Biography of the composer Kalman

Imre Kalman in childhood Imre Kalman wanted to become a tailor, then he studied for a lawyer, tried to become a musical classic, but he received fame as the master of operetta. By the time, when on October 24, in the resort town of Shiofok on the shores of Balaton of the largest lake of Hungary, a boy Imre was born among the squids, there were already two children in the family: Bela and Vilma.

In the first years of life, Imre his parents did not know material problems. His father was a respectable bourgeois, they lived, although not rich, but quite decent: they kept the servant and cook. The four -year -old Imre from childhood worshiped the "Temple of Arts." Usually, if he did not go to the theater, then he could be found at home, in the music room. Having huddled under the piano, he listened to how his sister Wilm's sister played musical exercises.

But at that time, the young singer Rapsody did not think at all about the career of the musician. He dreamed of becoming a tailor. But at the age of six, Imre changed his plans: now he intended to make his compatriots make no new dresses, but the protection of their rights in court - the little Kalman decided to become a lawyer. Imre was intensively engaged in two schools - in a gymnasium and at a music school - but, barely taking a free hour, immediately sat down to learn the works of Schuman and Chopin to learn.

The music fascinated and drunk him. During the summer holidays, he almost had to drag him from the piano and sit at the dining table. By the end of the holidays, Imre's hands spared to such an extent that every blow to the keys delivered incredible torment to him. Imre turned fifteen years old when, in the spring of the year, he first spoke to the public with the imagination of Mozart Re-Minor.

The concert hall was also attended by correspondents in order to assess the ability of a young musician in their critical reports. Imre looked so small and feeble that the newspapers enthusiastically noted the talent of the "twelve -year -old musician." In recent years, he had to work with a double load, giving the advantage of the gymnasium: his parents wanted the son to certainly receive a certificate of maturity.

Imre fulfilled the desire of the parents, brilliantly passing all the exams. However, now a truly double life has begun for him. He submitted to his parental will, he entered the law faculty of Budapest University, studied there eight semesters, passed all the necessary exams and did not reach the extent of the bachelor. But this was a great achievement, given that in parallel, he studied at the Academy of Music with full load.

Music classes demanded so much time and effort that I did not have to think about writing a dissertation. The family encouraged his classes in jurisprudence, giving money for pocket expenses. The amounts were not the Gd news, but Imre was enough. And in order to learn music, he had to seek material opportunities himself. He could not play the piano - he brought his hands.

He began to write critical articles in a daily newspaper. So, in the year he wrote the first musical composition "Cycle for verses by Ludwig Yakubovski." The first work was followed by others. Among them, the main work with which he associated all his hopes is “Saturnal” - poems for a large symphonic orchestra. However, it became the last. Nevertheless, Kalman himself considered this day the beginning of his musical career.

Since then, he sacredly believed that the leap years have promised him good luck, and on February 29 - the day of special well -being. Kalman's lawyer career has not developed. Imre Kalman again healed with a double life, with the only difference being that in the morning he did not go to the lawyer's office as homely thought, but to the editor. It should be noted that there he was accepted with open arms and offered a position of musical critic with a salary of 70 crowns per month.

The following year, Kalman was awarded the Robert Folkman Prize, awarded to him by the Budapest Academy of Music. The material size of the bonus allowed to spend six weeks in Berlin. Imre took this opportunity to offer his works to German publishers; Following the "Saturnals", he created another symphonic poem - "Andre and Johann." However, the publisher for these opuses was not found either in Berlin, nor in Leipzig, or in Munich, where Kalman drove along the way to his homeland.

The matter will end with the fact that I will decide on a desperate step, I will take and compose operetta! Get down to the operetta! The holder of the Robert Folkman Prize, worthy of Professor Kesler, he deeply despised this frivolous genre. However, the circumstances formed so that soon Kalman “rolled” to the operetta. The idea must have been in the air. Johann Strauss and Milleck - the Great Planters of the genre - rested in graves for almost ten years.

