Emil Telmányi (22 June 1892 – 13 June 1988) was aHungarianviolinist.
Telmányi was born inArad, Partium, Transylvania, then in theKingdom of Hungary.
Telmányi began playing the violin at the age of six and made his public debut at thirteen. His evident talent earned him entry into the soloist classes at theBudapest Academy of Music under the tutelage of the renownedJenö Hubay. Additionally, he studied composition withHans Koessler and received conducting instruction. In 1906, he won the Reményi Prize and graduated in 1911 from the academy with both artistic and teaching diplomas, also completing his high school exams the same year. His artistic career began in 1911 with a debut inBerlin, where he performed SieEdward Elgar's newly composedViolin Concerto for the first time inGermany.[1] It was attended by the pianistIgnaz Friedman, who befriended him and arranged some of his early concerts inCopenhagen, where he later settled. He became an exponent of the composerCarl Nielsen, having recorded some of his violin sonatas and hisviolin concerto.[2][3]
Based inBerlin, Telmányi began extensive international tours in 1912 with pianist Ignaz Friedman, becoming a highly respected soloist. That same year, he was warmly received inCopenhagen, where he became acquainted withCarl Nielsen and his compositions. Except for a brief period of conscription duringWorld War I, Telmányi continued his concert tours, returning frequently to Copenhagen. In 1918, he married Carl Nielsen's youngest daughter, painterAnne Marie, and settled in Budapest. After the war, they moved permanently to Copenhagen, from where Telmányi continued his travels, performing across Europe and the USA, and returning annually toHungary. On these journeys, he became a distinguished ambassador forDanish music, particularly Nielsen's works, and continued his artistic career until the age of 75, notably performing in the Telmányi Quintet with his second wife, violinist and pianist Annette, and their three daughters. Since 1919, Telmányi also worked as a conductor, in Copenhagen (with The Young Musicians' Society Orchestra, his chamber orchestra, and theRoyal Danish Theatre, where he adapted Carl Nielsen’s Aladdin music forElna Jørgen Jensen's (Elna Ørnberg) balletAsra in 1932), and during the 1920s in Budapest,Gothenburg, and other locations. Even as of 1982, he conducted the Centerskolen Orchestra in Holte. Despite his extensive travels, he remained a significant figure in Danish musical life. Telmányi's passionate artistic temperament, combined with a noble sense of musical grandeur, has provided a strong impetus to Danish music, further enhanced by his pedagogical work privately and from 1940 to 1969 as a teacher at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus. His lifelong interest in Johann Sebastian Bach’s violin works and their performance challenges led to the creation of a special "Bach bow" (developed withArne Hjorth in 1949 andKnud Vestergaard in 1953), which allows for enhanced polyphonic emphasis, particularly in Bach's solo violin partitas and sonatas. Telmányi recorded numerous records, including works by Carl Nielsen,F. Mendelssohn, andJ. Sibelius, and particularly notable are his recordings of chamber music by Nielsen and Brahms, as well as Bach's solo works using Vestergaard’s "Vega Bach bow." In 1978, he published his memoirs,From a Musician’s Picture Book, offering valuable insights into musical figures such as Carl Nielsen,Zoltán Kodály,Béla Bartók,Ferruccio Busoni,Arnold Schoenberg, among others, and in 1982, he released a guide to studying and interpreting Carl Nielsen’s violin works and string quintet.[2][3]
One of his most famous recordings is a 1954 recording of Bach'sSonatas and partitas for solo violin played using a violin with what was referred to as the"Vega" Bach Bow (recorded in November 1953 and March 1954, DANA CORD, DACO 147), which could be adjusted so the player could play three or even all four strings of the violin at once. He died, aged 95, inHolte,Denmark.
