Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Hungarian Composers

Hungarian Night Music & Bela Lugosi

“Children of the night – what beautiful music they make!” So says Hungarian superstar Bela Lugosi in his signature role of Dracula. The observation (spoken in response to the howling of wolves) might equally be applied, under less chilling circumstances, to three of Lugosi’s composer-compatriots, whose nocturnal meditations we’ll enjoy this Sunday night on “The Lost Chord.”

Miklós Rózsa, himself a figure with cinematic associations, wrote nearly 100 film scores and won three Academy Awards – for “Spellbound” (1945), “A Double Life” (1947), and “Ben-Hur” (1959). He was also an active concert composer, writing concertos for Jascha Heifetz, Leonard Pennario, Gregor Piatigorsky, and Pinchas Zukerman.

In the summer of 1962, Rózsa composed “Hungarian Nocturne” on a commission from Edward B. Benjamin, a New Orleans millionaire with a fondness for quiet music. However, in order to maintain interest, the composer realized, there was no way he could remain quiet for the entire span of the piece. So the nocturne eventually builds to a climax before returning to the serene mood of its opening. His patron wasn’t entirely pleased, though he did draw enjoyment from the quieter parts. The piece was an attempt by the composer to recapture the rare beauty of nights on his estate in rural Hungary.

Though Antal Doráti would ultimately become world famous as a conductor, he studied composition at the Franz Liszt Academy under Zoltán Kodály and Leó Weiner. He also studied piano with Béla Bartók. A fine Bartok interpreter, Doráti would later conduct the world premiere of his teacher’s Viola Concerto.

Doráti’s own music has always been regarded as something of a sidelight. His “Night Music,” from 1970, is a collection of evocative miniatures for flute and orchestra. We’ll hear it performed by Alison Young, now a host for Minnesota Public Radio.

Unlike Rózsa and Doráti, who were both natives of Budapest, Zoltán Kodály was born in a small town in Southern Hungary. He claimed that his first exposure to folk music was through the singing of servant girls in his own home. He went on to become one of the most important figures in Hungarian musical life, as composer, ethnomusicologist, and educator.

Kodály will be represented by his orchestral idyll, “Summer Evening,” music originally composed in 1906, then revised in 1929, to fulfill a commission from Arturo Toscanini. Kodály himself will conduct, on a gorgeous recording with the Budapest Philharmonic.

That’s “Children of the Night” – Hungarian composers take wing – this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

IMAGE: “New Moon,” by Mihály Zeller

August 9, 2020
Hungary’s Forgotten Composers: Dohnányi & Ligeti

When it comes to the whole Hungarian nationalist movement, Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály would get all the glory. Sure, they did a lot of the legwork, heading out into the field in a race against time to document authentic folk traditions before they were swept away by industrialization. But as director of the Budapest Academy of Music and music director of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, Ernő Dohnányi (1877-1960) would exert as much influence over his country’s musical development as that of his folk music mad friends and contemporaries.

On the next “Music from Marlboro,” we’ll give Dohnányi his due. We’ll also hear music by György Ligeti, a composer who survived several totalitarian regimes to become one of the leading composers of the second half of the 20th century.

Dohnányi himself would become the target of character assassination campaigns following World War II. Painted as a Nazi sympathizer by his enemies, he would be investigated and cleared by the U.S. Military Government several times. He has since been defended as a forgotten hero of Holocaust resistance. It was through Dohnányi’s administrations that countless Jewish musicians survived. Also, between the wars, he went to bat for Kodály, a leftist, by refusing to fire him from the Budapest Academy. As a result, Dohnányi too lost his position, although he was later reinstated. Nevertheless, he continued to be eyed with suspicion, and his reputation never fully recovered.

Equally fatal is the fact that much of his music bears a more cosmopolitan stamp than that of the more blatantly “Hungarian” output of his peers. His composition teacher, the German-born Hans von Koessler (known in Hungary as János Koessler) was a cousin of Max Reger. Of course, Koessler also taught Bartók and Kodály. But Dohnányi was perfectly happy nestled in the world of Brahms. For his international career, he adopted the name Ernst von Dohnányi.

Dohnányi’s Piano Quintet in C minor, completed in June of 1895, one month before his 18th birthday, earned Brahms’ stamp of approval. We’ll hear it performed at the 1977 Marlboro Music Festival, by pianist Stephanie Brown, violinists Joseph Genualdi and Mayuki Fukuhara, violist Philipp Naegele, and cellist Lisa Lancaster.

György Ligeti (1923-2006) was born in Transylvania. If anything, his hardships proved even more severe: most of his family was wiped out in the Holocaust, he was conscripted into a forced labor brigade, and he lived for a time under strict communist rule. He survived the violent Soviet putdown of the Hungarian Revolution, and finally escaped with his on-again/off-again wife in a pair of mail sacks, leaping off a night train and crawling for miles through the mud to find safety in Vienna.

Ligeti was that rare bird: an avant-garde composer whose music could actually inspire affection. He rocketed to broader fame when some of his works were used, without permission, in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

The first of Ligeti’s three string quartets, subtitled “Métamorphoses nocturnes,” was written in 1953-54, prior to his flight from Hungary. The work was heavily influenced by Bartók; the composer György Kurtág memorably described it as “Bartók’s seventh string quartet.” Ligeti himself characterized that phase of his career as “prehistoric.” Although performances of Bartók’s quartets were banned under the communist regime, Ligeti was familiar with them through the study of their scores.

