Sonic Apricity

From 1934 to 1942, Szőnyi attended girls’ secondary school in Budapest, where the well-known music teacher and choir director Adrienne Sztrojanovits taught. She began composing at the age of 13, initially writing short pieces for piano. Around that time, she became a private student in music theory with Miklós Laurisin, and studied harmony with him. Her compositions from her school days included songs and choral pieces, as well as other works for the piano. Her first vocal composition (in the style of the 19th century) was a song based on the text Der Fichtenbaum und die Palme by Heinrich Heine.

Szőnyi’s most important musical experience during this time was getting to know the choral pieces and folk songs of Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, whom she accompanied as a pianist. These works inspired the young composer in her own vocal music compositions. She then became a student at the Music Academy in Budapest, where she studied with János Viski. Viski taught with authority and academic style, but was very supportive of his students. The personal, friendly contact with Kodály, whom she met through Viski, also contributed greatly to her further musical development.

With Viski she had to master counterpoint to perfection and observe all the rules of the classical form. He only allowed liberties if the students had independent ideas of their own. All the work in the composition department was affected by the war, however, and Szőnyi and her other young colleagues felt unmotivated and uprooted.

Immediately following WWII, from 1945 to 1946 Szőnyi taught at the Academy for the absent Kodály, although she did not finish her studies there until 1947. Her exam composition was a “symphony for orchestra” in two versions: the first in the academic style, as she had learned from her teacher Viski, and the second in her own style.

In Budapest, Szőnyi met Tony Aubin, who was professor of composition at the Paris Conservatory. He recommended that she continue studying in Paris, which the young composer did from 1947 onwards. In Paris, she delighted professors and students with her style, which was heavily influenced by Hungarian folk music. This particular musical language contributed to the success of her Divertimento for Orchestra, which she composed in Paris and conducted at the premiere.

In addition to studying composition, her most valuable experience in Paris was studying music analysis with Olivier Messiaen. He gave a course on Claude Debussy and analyzed Pelleas et Melisande and La mer. In addition, she had lessons in Nadia Boulanger’s accompaniment class, where she became acquainted with compositions by Igor Stravinsky. During this time she earned her living by teaching, while continuing to compose despite her limited time.

After her return to Hungary, she played a key role in shaping Hungarian education and taught 6-year-old children in the music academy using methods she had newly developed (including solfeggio). It was very important to her to familiarize the children with contemporary music. Teaching took up the majority of her time, so she was only able to compose in the summer months. In 1949 she created her first children’s ballet.

In the early 1950s, Szőnyi achieved her dream of becoming a true stage composer with her first opera, Dalma. Her style matured and she began to explore new avenues of composing, writing for a wide variety of instrumentations and receiving the Erkel Prize in 1959.

During a second creative phase in the 1960s, Szőnyi continued pursuing new horizons, with the goal of expanding her musical language and writing in new genres. This is how Tinódi egri summája came about, an oratorio for children’s choir, youth choir, and soloists, followed by many other works, including some in which she investigated the 12-tone technique. She also collaborated with Kodály at Stanford University in 1966, and introduced the Kodály method there.

Many vocal compositions were written during this time, as well as the orchestral work Allegro from 1969, which represented a high point of this creative period. From 1971 to 1990 there was a stronger focus on composing instrumental pieces, which are characterized by the free handling of rhythms and expanded tonality.   In 1990 she returned to lyrical and religious vocal compositions in particular, including one of her final works, a cycle for voice and piano titled Blick durchs Fenster (View through the window), based on texts by Ingeborg Bachmann, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, and Peter Rühmkopf, written in 1999.

Szőnyi died on December 28, 2019, in Budapest, at the age of 95.

– Isolde Weiermüller-Backes (trans. Jacob Tews)