Edith Farnadi (25 September 1921 – 12 or 14 December 1973) was a Hungarian

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

. She 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 ...

and began her studies at the age of 7 at the

Franz Liszt 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 ...

. She studied with Professor

Arnold Székely Arnold may refer to: People * Arnold (given name), a masculine given name * Arnold (surname), a German and English surname Places Australia * Arnold, Victoria, a small town in the Australian state of Victoria Canada * Arnold, Nova Scotia Un ...

(also a teacher of

Louis Kentner Louis Philip Kentner (19 July 190523 September 1987) was a Hungarian, later British, pianist who excelled in the works of Chopin and Liszt, as well as the Hungarian repertoire. Life and career He was born Lajos Kentner in Karwin, Austrian S ...

). At the age of 9, she made her musical debut as a child prodigy. At the age of 12, she played Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1, directing the orchestra from the piano. She received her diploma from the Musical Academy in Budapest when she was 17 years old. During her studies at the Music Academy she won the

Franz Liszt Prize Franz may refer to: People * Franz (given name) * Franz (surname) Places * Franz (crater), a lunar crater * Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada * Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see Fran ...

twice. She became a professor at the Budapest Franz Liszt Academy where she remained until 1942. She then concertized widely throughout Europe in the 1950s and made recordings with the

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

Label. In ensemble she performed with the

Barylli Quartet The Barylli Quartet was a celebrated Austrian string quartet classical musical ensemble. It was first brought together in Vienna during the War by Walter Barylli, Konzertmeister of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra from 1939, but was re-founded i ...

. It was while still a student in Budapest that she became a steady musical partner with the great Hungarian violinist

Jenő Hubay Jenő Hubay von Szalatna ( ; 15 September 185812 March 1937), also known by his German name Eugen Huber (), was a Hungarian violinist, composer and music teacher. Early life Hubay was born into a German family of musicians in Pest, Hungary ...

. At the International Musical afternoons at the Budapest Palais, she performed many times with

Bronisław Huberman Bronisław Huberman (19 December 1882 – 16 June 1947) was a Polish violinist. He was known for his individualistic interpretations and was praised for his tone color, expressiveness, and flexibility. The '' Gibson ex-Huberman Stradivariu ...

and Tibor Varga. In 1946 she went to

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, where she regularly gave concerts in Western Europe. In the last decade of her life she taught in

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

, and recorded all the piano works of Kodály and Bartók.Except for Bartók's piano concerto She also appeared as a guest in Hungary from the 1960s. She performed for the last time in 1972.

Partial discography

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

Piano Concertos No. 1 & 2 - Westminster LP WL 5309, 1954 * Liszt Piano Concertos No. 1 & 2 - Westminster LP WL 5158 * Liszt Hungarian Rhapsodies Vol. 1 (1-8) - Westminster LP WAL 213 * Dvorak Piano Quintet with the Barylli Quartet - Westminster W 9025 *Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No.2 in C Minor, Opus 18 - Westminster LP XWN 18275 (Probably mid-1950s) * Bartók, sonata for violin and piano No. 1 with Tibor Varga - Deutsche Grammophon – 415 995-1. Philharmonia (3) – PA 139 V17G017

References

1921 births 1973 deaths Franz Liszt Academy of Music alumni Academic staff of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music Hungarian women classical pianists 20th-century Hungarian classical pianists 20th-century Hungarian classical musicians 20th-century Hungarian composers Jewish classical pianists Hungarian women classical composers 20th-century Hungarian women composers 20th-century Hungarian women pianists {{classical-pianist-stub