Zoltán Göncz
Encyclopedia
Zoltán Göncz is a Hungarian composer
who often applies archaic forms (canon
, passacaglia
) and complex structures in his compositions.
He graduated from the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in 1980. He was music editor at the National Philharmonic Agency between 1983 and 1997, then worked in the same capacity with the musical ensembles of the Hungarian Radio from 1997 to 2008. Since 2008 he has been employed by the John Wesley
Theological College.
He has dealt intensively with musicology for decades.
Awards, distinctions: For his strenuous work in the field of familiarizing and propagating contemporary Hungarian music he was recompensed with the Artisjus-Prize twice (1994, 2006). For his outstanding achievements in international Bach research and the book entitled Bach testamentuma [Bach’s Testament] he has been decorated with the Silver Cross of Distinction of the Hungarian Republic in 2009.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
who often applies archaic forms (canon
Canon (music)
In music, a canon is a contrapuntal composition that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration . The initial melody is called the leader , while the imitative melody, which is played in a different voice, is called the follower...
, passacaglia
Passacaglia
The passacaglia is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used by contemporary composers. It is usually of a serious character and is often, but not always, based on a bass-ostinato and written in triple metre....
) and complex structures in his compositions.
He graduated from the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in 1980. He was music editor at the National Philharmonic Agency between 1983 and 1997, then worked in the same capacity with the musical ensembles of the Hungarian Radio from 1997 to 2008. Since 2008 he has been employed by the John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
Theological College.
He has dealt intensively with musicology for decades.
Awards, distinctions: For his strenuous work in the field of familiarizing and propagating contemporary Hungarian music he was recompensed with the Artisjus-Prize twice (1994, 2006). For his outstanding achievements in international Bach research and the book entitled Bach testamentuma [Bach’s Testament] he has been decorated with the Silver Cross of Distinction of the Hungarian Republic in 2009.
Works, completions
- “…i rinoceronti del nero cosmo…” – omaggio a Dino BuzzatiDino BuzzatiDino Buzzati-Traverso was an Italian novelist, short story writer, painter and poet, as well as a journalist for Corriere della Sera. His worldwide fame is mostly due to his novel Il deserto dei Tartari, translated into English as The Tartar Steppe.-Life:Buzzati was born at San Pellegrino,...
– for brass quintet (1985–86) - Great canon (Canon perpetuus per tonos et semitonium in contrario motu) – for orchestra (1987–88)
- J. S. Bach: FantasiaFantasia (music)The fantasia is a musical composition with its roots in the art of improvisation. Because of this, it seldom approximates the textbook rules of any strict musical form ....
and FugueFugueIn music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....
in C minor BWV 562 (completion: 1989) (see external links) - J. S. Bach: Contrapunctus XIV (Quadruple fugue) from The Art of FugueThe Art of FugueThe Art of Fugue , BWV 1080, is an incomplete work by Johann Sebastian Bach . It was most likely started at the beginning of the 1740s, if not earlier. The first known surviving version, which contained 12 fugues and 2 canons, was copied by the composer in 1745...
(reconstruction and completion: 1990–92) (the score published by Carus-Verlag [CV 18.018] in 2006) (see external links) - Whirl, PalimpsestPalimpsestA palimpsest is a manuscript page from a scroll or book from which the text has been scraped off and which can be used again. The word "palimpsest" comes through Latin palimpsēstus from Ancient Greek παλίμψηστος originally compounded from πάλιν and ψάω literally meaning “scraped...
, PentiumPentiumThe original Pentium microprocessor was introduced on March 22, 1993. Its microarchitecture, deemed P5, was Intel's fifth-generation and first superscalar x86 microarchitecture. As a direct extension of the 80486 architecture, it included dual integer pipelines, a faster FPU, wider data bus,...
– 3 algorithmic studies for 2 pianos (1996) (see external links) - Canon gradus a 12 (per tonos, in contrario motu, per arsin et thesin) ad honorem J. S. – for mixed choir to a poem “Ten stairs” by Sándor WeöresSándor WeöresSándor Weöres was a Hungarian poet and author.Born in Szombathely, Weöres was brought up in the nearby village of Csönge. His first poems appeared when he was nineteen, being published in the influential journal Nyugat through the acceptance of its editor, the poet Mihály Babits...
(2005) - J. S. Bach: O Traurigkeit, o Herzeleid! – chorale preludeChorale preludeIn music, a chorale prelude is a short liturgical composition for organ using a chorale tune as its basis. It was a predominant style of the German Baroque era and reached its culmination in the works of J.S. Bach, who wrote 46 examples of the form in his Orgelbüchlein.-Function:The liturgical...
(fragment from the OrgelbüchleinOrgelbüchleinThe Orgelbüchlein was written by Johann Sebastian Bach during the period of 1708–1714, while he was court organist at the ducal court in Weimar...
– BWV Anhang 200) (completion: 2011) (see external links)
Publications
- "The Permutational Matrix in J. S. Bach’s Art of Fugue," Studia Musicologica Vol. 33, 1991, 109–119.
- "Reconstruction of the Final Contrapunctus of The Art of Fugue," International Journal of Musicology Vol. 5, 1997, 25–93. ISBN 3-631-49809-8; Vol. 6, 1998, 103–119. ISBN 3-631-33413-3 (in Hungarian: "A fúga művészete zárócontrapunctusának rekonstrukciója," Bach Tanulmányok 2, 1993)
- Bach testamentuma [Bach’s testament], Budapest, Gramofon könyvek, 2009 ISBN 978-963-86157-5-6
- "The Sacred Codes of the Six-Part RicercarRicercarA ricercar is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition. The term means to search out, and many ricercars serve a preludial function to "search out" the key or mode of a following piece...
," Bach. The Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute Vol. 42/1 (2011), 46–69. (see external links) (in Hungarian: "A hatszólamú ricercar szakrális kódjai," Magyar Zene 2011/1, 17–37.)
External links
- J. S. Bach: Fugue in C minor BWV 562:2 (score)
- J. S. Bach: Fugue in C minor BWV 562:2 (notes and graphic chart)
- J. S. Bach: Fugue in C minor BWV 562:2 (YouTube)
- J. S. Bach: Contrapunctus XIV (reconstructed quadruple fugue from the Art of Fugue) – Carus-Verlag
- J. S. Bach: Contrapunctus XIV (YouTube) – part 1
- J. S. Bach: Contrapunctus XIV (YouTube) – part 2
- J. S. Bach: O Traurigkeit, o Herzeleid! – completed chorale prelude BWV Anh. 200 (YouTube)
- Zoltán Göncz: Three Algo-Rhytmic Studies (YouTube)
- János Malina: The Ultimate Fugue, The Hungarian Quarterly, Winter 2007
- Zoltán Göncz: The Sacred Codes of the Six-Part Ricercar, Bach Studies 11 (2011) – online version of the Hungarian Bach Society