Dezso d'Antalffy (born Dezső Antalffy-Zsiross; 24 July 1885 – 29 April 1945), was a Hungarian organist and composer. He was one of the most significant performing artists of his time. He composed pieces for orchestra, chamber orchestra, choir, piano and organ which were published by Schirmer, Ricordi, Leduc, Salabert, Steingräber, Breitkopf and Universal.
Early life
Dezso d'Antalffy was born into a musical family in Nagybecskerek, Banat, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary, (present-day Zrenjanin, Serbia). His mother, a pianist, recognized his musical talent when he was four. At the age of seven, d'Antalffy's piano instruction was taken over by Ferenc Ripka. When he turned ten, Herr Ödön supervised his musical progress. As a secondary-school student he practiced eight hours a day, which gave him a firm basis for his technique.
Academy of Music
Study
D'Antallfy moved to Budapest in 1902, where he attended the faculty of law at the Hungarian Royal University according to his father's wishes, and studied the organ and composed music at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. For four years he was the student of Hans Koessler, who taught many Hungarian composers including Kodály, Bartók and Weiner. D'Antallfy graduated in 1906.
He studied composition at the Academy of Music in Berlin, a musical centre at the time, and had classes with Hungarian violinist and composer Joseph Joachim. D'Antallfy was a conductor at the Cologne Opera House in 1907 and 1908. In 1909, he continued his studies in Leipzig and Bologna.
Teaching
A decade in Budapest began with his return in 1909, when d’Antalffy composed most of his organ pieces. When his teacher retired in 1909, he became an organ teacher at the Academy of Music and received tenure in 1912. In 1919, d’Antalffy began teaching composition. His first solo concert in January 1911 was a success, and he received a wreath from his fellow musicians. The concert featured a wide range of music, from the early Baroque (Frescobaldi) to contemporary music (including his own pieces). He married Dalma Arkay in March 1911 and fathered his only daughter, Judith d'Antalffy, in 1912.
Until the outbreak of World War I in 1914, d’Antalffy continued composing. He began performing abroad, and his expertise in organ-building was recognized. He was recruited when war broke out, and remained in Großwardein (or Nagyvárad) for two years. In 1916 d’Antalffy began working again, giving charity performances in Budapest, Transylvania and elsewhere in the country. At the height of his career in 1917, he was the chief organist at St. Stephan's Basilica in Budapest (playing the largest organ in the country, built by József Angster in 1905.
Study abroad
In Leipzig, he studied composition with organist Max Reger. His organ teacher was Karl Straube, virtuoso organist of St. Thomas Church. Leipzig was an organ hotbed at the time, and its effects can be heard in d'Antalffy's works. Reger's combination of the tradition of Bach with Liszt and Brahms was part of his mindset when he seasoned traditional themes and melodies with impressionist, Debussy-like harmonies. Enrico Bossi, his teacher of interpretation and methodology in Bologna, had a similar influence since Bossi's works centred around the organ. Although Reger used liturgical genres such as the chorale and fugue, Bossi primarily composed concert pieces and D'Antalffy did the latter as well. Bossi's impact on d'Antalffy as a teacher became tangible in 1911, when he wrote his two-volume Organ Tutor (a detailed, versatile course book in Hungarian, focusing on the pupil's technical development with a variety of exercises).
Success in the United States
D'Antalffy arrived in New York on January 4, 1921, and appeared onstage as an accompanist on January 21. After the success of a concert with Duci Kerékjártó on the violin, they set off on a several-month tour. D'Antalffy and Kerékjártó traveled across the country—"half the continent", as he described it in a letter. In April Schirmer was ready to produce six of his pieces, which were published the following spring. Invited by entrepreneur Samuel Roxy Rothafel, d'Antalffy became the organist of the two-year-old Capitol Theatre, (where he played a concert the following April establishing him as the "Dohnányi of the organ" in the press). The 4,000-seat Capitol Theatre, was a forerunner of the later cinema palaces.
In September 1922, d'Antalffy became an organ teacher at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester and, with John Hammond, an organist at the 3,000-seat Eastman Theatre.