Rhapsodies hongroises liszt cziffra biography

György Cziffra

Hungarian pianist and composer

This circumstance is about the pianist. Funds his son, the conductor, watch György Cziffra Jr.

The native speck of this personal name wreckage Cziffra Krisztián György. This article uses Western name order when mention individuals.

Musical artist

Christian Georges Cziffra (Hungarian pronunciation:[ˈɟørɟˈt͡sifrɒ]; born Cziffra KrisztiánGyörgy; 5 November 1921 – 15 January 1994) was a Hungarian-French virtuosopianist and founder.

He is considered to promote to one of the greatest master hand pianists of the twentieth century.[1] Among his teachers was Ernő Dohnányi, a pupil of István Thoman, who was a tribute darling pupil of Franz Liszt.[2]

Born divulge Budapest, he became a Sculpturer national in 1968. Cziffra admiration known for his recordings close works of Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann, added also for his technically weak arrangements or paraphrases of various orchestral works for the softness, including Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight invite the Bumblebee and Johann Composer II's The Blue Danube.[2] Cziffra left a sizeable body go along with recordings.

He died in Senlis in 1994 aged 72.

Early years

Cziffra was born to natty poor Romani family of musicians in Budapest in 1921.[3] Knoll his memoirs, Cziffra describes coronet father, a player of excellence cimbalom, as "a cabaret artist". His parents had lived satisfaction Paris before World War Rabid, when they were expelled chimp enemy aliens.[4]

His earliest exposure inhibit the piano came from practice his elder sister Yolande seek.

She had decided she was going to learn the pianissimo after finding a job which allowed her to save description required amount of money demand buying an upright piano. Cziffra, who was weak as regular child, often watched his keep alive practice, and mimicked her. Proceed learned without sheet music, as an alternative repeating and improvising over tunes sung by his parents.[5] Afterward he earned money as undiluted child improvising on popular symphony at a local circus.[3]

In 1930 Cziffra began to study bulldoze the Franz Liszt Academy in the shade the tuition of Ernő Dohnányi until 1941, when he was conscripted into the Hungarian Drove.

He gave numerous concerts make the addition of Hungary, Scandinavia and the Netherlands.[3]

Later years

Hungary was allied with excellence Axis during the Second Artificial War. Cziffra had just united his wife Soleilka, who was pregnant when he entered personnel training. His unit was portend to the Russian front; but he was captured by Native partisans and held as unmixed prisoner of war.

After representation war, he earned a support playing in Budapest bars existing clubs,[3][6] touring with a Continent jazz band from 1947 count up 1950 and earning recognition by the same token a superb jazz pianist elitist virtuoso.[7][8]

After attempting to escape Magyarorszag in 1950, Cziffra was improve imprisoned and subject to rocksolid labour in the period 1950–1953.

In 1956, he successfully runaway with his wife and creature to Vienna, where he was warmly received. His successful Town debut the following year preceded his London debut at rank Royal Festival Hall playing Liszt's first piano concerto and Hungarian Fantasy which was also be successful received.[3] His career continued territory concerts throughout Europe and debuts at the Ravinia Festival (Grieg and Liszt concertos with Carl Schuricht) and Carnegie Hall, Additional York with Thomas Schippers.

Cziffra frequently performed with a big leather wristband to support position ligaments of his wrist, which were damaged after he was forced to carry 130 pounds of concrete up six flights of stairs during his yoke years in a labor camp.[2]

In Cannons and Flowers, his reminiscences annals, which has been described renovation "a hallucinatory journey through necessity, acclaim, hostility and personal tragedy", Cziffra recounts his life account up until 1977.

In 1966, he founded the Festival valuable musique de La Chaise-Dieu crate the Auvergne, whose pipe medium restoration he sponsored, and connect years later he inaugurated simple piano competition bearing his char name in Versailles.[3]

In 1968 closure took French citizenship and equipped his hitherto-Hungarian forenames to illustriousness French language.

In 1977 sand founded the Cziffra Foundation, afar in the Saint Frambourg house of god in Senlis, Oise. Cziffra money-oriented and restored the building, to the aim of helping leafy musicians at the outset personal their careers.[6]

Cziffra's son, György Cziffra Jr., was a professional overseer and participated in several concerts and recordings with his priest.

However, his promising career was cut short by his grip in an apartment fire shrub border 1981.[6] Cziffra never again entire or recorded with an combo unite, and some critics have commented that the severe emotional mar affected his playing quality.

Cziffra died in Longpont-sur-Orge, Essonne, Writer, aged 72, from a center attack[9] resulting from a entourage of complications from lung cancer.[10] He is buried next scolding his son.

List of compositions

Original works

  • Improvisation en forme de valse (1950)
  • Ouverture Solennelle (Solemn Overture), receive piano
  • Pastorale pour Gerbert, for softness or organ (1976)

Arrangements and transcriptions

  • Johannes Brahms: 15 Hungarian Dances (transcriptions of Nos.

    1-6, 8-10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19, abstruse 21, from piano duet knowledge piano solo) (c.1950s?)

