Iván Erőd | |
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 in June 2011 | |
| Born | Erőd Iván (1936-01-02)2 January 1936 Budapest, Hungary |
| Died | 24 June 2019(2019-06-24) (aged 83) Vienna, Austria |
| Education | Franz Liszt Academy of Music |
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Iván Erőd (Hungarian:Erőd Iván[ˈɛrøːdˈivaːn]; 2 January 1936 – 24 June 2019; sometimes spelledEröd)[1] was a Hungarian-Austrian composer and pianist. Educated in Budapest, he emigrated to Austria in 1956, where he studied at theVienna Music Academy. He was successful as a pianist and composer of operas, chamber music and much more, with elements fromserialism,Hungarian folk music and jazz. He first was a professor of music theory and composition at theUniversity of Music and Performing Arts Graz (1967–1989), then a professor of composition at the Vienna Music Academy from 1989.
Born in Budapest, Erőd studied at theFranz Liszt Academy of Music withPál Kadosa (piano) andFerenc Szabó (composition). He emigrated to Austria in 1956 and studied there at theVienna Music Academy, withRichard Hauser [de] (piano) andKarl Schiske (composition).[2][3] He received diplomas in piano and composition in 1961.[1] He took several summer classes at theDarmstädter Ferienkurse, studying withEduard Steuermann andLuigi Nono.[4] In 1960 he launched a career as a pianist, playing in Europe and the Near East.[2]
From 1962 to 1968 he was a solorépétiteur at theVienna State Opera[2] and theWiener Festwochen. From 1967 to 1989 he taughtmusic theory and composition at theUniversity of Music and Performing Arts Graz, and later taught at the Vienna Music Academy, first as a guest teachingTonsatz (harmony and counterpoint), and from 1989 as a professor.[2] His students includedGeorg Friedrich Haas,[1]Gerhard Präsent andJohannes Maria Staud.[1]
Erőd's brother and grandparents were murdered atAuschwitz in 1944. He fled Hungary after theevents of 1956.[1] He married in 1969 and had five children, among themAdrian, abaritone, and Leonard, abassoonist at theVienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.[1] He died of complications from a stroke in Vienna on 24 June 2019.[1][5]
Stylistically, Erőd's music was initially influenced by Hungarians such asBéla Bartók andZoltán Kodály. Before his emigration and during his studies in Vienna, he was interested in thedodecaphony of the "Second Viennese School", andserialism. His wind trio,Op. 4 (1957, revised 1987), and hisRicercare ed Aria, Op. 11, for wind quartet (1965) are based on twelve-tone structures,[3] as is his first opera,Das Mädchen, der Matrose und der Student (The Girl, the Sailor and the Student, 1960). He began composing his second operaDie Seidenraupen (The Silkworms) in 1964 and completed it in 1968, when it was successfully premiered during the Wiener Festwochen at theTheater an der Wien with singersJeannette Pilou andOskar Czerwenka.[6]
The composer describes the work as being based on three scales, for the three main characters, which are derived from each other and sometimes combined in a way leading to tonality.[7] His first violin sonata, Op. 14 (1969/70), was a return to a "new tonality", incorporating Hungarian and "gypsy" elements.[3] He dedicatedMilchzahnlieder (Baby Tooth Songs) for soprano and chamber orchestra, Op. 17 (1973), andKrokodilslieder (Crocodile Songs), for baritone and chamber orchestra, Op. 28 (1979), to his five children.[2] Erőd composed orchestral works, such as a violin concerto, Op. 15 (1973), a viola concerto, Op. 30 (1979/80), a cello concerto, Op. 80, premiered 2005 at the festivalstyriarte, a clarinet concerto, Op. 88 (2011), as well as a double concerto for clarinet and bassoon, Op. 72 (1999),Soirées imaginaires, Op. 38 (1981), the Symphonie "From the Old World", Op. 67 (1995).[2] and the 2nd Symphonie, Op. 75 (2001).[8]
His children's operaPünktchen und Anton, based ona popular novel byErich Kästner from 1931, was first given in 2010 at the Children's Opera Tent of the Vienna State Opera.Cologne Opera presented the first performance in Germany in February, 2021, following COVID-19 protocols required at the time. The Cologne performance was video-recorded and streamed.[9]
His chamber music includes three string quartets, Opp. 18, 26 and 78, two string sextets, Opp. 45 and 68, andBukolika for chamber ensemble, Op. 64 (1994), on Hungarian rural life.[2] His first piano trio, Op. 21, was written in 1976,[10] his second trio Op. 42 in 1982; he wrote a trio for clarinet, violin and piano Op. 59 – commissioned by theVerdehr Trio – in 1991, as well as a piano quartet Op. 54 in 1987; the two sonatas for violin and piano Op. 14 (1970) and Op. 74 (2000) are among the most popular of his works. He composedlieder, such asCanti di Ungaretti (1988)[2] and "Vier Gesänge" Op. 44. The song cycleÜber der Asche zu singen, Op. 65 (1994) reflects his family's persecution when he was a child.[8]
In the 1970s and 1980s he was influenced by Jazz and Blues, which shows in his piano concerto, Op. 19, in the second piano trio, Op. 42 (1981/82), and in theMinnesota Sinfonietta, Op. 51.[11][12] Some of his vocal works are more serious, such as theVier Gesänge, Op. 44 (1983), the song cycleSchwarzerde (Black Soil) for baritone and orchestra, Op. 49 (1984/85), and thecantataVox Lucis (Voice of the Light), Op. 56 (1988/89).[3][8]
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