Name Theodor Szanto Died 1934, Budapest, Hungary | Role Composer | |
Stravinsky Szanto Chinese March
Theodor Szanto, also seen as Tivadar Szanto (3 June 1877 – 7 January 1934) was a Hungarian Jewish pianist and composer.
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Life and career
Szanto was born in Vienna, then the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His family name was originally Smulevic, of Jewish and Slavic origin. His musical studies were in Vienna and Budapest, and with Ferruccio Busoni in Berlin 1898-1901. He resided in Paris from 1905, Switzerland from 1914, and Budapest from 1921 until his death there in 1934.
Szanto contributed substantially to the rewriting of the piano part of the third and final version of Frederick Delius’s Piano Concerto in C minor, and he introduced this version at a Prom Concert in London on 22 October 1907 under Henry Wood. For these services, Delius dedicated the Concerto to Szanto. He also played the work at the Proms in 1912, 1913 and 1921. This final version has become the standard version, but Delius's original conception has also been recorded.
Theodor Szanto was an early champion of the music of Zoltan Kodaly and Bela Bartok. It was his playing of Bartok's Romanian Dance in 1914 that introduced Arthur Hartmann to the music of that composer. For his part, however, Bartok had little respect for Szanto.
He exhibited an interest in the music of Japan by writing at least three works using Japanese influences (an opera, an orchestral suite, and a piano suite).
He also made some piano transcriptions of works by Johann Sebastian Bach and Igor Stravinsky, which reveal a virtuoso technique. He was considered an important piano teacher. His students included Berta Alves de Sousa in Paris.
Szanto was awarded the Legion of Honour.
Original works
Szanto's own original compositions include: