”) Spitzer. Biography Rezső Seress lived most of his life in poverty in Budapest, from where, being Jewish, he was taken to a labor camp by the Nazis during the Second World War. He survived the camp and after employment in the theatre and the circus, where he was a trapeze artist, he concentrated on songwriting and singing after an injury. Seress taught himself to play the piano with only one hand. He composed many songs, including Fizetek főúr (Waiter, bring me the bill), Én úgy szeretek részeg lenni (I love being drunk), and a song for the Hungarian Communist Party to commemorate the chain bridge crossing the river in Budapest, Újra a Lánchídon (Again on the chain bridge). His most famous composition is Szomorú Vasárnap (“Gloomy Sunday”), written in 1933, which gained infamy as it became associated with a spate of suicides. Seress felt a strong loyalty to Hungary, and one reason for his poverty while having a world-famous song was that he never wished to go to the USA to collect his royalties, instead staying as piani

Róbert Gulya

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Róbert Gulya (born 10 November 1973) is a Hungarian-British composer. He composes contemporary classical music as well as film scores. Life Robert Gulya studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna and attended a film scoring advanced program at the University of California, Los Angeles. His scores are published by Swiss music publisher Éditions BIM. Inter alia, he created several works for the Austrian guitarist Johanna Beisteiner, such as a Concert for guitar and orchestra, which was performed with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra. Robert Gulya is the owner of the film music production company Interscore LTD. Honours and awards *2014: Cannes Corporate Media & TV Award Winner: Best Music for Where the World Unfolds. *2008: Action On Film International Film Festival, USA: Best Score Feature for the film score of Atom Nine Adventures (USA 2007, director: Christopher Farley) *1997: Third Prize at the International Composer’s Competition In Memoriam Zoltán Kodály, Budapest (Hungary) *1996: Albert Szirmai Prize, Budapest (Hungary) *1995: First Prize at the International Summer Academy Prague-Vienna-Budapest (Austria) List o

Sándor Balassa

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sándor Balassa (20 January 1935 – 14 May 2021 ) was a Hungarian composer and music educator. Life Born in Budapest, Balassa attended a musical school and then studied music with Endre Szervánszky. In 1964 he started working at the Hungarian Radio where he created music programs. Since 1981 he also taught at the Academy of Music. He retired from this position in 1996. Balassa was awarded the Kossuth Prize in 1983. Orchestra compositions * Dimenziók (Dimensions; Dimensioni) for flute and viola, Op. 8, 1966; * Zenith, op.10, for alto and orchestra, 1971; * Hárfástrio (Harp Trio), Trio for violin, viola and harp, Op. 19, 1971; * Iris, op. 22, for orchestra, 1971; * Glarusi ének, op. 29, for orchestra, (The Song of Glarus), 1978; * Az örök ifjúság szigete, op. 32 for orchestra, (The End of Eternal Youth), 1979; * Hívások és kiáltások, op. 33 for orchestra, 1981; * Egy álmodozó naplója, op. 35 for orchestra, (Diary of a Daydreamer), 1983; * Három fantázia zenekarra, op. 36 for orchestra, (Three fantasies), 1984; * Szőlőcske és halacska, op. 40 for orchestra, 1987; * Tündér Ilona, op. 45 for orchestra (with Elfje Ilona), 1992; * Csaba királyfi, op. 46 for string orchestra, (Prince Csaba)

Sándor Erkel

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sándor Erkel (2 January 1846 – 14 October 1900) (Hungarian: Erkel Sándor) was a Hungarian composer, conductor and director of the Hungarian State Opera. Biography Born in Buda, Erkel was the youngest son of the famous Hungarian composer, Ferenc Erkel. He first studied music with his father; later his teacher was another Hungarian composer, Mihály Mosonyi. He started his career just as an orchestra musician of the National Theatre in Pest playing timpani; he was also the dulcimer soloist at the premiere of his father’s opera, the Bánk bán. Later he became the conductor of the theatre’s orchestra, and at the age of thirty in 1876, he was appointed the music director of the ensemble. In 1884, Erkel became the music director of the newly established Hungarian State Opera (1884–1886), – its founding director was his father, Ferenc – premiering Hungarian and foreign operas. Erkel accepted the chairman-conductor position of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra in 1875, a post he held until 1900. Johannes Brahms premiered his Piano concerto no. 2. with the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra on 9 November 1881 in Budapest, with Erkel as conductor. Erkel died unexpectedly in Békéscsaba on 14 Oct

Sándor Jemnitz

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sándor Jemnitz, also known as Alexander Jemnitz (9 August 1890 in Budapest – 8 August 1963 in Balatonföldvár), was a Hungarian composer, conductor, music critic and author. Biography Jemnitz studied composition with János Koessler at the Budapest Music Academy from 1906 to 1908, then continued his studies at the Leipzig Conservatory where he studied organ with Karl Straube, violin with Hans Sitt, composition with Max Reger, and conducting with Arthur Nikisch. From 1913 to 1915 Jemnitz lived in Berlin and studied composition with Arnold Schoenberg and began writing articles on music, several of which were published in Die Musik in 1914 and 1915. Jemnitz returned to Hungary in 1916 and wrote for various newspapers and periodicals. From 1924 to 1950 he was regular music critic of the Népszava newspaper, in which post he established himself as one of the most respected Hungarian critics of the period. His compositions include works for orchestra and keyboard, as well as vocal, choral and chamber music. Selected works ;Stage * Divertimento, Ballet in 3 scenes (1921, 1947); arrangement of Concerto for Chamber Orchestra ;Orchestral * 7 Miniatures (Hét miniatűr nagyzenekarra) (1919, 1947);

Sándor Veress

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sándor Veress (, – ) was a Swiss composer of Hungarian origin. He was born in Kolozsvár/Klausenburg, Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire, nowadays called Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and died in Bern. The first half of his life was spent in Hungary; the second, from 1949 until his death, in Switzerland, of which he became a citizen in the last months of his life. Veress studied and later taught at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest. Among his teachers were Zoltán Kodály, with whom he studied composition, and Béla Bartók, with whom he studied piano; as an assistant to László Lajtha he did field research on Hungarian, Transylvanian, and Moldavian folk music. Among the composers who studied under him are György Ligeti, György Kurtág, Heinz Holliger, Heinz Marti, Jürg Wyttenbach and Roland Moser. He wrote numerous chamber music pieces and symphonic works. He wrote one opera, Hangjegyek lázadása (1931). Veress was awarded the Kossuth Prize in 1949 in Hungary (though as an émigré he was unable to collect this award) and the Bartók-Pásztory Prize in 1985; in Switzerland he received the Berne canton prize in 1976. Selected works ;Opera * Hangjegyek lázadása (1931) ;Ballet *

Sigismund Bachrich

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sigismund Bachrich (23 January 1841 – 16 July 1913), aka Sigmund Bachrich or Siegmund Bachrich, was a Hungarian composer, violinist, and violist of Jewish origin. He was born in Žabokreky in 1841. He studied violin at the Vienna Conservatoire from 1851 to 1857 with Joseph Böhm. He was Kapellmeister at the Paris Théâtre Lyrique from 1866 to 1869, when he returned to Vienna. He joined the Vienna Philharmonic as violist, remaining until 1899. He was a professor at the Vienna Conservatory until 1894. He played the viola with the Hellmesberger Quartet from 1869, then joined the Rosé Quartet in 1890. He died in Austria, either in Grimmenstein or Vienna. He composed for the opera, including Muzzedin (1883), Heini von Steier (1884), and Der Fuchs-Major (1889). His memoirs were published posthumously, in 1914, under the title Aus verklungenen Zeiten; Erinnerungen eines alten Musikers. Selected works ;Stage * Muzzedin, Opera (1883) * Heini von Steier, Opera in 1 act (1884); libretto by Hugo Wittmann * Sakuntala, Ballet (1884) * Der Fuchs-Major, Operetta (1889) * Des Herdes und der Liebe Flammen, Operetta * Mahomeds Paradies, Operetta ;Chamber music * Impromptu for violin and piano (1862) * I

