Jenő Hubay, Jenő Hubay von Szalatna, hu, szalatnai Hubay Jenő (; 15 September 185812 March 1937), also known by his

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

name Eugen Huber (), was a Hungarian

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

ist,

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

and

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

teacher.

Early life

Hubay was born into a German family of

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wr ...

s in

Pest, Hungary Pest () is the eastern, mostly flat part of Budapest, Hungary, comprising about two-thirds of the city's territory. It is separated from Buda and Óbuda, the western parts of Budapest, by the Danube River. Among its most notable sights are the ...

. He adopted the Hungarian version of his name, Jenő Hubay, in his twenties, while living in the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

-speaking world. Hubay was trained in violin and music by his father, (''Károly Huber'', later ') from Varjas ( ro, Variaș), concertmaster of the Hungarian Royal Opera House and a teacher at the Budapest College of Music. His mother was of Italian descent. He gave his début public performance playing a concerto at the age of eleven. At the age of thirteen, Hubay began his studies in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

. He remained there for five years, receiving instruction from Joseph Joachim. In 1878, following the advice of

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

, he made his début in

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, which was a great success. Sitting in the audience was Henri Vieuxtemps, with whom Hubay formed an intimate friendship and from whom he received instruction. In 1882 Hubay was employed at the

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

music institute as the head of the department of violin studies. Returning to Hungary in 1886, he succeeded his father as head of the Liszt Academy. That same year, he established the Budapest Quartet with fellow teacher, cellist David Popper.

Teaching

Hubay's main pupils, aside from

Joseph Szigeti Joseph Szigeti ( hu">Szigeti József, ; 5 September 189219 February 1973) was a Hungarian violinist. Born into a musical family, he spent his early childhood in a small town in Transylvania. He quickly proved himself to be a child prodigy on ...

and André Gertler, included Eugene Ormandy — who later turned to conducting — and

Eugene Lehner Eugene Lehner (1906 – 13 September 1997) was a violist and music educator. Lehner, as he preferred to be addressed, was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1906. Originally named Jenö Léner, he performed as a self-taught violinist from th ...

. He taught many female violinists, including

Stefi Geyer Stefi Geyer (June 28, 1888 in Budapest – December 11, 1956 in Zürich) was a Hungarian violinist who was considered one of the leading violinists of her generation. Biography Born in 1888 in Budapest, she was the daughter of Josef Geyer, a p ...

Jelly d'Arányi Jelly d'Aranyi, fully Jelly Aranyi de Hunyadvár ( hu, Hunyadvári Aranyi Jelly (30 May 189330 March 1966) was a Hungarian violinist who made her home in London. She was born in Budapest, the great-niece of Joseph Joachim and sister of the violin ...

and Ilona Fehér. Other pupils included Franz von Vecsey, Emil Telmányi, Carl von Garaguly, Zoltán Székely, Tibor Varga, Gerhard Taschner, Ede Zathureczky and the Italians Gianni Pavovich, and Wanda Luzzato.

Performance

As a soloist, Hubay gained the praise of Vieuxtemps,

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

and many others. As a

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small nu ...

ian, he formed two

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinist ...

s, one while he was in Brussels and one with David Popper during his Budapest ( Budapest Quartet) years. With Popper, he performed chamber music on more than one occasion with Brahms, including the premiere of Brahms's Piano Trio No. 3 in C minor, Op. 101. Among his earliest recordings are ten-inch acoustic discs, dating from 1910, on which he was accompanied by the composer Zsigmond Vincze.

Compositions

Hubay composed four violin concertos and a very large number of

encore An encore is an additional performance given by performers after the planned show has ended, usually in response to extended applause from the audience.Lalange Cochrane, in ''Oxford Companion to Music'', Alison Latham, ed., Oxford University Pre ...

pieces. His concertos incorporate themes from Hungarian gypsy music, and his "gentle breeze" pieces, which share features of the compositional style of his chamber music partner, David Popper, continue the tradition of the German romantics such as

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 sym ...

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 ...

. Hubay's output also contains several operas, including ''The Venus of Milo'', ''The Violin-Maker of Cremona'', ''The Mask'' and ''

Anna Karenina ''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, «Анна Каренина», p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever writt ...

'' (after

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

). The opening of ''The Venus of Milo'' is based on

whole tone scale In music, a whole-tone scale is a scale in which each note is separated from its neighbors by the interval of a whole tone. In twelve-tone equal temperament, there are only two complementary whole-tone scales, both six-note or '' hexatonic' ...

s and archaisms that perhaps are meant to suggest the ancient setting.Observation from score, and comparison with Hubay's generally more Romantic-era style in other works.

Legacy

The Hubay prize has been awarded by the Franz Liszt Academy of Music to a number of eminent violinists: *

Gábor Takács-Nagy Gábor Takács-Nagy (born 17 April 1956,''International Who's Who in Classical Music'' (25th edition). Routledge (London), p. 807 (2009) (). Budapest), is a Hungarian violinist and conductor. He began violin studies at age 8. He attended the Franz ...

Notes

References

External links

Jenő Hubay Foundation
* *: video clip from the 1935 film '' Halló, Budapest!'' (Hello, Budapest!) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hubay, Jeno 1858 births 1937 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century Hungarian people 19th-century male musicians 20th-century classical composers 20th-century Hungarian people 20th-century Hungarian male musicians Composers for violin Franz Liszt Academy of Music alumni Franz Liszt Academy of Music faculty Hungarian classical composers Hungarian classical violinists Hungarian-German people Hungarian male classical composers Hungarian music educators Hungarian people of Italian descent Hungarian Romantic composers Male classical violinists People from Pest, Hungary Pupils of Henri Vieuxtemps Pupils of Joseph Joachim Royal Conservatory of Brussels faculty