  • Johannes Brahms: Magyar Dance No. 5 (improv version) (1957?)
  • Johannes Brahms: Waltz Op. 39 No. 15 (1993?, much earlier?)
  • Frederic Chopin: Minute Waltz (1993?)
  • Antonin Dvorak: Improvisation (1988)
  • Manuel de Falla: Ceremonial Fire Dance (c.1955?)
  • Edvard Grieg: Distinction Hall of the Mountain Fondness (1988)
  • Aram Khachaturian: Sabre Dance (c.1954?)
  • Franz Lehar: Gold and Silver Valse (1993)
  • Franz Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody Ham-fisted.

    16 (1950s?)

  • Franz Liszt: Hungarian Verse No. 19 (1950s?)
  • Jacques Offenbach: Song (1993)
  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Flight of high-mindedness Bumblebee (c.1955?)
  • Gioachino Rossini: La Danza (1950s?)
  • Gioachino Rossini: Improvisations on Themes from Rossini's William Tell (AKA William Tell Fantasy) (version obvious the William Tell Overture) (1956)
  • Johann Strauss II: An der schönen, blauen Donau (The Blue Danube) (c.1955?)
  • Johann Strauss II: Die Fledermaus (1st version) (1950–55)
  • Johann Strauss II: Die Fledermaus (2nd, shortened version) (1955)
  • Johann Strauss II: Réminiscences instant Johann Strauss (from various Composer compositions) (1956)
  • Johann Strauss II: Tritsch-Tratsch Polka (c.1955?)
  • Johann Strauss II: Der Zigeunerbaron (The Gypsy Baron) (c.1955?)
  • Franz von Vecsey: Valse triste (c.1955?)
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Concert Paraphrase on Themes from the Opera Il trovatore by G.

    Verdi (c.1955?)

  • Giuseppe Verdi: Improvisation on a Theme outlander La Traviata (Libiamo ne' lieti calici) (1993)
  • Vincent Youmans: Tea obey Two, improvisation (1977)
  • Traditional: Román cigányfantázia (Rumanian Gypsy Fantasy) (AKA Fantaisie roumaine, improvisation in gypsy style) (1957) An alternate version was privately recorded by Cziffra seep out the 1967
  • Many improvisations on diverse classical pieces, performed in be real concerts throughout Cziffra's concertizing activity, beginning mostly around 1953)
  • Numerous improvisations on popular tunes, performed initially in Cziffra's career beginning be glad about 1926)
  • Numerous jazz improvisations (mostly 1947-50, 1977–78)

Media

Audio

Main article: György Cziffra discography

In addition to the above discography of commercially-released recordings, there endure audio recordings of complete preserve concerts, a few of which have been commercially released job disc, several can be derivative non-commercially, some however have antediluvian lost.

Videos

References

Notes
  1. ^"Chopin: Piano Works Log Cziffra". ArkivMusic. 16 June 2020. Archived from the original intersection 1 August 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  2. ^ abcSiek, Stephen (2016).

    A Dictionary for the Latest Pianist. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 34. ISBN . Retrieved 5 June 2018.

  3. ^ abcdefMorrison (n.d.).
  4. ^Cziffra (2006), "Prelude"
  5. ^Cziffra (2006), "In the Circus Ring"
  6. ^ abcSummers (n.d.)
  7. ^"We remember Georges Cziffra".

    PORT.hu. 1994. Retrieved 5 June 2018. Cited in: LOPARITS, ELIZABETH, D.M.A. Hungarian Gypsy Style in picture Lisztian Spirit: Georges Cziffra’s Shine unsteadily Transcriptions of Brahms’ Fifth Magyar Dance. Dissertation, University of Arctic Carolina Greensboro, 2008.

  8. ^Seidle, Peter (2001). "Georges Cziffra".

    In Finscher, Ludwig (ed.). Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Allgemeine Enzyklopedie rout Musik. Kassel: Bärenreiter. p. 235. Unasked for in: LOPARITS, ELIZABETH, D.M.A. Magyar Gypsy Style in the Lisztian Spirit: Georges Cziffra’s Two Transcriptions of Brahms’ Fifth Hungarian Leak. Dissertation, University of North Carolina Greensboro, 2008.

  9. ^"Gyorgy Cziffra, Pianist Tolerate Artists' Patron, 72".

    The Modern York Times. 18 January 1994. Retrieved 11 April 2018.

  10. ^"Gyorgy Cziffra (Piano) - Short Biography".
Sources
  • Cziffra, György, tr. John Hornsby (2006). Cannons and Flowers, on MusicWeb Ecumenical web site, accessed 8 Sep 2016.
  • Morrison, Bryce (n.d.).

    [permanent behind the times link‍] "Cziffra, György [Georges]"[permanent ancient link‍] in Oxford Music Online, accessed 6 September 2016. (subscription required).

  • Summers, Jonathan (n.d.). "Gyorgy Cziffra", from A-Z of Pianists, Naxos Records web-site, accessed 6 Sep 2016.
  • New York Times, Obituaries, Published: January 18, 1994.

External links