Theodor Szántó Explained

Theodor Szántó, also seen as Tivadar Szántó (3 June 1877^{[1] [2]} 7 January 1934) was a Hungarian Jewish pianist and composer.

Life and career

Szántó was born in Vienna, then the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His family name was originally Smulevic, of Jewish and Slavic origin. His musical studies were in Vienna and Budapest, and with Ferruccio Busoni in Berlin 1898-1901.^[3] He resided in Paris from 1905, Switzerland from 1914, and Budapest from 1921 until his death there in 1934.^[4]

Szántó contributed substantially to the rewriting of the piano part of the third and final version of Frederick Delius’s Piano Concerto in C minor, and he introduced this version at a Prom Concert in London on 22 October 1907 under Henry Wood.^[5] For these services, Delius dedicated the Concerto to Szántó.^[4] He also played the work at the Proms in 1912, 1913 and 1921.^[6] This final version has become the standard version, but Delius's original conception has also been recorded.^[7]

Theodor Szántó was an early champion of the music of Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók.^[8] It was his playing of Bartók's Romanian Dance in 1914 that introduced Arthur Hartmann to the music of that composer.^[9] For his part, however, Bartók had little respect for Szántó.^[10]

He exhibited an interest in the music of Japan by writing at least three works using Japanese influences (an opera, an orchestral suite, and a piano suite).^{[4] [8]}

He also made some piano transcriptions of works by Johann Sebastian Bach and Igor Stravinsky, which reveal a virtuoso technique. His complete piano works ^{[11] [12]} are recorded by the composer and virtuoso pianist Artur Cimirro for the CD label Acte Préalable

Szanto was considered an important piano teacher.^[13] His students included Berta Alves de Sousa in Paris.

Szántó was awarded the Legion of Honour.^[10]

Compositions

Original works

Szántó's own original compositions include:

• Violin Sonata, 1906
• Land and Sea Symphony, 1909
• Contrasts, piano suite, 1912^[14]
• Variations on a Hungarian Folksong, piano, 1915
• Symphonic Rhapsody, 1917
• In Japan: Essays and Studies in Japanese Harmony based on Native Songs, piano, 1918-22^[15] (This work has been recorded by Noriko Ogawa^[16])
• Taifun: A Japanese Tragedy in Three Acts^{[17] [18]} an opera on a Japanese subject, set to a libretto by Menyhert Lengyel based on his play Typhoon; the opera was premiered in Mannheim on 29 November 1924, and had later productions in Antwerp, Budapest and Vienna
• Japan Suite, orchestra, 1926
• Magyarorszag: Concert Sonata in Hungarian style, violin and piano; dedicated to Eugène Ysaÿe^[19]

Transcriptions

• Johann Sebastian Bach: About a dozen transcriptions,^[8] including:
  • Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542, 1904^[20] (This has been recorded by Cyprien Katsaris^[21] and Marc-André Hamelin^[22])
  • Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543,1912^[23]
  • Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV 546, 1914^[24]
  • Passacaglia in C minor, BWV 582, 1932^[25]
  • 4 Organ Chorale Preludes, c. 1900^[26]
    • Aus der Tiefe rufe ich
    • Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 649
    • Jesu Leiden, Pein und Tod on Paul Stockmann's "Jesu Leiden, Pein und Tod"
    • Allein Gott in der Hoh sei Ehr, BWV 663
• Igor Stravinsky:
  • Suite of five pieces from Petrushka, 1922^[27]
    • "Fète populaire de la semaine grasse"
    • "Chez Petrouchka"
    • "Chez le maure"
    • "Danse de la ballerina"
    • "Danse russe"
  • "Marche chinoise" from Le Rossignol^{[8] [28]}

Discography

• 2017 : Acte Préalable AP0386 – Tivadar Szántó - Complete Piano Works 1 (Artur Cimirro) http://www.acteprealable.com/albums/ap0386.html
• 2017 : Acte Préalable AP0387 – Tivadar Szántó - Complete Piano Works 2 (Artur Cimirro) http://www.acteprealable.com/albums/ap0387.html

