Géza Anda facts for kids
Géza Anda (born November 19, 1921 – died June 14, 1976) was a talented Swiss-Hungarian pianist. He was famous for playing classical and romantic music, especially pieces by Mozart. People also loved his performances of music by Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, and Bartók.
During his career, Géza Anda was seen as an amazing artist. He had a beautiful and natural way of playing the piano that made his concerts special. Many of his recordings were made with the Deutsche Grammophon music company.
Contents
Géza Anda's Life Story
Early Life and Training
Géza Anda was born in 1921 in Budapest, which is the capital city of Hungary. He began his music studies with teachers like Imre Stefaniai and Imre Keéri-Szántó. Later, he became a student of famous composers Ernst von Dohnányi and Zoltán Kodály at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest.
In 1940, Géza Anda won the Liszt Prize, which is a big award for musicians. The next year, he became known around the world for his performance of Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 2. In 1941, he also played with the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra for the first time. The conductor, Wilhelm Furtwängler, called him the "troubadour of the piano." A troubadour was a traveling singer in olden times, so this nickname meant he played beautifully and traveled a lot. In 1943, he moved to Switzerland to live. He was married to Hortense Bührle.
A Famous Pianist and Teacher
In the mid-1950s, Anda started teaching special music classes called masterclasses at the Salzburg Mozarteum in Austria. In 1960, he became the director of the Lucerne masterclasses, taking over from another famous musician, Edwin Fischer. One of his students, Per Enflo, later became well-known for his work in math.
As a performer, Anda was especially known for playing piano music by Schumann and Brahms. Many people thought he was the best at playing music by Bartók during his time.
Even though he didn't play much Mozart music when he was younger, he later became the first pianist to record all of Mozart's piano concertos. He recorded these between 1961 and 1969, and he even conducted the orchestra while playing the piano!
His performance of a part called the Andante from Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 in C became very famous. It was used in the 1967 movie Elvira Madigan. Because of this, people often called that concerto the "Elvira Madigan" concerto.
Géza Anda was honored in 1965 when he was named a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, which is a special award from France for people in the arts. He also became an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in 1970.
Working with Great Conductors
Throughout his career, Géza Anda worked with many other famous conductors. Some of these included Ferenc Fricsay, Claudio Abbado, Ernest Ansermet, Sir John Barbirolli, Karl Böhm, Eugen Jochum, Herbert von Karajan, Otto Klemperer, Rafael Kubelík, and George Szell.
Géza Anda passed away on June 14, 1976, in Zurich, Switzerland, when he was 54 years old.
See also
In Spanish: Géza Anda para niños
