Jeney Zoltán
Composer
Place of Birth
Szolnok
Date of Birth
1943
4 March 1943 Szolnok - 28 October 2019 Budapest
Composer, head of department and professor at the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy, a significant figure of the Hungarian contemporary music.
He started his composing studies with Zoltán Pongrácz in the Zoltán Kodály Secondary School for Music (Debrecen, 1957-1961). Later on, he studied at the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy (Budapest, 1961-1966) as pupil of Ferenc Farkas, and at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome, 1967-1968) as pupil of Goffredo Petrassi.
Returning from Rome and encouraged by Albert Simon, Jeney founded the New Music Studio with Péter Eötvös, Zoltán Kocsis, László Sáry and László Vidovszky in 1970. The studio soon became an internationally renowned workshop for composers and performers, and introduced more than 600 contemporary music works between 1972 and 1990. In 1972, Zoltán Jeney visited the lectures of György Ligeti, Mauricio Kagel, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Christian Wolff and Iannis Xenakis on the composing courses of the Darmstadt Ferienkurse für Neue Musik. Especially the personality and music of Christian Wolff made deep impact on him.
In order to research unknown connections of soundings, from 1973 he's started to get involved in diverse non-music materials (texts, chess games, meteorological data, telexes and from 1979 even fractal lines) to rewrite them into music processes. Between 1975 and 1984 he sang in the choir of Schola Hungarica, conducted by László Dobszay and Janka Szendrei. Being acquainted with the Gregorian music praxis significantly influenced his thinking about music and composing. Based on two, each other completing antique Greek tones, he developed a so-called pseudo modal scale system (Delphi, 1978) that was first used in his composition To Apollo. In 1982 he studied computer music at the IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique) in Paris.
In 1985 he was research professor for four months at the Columbia University, New York. From June 1988 he was scholarship holder of DAAD in West Berlin for a year. From 1986 hes been teaching at the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy. First he taught practical skills of composing, and then in 1995 he became head of the composing and conductor-training department. Since 2002 hes been head of the doctoral school as well. In 1999 he taught as guest professor at music department of the Northwestern University, Chicago (School of Music). In 1993 he was elected to member of the Széchenyi Academy of Literature and Art his inaugural concert was in October, 1996. He was chairman of the Association of Hungarian Composers (1993-1996), board member of the ISCM, International Society of Contemporary Music (1993-1999), and in frames of the latter organization he was also vice president between 1996 and 1999.
Among his works we can find orchestral compositions, chamber works, songs, choir works, electronic and computer music works, co-operations with other composers and incidental music (theater, movie). He permanently worked with Gábor Zsámbéki and Zoltán Huszárik (Jeney composed the soundtrack of Huszáriks movie, Sindbad). With László Vidovszky he composed music for the Hungarian pavilion of the Sevilla World Expo in 1992. In 2005 he finished his monumental oratorio, Funeral ceremony, which he had permanently worked on since 1987. The premiere of the six-piece work was held 22 October, 2005, in the Palace of Arts with the National Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, conducted by Zoltán Kocsis.
Many of his works premiered abroad as well. He's been regularly invited to Ny Musik of Boras. In frames of a ten-concert series, the orchestra introduced more than thirty works by him in Sweden, 1984. A number of his CDs were published by Hungarian and foreign record companies. In 1979 he received the Kassák Prize from the literary periodical Magyar Műhely that was published in Paris.
He was honored with the Ferenc Erkel Prize (1982), the title Merited Artist (1990), the Kossuth Prize (2001), the Artisjus Music Prize (2001) and the Aegon Art Co-Award (2006). He also received the Bartók-Pásztory Award two times (1988 and 2006).
Composer, head of department and professor at the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy, a significant figure of the Hungarian contemporary music.
He started his composing studies with Zoltán Pongrácz in the Zoltán Kodály Secondary School for Music (Debrecen, 1957-1961). Later on, he studied at the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy (Budapest, 1961-1966) as pupil of Ferenc Farkas, and at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome, 1967-1968) as pupil of Goffredo Petrassi.
Returning from Rome and encouraged by Albert Simon, Jeney founded the New Music Studio with Péter Eötvös, Zoltán Kocsis, László Sáry and László Vidovszky in 1970. The studio soon became an internationally renowned workshop for composers and performers, and introduced more than 600 contemporary music works between 1972 and 1990. In 1972, Zoltán Jeney visited the lectures of György Ligeti, Mauricio Kagel, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Christian Wolff and Iannis Xenakis on the composing courses of the Darmstadt Ferienkurse für Neue Musik. Especially the personality and music of Christian Wolff made deep impact on him.
In order to research unknown connections of soundings, from 1973 he's started to get involved in diverse non-music materials (texts, chess games, meteorological data, telexes and from 1979 even fractal lines) to rewrite them into music processes. Between 1975 and 1984 he sang in the choir of Schola Hungarica, conducted by László Dobszay and Janka Szendrei. Being acquainted with the Gregorian music praxis significantly influenced his thinking about music and composing. Based on two, each other completing antique Greek tones, he developed a so-called pseudo modal scale system (Delphi, 1978) that was first used in his composition To Apollo. In 1982 he studied computer music at the IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique) in Paris.
In 1985 he was research professor for four months at the Columbia University, New York. From June 1988 he was scholarship holder of DAAD in West Berlin for a year. From 1986 hes been teaching at the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy. First he taught practical skills of composing, and then in 1995 he became head of the composing and conductor-training department. Since 2002 hes been head of the doctoral school as well. In 1999 he taught as guest professor at music department of the Northwestern University, Chicago (School of Music). In 1993 he was elected to member of the Széchenyi Academy of Literature and Art his inaugural concert was in October, 1996. He was chairman of the Association of Hungarian Composers (1993-1996), board member of the ISCM, International Society of Contemporary Music (1993-1999), and in frames of the latter organization he was also vice president between 1996 and 1999.
Among his works we can find orchestral compositions, chamber works, songs, choir works, electronic and computer music works, co-operations with other composers and incidental music (theater, movie). He permanently worked with Gábor Zsámbéki and Zoltán Huszárik (Jeney composed the soundtrack of Huszáriks movie, Sindbad). With László Vidovszky he composed music for the Hungarian pavilion of the Sevilla World Expo in 1992. In 2005 he finished his monumental oratorio, Funeral ceremony, which he had permanently worked on since 1987. The premiere of the six-piece work was held 22 October, 2005, in the Palace of Arts with the National Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, conducted by Zoltán Kocsis.
Many of his works premiered abroad as well. He's been regularly invited to Ny Musik of Boras. In frames of a ten-concert series, the orchestra introduced more than thirty works by him in Sweden, 1984. A number of his CDs were published by Hungarian and foreign record companies. In 1979 he received the Kassák Prize from the literary periodical Magyar Műhely that was published in Paris.
He was honored with the Ferenc Erkel Prize (1982), the title Merited Artist (1990), the Kossuth Prize (2001), the Artisjus Music Prize (2001) and the Aegon Art Co-Award (2006). He also received the Bartók-Pásztory Award two times (1988 and 2006).
| Title | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| & silence everywhere | Ensemble | 2001 |
| "Aere di cupo terror!... Palpiti al cor!" | Chamber Music | 2008 |
| "which half is never the same?" | Chamber Music | 2013 |
| 12 Songs | Solo voice(s) with solo instrument(s) | 1983 |
| 5 Piano Pieces | Instrumental solo | 1962 |
| 60 Sounds for László Sáry | Chamber Music | 2000 |
| >>Quand j´etais jeune, on me disait<< | Unspecified instrument(s) | 1994 |
| The Medium | Film music | 1979 |
| The Chinese Poem | Solo voice(s) with solo instrument(s) | 1996 |
| Movements of the Eye I. | Instrumental solo | 1973 |
| Movements of the Eye II. | Chamber Music | 1973 |
| Movements of the Eye III. | Chamber Music | 1973 |
| Prosecution | Film music | 1996 |
| Absolve domine | Mixed choir | 1990 |
| Adam’s Sleep | Solo voice(s) a cappella | 2007 |
| Agony - Songs to Poems by György Petri | Solo voice(s) with ensemble | 2013 |
| Alef - Hommage a Schönberg | Symphony orchestra | 1972 |
| To Apollo | Choir and solo instrument(s) | 1978 |
| Aritmíe - Ritmiche | Chamber Music | 1967 |
| Arthur Rimbaud in the Desert | Instrumental solo | 1976 |
| Arupa | Ensemble | 1981 |
| Auf meinen lieben Gott | !to be determined | 2016 |
| Aus Tiefer Not | Solo voice(s), choir & orchestra | 0 |
| Avec un grand oubli du présent | Chamber Music | 2014 |
| The statue of streaming | Solo voice(s) a cappella | 1965 |
| Songs of Innocence and of Experience | Solo voice(s) a cappella | 2013 |
| From the Brook to the Ocean | Unspecified instrument(s) | 1987 |
| The Eternal Corridor | Choir and solo instrument(s) | 1983 |
| Bach Choral-Remakes | !to be determined | 2016 |
| Being-time I | Unspecified instrument(s) | 1979 |
| Being-time III | Unspecified instrument(s) | 1979 |
| Being-time IV | Unspecified instrument(s) | 1991 |
| Being-time V & VI | Unspecified instrument(s) | 1985 |
| Frogs | Solo voice(s) a cappella | 1996 |
| Farewell To Ligeti | Instrumental solo | 2006 |
| Cacti No. 6 | !to be determined | 0 |
| Cantos para todos | Solo voice(s) with chamber orchestra | 1983 |
| Capriccio | Film music | 1969 |
| Caput - Tropics | Choir and solo instrument(s) | 1977 |
| Coincidences | Ensemble | 1973 |
| Coincidences - For 3 pianos and 3 chamber ensembles | Ensemble | 1981 |
| Communio: Gustate et videte | Mixed choir | 1995 |
| Consolazione (something lost: echo) | Chamber Music | 2001 |
| Constellazioni | !to be determined | 2018 |
| Daisy | Opera | 1999 |
| Songs to Poems by László Márton | Solo voice(s) with solo instrument(s) | 1987 |
| December 27 | Chamber Music | 1978 |
| December 27 | Chamber Music | 1978 |
| Desert Plants | Live and tape music | 1975 |
| A Story of Cowardice | Film music | 1966 |
| The End of a Game (Epitaphium S. Altorjai) | Chamber Music | 1980 |
| Syncronisty | Film music | 1985 |
| El Silencio | Solo voice(s) with solo instrument(s) | 1986 |
| For Péter Esterházy – Soliloquium No. 5 (Charlie "Bird" Parker to Bruno) | Instrumental solo | 2016 |
| Eszterlánc | Film music | 1985 |
| Ouverture étrusque | Chamber Music | 1989 |
| Etwas getragen (Sonstenuto - Zweite fassung) | Chamber Music | 1988 |
| Thousand Years - Quodlibet | Tape music | 1992 |
| F-E-A | Instrumental solo | 2012 |
| Fantasia Su Una Nota | Unspecified instrument(s) | 1984 |
| Flowing time | Chamber Music | 0 |
| Catch and Carry! | Film music | 1979 |
| For Quartet | Chamber Music | 1973 |
| Shavings | Instrumental solo | 1995 |
| Four Pitches | Unspecified instrument(s) | 1972 |
| Fungi - Epitaphium John Cage | Instrumental solo | 1992 |
| Bathing | Film music | 1974 |
| Gaga | Chamber Music | 1975 |
| Gaga | Chamber Music | 1976 |
| When there is nothing to be done | Solo voice(s) a cappella | 2016 |
| Funeral Rite | Solo voice(s), choir & orchestra | 2005 |
| Hard Edge - Earl Brown in memoriam | Instrumental solo | 2002 |
| Hilf uns, Herr, unser Gott – Cantata | Choir and orchestra | 0 |
| Hommage à Dohnányi | Chamber Music | 1977 |
| Hommage à Dohnányi | Chamber Music | 1979 |
| Hommage à Kurtág | Live and tape music | 1975 |
| Hommage à Kurtág - For Four Pianos and Tape | Live and tape music | 1986 |
| Huszárik-breviarium | Film music | 1982 |
| Three Songs to Poems by Apollinaire | Solo voice(s) with solo instrument(s) | 1962 |
| Heraclitus in H | Unspecified instrument(s) | 1980 |
| Heraclitus in Off Season | Unspecified instrument(s) | 1988 |
| Heraclitus´ Watermark | Unspecified instrument(s) | 1983 |
| Heraclitus Adverbial | Instrumental solo | 0 |
| Heraclitus´ Watermark Again | Instrumental solo | 2013 |
| Heraclitus-interpretation | Unspecified instrument(s) | 1984 |
| Heraclitien Tear-drop | Instrumental solo | 2013 |
| Heraclitian Water-plane | Chamber Music | 2015 |
| Impho 102/6 | Chamber Music | 1978 |
| In memoriam Gyöngyössy Imre | Film music | 1997 |
| Infinitive | Mixed choir | 1995 |
| Installation Music for the World Expo in Seville | Electroacoustic music | 1992 |
| Interludium in Hoquetus | Electroacoustic music | 1988 |
| The Revolt of Job | Film music | 1983 |
| Kalah | Film music | 1980 |
| Kalah | Instrumental solo | 1983 |
| Kalah (Electronic music) | Electroacoustic music | 1988 |
| Kato NK 300 July 22, 1979, 10.30 AM. - Liptó Street, Budapest | Unspecified instrument(s) | 1979 |
| Complements | Instrumental solo | 1976 |
| The Treasure-seeking Little Jacket | Film music | 1973 |
| Historical Song 2019 | !to be determined | 2019 |
| Márta Kurtág´s Watermark | Instrumental solo | 2019 |
| Two Dances for Piano | Instrumental solo | 2013 |
| Chinese Jug | Film music | 1973 |
| Chinese Temple | Symphony orchestra | 2015 |
| Interlude with Sounds | Unspecified instrument(s) | 1979 |
| From Ladislaus de Madae´s Secular Songs | Mixed choir | 1971 |
| Laude | Symphony orchestra | 1977 |
| Les adieux (Two Mushrooms) | Ensemble | 1977 |
| Lungo i muri dei cimiteri del mondo - For Bass Flute | Instrumental solo | 1996 |
| In the Shadow of Flames | Mixed choir | 1982 |
| Bird Call | Children's choir | 1982 |
| When you write it down, I´ll come... | Other | 1990 |
| Mandala | Chamber Music | 1972 |
| Meditazione su un tema di Goffredo Petrassi | Instrumental solo | 1984 |
| Memories of Delphoi | Ensemble | 2009 |
| Miserere mei (Psalmus 50) | Solo voice(s) with solo instrument(s) | 1993 |
| Miserere mei (Psalmus 50) | Solo voice(s) with chamber orchestra | 1994 |
| Miserere mei (Psalmus 50) | Mixed choir | 1993 |
| Miserere mei (Psalmus 50) - For solo voice | Solo voice(s) a cappella | 1991 |
| Monody | Solo voice(s) with solo instrument(s) | 1977 |
| Monody | Mixed choir | 1974 |
| Mr. Marlowe Tracks Down yvar´s Lost Tango | Instrumental solo | 1984 |
| Marie´s Lament | Solo voice(s) with solo instrument(s) | 1995 |
| Never Seek to Tell thy Love | Solo voice(s) a cappella | 1996 |
| Eight Songs to Poems by Dezső Tandori | Solo voice(s) with solo instrument(s) | 1987 |
| Four Small Drawings - Pn Poems by Sándor Weöres | Solo voice(s) a cappella | 1997 |
| Four Victorian Phantom-Pictures | Tape music | 1983 |
| O Admirabile - Chime-bells, Jingles | Chamber Music | 1984 |
| OM | Live and tape music | 1979 |
| Omaggio (Alla notte) | Symphony orchestra | 1966 |
| Orpheus´s Garden | Chamber Music | 1974 |
| Panegyricus | Ensemble | 2004 |
| Pater noster | Male choir | 1991 |
| Pater noster | Mixed choir | 1991 |
| Pavane | Orchestral work | 2007 |
| Pontpoint | Chamber Music | 1978 |
| Psalmus 101 | Choir and solo instrument(s) | 1989 |
| Psalmus 116 | Solo voice(s), choir & orchestra | 1986 |
| Psalmus 137 (Confitebor tibi Domine) | Solo voice(s) with chamber orchestra | 1989 |
