Sándor Végh

In the same year (1940) in which he established the quartet that bore his name, Végh became a professor at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, a position he held until 1946, when he left Hungary. In 1952 he met cellist Pablo Casals, who invited Végh to join him in giving summer classes in Zermatt, Switzerland (1953–62) and to appear annually at Casals' Prades Festival (1953–69). He began his first recital there with Bach: the solo Sonata in g minor. Works of Bach played a special role in his life, as Végh himself declared on numerous occasions. He found teaching rewarding and taught at the Basel Conservatory (1953–63), in Freiburg (1954–62), Düsseldorf (1962–69), and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg (1971–97). He founded the International Chamber Music Festival of Cervo (Liguria, Italy) in 1964, and often conducted there. He also founded an orchestra, the Sándor Végh Chamber Orchestra, which he led from 1968 to 1971, and conducted the Marlboro Festival Orchestra (1974–77). And in 1972, after visiting Cornwall (England) at Hilary Tunstall-Behrens' invitation, he co-founded the International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove (England). In 1978 he became conductor of the Camerata Academica at the Mozarteum. With them he made a recording of Mozart’s divertimentos and serenades that won the Grand Prix du Disque in 1989. He was awarded "Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur" in 1986, Doctor Honoris causa of Warwick and Exeter universities (1987), an honorary appointment as Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1988 and the Gold Medal of Salzburg in 1987. In letters to Charles Barber, Carlos Kleiber referred to Végh as "my conducting idol" and said: "That man is pure music. A monster". "He is great, wild, Asiatic... I didn't get a word in edgeways, thank God." Végh took French citizenship in 1953, but is perhaps best regarded as a "world citizen of music", having made his home in Basel and, from 1971, in Greifensee, near Zurich. He also lived in Salzburg from the 1970s onwards. After a short illness in 1997, he died at a hospital in Freilassing, just across the border from Salzburg. His grave is in the cemetery of the old parish church in Liefering, in the district of Salzburg.