Stephanie Wurmbrand-Stuppach

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Countess Stephanie von Wurmbrand-Stuppach (December 26, 1849 – February 16, 1919) was a Hungarian pianist and composer. She was also known as Stephanie Brand-Vrabely. Biography Stephanie von Wurmbrand-Stuppach was born in Pressburg (now Bratislava), Hungary. Her father, Karl von Vrabély, was a director of the Royal Hungarian Mail. Her mother, Seraphine Edle von Szlemenics, was a Doctor of Laws, the daughter of the Privy Councillor Professor Paul von Szlemenics. Stephanie showed early musical talent and received piano lessons. She released her first song composition at age 14, and later released a collection of thirty songs under the pseudonym Stephanie Brand-Vrabely. She gave concerts in Vienna and other major cities in Europe. On July 6, 1869, she married Count Ernst von Wurmbrand-Stuppach, brother of Adelma Vay. She worked as a writer, publishing in the feuilleton supplements of various newspapers. In recognition of her achievements she received a Silver Medal for Art and Science from Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Works Selected works include: Piano Works: *Three Character Pieces (Opus 8) *Fifteen little fantasy pieces (Opus 24) *Five Piano Pieces (Opus 25) *Dance sce

Stephen Heller

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Stephen Heller (15 May 181314 January 1888) was a Hungarian pianist, teacher, and composer whose career spanned the period from Schumann to Bizet. Heller was an influence for later Romantic composers. He outlived his reputation, and was a near-forgotten figure at his death in 1888. Biography Heller was born in Pest, Hungary in 1813. He had been destined for a legal career, but instead decided to devote his life to music. At the age of nine he performed Jan Ladislav Dussek’s Concerto for Two Pianos with his teacher, Franz Brauer, at the Budapest Theater. He played so well that he was sent to study in Vienna, Austria, under Carl Czerny. Unable to afford Czerny’s expensive fees, he became a student of . In 1862 he performed Mozart’s E-flat concerto for two pianos with Charles Hallé at The Crystal Palace. He spent the last twenty-five years of his life in Paris. Works Heller was a prolific composer for the piano and his studies remain popular with music teachers and students. Complete worklist * Op. 1 Thème de Paganini varié * Op. 2 Les charmes de Hambourg. Rondeau brillant * Op. 3 Fantaisie dramatique sur les opéras Semiramide et Masaniello * Op. 4 Valse Favorite de Hubovsky. Variatio

Theodor Szántó

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Theodor Szántó, also seen as Tivadar Szántó (3 June 1877 7 January 1934) was a Hungarian Jewish He resided in Paris from 1905, Switzerland from 1914, and Budapest from 1921 until his death there in 1934. Szántó contributed substantially to the rewriting of the piano part of the third and final version of Frederick Delius’s Piano Concerto in C minor, and he introduced this version at a Prom Concert in London on 22 October 1907 under Henry Wood. For these services, Delius dedicated the Concerto to Szántó. This final version has become the standard version, but Delius’s original conception has also been recorded. Theodor Szántó was an early champion of the music of Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók. It was his playing of Bartók’s Romanian Dance in 1914 that introduced Arthur Hartmann to the music of that composer. For his part, however, Bartók had little respect for Szántó. He exhibited an interest in the music of Japan by writing at least three works using Japanese influences (an opera, an orchestral suite, and a piano suite). are recorded by the composer and virtuoso pianist Artur Cimirro for the CD label Acte Préalable Szanto was considered an important piano teacher. His students incl

Thomas Rajna

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Thomas Rajna (21 December 1928 – 16 July 2021) was a British pianist and composer of Hungarian birth. He had been domiciled in Cape Town in South Africa since 1970. Biography Rajna was born in Budapest, Hungary. He started to play the piano and compose at an early age and studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music where he won the Liszt Prize in 1947. That year he left Hungary to settle in London and enrolled at the Royal College of Music. He soon appeared at the Proms under such conductors as Carlo Maria Giulini, Colin Davis and John Pritchard, also becoming a frequent broadcaster at the BBC. In 1963 he was appointed Professor of Piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His first commercial recording was the complete piano solo works of Igor Stravinsky. After that he recorded music by Alexander Scriabin, Robert Schumann and Olivier Messiaen, the piano part of Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka with the New Philharmonia under Erich Leinsdorf, and Béla Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta with Sir Georg Solti and the London Symphony Orchestra. He completed a cycle of recordings devoted to the entire piano music of Enrique Granados. Subsequently he undertook to recor

Tibor Polgár

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tibor Polgár (1907–1993) was a Hungarian composer of film scores. After working for several decades in the Hungarian film industry, spanning both the Horthy era and the Communist period, he emigrated to Canada. Selected filmography * The New Landlord (1935) * The Golden Man (1936) * Sensation (1936) * Beauty of the Pusta (1937) * Deadly Spring (1939) * Rózsafabot (1940) * Haunting Spirit (1940) * The Gyurkovics Boys (1941) * A Bowl of Lentils (1941) * Magdolna (1942) * The Perfect Family (1942) * Sirius (1942) * Beautiful Star (1942) * Devil Rider (1944) * Something in the Water (1944) * The Schoolmistress (1945) * Song of the Cornfields (1947) * The Siege of Beszterce (1948) * Gala Suit (1949) * Singing Makes Life Beautiful (1950) * Déryné (1951) * Relatives (1954) * Keep Your Chin Up (1954) * Accident (1955) * Sunday Romance (1957) * Don Juan’s Last Adventure (1958) * Up the Slope (1959) * Red Ink (1960) * In Praise of Older Women (1978) References Bibliography * Petrucci, Antonio. Twenty Years of Cinema in Venice. International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art, 1952. * Rîpeanu, Bujor. (ed.) International Directory of Cinematographers, Set- and Costume Designers in Film: Hungary

Tibor Serly

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tibor Serly (; Losonc, Kingdom of Hungary, 25 November 1901 – London, 8 October 1978) was a Hungarian violist, violinist, and composer. Life Serly was the son of Lajos Serly, a pupil of Franz Liszt and a composer of songs and operettas in the last decades of the 19th century, who emigrated to America in 1905 with his family. Serly’s first musical studies were with his father. Spending much of his childhood in New York City, Serly played violin in various pit orchestras led by his father. In 1922, he returned to Hungary to attend the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he studied composition with Zoltán Kodály, violin with Jenő Hubay, and orchestration with Leó Weiner. For the most part, these efforts received praise, both by Bartók and by colleagues. After graduating in 1925 with high honors in performance and composition, Serly returned to America, where he played viola with the Cincinnati Orchestra (1926–1927), Philadelphia Orchestra (1928–1935), and the NBC Orchestra (1937–1938). During these years, Serly formed close relationships with the poets Ezra Pound and Louis Zukofsky, who wrote a dedicatory poem to Serly, published in the avant-garde magazine Blues in Februa

Tibor Szemző

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tibor Szemző (born 1955, Budapest, Hungary) is a Hungarian composer, performer, media artist. His pieces often include spoken texts, film and other media. He creates installations and composes music for his own and others’ films. Ever since the beginning of his career, he has been performing actively and widely in Hungary and abroad as well. Biography Szemző was born in Budapest, into a middle-class family, declassed as a result of World War II and socialism. His family originates from former Upper Hungary. His musical training was conducted in accordance with the Kodály method. He attended an elementary school that specialised in music. Originally he studied fine mechanics at high school that he abandoned at the age of 17 to dedicate all of his time to instrumental studies. He completed the in two years and later studied at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music (1976–79). He earned a Media Design degree at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (2014) and pursued a DLA from the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts (2017). In 1973, he founded the Szemző Quartet (originally a trio) playing improvised chamber music, which later merged into Group 180. Group 180 was founded in 1979 and was

