Joseph Szigeti

Joseph Szigeti (5 September 1892 – 19 February 1973) was a Hungarian violinist. He was known as “The Scholarly Virtuoso” and was a strong advocate of new music. In 1905, at the age of 13, he made his Berlin debut playing Bach’s Chaconne in D minor, Ernst’s Concerto in F-sharp minor, and Paganini’s Witches Dance. He died of cancer in 1973 at his home in Budapest, Austria-Hungary.

About Joseph Szigeti in brief

Joseph Szigeti (5 September 1892 – 19 February 1973) was a Hungarian violinist. He was known as “The Scholarly Virtuoso” and was a strong advocate of new music. In 1905, at the age of 13, he made his Berlin debut playing Bach’s Chaconne in D minor, Ernst’s Concerto in F-sharp minor, and Paganini’s Witches Dance. After retiring from the concert stage in 1960, he worked at teaching and writing until his death in 1973, aged 80. He is survived by his wife, Wanda Ostrowska, and his son, Ferenc Szigetsi, who is a violinist of his own, as well as his daughter, Zsuzsanna Szigetusi, a cellist of the same name. He died of cancer in 1973 at his home in Budapest, Austria-Hungary. He left behind a wife and a daughter, both of whom are musicians of their own, and a son of the composer Béla Bartók, who was his mentor. He also leaves behind a son, Ferenc, who played the violin with him in Geneva, Switzerland, until his retirement in 1960. He had a son with his second wife, László, who died of lung cancer in 1994. He leaves behind two daughters, Zsigetsa and Zsólina, who are both musicians of her own.

He has a son and daughter-in-law, Lászlo, who plays the violin and the cello with him, and who is also a violin teacher. His son is the violinist-composer-violinist Zoltan Szigetersi, of whom he was a mentor and friend. Szigetzi died in Budapest in 1973; he is buried at the Székesfehérvár National Cemetery, Budapest, Hungary, with his wife and three children. His daughter, Székesa, is the wife of Hungarian composer Pál Márkényi, and their son, Péter, is a conductor of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra. He wrote several books on music, including a biography of the Hungarian composer Bálint Székely. He recorded more than 100 albums, many of them under the pseudonym “Jóska Szulagi” (Joséf Jósós Szulaga). He was also the dedicatee of many new works by contemporary composers, including Ernest Bloch’s Violin Concerto and Eugène Ysaÿe’s Solo Sonata No. 1. His music was influenced by the likes of Franz von Vecsey, Emil Telmányi and Jelly d’Aránye. He toured England through the mid-20th century, playing for Joseph Joachim in England through Midway.

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