Notes and References

1. IMSLP gives his date of birth as 3 March 1877
2. http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Sz%C3%A1nt%C3%B3,_Tivadar IMSLP: Category:Szántó, Tivadar
3. https://books.google.com/books?id=sgDJKVXraE0C&dq=theodor+szanto&pg=PA85 Larry Sitsky, ed., Music of the Twentieth Century Avant Garde: A Biocritical Sourcebook, p. 85
4. Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed. (1954), Vol. VIII, p. 263
5. http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/archive/search/1900s/1907/october-22/1675 Proms Archive: Prom 57
6. https://archive.today/20130616120924/http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/archive/search/performers/theodor-sz%25e1nt%25f3/1 Proms Archive: Theodor Szántó
7. http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDA67296 Hyperion Records Delius & Ireland: Piano Concertos
8. http://www.chambermusicdetroit.org/media/1/30/Marc%20Andre-Hamelin%20Program%20Notes.pdf Marc-André Hamelin, Program Notes, Chamber Music Society of Detroit
9. https://books.google.com/books?id=fp5pM0oiUucC&dq=theodor+szanto&pg=PA338 Arthur Hartmann, "Claude Debussy as I Knew Him" and Other Writings of Arthur Hartmann, p. 18
10. https://books.google.com/books?id=12iihhdms_EC&dq=tivadar+szanto&pg=PA18 Peter Laki, Bartok and His World, p. 18
11. Web site: AP0386.
12. Web site: AP0387.
13. https://books.google.com/books?id=GUajKnF6OJYC&dq=tivadar+szanto&pg=PA58 Ezra Mendelsohn, ed., Studies in Contemporary Jewry : Volume IX: Modern Jews and Their Musical ...
14. http://thoth.library.utah.edu:1701/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=UUUmobile&docId=uuu_aleph001174997&fromSitemap=1&afterPDS=true University of Utah
15. http://imslp.org/wiki/In_Japan_(Sz%C3%A1nt%C3%B3,_Tivadar) IMSLP: In Japan (Szántó, Tivadar)
16. http://www.bis.se/index.php?op=album&aID=BIS-CD-1045 BIS: Japonisme
17. https://books.google.com/books?id=xDkxAwEACAAJ Google Books
18. [Peter Revers]
19. http://imslp.org/wiki/Magyarorszag_(Sz%C3%A1nt%C3%B3,_Tivadar) IMSLP: Magyarorszag (Szántó, Tivadar)
20. http://imslp.org/wiki/Fantasia_and_Fugue_in_G_minor,_BWV_542_(Bach,_Johann_Sebastian) IMSLP: Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542 (Bach, Johann Sebastian)
21. http://www.discogs.com/Bach-Cyprien-Katsaris-Bach-Recital-Vol-2-Transcriptions/release/2186443 Discogs

22. Retrieved 22 May 2013

23. http://imslp.org/wiki/Prelude_and_Fugue_in_A_minor,_BWV_543_(Bach,_Johann_Sebastian) IMSLP: Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543, 1912 (Bach, Johann Sebastian)
24. http://imslp.org/wiki/Prelude_and_Fugue_in_C_minor,_BWV_546_(Bach,_Johann_Sebastian) IMSLP: Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV 546 (Bach, Johann Sebastian)
25. http://imslp.org/wiki/Passacaglia_in_C_minor,_BWV_582_(Bach,_Johann_Sebastian) IMSLP: Passacaglia in C minor, BWV 582 (Bach, Johann Sebastian)
26. http://imslp.org/wiki/4_Orgel-Choralvorspiele_von_J.S._Bach_(Sz%C3%A1nt%C3%B3,_Tivadar) IMSLP: 4 Orgel-Choralvorspiele von J.S. Bach (Szántó, Tivadar)
27. http://imslp.org/wiki/Petrushka_(Stravinsky,_Igor) IMSLP: Petrushka (Stravinsky, Igor)
28. https://urresearch.rochester.edu/institutionalPublicationPublicView.action;jsessionid=10DB17041CCE0372933A49F09661E30B?institutionalItemVersionId=19828 University of Rochester