Artist database

This is the Artist Database of BMC, which includes information about composers, musicians, orchestras, choirs and groups that are either Hungarian or Hungarian by origin or live in Hungary, as well as information about releases recorded with them.

Anhalt István


Composer

Place of Birth
Budapest
Date of Birth
1919

 
István Anhalt, composer, educator (born at Budapest, Hungary 12 Apr 1919, died at Kingston 24 Feb 2012). One of Canada's most individual composers, whose work is strongly influenced by his study of the psychology of speech, Anhalt combined traditional instruments, electronics and the human voice in the textures and sonorities of a highly complex musical language. He came to Montréal in 1949 and joined McGill's music theory department. He founded and directed its Electronic Music Studio from 1964 to 1971, and then went to Kingston as head of Queen's University music department, where he became professor emeritus in 1984.

Representative of his works are Symphony No. 1 (1958), Symphony of Modules for orchestra and tape (1967), Foci (1969) and La Tourangelle (1975), a musical based on the life of the 17th-century Ursuline MARIE DE L'INCARNATION. His orchestral works Sparkskraps (1988) and Doors-Shadows (Glenn Gould in Memory) (1992) have received several performances. Anhalt continued to compose throughout his life, and wrote the pluri-drama Traces (Tikkan) in 1995 and Millennial Mall, a voice-drama for the imagination, in 1999. He was also well known for his writings, including the books Alternative Voices (1984), Oppenheimer (1990) and A Weave of Life Lines (1992). In 2004 Istvan Anhalt was released in the CD series Canadian Composers Portraits (CMCCD 10204). In 2003, he had been made an Officer of the ORDER OF CANADA and in 2007, he became a Fellow of the ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. His symphonic work The Tents of Abraham won the JUNO award for best classical composition in 2005. Portions of his extensive correspondence with the American composer George Rochberg edited by Alan Gillmor appeared in 2007 (Wilfrid Laurier University Press).
 
Year Title Publisher Code Remark
2019 Istvan Anhalt: the timber of those times CMC - Canadian Music Centre CD-CMCCD 26419 Own
 
Title Type Year
...the timber of those times... (... a theogony...) Symphony orchestra 2005
A Little Wedding Music Solo voice(s) with solo instrument(s) 1984
A Wedding Carol Solo voice(s) with solo instrument(s) 1985
Cento (Cantata Urbana) Live and tape music 1967
Chansons d´Aurore Solo voice(s) with solo instrument(s) 1955
Comments Solo voice(s) with solo instrument(s) 1954
Songs from Na Conxy Pan Solo voice(s) with solo instrument(s) 1947
Doors... shadows (Glenn Gould in Memory) Chamber Music 1992
Fantasia Instrumental solo 1954
Foci Electroacoustic music 1969
Four Portraits from Memory Symphony orchestra 2006
Galambabmalag the Halloween Witch Instrumental solo 1995
Interludium Orchestral work 1949
La Tourangelle Opera 1974
La fuite Instrumental solo 1975
L´Arc en Ciel / The Rainbow Ballet / Choreographic work 1951
Millennial mall (Lady Diotima´s walk) Solo voice(s), choir & orchestra 1999
Musique Funebre / Funeral Music Ensemble 1951
Piano Sonata Instrumental solo 1947
Simulacrum Symphony orchestra 1987
Sonance - Resonance (Welche Töne?) Symphony orchestra 1989
Sonata for Violin and Piano Chamber Music 1954
Sparkskraps Orchestral work 1987
Symphony Symphony orchestra 1958
Symphony of Modules Live and tape music 1967
Sonata (Four Portraits from Memory) Instrumental solo 2006
The Tents of Abraham Symphony orchestra 2003
The bell-man Choir and chamber ensemble 1980
Thisness Solo voice(s) with solo instrument(s) 1985
Three Songs of Death Mixed choir 1954
Three Songs of Love Female choir 1951
Three Songs of Love Solo voice(s) with solo instrument(s) 1997
Traces (Tikkun) Stage work 1994
Trio for violin, violoncello and piano Chamber Music 1953
Trio Chamber Music 1972
Twilight Fire Orchestral work 2001
Winthrop Opera 1983