Magyar Herald, 1989 (1-3. szám)
1989 / 2. szám
2nd QUARTER, 1989 MAGYAR HERALD Page 3 _____ ■ The Picture gallery of our Magyar Club — Miniature verbal portraits from past and present — LESLIE KONDOROSSY Robert Finn wrote in a review of one of Leslie Kondorossy’s concerts “Certainly, no one would complain that Kondorossy is a radical. In fact, the man writes so comfortably in such a wide variety of styles that the listener is left wondering: ‘Which is the true Kondorossy? Is it the Bartók-like rhythms in some of his fast movements, the neo-Brahms-like rhythms of the violin music, the almost Debussylike harmonic progressions of his song groups? The man changes musical style so easily that the question arises, which suit is his own? ” Leslie Kondorossy was bom in what is now Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, but was then Pozsony, Hungary. He was educated in Budapest, studied violin and composition at the Franz Liszt Academy. By the age of 20 he had organized and directed a small chamber orchestra in Budapest and was a magazine music critic. He wrote his first composition, a march, at the age of 16 and from that time on Composition was the driving force in his life. He has lived in 3 countries. Upon the occupation of Budapest by the Nazi’s, he fled to Germany where he lived for 6 years. While in Regensburg, Germany, he worked for the U.S. Underground as Artistic Music Director. During that time his music was performed in concerts at Bayreuth and Salzburg. He came to the U.S. in 1951 and studied music at Case Western Reserve University. He also studied Japanese Music at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan. His 176 opus consist of music for all music media, string solo and ensemble music, vocal, art, and religious music including solos, anthems, cantatas oratorios, 10 one act operas, one 5 act opera, Nathan the Wise, 3 opera oratorios, one of which was played in part on TV in Cleveland and in Tokyo. His music has been played in concert and on radio in Austria, Germany, Hungary, Australia and the U.S. Commissions: Kossuth Cantata by the United Hungarian Societies of Cleveland; Night in the Puszta by the Church Civic Committee for the Arts; New Dreams for Old, Church of the Master; David, the Son of Jesse by the Oratorio Fund; Ode to the Loyalty to the First Hungarian Reformed Church to a poem written by Dr. Stephen Szabo, Kalamona and the Four Winds, an opera-oratorio by the Martha Holden Jennings Fund. David, text by Rev. Richard Glass, adapted to the music by Elizabeth Kondorossy based on Biblical narrative of I and II Samuel with portions of 5 Psalms was performed at Cleveland Institute of Music Kulas Hall on June 4, 1967. It has been performed since in German in Vienna and in Hungarian in Budapest. Other concert performances of his music has been at Severance Chamber Music Hall and Strosacker Hall on the Case-Western Reserve campus. He is listed in Bakers Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, the International Who’s Who in Music. Two Thousand Men of Achievement. Dictionary of International Biography, and Who’s Who in the Midwest. This is how Baker’s summerizes Kondorossy’s works: He is especially proficient in producing short operas; among them are Night in the Puszta (Cleveland. June 28, 1953); The Voice (Cleveland, May 15, 1954); The Pumpkin (Cleveland, May 15. 1954); Unexpected Visitor and The Two Imposters (Cleveland, Oct. 21, 1956); The Fox (Cleveland, Jan. 28, 1961); The Baksis (1964); Nathan the Wise (1964); the radio operas The Midnigh Duel (Cleveland Radio, March 20, 1955); The String Quartet (Cleveland Radio, May 8, 1955); children’s operas The Poorest Suitor (Cleveland, May 24, 1967); Shizuka’s Dance (Cleveland, April 22, 1969; also performed on Tokyo Television, Japan. July 31, 1974); Kalamona and the Four Winds (Cleveland Radio. Sept. 12. 1971); church opera, Ruth and Naomi (Cleveland, April 28, 1974); Kossuth Cantata (Cleveland, March 16, 1952); David, A Son of Jesse, oratorio (Cleveland, June 4, 1967); Trombone Concerto (1958); Trumpet Concerto (1959); Harp Concerto (1961); Jazz Mass for voices and jazz band (1968); Harpsichord Concerto (1972); numerous organ pieces. The Little Hungarian Pieces, op. 86, are all straight-forward essays in the magyar musical vocabulary. These are pleasant enough short works. But they would hardly seem significant regarding the number of extensive and much more complex pieces in the composer’s ‘sample package,’ if they did not contain facets reflecting in a general manner upon Kondorossy’s music. As first we leaf through the scores, certain redundancies of musical patterns, sonorous and textural situations, and tonal flavors become obvious. These are not always functional and occasionally they appear disingenuous. Yet they are closely linked to the Hungarian strains so obviously present in the little national pieces. Hungarian sonorities and motives crop up again and again. A similar Hungarian consciousness seems to motivate Kondorossy’s preferance for simple scalar themes, diminished chord episodes, effects of intensification through repetition, and an unmistakably oriental flavor which recurs, often quite unexpectedly, in his contexts. In 1951, Kondorossy came to Cleveland. He staged his first opera, “Night in the Puszta,” at Music Hall. (Puszta is the Hungarian lowland.) “Night on the Puszta” is somewhat long, completely melodious and higly interesting. In the year of 1952 Kondorossy composed his famous ‘Kossuth Cantate’ in commemoration of Kossuth’s visit to Cleveland a Century before. The words were written by Dr. Stephen Szabo. The presentation took place at the Public Auditorium with choir and orchestra accompaniment. City and State officials present. Governor of Ohio, Frank J. Lausche, often quoted it to be one of the most impressive events of his life. The Cantata proved to be the most classical salute to the centennial of the great historical event. Kondorossy belongs to the World War I generation and has at his disposal its musical heritage. To be sure, he has not always succeeded in making it his own. There are in his work ‘uneasy’ passages which seem to fall short of what the composer envisioned. There is an amount of experimentation. His roots and their implications a definite feeling for musical continuity and the knack ‘to bring it off,’ a sturdy sense of structure, and a grasp of the technical aspects of music making. All of which spells a creative syndrome that points to success, if it pleases the Muse... Probably this brief report is a rather inadequate one. Yet the purpose, after all, was not to explain what makes Kondorossy Kondorossy, but rather to describe a few aspects of some of his works. Dr. Rawsky, former head of the Fine Arts Department in the Cleveland Public Library wrote in a review about Kondorossy: “The sonorous panorama of Hungarian music seems to be at the core of