Tivadar Nachéz

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tivadar Nachéz (1 May 185929 May 1930) was a Hungarian violinist and composer for violin who had an international career, but made his home in London during his career. Tivadar Nachéz (he himself signed with Nachèz) was born in Budapest, where he studied under Sabathiel, the leader of the orchestra of the Budapest Opera. Franz Liszt heard him and gave his approval. Then he studied under Joseph Joachim in Berlin, and afterwards with Hubert Léonard in Paris. He performed at the foundation of the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. He made a debut in Hamburg in 1881. His first appearance in the United Kingdom was at the Crystal Palace on 9 April 1881, and after that he gave continuous concerts and made tours in England and elsewhere. He performed twice at a private royal smoking concert held at the Queen’s Hall before its official opening in 1893. He performed his own 2nd Violin Concerto, op. 36 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra on 17 April 1907, and repeated it with the New Symphony Orchestra under Landon Ronald on 27 January 1910. George Bernard Shaw, writing as an arts critic under the pseudonym Corno di Bassetto, saw him at Her Majesty’s Theatre in September 1889: ‘he plays some easy aff

Victor von Herzfeld

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Victor Emmerich Ritter von Herzfeld (October 8, 1856 – February 19, 1919) was a Hungarian violinist and composer. Born in Pressburg (now Bratislava), Herzfeld studied law at the University of Vienna and music at the Music Academy of Vienna where he won first prize for both composition and violin playing. In 1884, he was awarded the Beethoven Prize of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Society of the Friends of Music). He studied in Berlin with Eduard Grell and in 1886 went to Budapest as professor in the Music Academy. He was second violin in the original Budapest Quartet established by David Popper and Jenő Hubay. Ernst von Dohnányi dedicated his Sonata in C minor for Violin and Piano, Op. 21 (1912) to Herzfeld. While serving as the music critic of the Neue Pester Journal, he wrote a negative review of his friend and colleague Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony. He is the author of a 1915 article on Robert Volkmann. He died in Budapest and was buried there at the Kerepesi Cemetery. Notes References External links * *

Wenzel Trnka

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Wenzel Trnka von Krzowitz (; (16 October 1739 – 12 May 1791)) was an Austrian-Czech medical doctor, professor, and amateur composer. He is thought to have composed the canons Bei der Hitz im Sommer eß ich (English: In the heat of summer I eat) and Leck mir den Arsch fein recht schön sauber (English: Lick my arse right well and clean), which were previously attributed to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Life He was born 16 October 1739 in Tábor in Bohemia. In 1769, during his medical studies, the famous medical doctor Gerard van Swieten named him to serve as his assistant in the military hospital (Militärkrankenhaus). He received his doctorate 19 February 1770 with a treatise entitled “De morbo coxario”; (“On disease of the hip”). In June of the same year he was appointed to a professorial chair in anatomy at the University of Nagyszombat. Trnka thus became one of five who first formed the medical faculty there. He switched academic chairs twice, becoming the professor of general pathology in 1781 and of special pathology in 1786. He died in Pest on 12 May 1791. The Mozart misattribution Trnka emerged into public view in 1988 when it was revealed by Wolfgang Plath that he was the composer o

Yonderboi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

László Fogarasi Jr. (born September 14, 1980), known by his stage name Yonderboi, is a Hungarian composer, music producer and visual artist. His debut album, Shallow and Profound, released in 2000, brought Eastern European music to the Western European electronic music scene, and was met with critical acclaim by producers Laurent Garnier and Gilles Peterson on Radio Nova and BBC Radio 1 Worldwide respectively, as well as performing at the Sziget festival and the Lowlands festival in 2000. His most notable collaboration so far has been an audio-visual show with British film director legend Peter Greenaway during the Berlin Film Festival of 2009. He has performed on diverse stages over the years, including festivals such as Sónar, Pukkelpop, Lowlands, Big Chill, Sziget, ADE and venues such as Razzmatazz in Barcelona, Melkweg and Paradiso (Amsterdam). Yonderboi’s music is often licensed to films, TV and fashion shows or video games, and he has scored movies, theater pieces and he has also composed music for art exhibitions like the Swiss Pavilion of the Venice Biennale 2001. Biography Early years Yonderboi started experimenting with music in his teenage years, and had his first releas

Zdenka Ticharich

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Zdenka Ticharich (Zdenka von Ticharich) (26 September 1900 – 15 February 1979) was a Hungarian pianist, music educator and composer. Life Zdenka Ticharich was born in Budapest. She studied with István Tomka at the National School of Music, and then with Ferruccio Busoni and Emil Sauer at the Berlin University of the Arts, and composition with Franz Schreker from 1923 to 1925. On March 11, 1929, Ticharich made her American debut at The Town Hall (New York City). Young composers from Schreker’s class were popular in concert halls and opera houses in Germany but were forced into exile and their music banned by the Third Reich prior to World War II. From 1947-1969 Ticharich taught piano at the Budapest Academy of Music. She died in Budapest in 1979. Capriccio by Berthold Goldschmidt (1903–1996) was composed for Ticharich in 1927. She was a popular subject for artist portraits: *Woman with Lace Ödön Márffy (1878–1959), 1930 *Zdenka Ticharich and Csinszka Ödön Márffy, 1930 *Portrait of Ticharich Zdenka József Rippl-Rónai (1861–1927), 1921 Works Ticharich composed for voice, orchestra and solo piano. Selected works include: *Suite for Piano (1928) #Praeludium #Scherzo-Valse #Notturno #Fin

Zoltán Gárdonyi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Zoltán Gárdonyi (; 25 April 1906 – 27 June 1986) was a Hungarian composer and musicologist. He taught at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music for 26 years. Life and work Gárdonyi was born in Budapest. His mother, the pianist Maria Weigl, studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music with Liszt’s pupil, István Thomán, at the same time and in the same class as Béla Bartók. At the age of 17, Gárdonyi began his studies in composition with Zoltán Kodály at the Liszt Academy in Budapest. After studying with Paul Hindemith and Arnold Schering in Berlin, he taught as a professor at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest from 1941 until 1967. He also led the faculty for Protestant sacred music until it was closed by the communists in 1949. His oeuvre includes sacred music, orchestral works and chamber music. Three of his motets for choir a cappella were published in German by Schott, “Finnisches Busslied”, “Der Herr ist mein Hirte” (Psalm 23) and “Singet dem Herren” (Psalm 96). Gárdonyi’s musicological research yielded findings related to Bach and Liszt. His works were published in Germany, Hungary, Sweden and the United States. Gárdonyi lived in Germany with his family beginning in 1972. H

Zoltán Gáty

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Zoltán Gáty ( Gáti, Gáthy Gáthy) (Ajka, 5 March 1856 - Pápa, 17 July 1928) was a Hungarian music teacher, conductor, and composer. Biography Zoltán Gáty attended a primary school in his hometown, while playing the violin. He went on to study at the Pápa high school in Calvin. From 1874 he studied philosophy in Budapest, interrupted by the military years (1877-1879). He later attended a year of music school, and later obtained a diploma from Ferenc Liszt University of Music in the Royal Hungarian Academy of Music in 1884. His most important teachers were Sándor Nikolits and Ferenc Erkel. After graduation he taught in music school, from 1890 in the Calvinist Teacher Training College at Pápa, from 1909 in the Calvinist … institute. He was also a choral conductor, and a leading figure of Pápa’s musical life. He retired in 1926. He and his wife had several children. Gáty was the subject of a biography by the conductor and composer published in 2015. Selected compositions * Magyar nyitány (1884, for full symphony orchestra) * Álmaimban gyakran (1884, by poem by Sándor Petőfi * Magyar ünnepi nyitány (1900, for 2 pianos) * Csonka honvéd (1903, by a poem by János Arany) * Psalm (1915, for

Zoltán Göncz

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Zoltán Göncz (born July 23, 1958, in Budapest) is a Hungarian composer who often applies archaic forms (canon, passacaglia) and complex structures in his compositions. He graduated from the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in 1980. He was music editor at the National Philharmonic Agency between 1983 and 1997, then worked in the same capacity with the musical ensembles of the Hungarian Radio from 1997 to 2008. Since 2008 he has been researcher and lecturer at the Department of Hymnology of John Wesley Theological College in Budapest. He has dealt intensively with musicology for decades. Awards and distinctions For his strenuous work in the field of familiarizing and propagating contemporary Hungarian music he was awarded with the Artisjus-Prize twice (1994, 2006). For his outstanding achievements in international Bach research and the book entitled Bach testamentuma Bach’s Testament he has been decorated with the Silver Cross of Distinction of the Hungarian Republic in 2009. Works and completions * “…i rinoceronti del nero cosmo…” – omaggio a Dino Buzzati – for brass quintet (1985–86) * Great canon (Canon perpetuus per tonos et semitonium in contrario motu) – for orchestra (1987–88) *

