Mihály Mosonyi

Mihály Mosonyi and his wife Paulina Weber, portrait by Henrik Weber (1840s)

Mihály Mosonyi [ ˈmihaːj ˈmoʃoɲi ] (German Michael Brand ; * September 4, 1815 [according to other sources, this was his baptism day] in Frauenkirchen (Hungarian Boldogasszonyfalva ) - then Hungary , today Burgenland ; † October 31, 1870 in Pest ) was a Hungarian composer .

Life

Mosonyi's musical training began in the nearby county capital of Moson (Wieselburg) in the county of the same name , later in the then Hungarian city of Bratislava with Károly Turányi . This also gave him a position as the Count's music director in Retfala (Hungarian Rétfalu , today a district of Osijek , Croatia ), which Mosonyi held from 1835 to 1842. There he dealt mainly with the works of Beethoven and the German Romantics. From 1842 he lived as a freelance and independent musician and composer in Budapest. His contact with Liszt has been quite intense over the years. In 1859 he changed his German name from Michael Brand to Mihály Mosonyi (after the county capital, Moson), giving a clear expression to his turn to Hungarian traditions.

This is also clearly reflected in his works. His early works up to 1859 are committed to the classical as well as the German romantic tradition. The later works are more strongly Hungarian. In Hódolat , Mosonyi was the first composer to use the cymbal ( dulcimer ) as a symphonic orchestral instrument. After Liszt and Erkel, Mosonyi is considered the most important Hungarian composer of the 19th century. Accordingly, he is also known in Hungary.

Works

Operas

• Emperor Max on Martinswand (1856/57), not listed
• Szép Ilonka, 1861
• Álmos, 1862, first performance: 1934 (!)

Vocal music

• 5 trade fairs, partly in collaboration with Liszt
• Numerous secular cantatas, songs and chants

Orchestral works

• Symphony No. 1 in D major (1841/42)
• Symphony No. 2 in A minor (1846/56)
• Piano concerto in E minor (1844), first performance: 1953 (!)
• Gyász hangok Széchenyi István halálára (1860)
• Hódolat Kazinczy Ferenc szellemének (1860)

Chamber music

• 7 string quartets
• sextet
• 2 piano trios

Piano music

Numerous pieces for piano for two or four hands

Mosonyi also arranged numerous works by other composers, such as all of the Beethoven symphonies for piano four hands, Liszt's Graner Mass for the same instrumentation and Schubert's Erlkönig for orchestra.

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Mosonyi, Michael . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 19th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1868, p. 160 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Andrea Harrandt: Brand, Michael (pseud .: Mosonyi, Mihály). In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 ; Print edition: Volume 1, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-7001-3043-0 .
• Alfred Baumgartner: Propylaea World of Music - The Composers - A lexicon in five volumes . Propylaen Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-549-07830-7 , pp. 94, volume 4 .

Web links

Commons : Mihály Mosonyi  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Works by and about Mihály Mosonyi in the catalog of the German National Library