Farkas, Edmund ödön
Farkas, Edmund ödön
Farkas, Edmundödön, Hungarian conductor, pedagogue, and composer; b. Pusztamonostor, Jan. 27, 1851; d. Klausenburg, Sept. 11, 1912. He studied engineering at the Univ. (1870–75) and was a student of Erkel, Abranyi, and Volkmann at the Royal Academy of Music (graduated, 1878) in Budapest. In 1879 he settled in Klausenburg as a teacher at the Cons., where he was its director from 1880 until his death. He also conducted at the National Theater (1881–82), organized his own orch., founded a music journal, and promoted the cause of national Hungarian music. As a composer, he was adept at writing songs.
Works
DRAMATIC (all are operas unless otherwise given): Rado es Ilonka (Conrad and Helen), operetta (1872); Bajader (Budapest, Aug. 23, 1876); A vezeklok (The Penitents; 1884; Klausenburg, 1893); Tunderforrds (Fairy Fountain; Klausenburg, 1893); Balassa Bdlint, comic opera (1895; Budapest, Jan. 16, 1896); Tetemrehivds (Ordeal of the Bier; Budapest, Oct. 5, 1900); Kurucvildg (The World of the Kurucs), occasional piece (Budapest, Oct. 28, 1906). OTHER: Sym. (1898); Rdkoczy Symphony (1903); Violin Concerto (1903); symphonic poems; sacred music; 5 string quartets; piano pieces.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire