Albert Szirmai (sometimes credited as Albert Sirmay) (2 July 1880 –15 January 1967) was a Hungarian

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

composer and music editor. Szirmai was a graduate of the

Budapest Academy of Music The Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music ( hu, Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Egyetem, often abbreviated as ''Zeneakadémia'', "Liszt Academy") is a music university and a concert hall in Budapest, Hungary, founded on November 14, 1875. It is home to the ...

, studying piano and composition (with

Hans Koessler Hans von Koessler (1 January 1853 – 23 May 1926) was a German composer, conductor and music teacher. In Hungary, where he worked for 26 years, he was known as János Koessler. Biography Koessler, a cousin of Max Reger, was born in Waldeck, Fic ...

). Szirmai received a doctorate in music from the University of Budapest, and was devoted to creating works for the stage. He wrote music for 12 one-act plays and over 300 songs for the Budapest theater Népszínház-Vígopera, at which he was musical director. When his first operetta, ''The Yellow Domino'', met with success, he decided to continue in the genre; it is due to the works of Szirmai, Emmerich Kálmán, and

Victor Jacobi Victor Jacobi (22 October 1883 – 10 December 1921) was a Hungarian operetta composer. He studied at the Zeneakadémia (Academy of Music) in Budapest at the same time as the noted Hungarian composers Imre Kálmán and Albert Szirmai. Jaco ...

, among others, that the Hungarian operetta gained recognition internationally at the beginning of the 20th century. Szirmai was born in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. On September 3, 1923, he arrived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

aboard the and took a post as music director for Chappell Music (a publishing house now owned by

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

). He was music editor for such Broadway luminaries as

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over ...

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film. Born to ...

Richard Rodgers Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American Musical composition, composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the most ...

and

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

, and for a collection of the British duo

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

. Szirmai made headlines in 1965, when he discovered 100 unpublished songs Porter had written from 1924 to 1955, in Porter's nine room apartment in the Waldorf Towers shortly after Porter's death. "I would call the material a rich musical heritage," Szirmai told ''The New York Times''. "There is enough material for one or two Broadway musical scores. There are dozens of excellent songs."Esterow, Milton. "Song hunt turns up 100 by Porter", ''The New York Times'', May 5, 1965, p. 1 Though he lived in America for most of his later years and was a good friend of Gershwin, Szirmai eschewed the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

styles popular at the time; in addition to the folk music of his native Hungary, his music shows the influence of German Romanticism, particularly

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...

and

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

, whom he most admired. He died in New York.

Selected works

*''A sárga dominó'' (The Yellow Domino), operetta, 1907 *''Bálkirályné'' (The Belle of the Ball), operetta, 1907 *''Naftalin'' (Naphthalene), musical comedy, 1908 *''Táncos huszárok'' (Dancing Hussars), operetta, 1909 *''A mexikói lány'' (The Mexican Girl), operetta, 1912 *''

The Girl on the Film ''Filmzauber'', literally 'Film Magic', is a Posse mit Gesang (a kind of popular musical drama) in four scenes by Walter Kollo and Willy Bredschneider, with a German libretto by Rudolf Bernauer and Rudolph Schanzer. A parody of (then popular) s ...

'', musical play, 1913 *''Ezüstpille'' (Silver Butterfly), operetta, 1914 *''Mágnás Miska'' (Magnate Miska), operetta, 1916, Szirmai's most popular work, still performed in Hungary *''Harangvirág'' (Bellflower), ballad, 2 tableaux, 1918 *''Gróf Rinaldo'' (Count Rinaldo), operetta, 1918 *''Mézeskalács'' (Honey Cake), musical comedy, 1923 *''The Bamboula'', operetta, 1925 *''Alexandra'', operetta, 1925 (first presented in English as '' Princess Charming'' in 1926) *''Éva grófnő'' (Countess Eva), operetta, 1928 *''Lady Mary'', musical play, 1928 *'' Ripples'', musical comedy, 1930 *''A ballerina'', operetta, 1931 *''A Treasury of

Gilbert & Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ''H.M.S. Pina ...

'', Simon & Schuster, New York 1941 (later published as '' Martyn Green's Treasury of Gilbert & Sullivan''). Szirmai is probably best known to music lovers through this book. Szirmai reduced Sullivan's orchestrations of several songs from each Gilbert and Sullivan opera and simplified them so that they can be played by intermediate piano students of average skill. *''A Treasury of Grand Opera'', Simon & Schuster, New York 1946. Szirmai created piano solos of arias from famous operas: Mozart's ''Don Giovanni, Carmen, La Traviata'', Gounod's ''Faust, Lohengrin'', et al., but this book never achieved the popularity of the Gilbert & Sullivan book. The pieces are more difficult to play, and many operatic arias are more difficult to sing than Gilbert & Sullivan. *''Tabáni legenda'' (The Legend of Tabán), operetta, 1957 *''A Tündérlaki lányok'' (The Tündérlaki Sisters), operetta, 1964

References

Sources

Ferenc Bónis Ferenc () is a given name of Hungarian origin. It is a cognate of Francis, Francisco, Francesco, François, Frank and Franz. People with the name include: * Ferenc Batthyány, Hungarian magnate and general * Ferenc Berényi, Hungarian artist * ...

: "Albert Szirmai". Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy
(subscription access)
* Ferenc Bónis, Andrew Lamb: "Albert Szirmai". Grove Music Online (OperaBase), ed. L. Macy
(subscription access)

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szirmai, Albert 1880 births 1967 deaths Hungarian classical composers Hungarian male classical composers Hungarian operetta composers Musicians from Budapest 20th-century Hungarian male musicians