Endre Szervánszky

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Memorial plaque in Budapest

Endre Szervánszky (born December 27, 1911 in Kistétény , Austria-Hungary , † June 25, 1977 in Budapest ) was a Hungarian composer and Righteous Among the Nations .

life and work

Endre Szervánszky's father was an officer. He is the brother of the artist Jenő Szervánszky and the violinist Péter Szervánszky . He is also the uncle of the pianist Valéria Szervánszky .

From 1922 to 1927 he studied clarinet at the Franz Liszt Music Academy and then played in various orchestras. From 1931 to 1936 he studied composition with Albert Siklós in Budapest. He then worked as an orchestra director for Hungarian radio and taught music theory at the National Conservatory (Nemzeti zenede) from 1941 to 1948 . From 1945 he worked as a music critic for Szabad Nép , the daily newspaper of the communist party . At the end of the 1940s, he stopped this activity. In 1948 he became a professor of composition. Some of his students were Sándor Balassa , János Decsényi , Lajos Huszár , Andor Losonczy , Iván Madarász , József Sári , László Sáry , Zsolt Gárdonyi and Zsolt Serei .

Szervánszky's œuvre includes vocal music (including folk song arrangements for choir), a ballet, as well as orchestral and chamber music (including various educational works). His music has been influenced by Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály . These include the 1st string quartet (1936–1938) and the three divertimenti. In the Petőfi Choirs (1953) and the Concerto József Attila emlékére (1954) an expressiveness was audible. In the mid-1950s he expanded his style to include the octatonic scale and the golden ratio, for example with the 2nd string quartet (1956/57). Later he devoted himself to serial music . His groundbreaking composition Six Pieces for Orchestra (1959) was the first Hungarian work to use twelve-tone technique after the war . From the 1960s, his compositional urge subsided.

In 1951 and 1955 he was awarded the Kossuth Prize and in 1953 and 1954 the Erkel Prize. He was also honored with the title of Honored Artist of the People's Republic of Hungary.

Szervánszky was close to left-wing intellectual circles in the 1940s. He moved in resistance against National Socialism and saved Jews from deportation. In 1998 he was posthumously honored Righteous Among the Nations .

literature

Web links

Commons : Endre Szervánszky  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Don Michael Randel (Ed.): The New Harvard Dictionary of Music . Belknap Press, Cambridge 2003, ISBN 0-674-01163-5 , p. 397.
  2. ↑ Klaus-Detlev Grothusen (Ed.): Hungary (= Southeast Europe Handbook. 5). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1987, ISBN 3-525362-05-6 , p. 621.
  3. ^ Valentina Sandu-Dediu (Ex. Sorin Georgescu): Eastern Europe. in: Jörn Peter Hiekel , Christian Utz (Hrsg.): Lexikon Neue Musik. Stuttgart / Kassel 2016, pp. 487–501, here: p. 497 f.
personal data
SURNAME Szervánszky, Endre
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian composer
DATE OF BIRTH December 27, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Kistétény , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH June 25, 1977
Place of death Kistétény