Majdnem Tánc (from: Hat Orgonadarab, 1958)

Today I present my third upload with music that I recorded while testing the new sample set from Augustine (AVO). This is the model of the Aquincum organ built in 2000 in the Church of the Holy Spirit in Hévíz – a three-manual instrument with thirty-six stops. The organ has a slightly French flavor, but is not strictly limited to this region or even a particular era, so that a wide repertoire can be appropriately performed on it – for example, “Majdnem Tánc” from “Hat Orgonadarab” by Erzsébet Szőnyi:

Born in Budapest in 1924, Szőnyi grew up in a culturally interested home and began composing at the age of thirteen. The young Erzsébet was influenced by her encounter with music of Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, which she became acquainted with while accompanying choirs on the piano.

In 1942, she went to study music at the Budapest Franz Liszt Academy, where her teachers included the pianist Ernő Szegedi and the composer János Viski – a student of Kodály. Viski also put Szőnyi in touch with Kodály, with whom she soon formed a close friendship; while still a student, the highly talented young woman took over as a substitute for the now retired composer. After passing her exams, Szőnyi was able to continue her studies with Tony Aubin, Nadia Boulanger and Olivier Messiaen in Paris in 1947, where one of her orchestral works was awarded the Prix de Composition du Conservatoire and another was premiered on French radio.

From 1948, she taught at the Budapest Academy of Music, where she became head of the school music department in 1960. During this time, she worked closely with Kodály to establish his music pedagogical ideas (“Kodály method”) in the Hungarian school system and to make them known in publications.

Meanwhile, she continued to be highly productive as a composer, creating solo, chamber and orchestral music as well as many vocal works, including song cycles, five oratorios, four musicals and nine operas. She died in Budapest in 2019 at the age of 95.