| Psalmus 5 | Solo voice(s) with ensemble | 1989 |
| Psalmus 50 (Miserere mei) | Solo voice(s) with ensemble | 1991 |
| Psalmus 6 | Choir and chamber orchestra | 1992 |
| Psalmus 7 | Solo voice(s), choir & chamber ensemble | 1992 |
| Quemadmodum | String orchestra | 1975 |
| Ricercare | Instrumental solo | 1992 |
| Ricercare 8+8 | Electroacoustic music | 1989 |
| Ricercare a 8 voci | String orchestra | 1993 |
| Ricercare in Variazioni Sopra il Motto Dal Rito Funebre | Instrumental solo | 1988 |
| Rimembranze | Symphony orchestra | 1968 |
| Rondellus | Unspecified instrument(s) | 1981 |
| Rottenbiller Street 16-22 | Live electronic music | 1990 |
| Round | Chamber Music | 1972 |
| Round | Film music | 1975 |
| Round | Chamber Music | 1972 |
| Self-Quotations | Chamber Music | 1991 |
| Soliloquium No. 1 | Instrumental solo | 1967 |
| Soliloquium No. 1a (Cancrizans) | Instrumental solo | 1982 |
| Soliloquium No. 2 | Instrumental solo | 1978 |
| Soliloquium No. 3 | Instrumental solo | 1980 |
| Soliloquium No. 4 | Instrumental solo | 1980 |
| Solitaire | Electroacoustic music | 1978 |
| Solitude | Choir and solo instrument(s) | 1974 |
| Songs to Poems by William Carlos Williams | Solo voice(s) with solo instrument(s) | 1984 |
| Sostenuto | Symphony orchestra | 1979 |
| Spaziosa calma... | Solo voice(s) with chamber orchestra | 1984 |
| Subvenite | Choir and chamber orchestra | 1979 |
| St. George and the Dragon | Music for the theater | 1972 |
| Sindbad | Film music | 1971 |
| Hundred Year´s Average | Live electronic music | 1977 |
| I dream of coloured inks | Film music | 1980 |
| The Locust Tree in Flowers | Solo voice(s) with solo instrument(s) | 1995 |
| Homage to Old Ladies | Film music | 1971 |
| Transcriptions Automatiques | Instrumental solo | 1975 |
| Trio | Chamber Music | 2000 |
| Tropi | Chamber Music | 1975 |
| Landscape ad hoc | Live electronic music | 1980 |
| Space Painting | Film music | 1983 |
| Movements From the Funeral Rite | Solo voice(s), choir & chamber orchestra | 1987 |
| Fragmente | Instrumental solo | 1975 |
| Undisturbed | Live and tape music | 1974 |
| Unisono and Divided Arpeggios in Minor Seconds and Major Sevenths | Instrumental solo | 2009 |
| Unisono and Divided Arpeggios in Minor Seconds and Major Sevenths | Chamber Music | 2014 |
| Ursus | Instrumental solo | 2012 |
| Valse triste | Unspecified instrument(s) | 1979 |
| Variation on a Theme by Christian Wolff | Unspecified instrument(s) | 1980 |
| Four Songs to Poems by Rilke | Solo voice(s) with solo instrument(s) | 1962 |
| Vigilanti | Film music | 1993 |
| Those Waiting | Film music | 1974 |
| Was hast du verbrochen? | Chamber Music | 2015 |
| Was hast du verbrochen? - Epitaphium Ildikó Vékony | Instrumental solo | 2017 |
| Wei wu wei | Ensemble | 1968 |
| Wie leicht wird Erde Sein | Mixed choir | 1981 |
| Wie leicht wird Erde sein | Choir and chamber ensemble | 1986 |
| Wohin? (For any number of players any number of melody instruments) | Instrumental solo | 2003 |
| Wohin? 2013 | Chamber Music | 2013 |
| Yantra | Unspecified instrument(s) | 1972 |
| a leaf falls | Chamber Music | 1975 |
| a maunderin tongue in a pounderin jowl | Instrumental solo | 1993 |
| on y revient toujours | Ensemble | 2007 |
| something found | Ensemble | 1981 |
| something like | String orchestra | 1980 |
| something lost | Instrumental solo | 1975 |
| something round | String orchestra | 1975 |
| end game | Instrumental solo | 1973 |
| My Adored Fallen to the Foot of the Crucifix | Choir and solo instrument(s) | 1995 |
| My Adored Fallen to the Foot of the Crucifix | Female choir | 1987 |
| My Way Home | Film music | 1964 |
| Five Songs to Poems by Attila József | Solo voice(s) with solo instrument(s) | 1963 |
| For Glass and Metal | Tape music | 1979 |