Ádám, Jeno
Ádám, Jeno
Ádám, Jeno, Hungarian conductor, pedagogue, and composer; b. Szigetszentmiklós, Dec. 12, 1896; d. Budapest, May 15, 1982. He studied organ and theory at the Budapest Teacher Training Coll. (1911–15), composition with Kodály at the Budapest Academy of Music (1920–25), and conducting with Weingartner in Basel (1933–35). He was conductor of the orch. (1929–39) and the choir (1929–54) at the Budapest Academy of Music, where he also was a teacher (1939–59). In 1955 he was made a Merited Artist by the Hungarian government and in 1957 was awarded the Kossuth Prize. Among his writings were textbooks on singing (with Kodály) and A muzsikáról (On Music; Budapest, 1954). His compositions, written in a Romantic style, are notable for their utilization of Hungarian folk tunes, particularly in his operas, i.e. his Magyar karácsony (Hungarian Christmas; 1930; Budapest, Dec. 22, 1931) and Mária Veronika (1934-35; Budapest, Oct. 27, 1938). He also composed Dominica, orch. suite (1926), 2 string quartets (1925, 1931), Cello Sonata (1926), many vocal pieces with orch., choral works, and folksong arrangements.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire