Josef Maria Horváth

• Name — Josef Maria Horváth • Birth Name — József Mária Horváth • Born — 29 December 1931 • Birthplace — Pécs, Hungary • Died — 21 October 2019 • Place of death — Salzburg, Austria • Occupation — * Composer • Pianist • Conductor • List Of Works — List of compositions

Josef Maria Horváth was born on 20 December 1931 as József Mária Horváth in Pécs, Hungary. He learned to play the organ at the Jesuit School of his hometown. After high school he studied piano (receiving his diploma in 1956), music composition, and conducting at the Liszt Academy in Budapest. Horváth emigrated to Austria in 1956 to study at the Mozarteum University Salzburg in Salzburg. His studies lasted until 1959 with a focus on piano, composition and electronic music under Cesar Bresgen and Kurt Leimer. After his 1959 graduation, Horváth led a career within Austria and abroad as a pianist, conductor and sometimes organist, described by his later publisher Musikverlag Doblinger as a "successful concert career" [erfolgreiche Konzerttätigkeit]. He often performed his own compositions. Based in Salzburg, in 1964 Horváth left a career as a pianist to concentrating almost exclusively on composition. He joined the faculty of his alma mater, the Mozarteum University, from 1979 onwards as Professor of Music Theory and Practice of Contemporary Music and Counterpoint [Theorie und Praxis der Neuen Musik und Kontrapunkt]. Throughout his career, Horváth was commissioned by Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the Ensemble 20. Jahrhundert, and the Salzburg Festival, among other ensembles and organizations. According to composer Rupert Huber, Horváth's works are of impeccable craftsmanship and combine "compositional rigor and coherence with great beauty of sound". The musicologist Cliff Eisen described Horváth as among the most important 20th-century composers active in Salzburg. Horváth died on 21 October 2019 in Salzburg.