Zoltán Jeney

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Zoltán Jeney (4 March 1943 – 28 October 2019) was a Hungarian composer. Jeney was born in Szolnok, Hungary. He first studied piano and attended Zoltán Pongrácz’s composition classes at the Debrecen Secondary Music School, later continuing composition studies with Ferenc Farkas at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest (1961–66), and pursuing postgraduate studies with Goffredo Petrassi at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome (1967–68). In 1970, as part of a group of leading Hungarian composers, he cofounded the Budapest New Music Studio. Jeney’s earliest compositions exhibit the influences of Béla Bartók, Luigi Dallapiccola, Anton Webern, Alban Berg, the new Polish school, György Kurtág, and Zsolt Durkó. In the late 1960s, he began to take an interest in Pierre Boulez’s theories, Karlheinz Stockhausen’s compositions, and oriental philosophy—a direction intensified as a result of his contact with John Cage’s philosophy. In the 1970s Jeney began composing music in the minimal style, and his works are often characterized by an extremely spare and static quality. From 1986 onwards, Jeney was a professor at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music where, since 1995, he served

Zoltán Kocsis

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Zoltán Kocsis (; 30 May 1952 – 6 November 2016) was a Hungarian pianist, conductor and composer. Biography Studies Born in Budapest, he began his musical studies at the age of five and continued them at the in 1963, studying piano and composition. In 1968 he was admitted to the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where he was a pupil of Pál Kadosa, Ferenc Rados and György Kurtág, graduating in 1973. Career He won the Hungarian Radio Beethoven Competition in 1970, and made his first concert tour of the United States in the following year. He received the Liszt Prize in 1973, and the Kossuth Prize in 1978. Kocsis recorded the complete solo piano works and works with piano and orchestra of Béla Bartók. In 1990 his recording of Debussy’s two books of Images and other piano works by the composer won The Gramophone Instrumental Award for that year. He won another with the violinist Barnabás Kelemen in 2013 in the chamber category for the recording of Bartók’s Violin Sonatas Nos 1 & 2. American critic Harold C. Schonberg praised Kocsis’ extraordinary technique and fine piano tone. According to Grove Music Online, he had “an impressive technique, and his forthright, strongly rhythmic playing is

Zoltán Kodály

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Zoltán Kodály (, ; , ; 16 December 1882 – 6 March 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, music pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály method of music education. Life Born in Kecskemét, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary, Kodály learned to play the violin as a child. In 1900, he entered the Department of Languages at the University of Budapest and at the same time Hans von Kössler’s composition class at the Royal Hungarian Academy of Music. After completing his studies, he studied in Paris with Charles-Marie Widor for a year. In 1905, he visited remote villages to collect songs, recording them on phonograph cylinders. In 1906, he wrote a thesis on Hungarian folk song, “Strophic Construction in Hungarian Folksong”. At around this time Kodály met fellow composer and compatriot Béla Bartók, whom he took under his wing and introduced to some of the methods involved in folk song collecting. The two became lifelong friends and champions of each other’s music. In 1919, Kodály was appointed alongside Béla Bartók to the Music Directory by the People’s Commissariat for Education and Culture in the short-lived Hungarian