Ligeti’s quartet is cast in one continuous movement, but subdivided into seventeen contrasting sections. We’ll hear it performed at the 1996 Marlboro Music Festival by violinists Soovin Kim and Catherine Cho, violist Kirsten Johnson, and cellist Siegfried Palm.

That’s two contrasting works by Hungarian composers buffeted by war and politics, on the next “Music from Marlboro,” this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

“I am in a prison: one wall is the avant-garde, the other wall is the past, and I want to escape.” – György Ligeti

January 9, 2019
Hungarian Night Music Bela Lugosi’s Requiem

“Children of the night – what beautiful music they make!” So says Hungarian superstar Bela Lugosi in his signature role of Dracula. The observation (spoken in response to the howling of wolves) might equally be applied, under less chilling circumstances, to three of Lugosi’s composer-compatriots, whose nocturnal meditations we’ll enjoy this Sunday night on “The Lost Chord.”

Miklós Rózsa, himself a figure with cinematic associations, wrote nearly 100 film scores and won three Academy Awards – for “Spellbound” (1945), “A Double Life” (1947), and “Ben-Hur” (1959). He was also an active concert composer, writing concertos for Jascha Heifetz, Leonard Pennario, Gregor Piatigorsky, and Pinchas Zukerman.

In the summer of 1962, Rózsa composed “Hungarian Nocturne” on a commission from Edward B. Benjamin, a New Orleans millionaire with a fondness for quiet music. However, in order to maintain interest, the composer realized, there was no way he could remain quiet for the entire span of the piece. So the nocturne eventually builds to a climax before returning to the serene mood of its opening. His patron wasn’t entirely pleased, though he did draw enjoyment from the quieter parts. The piece was an attempt by the composer to recapture the rare beauty of nights on his estate in rural Hungary.

Though Antal Doráti would ultimately become world famous as a conductor, he studied composition at the Franz Liszt Academy under Zoltán Kodály and Leó Weiner. He also studied piano with Béla Bartók. A fine Bartok interpreter, Doráti would later conduct the world premiere of his teacher’s Viola Concerto.

Doráti’s own music has always been regarded as something of a sidelight. His “Night Music,” from 1970, is a collection of evocative miniatures for flute and orchestra. We’ll hear it performed by Alison Young, now the host of American Public Media’s “SymphonyCast.”

Unlike Rózsa and Doráti, who were both natives of Budapest, Zoltán Kodály was born in a small town in Southern Hungary. He claimed that his first exposure to folk music was through the singing of servant girls in his own home. He went on to become one of the most important figures in Hungarian musical life, as composer, ethnomusicologist, and educator.

Kodály will be represented by his orchestral idyll, “Summer Evening,” music originally composed in 1906, then revised in 1929, to fulfill a commission from Arturo Toscanini. Kodály himself will conduct, on a gorgeous recording with the Budapest Philharmonic.

That’s “Children of the Night” – Hungarian composers take wing – this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

IMAGE: “New Moon,” by Mihály Zeller

August 12, 2018
Bartók & Dohnányi: Contrasting Hungarians

It’s all about contrasts on this week’s “Music from Marlboro.”

While Béla Bartók is respected as the foremost Hungarian composer of the 20th century, Ernő Dohnányi, until recently, has been subject to neglect, at least in proportion to his significance. Sure, Bartók and his friend Zoltán Kodály were at the forefront of the whole nationalist movement, traipsing around the countryside in order to document authentic folk traditions before they were swallowed up forever by industrialization. But as director of the Budapest Academy of Music and music director of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, Dohnányi would exert as much influence over his country’s musical development as that of his folk music-mad friends and contemporaries

Unfortunately, he would become the target of character assassination campaigns after World War II, in which he was painted as a Nazi sympathizer. Dohnányi was investigated and cleared several times by the U.S. Military Government, and in fact has been defended as a forgotten hero of Holocaust resistance, since it was through his administrations that countless Jewish musicians survived. Also, between the wars, he went to bat for Kodály, a leftist, by refusing to fire him from the Budapest Academy. As a result, Dohnányi too lost his position, albeit temporarily. Nevertheless, he continued to be eyed with suspicion, and his slandered reputation never fully recovered.

Equally fatal is the fact that much of his music bears a more cosmopolitan stamp than that of the Hungarian composers of his era that are now so celebrated. His composition teacher, the German-born Hans von Koessler (known in Hungary as János Koessler) was a cousin of Max Reger. Of course, Koessler also taught Bartók and Kodály. But Dohnányi was perfectly happy nestled in the world of Brahms. For his international career, he assumed the name Ernst von Dohnanyi.

Dohnányi’s Piano Quintet in C minor, completed in June of 1895, one month before his 18th birthday, earned Brahms’ approval. We’ll hear it performed at the 1977 Marlboro Music Festival, by pianist Stephanie Brown, violinists Joseph Genualdi and Mayuki Fukuhara, violist Philipp Naegele, and cellist Lisa Lancaster.

The program will open with Bartók’s “Contrasts,” a raw, fascinating work, from 1938. The piece, inspired by Hungarian and Romanian dance melodies, was commissioned by Benny Goodman, of all people. The trio – for clarinet, violin, and piano – contains passages of bitonality and frenzied dances for scordatura violin. We’ll hear it performed at the 1998 Marlboro Music Festival by clarinetist Anthony McGill, violinist Catherine Cho, and pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard.

I hope you’re hungry for Hungarian music. Variety is the spice of life on this week’s “Music from Marlboro,” Wednesday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

Strangers on a Train: Ernő Dohnányi (left) and Béla Bartók

May 23, 2018

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