GYÖRGY CZIFFRA

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György Cziffra (Georges Cziffra) (d. 5 Kasım 1921, Budapeşte – ö. 15 Ocak 1994, Senlis), Macar piyanist. 1968’de Fransız vatandaşı oldu.

20. yüzyılın en büyük piyanistlerinden birisi kabul edilir. Ünlü virtüöz, en çok Franz Liszt eserlerinin kaydı ile tanınmıştır. Frederick Chopin ve Robert Schumann'ın da pek çok eserinin kaydını yapmıştır.

Yaşamı

1921'de Budapeşte'de fakir bir çingene ailesinin çocuğu olarak dünyaya geldi. O doğmadan önce Fransa’da yaşayan ailesi; I. Dünya Savaşı çıkınca sınırdışı edilmişti.

Piyano çalmayı öğrenen ablasını izleyerek piyano ile tanıştı. Beş yaşında iken bir sirk tarafından yeteneği keşfedildi ve birkaç hafta boyunca sirkin yıldızı olarak gösterilere katıldı.

9 yaşında iken Franz Liszt Akademisi’ne kabul edildi. Bu kuruma kabul edilen en küçük öğrenci idi. Okulda, yetişkinlerin devam ettiği derslere katılmasına da izin verildi. Müzik eğitimi boyunca akşamları barlarda piyano çalıp, doğaçlama müzik yaparak yaşamını kazandı. Eğitimi, II. Dünya Savaşı nedeniyle yarım kaldı.

Cziffra, 1941'de Mısır asıllı eşi Soleilka ile evlenmişti. Bu evlilikten kendi adını verdiği (György) oğlu dünyaya geldi. 1942'de askere alındı ve Nazi ordusunda çarpışmak üzere Rusya sınırına gönderildi. Sınırda, Rus partizanlara esir düştü. İki yıl sonra kaçabildiğinde yeniden Alman askerlerine yakalandı ve Batı cephesine tankçı olarak gönderildi.

1946'da terhis oldu ve yeniden Franz Liszt Akademisi’ndeki eğitimine ve barlarda piyano çalmaya başladı.

1950'de Macaristan’dan kaçma girişiminde bulundu fakat yakalanarak 3 yıl boyunca çalışma kamplarında ağır koşullar altında yaşadı. 1953'te serbest kalan sanatçı 1956'da eşi ve oğlu ile Viyana'ya kaçmayı başardı. Viyana'da Brahms Saal'da sansasyonel bir resital verdi. Ertesi sene Paris ve Londra’daki konserleri de çok coşkulu tepkiler aldı. Başarılı kariyeri Avrupa turnesi ve ABD konserleri ile devam etti.

1968'de Fransız vatandaşı olan sanatçı, Paris'in kuzeyindeki Senlis kasabasına yerleşti. Kariyerinin başındaki müzisyenlere destek olmak amacıyla bir vakıf kurdu. Orkestra şefi olan oğlu György Cziffra Jr.'ın 1981’de bir yangında ölümünden sonra orkestra ile konser vermeyi bıraktı.1994'te Senlis’te kalp krizinden öldü.
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Georges (originally György) Cziffra (November 5, 1921 - January 15, 1994) was a Hungarian virtuoso pianist. He became a French citizen in 1968.

A son of Hungarian Romani (his father, György Cziffra Sr., was a cimbalom player and played in cabaret halls and restaurants in Paris in the 1910s), born in Budapest, Cziffra became noted at the age of five, improvising on popular tunes in bars and circuses. His teachers at the Franz Liszt Academy included Ernő Dohnányi and István Thomán.

An attempted escape from Soviet-dominated Hungary led to imprisonment and communist forced labour in the period 1950–1953. In 1956, on the eve of the Hungarian insurrection and after a stunning account of Bartók's second piano concerto (EMI References) Cziffra escaped with his wife (Soleilka - of Egyptian origin) and son to Vienna where his recital at the Brahms Saal caused a sensation. News of this event reached the magazine The New Yorker. His Paris debut the following year caused a furore - his London debut at the Royal Festival Hall in Liszt's first concerto and Hungarian Fantasy similarly, an enraptured orchestra and audience applauding and cheering for over twenty minutes. His meteoric career continued with concerts throughout Europe and debuts at the Ravinia Festival (Grieg and Liszt concertos with Carl Schuricht) and Carnegie Hall New York with Thomas Schippers. He always performed with a large leather wristband to support the ligaments of his wrist which were stretched while being tortured in prison and also as a memento of his years in labour. Georges Cziffra died in Senlis, France, 72 years old, from a heart attack resulting from series of complications from lung cancer due to smoking and alcohol. In "Cannons and Flowers", his autobiography, Cziffra recounts his life story up until 1977, the year he founded the Cziffra Foundation, sited in the Saint Frambourg chapel in Senlis, which he bought and restored, with the aim of helping young musicians at the outset of their careers.

Cziffra is most known for his dazzling recordings of Franz Liszt's virtuoso works. He also recorded many of Frédéric Chopin's compositions and those of Robert Schumann (his account of Carnaval de Vienne was admired by Alfred Cortot). Cziffra is also well-known for his rather-demanding transcriptions of several orchestral works for the piano - among them, one of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee, written in interlocking octaves.

Cziffra's son, György Cziffra, Jr., was a professional conductor and participated in several concerts and recordings with his father. However, his promising career was cut short due to his death in an apartment fire 1981 - said to have been accompanied by a suicide note - an event that sparked a progressively diminishing morale in Cziffra, Sr. Cziffra never again performed or recorded with an orchestra, and some critics have commented that the severe emotional blow had an impact on his playing quality as well. While many thought that his pianism deteriorated after the death of his son, some felt that his playing was deeper than before.

Early years

Georges Cziffra was born into dire poverty in 1921. Before he was born, his parents had been living in France. During World War I the French government expelled all residents whose countries of origins were fighting against France. Cziffra's father, a Hungarian citizen, was imprisoned and his mother was forced to move to Budapest with her two daughters and only five kilograms of luggage. She was billeted into a single room built on stilts above a marsh, where the Cziffra family would live for years. His father was released from prison and Georges arrived some time later.

His earliest training in piano came from watching his sister practice. She had decided she was going to learn the piano after being lucky enough to find a job which allowed her to save the required amount of money. As she practised, Georges, a weak and often ill child, watched from his makeshift bed in fascination. When he felt strong enough, he would try to mimic his sister, and became greatly enthusiastic about the sounds he could make. He learnt without sheet music, but by asking his parents to sing him tunes and playing them back, improvising additional material as he became more adept.

By the time he was five he attracted the attention of a travelling circus who hired him as the star of their show, and his improvisations (on tunes suggested by the audience) were very successful. This involvement with the circus at an early age (and for only a few weeks) was to haunt the rest of his career, as some critics used it as an example of his poor musical heritage and low taste, while others saw in it a remarkable and prodigious talent.

He soon came to attention of the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest and was, at 9, the youngest student ever admitted. He was also admitted against the rules of the institution, which stipulated that in order to enter the candidate must have studied a full course of preliminary studies at a music school. He soon astonished his teachers who allowed him to attend the advanced masterclasses, normally reserved for adult students. This was run by Istvan Thoman, a pupil of Liszt and the teacher of Bartók and Dohnányi.

Adult Years

In 1942, at the age of 21, Georges was called up to fight. He had within the previous year married his wife Soleilka, who was with child when he entered military training. During the war he was a foot soldier and a tank commander. He was the only man from his battalion to survive.