Bakfark, Valentin (or Bálint)
Bakfark, Valentin (or Bálint)
Bakfark, Valentin (or Bálint), celebrated Hungarian lutenist; b. Kronstadt, 1507; d. Padua, Aug. 15, 1576. He was brought up by the family of his brother’s wife, Greff (or Graew), and used that name in conjunction with his own; the spelling Bacfarc or Bekwark is also encountered. As a youth he was in the service of the King of Hungary (1526–40) in Buda, where he studied lute. He was later attached to the court of Sigismund II Augustus of Poland in Wilno (1549–66). He subsequently traveled in Germany, France, and Italy, eventually settling in Padua, where he died of the plague. He publ. works for the lute in tablature: Intabulatura (Lyons, 1552; reprinted as Premier Livre de Tablature de Luth, Paris, 1564). A second book, Pannonü Harmonicarum Musicarum...tomus primus, appeared in Kraköw in 1564, and was reprinted in Antwerp in 1569. Some of his works are included in Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich (vol. XVIII, 2).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire