János Bihari (21 October 1764 – 26 April 1827) was an influential Hungarian

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnic groups * Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin ** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities ** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom * Romanians (Romanian ...

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 ...

ist. He is one of the founders of Romani academic music and the musical genre

verbunkos Verbunkos (), other spellings being ''Verbounko'', ''Verbunko'', ''Verbunkas'', ''Werbunkos'', ''Werbunkosch'', ''Verbunkoche''; sometimes known simply as the hongroise or ungarischer Tanz is an 18th-century Hungarian dance and music genre. Th ...

. By the middle of the nineteenth century, "Gypsy music" was elevated to high fashion, the first great was that of János Bihari, the pianist

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

described: "The tones sung by his magic violin flow on our enchanted ears like the tears...".

Biography

Bihari was born into a Romani family in Nagyabony,

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 ...

(today Veľké Blahovo,

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

); his father was a violinist. In 1801, living in Pest, Bihari created an orchestra of 1 cimbalomist and 4 violinists. This orchestra became popular soon and visited with Bihari many towns in Hungary and abroad. In every country Bihari learnt local folk and academic music and arranged it to play during his performances. Bihari was so popular that he could live like a noble man: he had expensive clothes and a servant who held Bihari's violin, he stayed in luxurious hotels, etc. He was also invited to play for the

Emperor of Austria The emperor of Austria (, ) was the ruler of the Austrian Empire and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The hereditary imperial title and office was proclaimed in 1804 by Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorr ...

. Bihari's melodies were used by such composers as Franz Liszt,

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

Pablo de Sarasate Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués (; 10 March 1844 – 20 September 1908), commonly known as Pablo de Sarasate, was a Spanish violinist, composer and Conducting, conductor of the Romantic music, Romantic period. His best known work ...

and others. In 1824 Bihari injured his left hand, thus impairing his ability to perform. Subsequently, his popularity declined, and he died in poverty in Pest. Bihari left 84 musical compositions that are considered to be classic.

References

External links

Janos Bihari

* 1764 births 1827 deaths Hungarian Romani people Hungarian violinists Hungarian male violinists Romani violinists Musicians from the Austrian Empire {{violinist-stub