László Lajtha

Lajtha worked between 1892 and 1963 across composer, conductor, musicologist, music educator and ethnomusicologist and 3 further recorded occupations. The registers place that work in opera and symphony. This article rests on 95 catalogued compositions, 17 issued recordings and 8 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

László Lajtha studied at Franz Liszt Academy of Music and Eötvös Loránd University. Training under Victor von Herzfeld, Árpád Szendy and Vincent d'Indy is recorded. The recorded working language is Hungarian. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are opera and symphony. Employment is recorded with Franz Liszt Academy of Music. Work by László Lajtha is recorded in the collections of Composer bequest of Lajtha, László and Folk Music Collection of Lajtha, László. Distinctions recorded are Kossuth Prize and Hungarian Heritage Award.

Lajtha was born to Ida Wiesel, a Transylvanian-Hungarian and Pál Lajtha, an owner of a leather factory. His father had ambitions to become a conductor, played the violin well and also composed. Lajtha studied with Viktor Herzfeld in the Academy of Music in Budapest and then in Leipzig, Geneva and finally Paris where he was a pupil of Vincent d'Indy. Before the First World War, in collaboration with Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, he undertook the study and transcription of Hungarian folk song, heading up a project to produce a series of folk music recordings. Throughout the war he served at the front as an artillery officer, an experience recalled in his sombre Second Symphony (1938) – a work that remained unperformed until 1988. In 1919 he married Róza Hollós, and began teaching at the Budapest National Conservatory. Among his pupils was the conductor János Ferencsik, who was later one of the principal champions of his music. From 1928 he was a member of the International Commission of Popular Arts and Traditions of the League of Nations. He was also a member of the International Folk Music Council based in London. After the Second World War, Lajtha was appointed Director of Music for Hungarian Radio, director of the Museum of Ethnography and of the Budapest National Conservatory. His symphonic piece In Memoriam was the first new work to be premiered in Budapest when concerts could be given there again. In 1947–48 Lajtha spent a year in London, having been asked by the film director George Hoellering to compose music for his film of T. S. Eliot's verse drama Murder in the Cathedral. Rather than providing a dedicated film score, Lajtha wrote three important concert works – his Third Symphony, Orchestral Variations and Harp Quintet No. 2 – extracts from which were used in the film. On his return to Hungary his passport was confiscated for having stayed too long in the West and he was removed from all the aforementioned posts. In 1951 he was awarded the Kossuth Prize for his activities in folk-music research. • Illustration — A commemorative plaque marks the home of Lajtha László on Váci Utca (street) in central Budapest, where he lived and worked between 1923 and 1963. Between 1923 and 1963, Lajtha lived at 79 Váci Utca (street) in the Inner City of Budapest, where a commemorative plaque has been placed. With his wife Rózsa Hollós he had two sons: László Lajtha (d. 1995) who was a world-renowned cancer researcher and Ábel Lajtha who is an internationally renowned neurologist and brain researcher living in the US.

• Egy muzsikus írásaiból (Writings of a Musician), 9 fantasies op. 1 (1913) • Contes • 11 pieces op. 2 (dedicated to Béla Bartók, 1914) • Sonata op. 3 (1914) • Prelude (1918) • 6 pieces op. 14 (1930) • Erdélyi induló (Transylvanian March) (1945) • 3 berceuses (for piano with or without voice, 1957)

• no. 1 Double fugue and rondo op. 5 (1923) • no. 2 op. 7 (1926) • no. 3 Játékország op. 11 (1929) • no. 4 op. 12 (1930) • no. 5 5 études op. 20 (1934) • no. 6 4 études op. 36 (1942) • no. 7 op. 49 (1950) • no. 8 op. 53 (1951) • no. 9 op. 57 (1953) • no. 10 Suite transylvaine in 3 parts op. 58 (1953)

