Louis Kentner facts for kids
Louis Philip Kentner was a famous Hungarian and later British pianist. He was born in 1905 and passed away in 1987. He was especially known for playing the music of Chopin and Liszt, as well as music from his home country, Hungary. He received a special honor called the CBE for his work.
A Musical Journey
Louis Philip Kentner was born Lajos Kentner in a town called Karwin. This place is now known as Karviná in the Czech Republic. His parents were Hungarian. He started his music education very early, from 1911 to 1922, at the Royal Academy of Music in Budapest. There, he learned to play the piano, how to compose music, and chamber music (music for small groups of instruments).
Kentner started performing concerts when he was only 15 years old! For some time, he was known internationally as Ludwig Kentner. In 1932, he won 5th Prize at the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. He also won a special Liszt Prize in Budapest. A famous Hungarian composer, Zoltán Kodály, wrote a piece called Dances of Marosszék especially for Kentner. Kentner played it for the very first time in Budapest in 1927.
In 1935, Kentner moved to England permanently with his wife, Ilona Kabos, who was also a pianist. They settled in London. Kentner performed many important radio broadcasts. He played all the piano sonatas by Beethoven and Schubert. He also played Bach's complete The Well-Tempered Clavier and Liszt's complete Années de pèlerinage.
Kentner was chosen by the composer Béla Bartók to be the soloist for the first Hungarian performance of Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 2. This happened in Budapest in 1933, with Otto Klemperer conducting. In November 1942, Kentner and his wife, Ilona Kabos, gave the very first performance of Bartók's Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra in London. Kentner was also the soloist for the first European performance of Bartók's Concerto No. 3 in London in 1946.
He also performed with the famous violinist Yehudi Menuhin. They gave the first performance of William Walton's Violin Sonata in Zürich in 1949. Kentner was also a big supporter of music by Russian composers like Balakirev and Lyapunov.
Music for Films
You might have heard Kentner's playing in the famous Warsaw Concerto from the 1941 film Dangerous Moonlight. At first, he didn't want to be named in the credits because he thought being linked to film music might not help his serious concert career. However, when the piece became very popular around the world, he was happy to share that he was involved.
For many years, until he passed away, Kentner was the President of the British Liszt Society. In 1975, he invited a young Argentinian pianist, Enrique A. Danowicz, to study music under his guidance at the Menuhin School of Music in London. Kentner was the director there at the time. He also served as a judge for many music competitions. Besides performing, he also composed his own music, including pieces for orchestra, chamber music, piano, and songs.
His Family Life
His marriage to Ilona Kabos ended in 1945. After that, he married Griselda Gould. Griselda was the daughter of another pianist named Evelyn Suart. Griselda's sister, Diana, later married Yehudi Menuhin in 1947, making them brothers-in-law. Kentner became a British citizen in 1946. At that time, he was living at 1 Mallord Street in Chelsea.
