Viliam Figuš-Bystrý (born Viliam Figuš) (28 February 1875 – 11 May 1937) was a Slovak composer, teacher and author of the first Slovak national opera '' Detvan''. Viliam Figuš was born in

Banská Bystrica Banská Bystrica (, also known by other alternative names) is a middle-sized town in central Slovakia, located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica Mo ...

. He attended gymnasium from 1885 to 1889 and teacher's institute in Banská Štiavnica from 1889 to 1893. After graduating, he worked as a teacher in

Pilis Pilis () is a town in Pest County, Hungary. History The town was inhabited in prehistoric times, but was abandoned at the end of the Roman rule. Pilis was then first mentioned in 1326. It was destroyed during the Ottoman rule in the 16th cent ...

Ostrá Lúka Ostrá Lúka ( hu, Osztroluka) is a village and municipality of the Zvolen District in the Banská Bystrica Region of Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landl ...

Zvolenská Slatina Zvolenská Slatina (german: Großslatina; hu, Nagyszalatna) is a village and municipality of the Zvolen District in the Banská Bystrica Region of central Slovakia. History In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1263. Geograph ...

, Padina. In 1907, he settled in Banská Bystrica, where he taught at Lutheran school. From 1911 to 1914, he studied under

Zoltán Kodály Zoltán Kodály (; hu, Kodály Zoltán, ; 16 December 1882 – 6 March 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály method of music ed ...

at the

Franz Liszt 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 ...

. While teaching in various towns, he collected folksongs and published their adaptations in a few collections (''Slovenské ľudové piesne z Veľkej Slatiny'', ''1000 slovenských ľudových piesní'', ''Púchovské piesne'', ''Zbojnícke piesne''). Also in his compositions, he was inspired by folksongs from central Slovakia and in youth also from Hungary. Besides arranging folksongs, he composed orchestral works, chamber music, cantata, piano and violin pieces and songs. In 1926, he finished his opera ''Detvan'', Op. 64, the first Slovak national opera, based on poem '' Detvan'' by

Andrej Sládkovič Andrej Sládkovič (born as Andrej Braxatoris, pseudonyms Andrej Braxatoris-Sládkovič, Andrej Sládkovič, Ondřej Krasislav Sládkovič; 31 March 1820 – 20 April 1872) was a Slovak poet, critic, publicist, translator and Lutheran priest. L ...

. Figuš-Bystrý was an important part of musical life in Banská Bystrica. He was one of the founding members of the Association of the Slovak Artists, being its chairman in 1925. He died in Banská Bystrica.

Sources

Biography and list of works at osobnosti.sk

Slovak
Wikipedia article
Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Figus-Bystry, Viliam 1875 births 1937 deaths Musicians from Banská Bystrica Slovak composers Male composers 20th-century classical composers Male classical composers 20th-century male musicians Slovak male musicians