Istvan Szelenyi

Istvan Szelenyi was born on 8 August 1904 in Zvolen (at that time Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Slovakia). He studied at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest under Istvan Laub and Arnold Szekely (piano) and Zoltan Kodaly (composition). After his studies Istvan Szelenyi started a career as pianist and became a prominent advocate of modern composers like Bartok, Schönberg, Hindemith or Casella. In 1926 Istvan Szelenyi was one of the founding members of the composer group Modern Magyar Muzsikusok (Modern Hungarian Musicians) together with Pal Kadosa, György Kosa, Ferenc Szabo and Hugo Kelen. In the 1930s Istvan Szelenyi cut back his tour activities, became conductor to different labourer choirs in Hungary and was a part of the labour movement. During World War II he was imprisoned in a concentration camp. After World War II Istvan Szelenyi became one of the leading scholars about the work of Franz Liszt. He researched in Weimar for forgotten Liszt manuscripts and published some of his works for the first time (Bagatelle sans tonalite, Csardas macabre). Beside that he taught piano and composition at the Franz Liszt Music Academy and the Bela Bartok Conservatory in Budapest until his retirement in 1966.
Istvan Szelenyi died on 31 January 1972 in Budapest (Hungary).

The work catalogue of Istvan Szelenyi contains an operetta, 3 oratorios, a symphony, a suite for string orchestra, 2 violin concertos, a piano concerto, a triple concerto for violin, viola, piano and wind orchestra, chamber music, pianoand choral works.

Aria for cello and piano

In my possession is the autograph manuscript of the "Aria for cello and piano" by Istvan Szelenyi. Nowadays the work is often titled "Aria for cello (or clarinet) and piano" and due to its popularity also arrangements for violin, viola or alto saxophone exist. I could not find out the exact compositional history of the work, but in my manuscript the Aria is only set for cello and piano. The reason for that might be the fact that the manuscript came from the estate of renowned Hungarian cellist Vera Denes. On the title page is a handwritten dedication to her by Istvan Szelenyi. So maybe Szelenyi offered only the cello version to a cellist. Or the work was at first intended to be only for cello and piano. In any way the Aria was composed in 1952 and remains one of the best known compositions by Szelenyi nowadays. The score is still available today via Schott.