Ferenc Farkas (1905–2000) was an outstanding representative of 20th-century Hungarian music. According to the profile written by his biographer László Gombos, during his eight-decade-long career he acquired exceptional popularity and in his old age he was honoured as the doyen of Hungarian music. After studies with Leó Weiner and Albert Siklós in Budapest, he deepened his knowledge with Ottorino Respighi in Rome.

Throughout his life he was working and studying incessantly. One of the keys to his wide-ranging success is his versatility. He wrote incidental and film music, made arrangements, rehearsed and conducted, and profited from his experiences in his art as well. He composed for almost all instruments from solo to octet, including vocal and orchestral music, masses, oratorios and incidental music. From 1949 onwards he was active as professor of composition at the Academy of Music for twenty-five years, being the master of György Ligeti and György Kurtág, to name only two of his pupils.

Farkas arranged a handful of early Hungarian dance pieces, preserved in various late Renaissance music manuscripts, for various groups of performers. Hungarian Dances from the 17th Century for chamber orchestra is one of these arrangements, having introduced generations of young music students into the charming world of Hungarian musical past.

The Concertino IV for oboe and string orchestra was composed in 1982–83 and dedicated to the renowned Swiss oboist Jean-Paul Goy. Its three short movements, following the traditional tempo order, mirror Farkas’s attraction to Neo-Classicism or rather to Classical order and harmony itself. Nevertheless, the musical language is modern and personal, and allows the soloist to exhibit his virtuosity.

The Rose Madrigal was composed for a four-part mixed (chamber) choir in 1948. The poem set to music by Farkas had been written by the great Hungarian poet Sándor Weöres who liked to appear in several guises in his poetry. Here we see him as a medieval trouvère, singing a parable about love; the delicateness of his poem is perfectly matched by the freshness and simplicity of Farkas’s music.

The Concertino all’antica for violoncello or baryton and string orchestra is another piece of special interest. The primary solo instrument of the concertino is the baryton, a multi-stringed, viol-like bass string instrument of the Baroque and Classical era, with strings to be bowed and to be stringed. It was the favourite instrument of Haydn’s employer, Prince Nicholas Esterházy “The Magnificent”, and it used to have a devoted modern Hungarian player, János Liebner, to whom Farkas dedicated his work in 1964.

The Rumanian Folk Dances for flute, cimbalom (ad libitum) and string orchestra was originally composed for a melody instrument and piano in 1952. This version in which the optional cimbalom adds a tinge to the orchestral sound and in the middle section it accompanies the flute alone, was dedicated to the flautist András Adorján in 1988.
János Malina

SELECTED WORKS

Hungarian Dances from the 17th Century
for chamber orchestra
Fl, Ob (or Fl), Cemb (or Pf or Cimb), 2Vl, Vla, Vc, B
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Concertino IV
for oboe and string orchestra
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Rose Madrigal
for mixed choir
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Concertino all'antica
for baryton or violoncello and string orchestra
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Rumanian Folk Dances
for flute, cimbalom (ad libitum) and string orchestra
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