And suddenly the operetta was reborn again. Imre rented a cheap room in the attic in Kroisbach near Graz to work without interference. There, he composed his first operetta - "Autumn maneuvers." The premiere took place on February 22 in Budapest with incredible success. The audience applauded tirelessly, calling the performers on the stage again and again.A year later, on January 21, the premiere took place in the Vienna Theater "Anga Dier Win".

The Austrian audience met Calman's operetta with no less enthusiasm. In April of the same season, operetta was staged at the Hamburg Theater, and a few weeks later her premiere in Berlin took place. A year later, one day in the elegant "Johann Strauss Theater" was the premiere of New Operetta. Its text belonged to the pen of two experienced librettors, and the action took place in the environment that was familiar with Imre since childhood: in Hungary, in the steppe open spaces.

There were scenes from gypsy life, and the gypsy songs of Imre, faithful to his nature, was pessimistic. This time, one of the librettists, Fritz Grunbaum, was not able to suppress bad forebodings. The premiere of the new operetta Kalman took place on October 11; The notorious waltz - contrary to all hesitation - it was decided to leave. And the next day, his melody sang on every corner: success was like an explosion of a bomb.

Grunbaum shrugged in bewilderment, but now his appearance was not at all dull. Before the outbreak of World War I, Imre wrote another operetta - "Little King". But she barely pulled out to polite applause. In search of "his" librettist, Kalman tried different authors. The creative community of Imre with these librettists brought him the greatest successes. At the beginning of the war, Imre worked simultaneously on two works: a light, cheerful “young buzz” and on another operetta, which the librettors have so far gives the conditional name “Long Long love!

However, I was renamed“ Miss Spring ”, she soon conquered the hearts of the Americans. The text of the operetta, glorifying love, came out of the pen Leo Stein and Bela Eenbach. Stein was considered an honorary patriarch of librettists, and working with an experienced master of this large scale acted peacefully on Imre. However, as soon as he recognized the date of the premiere, there was no trace of his spiritual calm.

All tickets for the premiere were sold out. Nevertheless, the performance did not take place: comic actor Joseph Kenig lost his voice, and the performance was canceled at the last moment. Imre did not reassure the appointment of a new date. Although the new number looked quite decent - November 17.

He was firmly convinced that operetta would fail with a bang: to transfer the premiere is a bad sign. However, subsequent facts refuted all the pessimistic assumptions of Imre. Vienna swept a stream of melodies from the new operetta. The premiere of Queen Chardash took place at the very height of the war, but neither the front trenches, nor the cannon cannon, prevented operetta from entering both Russia and America.

Of course, neither the composer, nor the authors of the text from this, did not get rich: Russia was already fought with Austria, and the United States soon also entered the war. Overseas fans Imre made an attempt to rescue him from the zone of military operations. At the request of the Entrener Severed, the Washington government expressed his readiness to transport Imre behind the ocean.

However, Kalman did not even think about this proposal: too many misfortunes fell upon him at once. The death of Bela's older brother deeply shocked, and then his father fell: Diabetes did not promise the slightest hope of recovery. The friend of Kalman Paul Dvorzhak, she was ten more ten years old at the beginning of the war as a result of the illness was chained to a wheelchair.

As you know, the best remedy for longing is work. Distributing one after another to the other lines, Imre forgot about everything in the world. It creates bright, incendiary melodies. One of the operettes of that time - the "Fairy of the Carnival" - is essentially a recycled version of the "Jules of the Zhuzhi". The premiere of the operetta took place on September 21 at Johann Strauss Theater.

There was not enough coal, and the cold in the auditorium was monstrous, but this did not prevent the play from passing with a complete full house. Then the young Russian actress Vera Makinskaya entered the life of Imre. A native of Perm, emigrating with her mother in the year, conquered the heart of a popular composer. Despite the age difference - it was thirty years, this acquaintance soon led to the wedding.

At that time, Imre had just begun work on the new operetta - “Fiaul Montmartre” - and decided to devote her to his young wife. Vera soon gave birth to a boy to him, and then two more girls: Lily and Yovonka. People with sophisticated hearing, as well as Kalman's fans rejoiced in pleasant, in the French manner of exquisite music, while others passed by without caught her charms.

In the year, the famous Johann Strauss Theater, which once put Operetta, survived his last days.