Péter Eötvös
Péter Eötvös (Hungarian: Eötvös Péter, pronounced [ˈøtvøʃ ˈpeːtɛr]; 2 January 1944 – 24 March 2024) was a Hungarian composer, conductor and academic teacher.
The native form of this personal name is Eötvös Péter. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.
Péter Eötvös
2 January 1944
24 March 2024 (aged 80)
- Composer
- Conductor
- Academic teacher
After studies of composition in Budapest and Cologne, Eötvös composed film music in Hungary from 1962. He played with the Stockhausen Ensemble between 1968 and 1976. He was a founding member of the Oeldorf Group in 1973, continuing his association until the late 1970s. From 1979 to 1991, he was musical director and conductor of the Ensemble InterContemporain, and from 1985 to 1988, he was principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, after which he conducted several other orchestras.
As a composer, Eötvös was known for the operas Love and Other Demons and Three Sisters, both of which were performed outside Hungary. He was open to influences from different cultures.
Personal life[edit]
Eötvös was married three times. His first marriage was to the actress Piroska Molnar; they had a son, György, who died in 1994. His second marriage was to Pi-hsien Chen; they had a daughter, Ann-yi Bingol.[15] His third marriage was to Maria Eotvosne Mezei.[1][6] They lived in Cologne, Paris and Hilversum (Netherlands) for decades. In 2004, when Hungary joined the European Union, they moved back to Budapest, where Eötvös founded the Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation the same year.[1]
Eötvös died in Budapest on 24 March 2024, at the age of 80,[1][5][16] after a serious illness.[6]
Compositional style and critical reception[edit]
In his extensive work as a conductor, Eötvös was exposed to a variety of compositional styles. Federico Capitoni cited an eclectic range of apparent elements and influences in Eötvös's music: the "lucid folly" of Edgar Varese and Frank Zappa, Ligeti's sense of irony, a certain "American" boldness, rigor reminiscent of dodecaphonists, and rhythms after his "beloved" Bartok and Stravinsky.[4][17]
Composing for film and theatre in his first large-scale compositions,[4] Eötvös learned the importance of timing and synchronisation. He also discovered noise as a sound, which was the starting point of some later compositions. The work Zero Points begins with a countdown, as if destined to synchronise sound and image, the double bass then takes on a high-pitched sound reminding the cracks of an old magnetic tape. His music encompassed a variety of timbres and soundscapes.[17] Extended techniques such as over-pressure bowings coexisted with lyrical folk songs and synthesized sounds. Eötvös provided detailed instructions on mixture of instruments for electronic manipulation or amplification.[4]
Sándor Weöres' poem Néma zene inspired two works for orchestra and voice, Atlantis (1995) and Ima (2002, also with chorus). Reviewing a 2016 recording of Eötvös's concertante music with the composer himself conducting the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France (Alpha 208), Capitoni noted Luciano Berio's and Frederic Rzewski's influence in the percussionist-vocalist of the 2012–2013 Speaking Drums (soloist Martin Grubinger). He observed timbral exploration in the 2012 second violin concerto DoReMi (soloist Midori) and a sometimes clumsy, sometimes brilliant approach to cello–soli dialogue in the 2010–2011 Concerto Grosso (soloist Jean-Guihen Queyras).[17]