• Piano quintet op. 4 (1922) • Piano quartet op. 6 (1925) • String trio (no. 1) Serenade op. 9 (1927) • Trio concertante with piano op. 10 (1928) • Sonate for violoncelle et piano op. 17 (1932) • String trio no. 2 op. 18 (dedicated to Romain Rolland, 1932) • Trio for flute, cello and harp op. 22 (1935) • Marionnettes, suite of 4 pieces for flute, violin, viola, cello and harp op. 26 (1937) • Sonata for violin and piano op. 28 (reportedly lost, 1938) • Concert (sonate) for cello and piano op. 31 (dedicated to André Navarra, interpreter of several of his chamber works, 1940) • Serenade for 3 wind instruments op. 40 (reportedly lost, 1944) • String trio no. 3 Soirs transylvains, 4 sketches op. 41 (1945) • 4 hommages for flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon op. 42 (1946) • Quintet no. 2 for flute, violin, viola, cello and harp op. 46 (1948) • Trio no. 2 for flute, cello and harp op. 47 (1949) • Intermezzo for alto saxophone and piano op. 59 (1954) • Concert sonata for flute and piano op. 64 (1958) • 3 pieces for solo flute op. 69 (1958) • Concert sonata for violin and piano op. 68 (1962)

• no. 1 op. 24 (1936) • no. 2 op. 27 (1938) • no. 3 op. 45a (from the film Murder in the Cathedral, 1948) • no. 4 Le Printemps op. 52 (1951) • no. 5 op. 55 (dedicated to Henry Barraud, 1952) • no. 6 op. 61 (1955) • no. 7 Révolution op. 63 (1957) (also called Autumn) • no. 8 op. 66 (1959) • no. 9 op. 67 (1961)

• Lysistrata op. 19a, from the eponymous Aristophanes play (1933, + reduction for 2 pianos, + 2 orchestral suites op. 19b and 19c, same year) • A négy isten ligete (The Grove of the Four Gods) op. 38a (1943, + reduction for piano 4 hands, + orchestral suite op. 38b, Suite no. 2, same year) • Capriccio op. 39 (1944, + reduction for piano 4 hands, same year)

• Concerto for violin op. 15 (reportedly lost, 1931) • Divertissement op. 25 (1936) • Symphony (unnumbered) Les Soli for string orchestra, harp and percussion op. 33 (dedicated to Florent Schmitt, 1941) • In Memoriam op. 35 (1941) • Sinfonietta (no. 1) for string orchestra op. 43 (1946) • Variations, op. 44 (11 variations for orchestra on a Simple Theme, 'Temptations’, from the film Murder in the Cathedral) (1947–8) • Suite no. 3 op. 56 (1952, written for the 100th anniversary of the Hungarian Philharmonic Orchestra) • Sinfonietta no. 2 for string orchestra op. 62 (1956)

• 19 Magyar népdal (19 Hungarian Folksongs) for mezzo-soprano, tenor, and piano (1924) • Motet for mezzo-soprano, contralto (or baritone) and piano (or organ) op. 8 (1926) • Vocalise-étude for high voice and piano (1931) • 3 nocturnes for soprano, flute, harp and string quartet op. 34 (1941)

• Le Chapeau bleu, opera buffa in two acts for soloists and orchestra op. 51 (1950)

• Esti párbeszéd - A hegylakók (Evening Conversation - The Mountains) for mixed a cappella choir op. 16 (1932) • 2 chœurs on poems of Charles d'Orléans for mixed a cappella choir op. 23 (1936) • 4 madrigals for voice on poems of Charles d'Orléans for mixed a cappella choir op. 29 (1939) • Hol járt a dal? for mixed a cappella choir op. 32 (1940) • Missa in tono phrygio or Missa in diebus tribulationis for choir and orchestra op. 50 (1950) • Missa for mixed choir and organ op. 54 (1952) • Magnificat for female choirs and organ op. 60 (1954) • 3 hymnes for la Sainte Vierge (3 Hymns for the Blessed Virgin), for female chorus and organ op. 65 (dedicated to Nadia Boulanger, 1958).

László Lajtha was born on 30 June 1892 in Budapest. Lajtha held the nationality of Hungary. Lajtha was educated at Franz Liszt Academy of Music and Eötvös Loránd University, which Lajtha left in 1913. Lajtha studied under Victor von Herzfeld, Árpád Szendy and Vincent d'Indy. Recorded child: László György Lajtha. Lajtha worked as composer, conductor, musicologist and music educator, and the authority record catalogues a further 4 occupations under the same name, among them ethnomusicologist, university teacher, collector of folk music and film score composer. Lajtha was employed by Franz Liszt Academy of Music. The fields Lajtha worked in include opera and symphony. Lajtha worked in Hungarian. Lajtha died on 16 February 1963 in Budapest. Lajtha is buried at Farkasréti Cemetery.