Mátyás Seiber

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Mátyás György Seiber [ maːcaːʃ ʃaibɛr ] (born May 4, 1905 in Budapest , Austria-Hungary , † September 24, 1960 in the Kruger National Park in South Africa ) was a Hungarian-British composer.

Life

Seiber studied at the Budapest Music Academy with Zoltán Kodály and then worked in the dance orchestra of an ocean liner, so that he had the opportunity to listen to jazz in New York City and also join jam sessions . In 1927 he was denied first prize in a competition in Budapest for his serenade for wind sextet, whereupon Béla Bartók left the jury. He presided in 1928 in Frankfurt at Dr. Hoch's Conservatory, the world 's first jazz class. In the winter semester of 1928/29, 19 students were registered with whom he gave a public concert on March 3, 1929, which was broadcast by Radio Frankfurt . Another concert in 1929 was also taken over by other broadcasters. Seiber also worked as a musician at the Schauspielhaus Frankfurt , where he edited and conducted the jazz operetta Jim and Jill .

After the transfer of power to the National Socialists , the jazz class, whose students included Eugen Henkel and Dietrich Schulz-Köhn , was closed; Seiber was dismissed as a Jew under the Law Restoring the Professional Civil Service . In 1935 he had to emigrate to Great Britain , received his citizenship in 1936 and from 1942 worked as a composition teacher at the London adult education institute Morley College . His students included Peter Racine Fricker , John Mayer , Don Banks , Anthony Gilbert , Peter Schat , Anthony Milner, and Hugh Wood.

Seiber was influenced by jazz and the music of Béla Bartók and Arnold Schönberg . His extensive compositional work includes music for film and radio play, orchestral works, chamber music , piano works, vocal compositions, five stage pieces , a ballet and a suite for orchestra. One of his best-known works is the cantata Ulysses from 1950, which is inspired by the novel of the same name by James Joyce . Together with John Dankworth he wrote the Third Stream composition improvisations for jazz band and orchestra .

Seiber used the pseudonym GS Mathis, George Mathis and Matthis several times for his jazz compositions (his initial MGS the other way around), especially for works for John Dankworth. Seiber is also occasionally spelled as Seyber.

Mátyás Seiber was killed in a car accident in South Africa. György Ligeti dedicated his orchestral piece Atmosphères (1961) to Seiber's memory.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Florian Scheding:  Seiber, Mátyás. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 15 (Schoof - Stranz). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2006, ISBN 3-7618-1135-7 , Sp. 528-531 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
  2. ↑ Jürgen Schwab: The Frankfurt Sound. A city and its jazz history (s) . Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 2005, ISBN 3-7973-0888-4
  3. ^ Royal Opera House - Collections Online
personal data
SURNAME Seiber, Mátyás
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Seiber, Mátyás György (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian-British composer
DATE OF BIRTH May 4, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest , Hungary
DATE OF DEATH September 24, 1960
Place of death Kruger National Park , South Africa