Geza Falk

Geza Falk was born on 16 January 1899 in Budapest (then part of Austria-Hungary, now Hungary). He studied music at the Budapest Music Academy under Albert Siklos (composition) and Arpad Szendy (piano).
After completing his studies, he initially pursued a career as a composer. As early as 1923, he composed "A furulyas" for soloists, children’s choir, and orchestra (based on the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin), which was premiered the same year. He also composed chamber music and songs, but it was above all his large-scale works that received greater attention. In 1929, Geza Falk composed the oratorio "Mózes", which was premiered in the same year. In 1930, the dance poem "Endymion" followed, as well as another oratorio, "A kinyilatkoztatas", and the orchestral suite with tenor solo "A kinai fuvola".
Alongside his work as a composer, Geza Falk also began giving public lectures on composers and the history of music. It appears that he achieved greater success - or at least better financial prospects - with his lectures, and from the early 1930s onward he increasingly shifted his focus from composing to musical writing. In addition to his lectures, he wrote articles for various newspapers and music journals. From 1936 onward, Geza Falk concentrated on larger formats and published at least one or two books each year until 1944. In total, he published more than 16 books on composers such as Verdi, Liszt, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Puccini; on all of Beethoven’s symphonies; on Hungarian composers; as well as on general musical topics, including a musical vocabulary, a comprehensive pocket dictionary of music, a radio listener’s encyclopedia, a complete music book for students aged 12 to 16, and a work on general music theory.
Until mid-1944, Geza Falk, as a Jew, was still able to continue working in Budapest. When the Arrow Cross Party seized power in October 1944, mass deportations toward Vienna began immediately. These were carried out on foot in large columns, so-called “death marches.” Geza Falk was among those forced into one of these marches, and he died on 29 March 1945 in Petržalka (Slovakia).

Endymion

In my possession is the autograph full score of "Endymion", a work by Geza Falk composed in 1930. The piece bears the subtitle “dance poem” (Tanzpoem), as it is based on a text by M. Karlev (the pseudonym of Karl von Levetzow), which serves as a literary framework for the choreographic action. Rather than being sung or recited, the text is translated into a ballet-like sequence of dances performed by various characters, accompanied by a full orchestra. The score is dedicated to the concert singer Margit Balanyi.