Miklós Radnai (1 January 1892 – 4 November 1935) was a Hungarian composer, critic and music writer. From 1925 to his death in 1935, he was a noted Intendant of the Hungarian Royal Opera House 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 ...

Biography

At an early age he had lessons with the blind pianist Attila Horváth, and also studied the violin. While still in secondary school, he entered the Academy of Music in

, where he studied under János Koessler and Viktor Herzfeld. He taught theory at another music school, and had an extended tour of European countries. In 1919 he became a teacher at the Academy of Music. In 1924, with some associated artists, he gave a performance of his own works, including his Violin Sonata, Poems for piano, and songs. In 1925 he became director of the Hungarian Royal Opera House, the youngest director since Gustav Mahler. He restored the institution's artistic reputation that had deteriorated during and after World War I, and put its financial affairs on a sound footing. His first venture was to stage the Hungarian premiere of Claude Debussy's '' Pelléas et Mélisande''. These were followed by the Hungarian premieres, mostly shortly after their world premieres, of Stravinsky's '' Oedipus rex'',

Puccini Giacomo Puccini ( Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long ...

's ''

Turandot ''Turandot'' (; see below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, posthumously completed by Franco Alfano in 1926, and set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. ''Turandot'' best-known aria is " Nessun dorma", ...

'',

Milhaud Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...

's "three-minute" operas,

Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...

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Hin und zurück ' (Back and forth) is an operatic 'sketch' (Op. 45a) in one scene by Paul Hindemith, with a German libretto by Marcellus Schiffer. It acts as a parody of conventional opera tropes featuring a coloratura ariette, a jealousy duet, and a terzet for ...

'', Malipiero's ''Il finto Arlecchino'' (from his trilogy ''Il mistero di Venezia''), and others. His administration of the Opera House was criticised not only for being too conservative and reactionary, but also for being too adventurous with new works. He introduced 17 stage works by Hungarian composers during his ten-year tenure. He also created a museum for the Opera House, containing fine art objects and historical documents.Budapest VI. kerület TERÉZVÁROS
/ref> He was also the music critic for two daily newspapers. He contributed to periodicals and wrote analyses of operas and the Hungarian repertoire, and he wrote text books on harmony. The Opera House celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1935. He died suddenly the following year, aged only 43. Radnai belongs to the Hungarian post-romantic school, and there are few examples of any Hungarian national elements in his music, a major exception being his choral work ''Symphony of the Magyars''. His harmonic language was mainly influenced by turn-of-the-century French and Italian idioms. He had a strong feel for orchestral colouring, and used impressionist techniques.

Works

Opera

* ''Gold'' (Andor Kozma, 1911) * ''Lovers of Yore'' (aka ''The Former Lovers''), Op. 22 (after

János Arany János Arany (; archaic English: John Arany; 2 March 1817 – 22 October 1882) was a Hungarian poet, writer, translator and journalist. He is often said to be the "Shakespeare of ballads" – he wrote more than 102 ballads that have been transl ...

, 1918–21)

Ballet

* ''The Birthday of the Infanta'' ( Oscar Wilde, 1918)

Choral

* ''Symphony of the Magyars'' (solo voices, chorus and orchestra, ? 1923)

Orchestral

* ''Suite symphonique'' (1912) * ''Fairy Tale'' (1915) * ''Five Poems'', suite, Op. 26 (1925) * ''Rhapsody'' (? 1932) * ''Mosaïque'', suite for small orchestra

Concertante

* ''Orkan the Hero'' (aka ''Knight Gale'', ''Heroic Chapters''), tenor and orchestra, Op. 17 (1917) * Violin Concerto (1933)

Chamber

* Piano Trio (1912) * Cello Sonata in B flat major, Op. 2 (1912)Klassika
/ref> * Divertimento for string quartet, Op. 7 * Viola Sonata in D minor (1913) * Violin Sonata, Op. 21 (1922)

Piano

* ''In the Village'', 6 pieces (1916) * ''Times of War'', 6 pieces (1916) * ''Summer Pictures'', 6 pieces (1916) * ''Deux Valses Caprices'' (1916) * ''Trois Morceaux'' (1916; ''Arabesque'', ''Idyll'', ''Burlesque'') * ''Ballroom Scenes'', Op. 16 * ''Deux Sonatines'', Op, 17 (1922) * ''Fünf Klavierstücke'' (1st series), Op. 25 (1922) * ''Fünf Klavierstücke'' (2nd series), Op. 26 (1922)

Songs

* Songs (1911) * 4 songs, 2 vols, Op. 15 (1920) * 5 Transylvanian Folksongs, Op. 23 (for girls’ voices; 1922) * 5 Transylvanian Folksongs, Op. 24 (for boys’ voices; 1922) * ''Burning I am'' ( Endre Ady)

References

Sources

* Eric Blom ed., Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed. 1954

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Radnai, Miklos 1892 births 1935 deaths Hungarian classical composers Hungarian male classical composers Hungarian journalists Hungarian non-fiction writers Hungarian music critics Hungarian music journalists Hungarian opera composers Male opera composers 20th-century classical composers Opera managers 20th-century Hungarian male musicians 20th-century journalists