Scan 101
Groves Dictionary Of Music And Musicians,vol.5 L-m, 1900
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1ive musicianship surpassed his abilities in some respects, his compositions reveal a mind of considerable originality: in his programme suites — of which he is said to be the first Hungarian composer — he successfully attempted to reconcile the larger designs of European music to the national idiom. His polonaises, Ländler, etc., show his interest also in non-Hungarian melodies. His compositions were widely appreciated, especially by contemporary Hungarian writers: the poet Mihály Csokonai planned to publish his melodies with verses of his own and András Fáy wrote poems inspired by his music. Outside Hungary, too, his works were fairly well known, as may be inferred from the Abbé Gelinek’s arrangements of some of his pieces.
3His works are said to number well over a hundred, but the absence of a thematic catalogue and the scarcity of reliable documentary evidence make identification difficult at present. The extremely popular and widely known piece ‘The First Love of Lavotta’ (‘Lavotta első szerelme’) is however a misattribution: it was written by a contemporary of his, József Kossovits, a musician of Kassa. Most of his compositions remain in manuscript in various libraries (mainly the Music Department of the Hungarian National Museum) and his published works appeared partly in transcriptions by other hands and partly in collections. Only the works published separately can be mentioned here:
5‘Ungarische Werbungs Tanze fur zwey Violinen und Bass’ (by “Lavotte und Czermack” [sic]) (Vienna, ? 1810).
6‘Verbunkós Nóták oder Acht ungarische National-Tanze von Herrn Lavotta fur die Piano Forte eingerichtet von Herrn Abbé Gelinek’ (Vienna, ? 1815).
7‘Szigetvár ostroma’ (‘The Siege of Szigetvár’) ed. by János Kirch (Pest, c. 1830).
8‘Honi Emlék-Füzér néhai Lavotta Jánosnak Válogatott Eredeti zeneművei. Zongorára szerkesztette . . . Kirch János’ (‘Home-Memory Garland, Selected Original Musical Compositions of the late János Lavotta Arranged for the Pianoforte by János Kirch’), 2 vols. (Pest, ? 1843).
9‘Nobilium Hungariae Insurgentium Nota Insurrectio-nalis Hungarica. Anni 1797 op. sub Nro 66. In Memoriam Composita, et Reducta In nros 18 per D. Joannem Lavotta de J. F. et ad Clavicordium Deducta per B. S.’ (Pest, 1857).
11J. S. W.
13BIBLIOGRAPHY
14BARTALUS, ISTVÁN, ‘Lavotta János’ (‘Ország Tukre’, No. 4, Pest, 1865).
15BERNÁTH, GÁSPÁR, ‘Lavotta élete’ (‘Biography of Lavotta’) (Pest, 1857), based on the MS biography of the author’s father.
16ERDÉLYI, JÁNOS, ‘Lavotta János’ (‘Regélő Pesti Divatlap’, Nos. 32, 33, Pest, 21 & 24 Apr. 1842).
17FABÓ, BERTALAN: ‘Lavotta és a magyar opera’ (‘Lavotta and Hungarian Opera’) (‘Budapesti Hirlap’, Budapest, 25 Dec. 1904).
18KERESZTY, ISTVÁN, ‘Lavotta János halálának százéves évfordulójára’, (‘On the Hundredth Anniversary of Lavotta’s Death’) (‘Vasárnapi Ujság’, Budapest, 1920).
19‘Lavotta életrajza’ (‘Lavotta’s Biography’) (‘Pester Lloyd’, Budapest, 16 Nov. 1906).
20MARKÓ, MIKLÓS, ‘Emlékkönyv izsépsalvi és kevelházi
22Lavotta János halálának századik évfordulójára’ (‘Memorial Album for the Hundredth Anniversary of the Death of János Lavotta . . .’) (Budapest, 1920).
23SZILÁGYI, SÁNDOR, ‘Lavotta János, a Kor és az Ember’ (‘János Lavotta’: the Epoch and the Man’) (Budapest, 1930).
25LAVRANGA, Denis (b. Argostoli, Cephalonia, 17 Oct. 1864; d. Razata, Cephalonia, 18 July 1941).
26Greek conductor and composer. He had his first lessons in music in his native town from N. Serao (violin) and N. Tzanis (harmony). In 1882 he went to Naples and studied at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Maiella for three years. He continued (1885) his studies at the Paris Conservatoire, first in the class of Delibes for three months and later with Massenet for four years; he also had some lessons in harmony from Dubois.
28Lavranga began his career as conductor of a French operatic company touring in France (1889). After a short stay in Greece and Malta, he returned to Naples, where he produced his first opera, ‘Elda di Vorn’ (1890). A second opera, in four acts, ‘La vita è un sogno’, composed soon after, was never performed; its fourth act was later arranged as a new one-act opera, ‘The Sorceress’, given in Athens (Oct. 1901). After conducting in various theatres in Italy (Turin, Venice, etc.) he settled in Greece (1894) first as artistic director of the Philharmonic Society of Athens.
30In 1898 he established with a group of amateurs the National Hellenic Opera, for which he worked all his life; his untiring efforts in this direction were his chief contribution to the evolution of music in Greece. The company gave its first performance (‘Bohème’) on 26 Apr. 1900, under Lavranga’s collaborator L. Spinelli (1872–1904). Among other works presented by the N.H.O. were Lavranga’s operas, ‘The Two Brothers’ (Athens, May 1900) and ‘Dido’ (19 Apr. 1909), this last considered his best work. The company continued its work with many difficulties and periodical suspensions, appearing in the principal Greek towns and the neighbouring countries, Egypt, Turkey, Rumania and Russia. In his ‘Memoirs’ (1939) he relates the story of these efforts, which had for their outcome the establishment by the State in 1940 of the National Lyric Theatre (National Opera House).
32Lavranga worked for a short period as harmony teacher at the Athens Conservatory (1900–4) and published certain educational booklets, ‘Handbook of Harmony’ (1904), ‘Theory of Music’ (1905) and others. He received, together with S. Samara and N. Lambelet, the Greek National Medal of Letters and Arts.
34The 2-act comic opera ‘Facanapas’ (libretto by the composer, after Scribe), was first performed in memory of Lavranga at the
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