Lajtha, LászlÓ

Lajtha, LászlÓ, eminent Hungarian ethnomusicologist and composer; b. Budapest, June 30, 1892; d. there, Feb. 16, 1963. He studied piano with Arpâd Szendy and theory with Victor von Herzfeld at the Budapest Academy of Music. After travels in Leipzig, Geneva, and Paris, he returned to Budapest in 1913 to take a law degree at the Univ. and to become an assoc. of the Ethnographical Dept. of the Hungarian National Museum. From 1919 to 1949 he was a prof, of composition and chamber music at the National Cons., and from 1952 was a teacher of aesthetics and the theory of Magyar music at the Academy of Music. In 1951 he was awarded the Kossuth Prize for his work on Hungarian folk music. He was a brilliant symphonist; his instrumental music is distinguished by consummate mastery of contrapuntal writing.

Works

dramatic: Ballet: Lysistrata (1933; Budapest, Feb. 25, 1937); Le Bosquet des quatre dieux (1943); Capriccio (1944). orch.:Hortoàgy Suite (1935); 10 syms.: No. 1 (1936), No. 2 (1938), Les Soli for Harp, Percussion, and Strings (1941), No. 3 (1947–48), No. 4, Le Printemps (1951), No. 5 (1952; Paris, Oct. 23, 1954), No. 6 (1955; Brussels, Dec. 12, I960), No. 7 (1957; Paris, April 26, 1958), No. 8 (1959; Budapest, May 21, 1960), and No. 9 (1961; Paris, May 2, 1963); 2 divertissements (1936, 1939); In Memoriam (1941); 2 sinfoniettas for Strings (1946, 1956); 11 Variations (1947). chamber:Dramma per musica, piano quintet (1922); 10 string quartets (1923; 1926; 1929; 1930; 5 études, 1934; 4 études, 1942; 1950; 1951; 1953; Suite Transylvaine, 1953); Piano Quartet (1925); 3 string trios (1927, 1932, 1945); Piano Trio (1928); Violin Sonatina (1930); Cello Sonata (1932); 2 trios for Harp, Flute, and Cello (1935, 1949); 2 quintets for Flute, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Harp {Marionettes, 1937; 1948); Sonata en concert for Cello and Piano (1940); Sonata en concert for Flute and Piano (1958); Sonata en concert for Violin and Piano (1962). piano:Des esquisses d’un musicien (1913); Contes I (1913); Sonata (1914); Scherzo and Toccata (1930). vocal: 3 Nocturnes for Chorus and Orch. (1941); Missa in tono phrygio for Chorus and Orch. (1949–50); Mass for Chorus and Organ (1951–52).

Bibliography

L. L. (Paris, 1954); L. L; Quelques oeuvres (Paris, 1961).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire