Mihalovich, Ödön

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Mihalovich, Ödön

Hero and Leander, symphonic poem for grand orchestra

SKU: 4057 Category:

26,00 

Ödön Mihalovich – Hero and Leander

(b. Fericsánci, Slavonia, 13. September 1842 – d. Budapest, 22. April 1929)

for grand orchestra after Schiller’s ballad

Ödön Mihalovich was born in a Hungarian-Croatian aristocratic family in the Kingdom of Hungary, which was ruled by the Habsburg Empire. His childhood was deeply marked by three tragic events: the fall of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, his parents’ divorce in 1854 and his father’s early death in 1863. He started to play piano at his early age but devoted himself to be a composer at the age of 18. He studied composing with Joseph Merkl and Mihály Mosonyi, two Hungarian composers. After one year at the Faculty of Law at Budapest University he left for Leipzig and Munich. He studied composing with Salomon Jadassohn, Moritz Hauptmann and Peter Cornelius. The latter mentioned him in his letters as a friend and „A person with feelings!“ (Cornelius, 1905, 415). Soon, Mihalovich was allured by three geniuses, Hans von Bülow, Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt. Bülow taught him formal piano playing, but soon asked him to be his private secretary in law cases. He supported spiritually and consoled Bülow many times during his marital tragedy with Cosima Liszt. (Bülow, 1869, 1)

The meeting with Richard Wagner’s music determined his style (mainly in the aspect of dramaturgy). He wrote in his diary: „The impression was overwhelming; I became immediately an enthusiastic admirer and supporter of Wagnerian music.“ (Major, 1929, 4) His aim was to reinvent the Hungarian opera style through the Wagnerian music drama, and to this purpose, he composed 4 operas: Hagbarth und Signe (1874), Wieland der Schmied (1879), Eliane (1887) and Toldi szerelme (Toldi’s Love, 1890/94). Hagbarth was premièred in Dresden (1882) and Budapest (1886); Eliane was played in Budapest (1908) and Vienna (1909). The Toldi-opera, which tells the tragic love story of a Hungarian Medieval knight, successfully synthesized Wagner’s dramaturgy, Liszt’s narrative music and some Hungarian style melodies. Arthur Nikisch conducted it many times, and it remained on the stage for 20 years. Especially, its prelude, which was conducted for the first time by Gustav Mahler, became popular. Notwithstanding, the greatest experience in Mihalovich’s life was his friendship with Liszt, as he wrote him: “We can congratulate ourselves that we are your contemporaries, that we see you, speak and may you hear.” (Birkin-Feichtinger, 2003, 426) It is no wonder that Mihalovich had a strong, vivid and fertile Liszt-reception (in the aspects of genre, narrative and harmony).

 

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