Harsányi, Tibor

Harsányi, Tibor, Hungarian composer; b. Mag-yarkanizsa, June 27, 1898; d. Paris, Sept. 19, 1954. He studied at the Budapest Academy of Music with Kodály; in 1923 he settled in Paris, where he devoted himself to composition. The melodic material of his music stems from Hungarian folk melos; his harmonic idiom is largely polytonal; the rhythms are sharp, often with jazzlike syncopation; the form remains classical.

Works

dramatic: Opera: Les Invités, chamber opera (Gera, Germany, 1930); Illusion, radio opera (Paris, June 28, 1949). Ballet: Le Dernier Songe (Budapest, Jan. 27, 1920); Pantins (Paris, 1938); Chota Roustaveli (Monte Carlo, 1945; in collaboration with A. Honegger and A. Tcherepnin); L’Amour et la vie (1951). OTHER: L’Histoire du petit tailleur, puppet show for 7 Instruments and Percussion (1939). ORCH.: La loie de vivre (Paris, March 11, 1934, composer conducting); 2 divertissements (1940-1; 1943); Violin Concerto (Paris Radio, Jan. 16, 1947); Figures et rythmes (Geneva, Nov. 19, 1947, composer conducting); Danses variées (Basel, Feb. 14, 1950, composer conducting); Sym. (Salzburg Festival, June 26, 1952). CHAMBER: Violin Sonatina (1918); 2 string quartets (1918, 1935); Cello Sonata (1928); 3 Pieces for Flute and Piano (1924); Nonet for String and Wind Instruments (Vienna, June 21, 1932); Rhapsody for Cello and Piano (1939); Picnic for 2 Violins, Cello, Double Bass, and Percussion (1951); many piano pieces, among them 5 études rythmiques (1934), 3 pièces lyriques, and albums for children. VOCAL: Choral works, including Cantate de Noël for Voices, Flute, and Strings (Paris, Dec. 24, 1945).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire