János Liebner

János Liebner (* 1923 in Budapest ) is a Hungarian cellist and baryton player .

Life

From the age of 7 he received cello lessons, first privately, then at the Music Conservatory in Budapest. At the same time, Liebner began studying chamber music and composition with László Lajtha , and subsequently at the Paris Conservatory with Maurice Marechal , Pierre Fournier , Paul Tortelier and Joseph Calvet .

From 1947 to 1985 Liebner was principal cellist at the Budapest Philharmonic and State Opera, principal cellist with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as at the German State Opera in Berlin, where he also worked as a dramaturge for six years. From 1969 Liebner was principal cellist with the Bruckner Orchestra in Linz and the ORF Chamber Orchestra.

At the same time his scientific and journalistic activities began. In the years 1945–1989, around 1,000 texts and reviews were written in domestic and foreign newspapers and magazines. Liebner was a reviewer of music, opera and ballet for the cultural magazine "Irodalmi Ujság" (Budapest), correspondent for "Opera London", wrote dozens of essays for "Revue Musical Suisse", "The Consort London", "Muzsika Budapest", mainly about Opera dramaturgical questions with Mozart, Verdi, Puccini. He is the author of a monograph "Mozart on the Stage", published in three editions.

Liebner was the founder and director of three chamber music ensembles in Hungary and three others in Austria. He completed concerts, radio, television and recordings at home and abroad.

From 1957 onwards there was increasing occupation with the baroque instrument baryton, which had been forgotten for about a century . Over the next three decades, Liebner built up a repertoire of two hundred traditional and around a dozen contemporary compositions. Lecture and concert tours have taken him through Europe and overseas. He held lectures and courses in Great Britain, Australia and Japan and was at times the only international representative of this genre.

Liebner is also the author of radio features, television and film scripts, opera libretti and musical quizzes. He directed an opera, wrote several short stories, a Shakespearean short story and poetry. Liebner lived with his wife Agnes († February 17, 2015), a former concert singer, in Linz. He died there shortly after her on May 20th of the same year.

Web links

• Literature by and about János Liebner in the catalog of the German National Library