Mihály Erdélyi (May 28, 1895 – January 27, 1979) was a Hungarian composer, lyricist, actor, and producer, particularly prolific in the interwar period. Erdélyi was born in

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also other alternative names) is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat of Csongrád-Csanád county. The University of Szeged is one of the m ...

in 1895 and began a career as an actor then a stage producer, but became most famous for his operettas, including ''Csókos regiment'' (1932), ''Fehérvári huszárok'' (1933), ''A csavargólány'' (1936), ''Sárgapitykés közlegény'' (1937), ''A zimberi-zombori szépasszony'' (1939), ''Sárgarigófészek'' (1940), ''Vedd le a kalapod a honvéd előtt'' (1942), and ''A két kapitány'' (1943). Many of his songs have entered the Hungarian musical canon as

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, often without an awareness of the original composer. ''A dorozsmai szélmalom'' brought Erdélyi the most lasting fame, and the title piece of the operetta was the subject of many covers and arrangements by popular musicians of the time, including

Georges Boulanger Georges Ernest Jean-Marie Boulanger (29 April 1837 – 30 September 1891), nicknamed Général Revanche ("General Revenge"), was a French general and politician. An enormously popular public figure during the second decade of the Third Repub ...

, Barnabás von Géczy,

Zarah Leander Zarah Leander (; 15 March 1907 – 23 June 1981) was a Swedish singer and actress whose greatest success was in Germany between 1936 and 1943, when she was contracted to work for the state-owned Universum Film AG (UFA). Although no exact record ...

Will Glahé Will Glahé (February 12, 1902 – November 21, 1989) was a German accordionist, composer, and bandleader. Glahé was born at Elberfeld, Germany. In the 1930s, he was, along with Heinz Munsonius and Albert Vossen, one of the most successf ...

, Ilja Livschakoff and Karsten Troyke. The piece was usually arranged as a slow foxtrot under the titles of ''Puszta fox'' or ''Le Moulin de Dorozsmà''. It gained popularity in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

under the title of ''Amor en Budapest'' and in

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

as just ''Budapesht''. Many of Erdélyi's works were patriotic or focused on members of the military. As the

communist government A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

took power after the war, Erdélyi was blacklisted. He briefly returned to the stage as an actor from 1955 to 1958, but this represented his only theatre-related work after the war. He died 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 ...

in 1979 at the age of 83.

External links

Magyar Elektronikus Könyvtár biography
*

References

1895 births 1979 deaths 20th-century classical composers Hungarian classical composers Hungarian opera composers Hungarian male classical composers Male opera composers 20th-century Hungarian male musicians {{Hungary-composer-stub