Gyula Dávid (6 May 1913 – 14 March 1977) was a Hungarian violist and

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 ...

Life and career

Gyula Dávid was born in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

on 6 May 1913. He studied composition with

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

at the

Franz Liszt Academy of Music The Franz Liszt Academy of Music (, 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 Liszt Collection, which features several ...

(FLAM) where he began his studies with the composer in 1938. He assisted Kodály with folk song collecting and a song he collected in Karád was utilized by Kodály as the basis for his composition ''Karádi nóták''. Dávid played

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

with the Municipal Orchestra in

from 1940 to 1943, and was a conductor at the National Theatre from 1945 to 1949. In 1950 he joined the faculty of the FLAM as a professor of wind chamber music. He remained in that position through 1960, and later became professor of chamber music at FLAM in 1964. Dávid's music can largely be divided into two periods: his early compositions were influenced primarily by Hungarian folk song but also by

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek language, Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed main ...

and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chord ...

. This period lasted until 1960. ne of the most famous compositions of his first period is his ''Viola Concerto'' (1950). Those from his second period are more

chromatic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are used to characterize scales. The terms are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, es ...

or 12-tone serial. He was awarded the Erkel Prize in 1952 and again in 1955. In 1957 he was the recipient of the Kossuth Prize. Gyula Dávid died in Budapest on March 14, 1977.

Selected works

;Orchestral * Symphony No. 1 (I. szimfónia) (1947) * ''Tánczene, magyar népdalfeldolgozások'' (Dance Music, Based on Hungarian Folk Songs) (published 1952) * Symphony No. 2 (II. szimfónia) (1957) * Symphony No. 3 (III. szimfónia) (1960) * ''Sinfonietta'' for small orchestra (1961) * ''Színházi zene'' (Theatrical Music; Theatermusik) (published 1963) * Symphony No. 4 (IV. szimfónia) (1970) * ''Festive Overture'' (Ünnepi előjáték) (1972) ;Concertante * Concerto (Brácsaverseny) for viola and orchestra (1950) * Concerto (Hegedűverseny) for violin and orchestra (published 1970) * Concerto (Kürtverseny) for horn and orchestra (published 1976) ;Chamber music * Wind Quintet No. 1 (I. Fúvósötös) (published 1954) * Sonata (Sonata fuvolára és zongorára) for flute and piano (published 1954) * ''Serenade'' for wind quintet (1955) * ''Preludio'' for flute and piano (1964) * Wind Quintet No. 3 (III. Fúvósötös) (published 1965) * Sonatina for viola and piano (1969) * ''Miniature'' for 3 trumpets, 2 trombones and tuba (published 1971) * Wind Quintet No. 4 (IV. Fúvósötös) (published 1971) * ''Pezzo'' (Piece) for viola and piano (1974) * Piano Trio (published 1974) * String Quartet No. 2 (published 1976) * Sonata for violin solo (published 1983) ;Piano * Piano Sonata (Szonáta zongorára) (1955) ;Vocal * ''A rózsalángolás'' (The Burning Rose), Chamber Music for female voice, flute and viola (1966); words by István Vas

Discography

* Gyula Dávid: ''Viola Concerto'' –

Pál Lukács Pál Lukács (; 27 April 1919 in – 22 May 1981) was a Hungarian people, Hungarian viola virtuoso, concert and recording artist, and music educator. Lukács studied voice, and also violin with Imre Waldbauer at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music ...

(viola); János Ferencsik (conductor); Hungarian State Orchestra; Hungaroton HCD31989 * Gyula Dávid: ''Viola Concerto, Violin Concerto, Sinfonietta'' –

(viola); Dénes Kovács (violin); János Ferencsik, Ervin Lukács, Tamás Breitner (conductors); Hungarian State Orchestra, Budapest Symphony Orchestra; Hungaroton SLPX 12452 (LP)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:David, Gyula 1913 births 1977 deaths Hungarian classical violists Hungarian composers Hungarian male composers Franz Liszt Academy of Music alumni 20th-century Hungarian classical musicians 20th-century Hungarian composers 20th-century Hungarian male musicians