Albert Szirmai (sometimes credited as Albert Sirmay) (2 July 1880 –15 January 1967) was a Hungarian

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

composer and music editor. Szirmai was a graduate of the

Budapest Academy of Music The Franz Liszt Academy of Music (, often abbreviated as ''Zeneakadémia'', "Liszt Academy") is a music university and a concert hall in Budapest, Hungary, founded on November 14, 1875. It is home to the Liszt Collection, which features several ...

, studying piano and composition (with

Hans Koessler Hans von Koessler (1 January 1853 – 23 May 1926) was a German composer, conductor and music teacher. In Hungary, where he worked for 26 years, he was known as János Koessler. Biography Koessler, a cousin of Max Reger, was born in Waldeck, Fich ...

). Szirmai received a doctorate in music from the University of Budapest, and was devoted to creating works for the stage. He wrote music for 12 one-act plays and over 300 songs for the Budapest theater Népszínház-Vígopera, at which he was musical director. When his first operetta, ''The Yellow Domino'', met with success, he decided to continue in the genre; it is due to the works of Szirmai,

Emmerich Kálmán Emmerich Kálmán ( ; 24 October 1882 – 30 October 1953) was a Kingdom of Hungary, Hungarian composer of operettas and a prominent figure in the development of Operetta#Austria–Hungary, Viennese operetta in the 20th century. Among his most p ...

, and

Victor Jacobi Victor Jacobi (22 October 1883 – 10 December 1921) was a Hungarian operetta composer. He studied at the Zeneakadémia (Academy of Music) in Budapest at the same time as the noted Hungarian composers Imre Kálmán and Albert Szirmai. Jaco ...

, among others, that the Hungarian operetta gained recognition internationally at the beginning of the 20th century. Szirmai was born in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. On September 3, 1923, he arrived in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

aboard the and took a post as music director for

Chappell Music Warner Chappell Music, Inc. is an American music publishing company and a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group. Warner Chappell Music's catalog consists of over 1.4 million compositions and 150,000 composers, with offices in over 40 countries. ...

(a publishing house now owned by

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...

). He was music editor for such

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

luminaries as

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over ...

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...

Richard Rodgers Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American Musical composition, composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers wa ...

and

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned jazz, popular music, popular and classical music. Among his best-known works are the songs "Swan ...

, and for a collection of the British duo

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen com ...

. Szirmai made headlines in 1965, when he discovered 100 unpublished songs Porter had written from 1924 to 1955, in Porter's nine room apartment in the Waldorf Towers shortly after Porter's death. "I would call the material a rich musical heritage," Szirmai told ''The New York Times''. "There is enough material for one or two Broadway musical scores. There are dozens of excellent songs."Esterow, Milton. "Song hunt turns up 100 by Porter", ''The New York Times'', May 5, 1965, p. 1 Though he lived in America for most of his later years and was a good friend of Gershwin, Szirmai eschewed the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

styles popular at the time; in addition to the folk music of his native Hungary, his music shows the influence of German Romanticism, particularly

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

and

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

, whom he most admired. He died in New York.

Selected works

*''A sárga dominó'' (The Yellow Domino), operetta, 1907 *''Bálkirályné'' (The Belle of the Ball), operetta, 1907 *''Naftalin'' (Naphthalene), musical comedy, 1908 *''Táncos huszárok'' (Dancing Hussars), operetta, 1909 *''A mexikói lány'' (The Mexican Girl), operetta, 1912 *''

The Girl on the Film ''Filmzauber'', literally 'Film Magic', is a Posse mit Gesang (a kind of popular musical drama) in four scenes by Walter Kollo and Willy Bredschneider, with a German libretto by Rudolf Bernauer and Rudolph Schanzer. A parody of (then popular) sil ...

'', musical play, 1913 *''Ezüstpille'' (Silver Butterfly), operetta, 1914 *''Mágnás Miska'' (Magnate Miska), operetta, 1916, Szirmai's most popular work, still performed in Hungary *''Harangvirág'' (Bellflower), ballad, 2 tableaux, 1918 *''Gróf Rinaldo'' (Count Rinaldo), operetta, 1918 *''Mézeskalács'' (Honey Cake), musical comedy, 1923 *''The Bamboula'', operetta, 1925 *''Alexandra'', operetta, 1925 (first presented in English as '' Princess Charming'' in 1926) *''Éva grófnő'' (Countess Eva), operetta, 1928 *''Lady Mary'', musical play, 1928 *''

Ripples Ripple may refer to: Science and technology * Capillary wave, commonly known as ripple, a wave traveling along the phase boundary of a fluid ** Ripple, more generally a disturbance, for example of spacetime in gravitational waves * Ripple (electr ...

'', musical comedy, 1930 *''A ballerina'', operetta, 1931 *''A Treasury of

Gilbert & Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen comic ...

'', Simon & Schuster, New York 1941 (later published as ''

Martyn Green William Martin Green (22 April 1899 – 8 February 1975), known by his stage name, Martyn Green, was an English actor and singer. He is remembered for his performances and recordings as principal comedian of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, in ...

's Treasury of Gilbert & Sullivan''). Szirmai is probably best known to music lovers through this book. Szirmai reduced Sullivan's orchestrations of several songs from each Gilbert and Sullivan opera and simplified them so that they can be played by intermediate piano students of average skill. *''A Treasury of Grand Opera'', Simon & Schuster, New York 1946. Szirmai created piano solos of arias from famous operas: Mozart's ''Don Giovanni, Carmen, La Traviata'', Gounod's ''Faust, Lohengrin'', et al., but this book never achieved the popularity of the Gilbert & Sullivan book. The pieces are more difficult to play, and many operatic arias are more difficult to sing than Gilbert & Sullivan. *''Tabáni legenda'' (The Legend of Tabán), operetta, 1957 *''A Tündérlaki lányok'' (The Tündérlaki Sisters), operetta, 1964

References

Sources

Ferenc Bónis Ferenc () is a given name of Hungarian origin. It is a cognate of Francis, Francisco, Francesco, François, Frank and Franz. People with the name include: * Ferenc Batthyány (1497–1566), Hungarian magnate and general * Ferenc Bene (1944–20 ...

: "Albert Szirmai". Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy
(subscription access)
* Ferenc Bónis, Andrew Lamb: "Albert Szirmai". Grove Music Online (OperaBase), ed. L. Macy
(subscription access)

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szirmai, Albert 1880 births 1967 deaths Hungarian classical composers Hungarian male classical composers Hungarian operetta composers Composers from Budapest 20th-century Hungarian male musicians