Classical Music | Violin Music

Jeno Hubay

"Fantasie Brilliante" on themes from the opera Carmen  Play

Livia Sohn Violin
Daniel del Pino Piano

Recorded on 10/13/2010, uploaded on 03/31/2011

Musician's or Publisher's Notes
Born in Pest in 1858, the violinist, composer and teacher Jeno Hubay had his first violin lessons from his father, before studying with Joachim in Berlin. He returned to Hungary, but was advised by Liszt to try his luck in Paris, where he was well received and became a close friend of Vieuxtemps, whom he subsequently succeeded at the Brussels Conservatoire. His later career took him back to Budapest, where he taught a number of violinists who won later distinction, including Joseph Szigeti. He continued travelling as a virtuoso, played chamber music in a quartet with the cellist David Popper, and later became director of the Budapest Music Academy. Hubay also distinguished himself as a composer, an aspect of his career now largely neglected. His compositions included operas, two symphonies, concertos for viola and for violin, and varied chamber music. His Fantaisie brillante on Bizet's Carmen was written in 1877. Demanding considerable technical proficiency, it opens with the theme of Carmen's fate, and includes Micaela's Act III aria, Carmen's Habanera and the Toreador's song and march, all variously embellished.       Livia Sohn