Bakfark Bálint
Composer
Place of Birth
Brassó
Date of Birth
1506
1507, Brassó (today: Brasov, Romania) – 15 or 22 August 1576, Padova
Lutenist and composer, one of the greatest performer of his age, who achieved European fame with his virtuosity and also with his compositions.
He enriched the style of lute music by means of the forms and polyphonic techniques of the great composers of the age and raised it to a great height. He used the name of Greff after becoming related to that family. He grew up in the court of János Szapolyai, by whom he was ennobled. His teacher was is unknown.
After 1540 he left the court and worked for Comte Tournon in France. Between 1549 and 1566 he was a member of the court of King Augustus Zsigmond II of Poland. In 1551 he went to Königsberg to the court of Prince Albrecht, to whom he was for a long time a secret political agent. He travelled to Danzig, then via Augsburg to Lyon, where he succeeded in finding a publisher for his first collection of pieces for the lute. (Intavolatura Valentini Bacfarc Transilvani Coronensis, 1553).
Later he went back to Vilna, to the Polish court. In 1565 he arranged to have his second lyre book published in Kraków. (Valentini Greffi Bakfarci Pannonii, Harmoniarum musicarum in usum testudinis factarum. Tomus primus). All of a sudden his contacts with the Polish court broke up, his assets were confiscated, and he took refuge in Posen.
On the intervention of András Dudics, imperial ambassador, he entered the service of the Viennese court, but in 1568 he went back to Transylvania, where he was given some land by János Zsigmond in return for his artistic works. In 1572 he travelled to Italy and settled down in Padua, where he became with his whole family the victim of plague. (His wife was Katharina Narbuttowna, a Lithuanian woman.) On feeling death approaching, he burnt all his manuscripts.
Lutenist and composer, one of the greatest performer of his age, who achieved European fame with his virtuosity and also with his compositions.
He enriched the style of lute music by means of the forms and polyphonic techniques of the great composers of the age and raised it to a great height. He used the name of Greff after becoming related to that family. He grew up in the court of János Szapolyai, by whom he was ennobled. His teacher was is unknown.
After 1540 he left the court and worked for Comte Tournon in France. Between 1549 and 1566 he was a member of the court of King Augustus Zsigmond II of Poland. In 1551 he went to Königsberg to the court of Prince Albrecht, to whom he was for a long time a secret political agent. He travelled to Danzig, then via Augsburg to Lyon, where he succeeded in finding a publisher for his first collection of pieces for the lute. (Intavolatura Valentini Bacfarc Transilvani Coronensis, 1553).
Later he went back to Vilna, to the Polish court. In 1565 he arranged to have his second lyre book published in Kraków. (Valentini Greffi Bakfarci Pannonii, Harmoniarum musicarum in usum testudinis factarum. Tomus primus). All of a sudden his contacts with the Polish court broke up, his assets were confiscated, and he took refuge in Posen.
On the intervention of András Dudics, imperial ambassador, he entered the service of the Viennese court, but in 1568 he went back to Transylvania, where he was given some land by János Zsigmond in return for his artistic works. In 1572 he travelled to Italy and settled down in Padua, where he became with his whole family the victim of plague. (His wife was Katharina Narbuttowna, a Lithuanian woman.) On feeling death approaching, he burnt all his manuscripts.
| Year | Title | Publisher | Code | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 |
Reneszánsz Pop
(Renaissance Pop) |
Hungaroton | SLPX 12575 | LP / Reissue on CD: HCD 12575 (1985) |
| 1997 |
Reneszánsz Pop
(Renaissance Pop) |
Hungaroton | HCD 12575 | Reissue of Hungaroton SLPX 12575 (1985) |
| 2001 | Harpa Hungarica | Magánkiadás | B0006M4N4Q |