Jenő Huszka (a.k.a. ; 24 April 1875,

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

– 2 February 1960,

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 ...

) was a Hungarian

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 ...

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

Life

At the age of 5, he had his first performance – nicely played

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

. He studied composition at the Academy of Music ('' Zeneakadémia'') in Budapest. As a young man (in 1896) he was a member of the

Lamoureux Orchestra The Orchestre Lamoureux () officially known as the Société des Nouveaux-Concerts and also known as the Concerts Lamoureux) is an orchestral concert society which once gave weekly concerts by its own orchestra, founded in Paris by Charles Lamoure ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. He also had to study law (this was the wish of his parents). After finishing his studies, he worked in the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

in Budapest, in the department of art. His friend Ferenc Martos (1875–1938), a distinguished Hungarian

librettist A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major ...

, worked in the same department and wrote all the

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

s for his operettas. The music of Jenő Huszka is considered fresh, sweet and romantic. It is inspired by Hungarian

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

and the

waltz The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom dance, ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3/4 time, time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the ...

es of

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List of works

(all to libretti by Ferenc Martos unless otherwise indicated) * '' Tilos a bemenet'' (''No Entry'') libretto by Adolf Mérei (1899) * '' Prince Bob'' (''Bob herceg'') (1902) * '' Aranyvirág'' (''Golden Flower'') (1903) * ''

Gül Baba Gül Baba (died 1541), also known as Jafer, was an Ottoman Bektashi dervish poet and companion of Sultan Suleiman I () who took part in a number of campaigns in Europe from the reign of Mehmed II onwards. Biography A native of Merzifon ...

'' (1905) * '' Tündérszerelem'' (''Fairy love'') 1907 * '' Rébusz báró'' (''Baron Rebus'') 1909 * '' Nemtudomka'' (''Night-club Girl'') 1914 * '' Baroness Lili'' (''Lili bárónő'') (1919) * '' Hajtóvadászat'' (''Riding to Hounds'') 1926 * '' Erzsébet'' (''Elizabeth'') 1939 * '' Gyergyói bál'' (''Ball at Gyergyó'') 1941 * '' Mária fôhadnagy'' (''Corporal Mária'' or ''Lieutenant Mary'') 1942 * '' Szép Juhászné'' (''Lovely Mrs Juhász'') 1955 * '' Szabadsag, szerelem'' (''Liberty and Love'') 1955

Life

List of works

See also