Géza Zichy was a Hungarian

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and was also renowned as the world's first professional one-armed pianist.

Biography

Zichy was born im Sztára Castle in 1849. He came from a noble family and held the title Count Vasony-Keö. Zichy lost his right arm in a hunting accident at age 14 or 15. Still determined to become a pianist, he persevered by writing and performing piano music for the left hand. In 1873 he began six years of study with Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...

. He also studied under Robert Volkmann

Robert Volkmann

Friedrich Robert Volkmann was a German composer.-Life:He was born in Lommatzsch, Saxony, Germany. His father was a music director for a church, so he trained his son in music to prepare him as a successor...

. In spite of his limitations, Zichy had a successful career as both a concert pianist and a composer for the next 40 years. He gave entire concerts playing music only for the left hand, the proceeds of which he gave to charity as he was independently wealthy. He was known for his artistic sensitivity as well as dextrous playing and had several admirers; including Franz Liszt who wrote glowing reviews of his performances in letters to friends. The Viennese critic Eduard Hanslick

Eduard Hanslick

Eduard Hanslick was a Bohemian-Austrian music critic.-Biography:Hanslick was born in Prague, the son of Joseph Adolph Hanslick, a bibliographer and music teacher from a German-speaking family, and one of his piano pupils, the daughter of a Jewish merchant from Vienna...

, who pulled no punches, said Zichy's playing was "the greatest marvel of modern times on the piano".

From 1891 to 1894 he was Intendant of the Royal Hungarian Opera. His appoinment spelt the end of Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...

's term as music director.

Among Zichy's many compositions was a left-hand piano concerto and several operas. In addition to his music career, Zichy also worked as a lawyer. He died in Budapest

Budapest

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

in 1924, aged 74.

An entire chapter is devoted to Zichy in Piano Music for One Hand by Theodore Edel (Indiana University Press), a comprehensive survey of music written for those pianists who have the use of only one hand.

Zichy also published an autobiography ("Aus meinem Leben", 3 vols, 1911-24) and some poetry.

Operas

• A vár története (1888)
• Alár (1896)
• Roland mester (1899)
• Nemo (1905)
• Rákóczi Ferenz (1909)
• Radostó (1912)

External links