Zoltán Peskó

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Zoltán Peskó (15 February 1937 – 31 March 2020) was a Hungarian conductor and composer who held leading positions at German, Italian and Portuguese opera houses and orchestras, including the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, La Fenice, and Teatro Nacional de São Carlos. He was a regular conductor at La Scala, where he promoted contemporary opera. Early life and education Peskó was born in Budapest, Hungary, on 15 February 1937. In 1979, Peskó conducted Beethoven’s Christus am Ölberge with the RAI Orchestra. Peskó then served as chief conductor of the , the orchestra of the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, Among the highlights at the theatre was a performance of Tchaikovsky’s rarely performed opera The Enchantress in a collaboration with the Mariinsky Theatre, staged by David Pountney. A review of The New York Times noted that Peskó’s “conducting responded keenly to the flow of the drama, and the Sao Carlos orchestra rose to the challenge of the unfamiliar score”. His tenure with the orchestra ended acrimoniously, with Peskó alleging that they had not paid him, while the orchestra claimed he had breached his contract by not spending sufficient time each year

Zoltán Pongrácz

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Zoltán Pongrácz (5 February 1912 – 3 April 2007) was a Hungarian composer. Pongrácz was born in Diószeg and studied composition from 1930 to 1935 with Zoltán Kodály at the Budapest Academy of Music, in Hungary. He became professor of composition at the Debrecen Conservatory in 1947 and continued in that position until 1958. For a time he ceased compositional activity, until attending the Darmstadt summer courses in 1964, 1965, and 1972, and the third Cologne Courses for New Music in 1965–66 with Karlheinz Stockhausen, Henri Pousseur, Luc Ferrari, and Jaap Spek, and in Utrecht with Gottfried Michael Koenig stimulated an interest in electronic composition. He was professor of electronic composition at the Budapest Academy from 1975 to 1995. He died in Budapest on 2 April 2007. Compositions (selective list) *Az ördög ajándéka The Devil’s Present , ballet to a libretto by the composer (1936) *Apollo musagètes, women’s voices, clarinet, piano, and percussion (1958) *Negritude, for chorus and percussion (1962) *Ispirazioni, for chorus, orchestra, and tape (1965) *Phonothese, for tape (1965–66) *Hangok és zörejek Tones and Noises , for orchestra (1966) *Mariphonia, for tape (1972) *Concer

Zsigmond Szathmáry

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Zsigmond Szathmáry (born 28 April 1939) is a Hungarian organist, pianist, composer, and conductor. Life Szathmáry was born in Hódmezővásárhely, near Szeged. He studied composition with Ferenc Szabó and organ with Ferenc Gergely at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest from 1958 to 1963. He pursued post-graduate instrumental education at first in Vienna with Alois Forer and—after he moved to Germany—from 1964 at the Frankfurt Musikhochschule with Helmut Walcha. Parallel to this he participated from 1964 to 1967 in the Cologne Courses for New Music, studying composition with Henri Pousseur and Karlheinz Stockhausen, and attended the Darmstädter Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in 1964 and 1965, studying with György Ligeti. Szathmáry worked at first as Kantor and organist in Hamburg-Wellingsbüttel and from 1976 to 1978 at the Bremen Cathedral. In 1978 he accepted the position of professor of organ at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. Besides guest professorships in Tokyo and Seoul, and organ courses (inter. al., as lecturer at the Summer Academy for Organists in Haarlem, the Darmstädter Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, as well as at numerous conservatories and

Zsolt Gárdonyi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Zsolt Gárdonyi (born 21 March 1946) is a German-Hungarian composer, organist and music theorist. He is the son of Zoltán Gárdonyi. Career Gárdonyi was born in Budapest, Hungary. He studied composition, organ, sacred music and theory. At the age of 19 he received an award of the Budapest university competition in organ as well as composition. Aged 24 he became cantor of the Alexanderkirche in Wildeshausen, Germany. Ten years later he was appointed professor for theory of music at the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg in Würzburg. His students include Claus Kühnl, Thomas Hitzlberger, Franz J. Stoiber and Lilo Kunkel. In international organ concerts he presents especially works of his father and his own, in addition to the standard organ repertoire. In a program at the Marktkirche he combined works of his father, the two organ preludes on “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott” and “Ich weiß, woran ich glaube”, and the Partita “Veni Creator Spiritus”, with works of his own, the two organ preludes on "" and “In dir ist Freude”, three compositions paying homage to composers (Hommage à J. S. Bach, Hommage à F. Liszt, Hommage à M. Dupré), his jazzy Mozart Changes and EGATOP, an homage to Erroll Garne