Ferenc Szecsődi was born in 1954 into a family with a strong love of music. His paternal aunt was Irén Szecsődi, the internationally renowned soprano who, over the course of her career, gave numerous world premières of contemporary works. Her voice has been preserved, among others, on recordings of compositions by Zoltán Kodály and Sándor Szokolay. János Ferencsik described her as one of the greatest singers of her age, praising her as a lyric soprano of exceptional beauty of tone. Regrettably, her nephew was able to become acquainted with her greatest successes only through recordings.
The future violinist’s father worked as a music engraver and, as a result, was personally acquainted with virtually all contemporary composers of his time. Music engraving is a particularly complex and demanding profession: a carefully produced score often requires a level of craftsmanship approaching that of a work of art. His father earned such a reputation in the field that he was commissioned even by foreign publishers. One of the benefits of this for the future violinist was access to a wide range of musical works that were otherwise unobtainable in Hungary at the time.
Among the family’s regular visitors was Leó Weiner, who was the first to recognise his talent. It was Professor Weiner who also established that he possessed absolute pitch. In keeping with the ideals of a classical musical education, he was initially enrolled in piano lessons, yet from the very beginning his teacher complained about him. He adhered neither to prescribed fingerings nor to regular scale practice. Instead, he played short pieces freely, driven by inner impulse – behaviour that only further provoked his teacher’s disapproval. Acting on the advice of many, his parents transferred him to the string department of the Csepeli Zeneiskola (Music School Csepel). Offered the cello, he opted for the violin instead, though for a long time he found little pleasure in that instrument either. Reflecting on these years much later, he recalled: “If someone is pushed into strict discipline too early, I still advise today: one must wait until the moment when they themselves feel the desire to begin [1].”
By a twist of fate, he gave up neither the violin nor the piano, for music continued to exert its pull on him. His perseverance eventually brought a sense of achievement: in time, he began to perceive the artistic challenge inherent in the violin assignments set by the music school and started to take genuine pleasure in them. At the same time, he continued to sit down at the piano with enthusiasm, his command of the instrument growing ever more secure. Today, as a university professor, he frequently accompanies his students at their principal-instrument lessons, occasionally at examinations, and more rarely in concert performance as well. On the most recent such occasion, he played the piano reduction of Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
He was first set on the path of violin playing by Lajosné Weisz; he then developed into a violinist under István Bodonyi at the Bartók Béla Secondary School of Music, and it was through Mihály Szűcs at the Liszt Academy that his vocation as a violin artist fully unfolded. While still at the conservatoire, he was on several occasions advised to abandon the profession, and his parents were likewise urged to withdraw him from music education on the grounds that he was a “hopeless case”. The reasons most often cited were that his hands were considered too small, his practice insufficient, and that, despite his musicality, his playing was not deemed beautiful enough. Professor Bodonyi, however, through four years of attentive and discerning pedagogy, succeeded in drawing out the true musician within him – one who became master of sound itself. As a result, he was admitted to the Liszt Academy among the very first candidates.
During his years at the Academy, he was able to hear several great masters live, among them Dénes Kovács, Vilmos Tátrai and Dénes Szász. At evening concerts he admired István Ruha, who later also honoured him with his friendship. At that time Yehudi Menuhin and David Oistrakh visited Budapest on several occasions, and their playing likewise proved a powerful source of inspiration for him. In the course of his Academy studies, an unexpected lesson during a trip abroad led him to realise that far more rigorous professional work was required if he wished to belong to the European front rank. The many examples he encountered, his international experiences, and Professor Bodonyi’s unconditional trust ultimately bore fruit: his diploma concert in 1977 was awarded the Academy’s Grand Prize by a demanding jury.
In the year he received his diploma, he was invited to Szeged by Professor Richárd Weninger and, with his support, began teaching at the conservatoire there. That same year he married, and the young couple were also provided with a staff flat by the institution. He remained loyal to the city on the banks of the Tisza throughout his life, even though many people, on many occasions, warned him that a career could be built only in the capital. Turning a deaf ear both to siren calls and to sibylline prophecies, he devoted himself to teaching and, over the course of his long career, guided several hundred students towards a higher level of violin artistry.
As an artist-teacher, he played an active role in the comprehensive transformation of higher-level music education in Szeged. With some irony, he can say of himself that although he has been teaching in the very same room since 1977, he has in fact worked at four different institutions under seven successive mandates. In 1977 he began his teaching career as an assistant lecturer at the Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Főiskola Ének- és Zeneiskolai Tanárképző Intézet Szegedi Tagozata (Szeged Branch of the Institute for the Training of Singing and Music School Teachers, Liszt Academy). In 1985 he was promoted to senior lecturer. In 1990 the institution was reorganised and took the name Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Főiskola Szegedi Konzervatóriuma (Szeged Conservatoire of the Liszt Academy), where from that year he served as associate professor. In 1997 he was awarded the title of college professor. The following year, in 1998, the institute was integrated into the local university and became the Szegedi Tudományegyetem Zeneművészeti Konzervatóriuma (Conservatoire of Music of the University of Szeged). In 2000 he completed his habilitation with a focus on the Hubay School. At the same time, he was appointed full professor and began his memorable tenure as head of the chamber music department. In 2003 the institution underwent another reorganisation, and since then it has operated as the Szegedi Tudományegyetem Zeneművészeti Kara (Faculty of Music of the University of Szeged), where he holds the professorial post of Head of the String Department. In 2014 he accepted the invitation of Dean Péter Tóth to take on the responsibilities of Vice-Dean as well.
Together with his fellow teachers and numerous local musicians, he has been working for nearly four decades to enrich the cultural life of the city. After the departure of Viktor Vaszy and István Vántus, the responsibility fell to him and his circle to ensure that Szeged would remain one of Hungary’s defining centres of musical life. Among his colleagues, special mention must be made of István Kosztándi, former concertmaster of the Szegedi Szimfonikus Zenekar (Szeged Symphony Orchestra), to whom he has been bound by decades of friendship. The value of their joint efforts is reflected in the sustained success of the Vántus István Kortárszenei Napok (István Vántus Contemporary Music Days) series, which has been held for many years. The full significance of their achievement can only be appreciated by those who are aware that the city still lacks a concert hall with truly good acoustics. He has spoken on several occasions, in various interviews, about the hardships of the early years – accounts corroborated by the fact that another celebrated Szeged-based artist, József Gregor, voiced identical criticisms of the conditions at the time. The present situation nevertheless offers grounds for cautious optimism, as the renovation of the Szegedi Tudományegyetem Zeneművészeti Kara has opened up the possibility of creating a performance space with proper acoustic qualities.
Many of those who criticised his decision to settle in Szeged raised the question of why he did not seek a position in a professional symphony or chamber orchestra. He never, however, felt drawn to ensemble membership, and therefore accepted such engagements on only two occasions in his life. One exception was his regular summer work with a small ensemble in Germany, which helped to alleviate his otherwise modest financial circumstances. For twenty-five years he performed with an eight-member chamber group on a small island in the North Sea. This activity proved to be an irreplaceable source of experience, one that he was later able to draw on extensively in his teaching of chamber music. At the same time, it enabled him to establish numerous international professional contacts, which he subsequently put to use in support of his colleagues and students alike.
The other orchestral detour in his career is associated with the outstanding Hungarian musician István Bogár. As conductor of the Budapest Strauss Orchestra, Bogár – through the force of his profound musicality – persuaded him to join the ensemble as concertmaster. It was primarily during their Spanish and French tours that they performed to capacity audiences in internationally renowned venues, such as the Salle Pleyel and the Auditorio de Zaragoza. Ultimately, however, he returned home and remained committed to his career as a soloist and chamber musician.
For decades he has worked closely with the pianist Márta Fekete, who on numerous occasions has stood by him as a chamber partner and as a friend. His musical collaboration with the pianist Gabriella Szentpéteri likewise goes back many decades. Through their joint initiative, the Magyar Zongorás Trió (Hungarian Piano Trio) was founded in 1989, with the cellist Ildikó Rádi as its third member. Representing values of chamber music that are increasingly under threat today, the ensemble conveys works by Mozart, Beethoven and Svendsen.
Although he is one of the country’s most eminent instrumental teachers and served for more than a decade as head of the chamber music department, he only rarely found the time to perform together with his own students. At one point he was also tempted by the idea of forming a string quartet, but owing to lack of time this never came to fruition. He nonetheless supports chamber music in another way as well, by regularly preparing arrangements for himself and for his students. Particularly noteworthy among these are the works he arranged for the Szeged Violin Ensemble, made up of his pupils.
In 1982 he once again succeeded in drawing the attention of the profession to himself when, as a provincial artist, he appeared at the Budapesti Muzsikusfórum (Budapest Musicians’ Forum). A series of invitations followed this success. In 1984 he was awarded the grand prize of the Cziffra Foundation, as a result of which he was able to perform at numerous concerts both in Hungary and abroad. It was in this context that he met one of his later chamber partners, the pianist István Kassai. Thanks to the Foundation, his name became firmly established in the minds of concert audiences and concert organisers alike.
He also won the recognition of the profession – fortunately in time – and was able to draw strength from each award and distinction for the years that followed. In 1987 he received the artistic prize of the Hungarian Radio Corporation, which he experienced as a form of recompense after having encountered unsupportive juries at several of the institution’s earlier competitions. In 1992 he was named Performer of the Year. The following year he was awarded one of the Hungarian musical world’s most emblematic mid-career honours, the Liszt Prize. His work as a chamber musician and teacher was acknowledged in 1996 with the Weiner Leó Prize. In 2009 he received the title of Meritorious Artist of the Hungarian Republic, presented to him by László Sólyom.
Because he had time to prepare for recognition, he was able to build his own repertoire gradually and consciously. By the time, at the age of thirty, the most important European concert venues opened up to him, the core of the violin repertoire was already, as it were, in his fingers. This allowed him to meet the many demands placed on a performing artist without the kind of collapse that often accompanies an abruptly accelerated career. There were years when he undertook fifty-five to sixty performances – in other words, he played at least one concert evening every week. Trusting his instincts, he selected each new work, and today he can lay claim to having performed more than fifty concertos. Beyond the frequently heard violin concertos by Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, he also introduced audiences to a number of rarities; among the highlights of this vast repertoire are chamber works by Locatelli, Brahms and Vieuxtemps.
He also cultivated close relationships with contemporary Hungarian composers, partly as a family legacy and partly out of a sense of responsibility as a performing artist. His friendship with Zsolt Durkó is attested by the fact that the composer wrote two works for him, the 1979 Refrének (Refrains) and the 1993 Hegedűverseny (Violin Concerto). His violin playing likewise inspired Miklós Kocsár, Iván Patachich, Lajos Huszár and Pál Rózsa, all of whom dedicated their concertos to him. He was a willing participant in composers’ portrait concerts, whether those of Sándor Balassa or András Szőllősy, and also appeared at the memorial concert for Attila Bozay. Younger colleagues and fellow composers have continued to provide him with substantial artistic challenges; a particularly close collaboration developed with Péter Tóth, several of whose works he has kept in his active repertoire, including Lacrymae, Rapszódia (Rhapsody), Balkán concertante (Balkan Concertante), and the Duo concertante két hegedűre (Duo Concertante for Two Violins).
For a long time he played on readily available, good-quality but essentially average instruments, until in 1992 he purchased one of the Cremonese master violins owned by István Ruha. Later he established a strong professional relationship with two outstanding master luthiers, Zsombor Kemény and Márton Székely, whose instruments he now plays. At the time, István Ruha passed the violin on to him with friendship and exemplary generosity; since then, however, it has been he who helps his own students acquire suitable violins.
He made his first recording in 1991, featuring works by Erkel and Hubay. On a later disc he performed Zsolt Durkó’s technically demanding Hegedűverseny with the Magyar Rádiózenekar (Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra), conducted by Tamás Vásáry. What lends this CD particular significance is that the recording was made during only the work’s third live performance. The first two performances failed to achieve the anticipated success; under Vásáry’s direction, however, the concerto was met with an enthusiastic reception. In connection with this experience, the performer later remarked in an interview that he much prefers recordings made at live concerts to those produced in the sterile conditions of the studio.
Among his recordings, the Hubay series stands out as a singular achievement. Commissioned by Naxos, he and István Kassai recorded the complete chamber music with violin by Jenő Hubay. The thirteen-disc series was launched in 1996 and completed in 2009. Apart from Bartók and Kodály, no other Hungarian composer has been the subject of such a comprehensive, systematic collected edition. Moreover, it is a genuine world sensation that two performers devoted so extensive a recording project to the oeuvre of a single composer. The series received exceptionally favourable critical acclaim. Foreign professional journals – especially French and German periodicals – frequently treated these recordings as a benchmark. Among the most notable appraisals is the epithet that has since become something of a slogan: “the Hungarian Paganini”, as used, for example, by a critic of Zürichsee Zeitung. Sensitive Hungarian critics also recognised the importance of the recordings, including Máté Hollós, Mária Kerényi and Marianne Pándi. Classical music radio stations across Western Europe regularly broadcast individual movements from the series, and selections have occasionally also appeared on Radio Bartók, notably in its Notturno programme.
Since the 1970s, music historians have dared to state openly that the rejection of Jenő Hubay’s compositional oeuvre was a political misjudgement. Even so, no one was prepared to take the risk of engaging with the composer in any sustained or in-depth manner. As late as 1987, the violinist was still being cautioned against devoting himself to Hubay’s music. The ingrained reflexes of music criticism shaped by the traditional school are clearly evident in the reception of the cantata Ara Pacis. Despite the work’s unequivocal success with audiences, critics for the most part responded with marked reserve and scepticism.
Thus the founder of the Hungarian violin school could at times be encountered amid adventurous and even harmful cross-currents. From the outset, Szecsődi has been a member of the Hubay Association, of which he has served as president since 2005. Among the Association’s aims, the stewardship of Hubay’s complete oeuvre is only one aspect. In this spirit, violinists’ gatherings have been held annually since 2001 on the composer’s birthday. Another task – and at present a far more emphatic one – is the nurturing of roots and new shoots alike, that is, the support of senior artists and young pupils. It would take too long even to enumerate the many distinguished musicians in whose honour celebratory tribute evenings have already been organised. From the long list, only a few names may be mentioned here: Györgyi Répássy, István Bodonyi, János Pallagi, Mária Vermes, György Konrád, László Dénes, Péter Komlós, and István Kern. For young talents, beyond opportunities for competitive distinction, the Association is at times also able to provide scholarships or master violins, selected from the outstanding instruments crafted by the two luthiers mentioned earlier.
They also cultivate Hubay’s intellectual legacy through the initiative of organising competitions specifically for violin teachers working in provincial music schools. Accordingly, on 12 March 2016 – the anniversary of Jenő Hubay’s death – the first event of this kind was held. Interest proved so strong that preparations for its continuation are already under way. The traditions of the Hungarian violin school are likewise sustained through the Mester és tanítványa (Master and Pupil) concert series, launched as early as 1992, in which large numbers of students have had the opportunity to appear on stage together with their artist-teachers. At the evenings dedicated to the presentation of new Hungarian master instruments, each work is performed on a different violin by the participants. The series, initiated in 2006, reached a wider audience when its subsequent instalment was broadcast in 2008 by Duna Television.
As Hubay’s intellectual heir, Szecsődi and his circle therefore turn towards both younger and older generations with material and artistic support alike. The theme of his habilitation, as well as of his inaugural lecture at the Hungarian Academy of Arts, was A világhírű Hubay hegedűiskola titka (lit. The Secret of the World-Famous Hubay Violin School).
Ferenc Szecsődi is a violinist known across Europe, a member of the Magyar Zongorás Trió, and a dedicated custodian of Jenő Hubay’s intellectual legacy – yet alongside and beyond all these roles, he is, above all, a teacher. For nearly forty years he has been educating, instructing and mentoring successive generations. He takes genuine pleasure in teaching, and his students enjoy studying with him, as his pedagogical aim is to liberate their innate musicality and to help their inner musical joy come to the surface. In interviews, he has mentioned among his former pupils Erzsébet Farkas, Márk Faragó, Edina Szirtes, Sebestyén Sztathatosz, Máté Szűcs, as well as Katalin Várnagy, a member of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
[2016]