Mihály
Mosonyi (1815-1870)
Piano
Music for Four Hands
Mihály
Mosonyi, known for many years under his original name, Michael Brand, was born
in Boldogasszonyfalva, Hungary (now Frauenkirchen, Austria), on 2nd September 1815 and died on 31st October 1870 in Pest. He was the third most
important Hungarian composer of the nineteenth century. He did not enjoy an
international reputation, like Liszt, or a European reputation, like Erkel,
nevertheless he was famous enough in his own country. He studied at the Teachers'
Training College in Pozsony (the modern Bratislava, capital of Slovakia) and for a time had
private lessons from the pianist, composer and conductor Károly Turányi, while
making diligent use of the four volumes of Anton Reicha's work on the art of
composition, as well as of Hummel's valuable instruction-book for the piano. On
the recommendation of Turányi he became music-master to Count Péter Pejacsevich
and accompanied the Count to the latter's castle in the village of Rétfalu, near the town of Eszék (the modern Croatian Osijek).
From
1835 to 1842 Brand lived at Rétfalu, analysing carefully many important
examples of Viennese classicism, mainly the work of Beethoven, as well as of
the best early German romantic compositions. The results of these researches
were his own compositions from that period. In 1842 he left for the Hungarian
capital, where he remained until the end of his life, except for short periods
spent in the country and abroad. In these new circumstances it was very
important for him to be personally acquainted with as many musicians in the
city as possible, and to find enough students. For a long time his principal
income came from teaching the piano, although he continued to apply himself
diligently to composition.
Essentially
Brand's life and activities may be divided into two periods. The first of these
lasted unti11858. Until then he retained the name of Michael Brand and composed
German romantic music. In 1859 he changed his name to Mihály Mosonyi, after the
county of Moson, where he was born, and
altered his style, to write Hungarian romantic music. During the first period
the best work he wrote was the Piano Concerto in E minor, completed in 1844,
but not performed until 1950. His other compositions from this period were, in 1857,
an opera with a German libretto, which remained unperformed, four Masses,
between 1840 and 1842, the first performed in 1844, seven sacred choral works,
between 1843 and 1856, with an Offertory and Gradual conducted by Liszt in the
latter year. Between 1844 and 1857 he wrote four secular choral works, in
1853-54 thirteen songs, with one symphony in 1842-44 and a second in 1856, the
first conducted by Schindelmeisser in 1844, the second by Ferenc Erkel in 1856.
Other compositions include an Overture, completed in 1842 and conducted by Schindelmeisser
in 1843, a string sextet, composed in 1844, six string quartets between 1842
and 1845, a Grand Nocturne in 1845 for piano, violin and cello, in 1841 a
Ballade for violin and piano, and between 1855and 1857 six works for solo
piano, with piano transcriptions and orchestrations of works by foreign
composers.
The
earliest work of Mosonyi that survives is the Grand Duo à quatre mains in F
minor, written in 1837-38. Although it lacks individuality, it is written with
considerable care and calls for performers of the highest ability. In style the
work lies between Viennese classicism and early Viennese romanticism. The first
movement is in sonata-form and begins with an accompanimental figure from the
second player. This figure, only one bar in length, changes continually
throughout the whole piece and plays an important rôle. The primo player starts
the first subject, continually ascending in its unfinished melodic line. The secondo
repeats the same subject an octave lower, while the other player adds a
transformation of the accompanimental figure. There is an undulating second
subject, the exposition ending with an upward skipping third subject, a varied
form of which opens the development, starting with a fugato. The recapitulation
varies both the third subject and the accompanimental figure. The second
movement has a Mozartian theme with five variations in which the character of
the theme does not change, instead becoming quicker and more interesting,
ornamented with rapid scale passages and recalling the form of the Baroque
Chaconne. In the fifth variation the music changes into the tragic. The third
movement is again in sonata-form. The first piano starts the first subject, to
which the second makes a short answer, continuing a fugue-like exposition with
brief motifs recalling the first subject. This leads to the second subject,
while a third is left to the primo. The development is based on the first and
the closing themes of the exposition in dialogue, one then accompanying the
other. All three subjects return in the recapitulation, with a
characteristically Romantic key pattern, D flat major - F major - F minor,
offering a close connection with the second movement in its change from major
to minor.
Mosonyi
wrote three other works for piano duet, Az égö szerelem hármas szine (Three Colours
of Burning Love), in three movements, in 1864. The first movement, A piros rózsa
(The Red Rose) is in ternary form, with a coda, and has two important
characteristic rhythmic elements, the choriamb typical of popular Hungarian
songs of the nineteenth century and the bokázó (capering), the characteristic
mark of the verbunkos or toborzó recruiting-dance of the same period. These
patterns appear symmetrically in the outer formal A major sections, while the
central section, in A minor, generally avoids these rhythms.
A
liliom (The Lily) is a short, cheerful piece in C major, which is in the
relationship of a third to the key of the first movement. Seemingly ternary in
form, it is rather a type of variation, with a short recurrent motif constantly
recurring from both players, finally fading away.
A
babér (The Laurel) is again in ternary form, like the first movement, although
departing from it in many respects. The key plan is D major - G major - D
major, which lifts the music, after the preceding C major tonality , although
it is a step back from the key of A used in the first movement. The choriamb
rhythm appears here, but not the bokázó.
In
common with the preceding work, the Ünnepi zene (Festival Music) is in Mosonyi's
Hungarian manner. It was originally written for orchestra in 1860 and
transcribed for piano duet in 1861. The orchestral version was first performed
under the direction of Ferenc Erkel on 6th January 1861 and on 17th August 1865 by Liszt. The four-hand
piano version was not performed during Mosonyi's life-time, in spite of the
excellence of the transcription. It makes considerable technical and musical
demands on performers, couched in an irregular version of sonata-form.
The
C minor first subject has the characteristic sorrowful mood of the opening of
the recruiting-dance, with its dotted rhythms. The second subject recalls the
cheerful lighter mood of the second half of the toborzó dance. A bridge-passage
and a motif from the Rákóczi March is followed by an E flat major third
subject, marked Andante maestoso and identical with the Szózat (Appeal), one of
the Hungarian national anthems, written by Béni Egressy in 1843. The
development is based on the second subject, while all important material re-appears
in the recapitulation, with the key pattern C minor - B flat major - C major.
Mosonyi's
other important composition for two pianists is his transcription of Liszt's Missa
solemnis. This has its origin in 1856, when Liszt came to Hungary to conduct the first
performance of his famous setting of the Mass. This was the beginning of a lifelong friendship
between the two composers, an important element of which was the influence
exercised by the latter. Liszt expressed his own approval of the transcription,
which preserves the spirit, keys, modulations and harmonies of the original. In
the six sections of the Mass he stresses the recurrent leading motifs, the
first heard in the middle of the Kyrie, to return in the Gloria and in the
first part of the Agnus Dei. The second such motif appears as an expression of
exultation in the Gloria, re-appearing in the Credo, in the Sanctus and in the Agnus
Dei. The third motif is again first heard in the Gloria, re-appearing in the
coda of the Sanctus and finally in emphatic augmentation in the Agnus Dei. Mosonyi
aptly reflects the orchestral colours in his transcription, which Liszt himself
could hardly have bettered.
István
Kassai
István
Kassai was born in Budapest in 1959 and was
admitted to the Bartók Conservatory at the age of ten. In 1972 he was first
prize-winner in the Czechoslovakian International Youth Piano Competition. He
then went on to study under Pál Kadosa at the Ferenc Liszt Academy and won first prize in the Hungarian
Broadcasting Company's Piano Competition. In 1982 Kassai was granted his
diploma by the Academy later going on to win first prize in the Debussy
International Piano Competition. Having won a scholarship to study at the
European Conservatory of Music in Paris he gained a master diploma with the highest
distinction in 1984. Since 1987 he has been one of the pianists of the Cziffra
Foundation.
Klára
Körmendi, secondo
The
Hungarian pianist Klára Körmendi was born in Budapest and studied under Kornél Zempléni at the
Bartók Conservatory, later becoming a student of Péter Solymos at the Liszt Academy, where she received her
diploma with distinction in 1967. She enjoyed early success in a number of
international competitions, before embarking on a career that has taken her to
the major musical centres of Europe, with broadcasts in Vienna, Paris and London, as well as Basle, Cologne, Lausanne and Ljubljana. Klára Körmendi has a wide repertoire, and has
always shown particular interest in contemporary repertoire, both Hungarian and
foreign. Her recordings for Hungaroton include music by Pierre Boulez, Olivier Messiaen,
Luciano Berio and Heinz Holliger. For Naxos she has recorded works by Debussy and Ravel and
the complete piano music of Erik Satie.