Band music (or simply ba(n)d music)?
- laszlomarosi60
- Apr 10
- 5 min read
by Laszlo Marosi
In 1975, Budapest, Hungary, I attended the Military Music High School (associated with the Bela Bartok Conservatory at that time), where I continued my piano studies with Gyorgy Pesko (1933-1999), and trombone studies with Ferenc Steiner. At that school, band music became my next focus. Our band director/conductor was the key to my new musical
focus/interest. Erno Keil (1897-1984), retired trombonist of the Hungarian Opera, was so efficient, having absolute pitch, knowing each programmed/performed piece from memory, sharing with us his borderless knowledge and skills of all the instruments, and the repertoire we performed with him attracted me to the medium.
The history behind the old marches, the excellent orchestra transcriptions and original band music he scheduled with us was especially effective for students. He introduced us to the newest Hungarian band piece, at that time, titled “Capriccio" by Frigyes Hidas (1928-2007). Members of the band got excited about, because it was fresh, unique, expressive, happy, stressless, but still challenging for us. The main point was that it was original music
composed for band! It was a pleasing and happy experience to perform this piece. This is how my acquaintance and passion towards the music of Hungarian composer Frigyes Hidas began.
Since then, working 40 years on band repertoire development - focusing on concert repertoire - I still feel that there exists a public misconception of the band medium.
One of the reasons the French Revolution (1789) occurred, was access to the advantages of aristocrats including classical music. Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) solved this challenge replacing the violins of the symphony with pools of clarinets and performing his Grande Symphonie Funebre et Triomphale Op. 15 (1840) for huge audiences. This movement opened the door towards the existence of the concert wind band.
Earlier in their history, bands were organized in the military, mainly for battle field communication and victory parades. This second function of the band still coexists with the developed concert function of the media.
When we talk about "band" most people still have the concept of an instrumentalist group performing outdoors, or in huge arenas as loud groups of marching bands, big bands, military bands, school pep bands, rock bands...etc...
Due to the creativity of Berlioz, the band gradually moved towards the concert hall, getting inside and performing more and more sophisticated music composed specifically for that medium with high aesthetic expectations. The Gustav Holst (1874-1934) suites, the Percy Grainger (1882-1961) works, the Jozsef Pecsi-Psychistal (1874-1958) - Hungarian military band composer/conductor/director - pieces are all great milestone examples of this
"mutation" or "transformation" of the band from its original role to its new concert performance function. This change includes its performance location, its instrumentation, and its repertoire concepts.
After I recognize the beauty and possibilities of the band medium as aesthetically pleasing, and a high-value representation of the performing arts, I encouraged numerous composers to contribute works for the band repertoire. Hungarian composers include: Frigyes Hidas, Kamillo Lenvday, Laszlo Dubrovay, Gyorgy Ranki, Istvan Bogar, Janos Decsenyi, Lajos Hollos, Arpad Balazs, Zoltan Vince Laczo, Roland Szentpali etc.....
One of the most successful Hungarian composers in this field was Frigyes Hidas (1928- 2007), who joined the band world as an outsider. His father was the organist of the St. Stephen Cathedral of Budapest, and later he himself also worked there, as organist. After his graduation from the Liszt Academy of Music degrees in both composition and conducting, he became well known quickly with his Oboe Concerto Nr. 1, with symphony orchestra, composed in the late 1950s. He was a keyboard player and never played in a band during his high-school years. His compositional talent can be noticed in his 20th century based fresh harmonic vocabulary, tradition-rooted formal approach, and colorful/unique orchestration that make his music very attractive to huge international audiences.
In 1974, he was invited by the Hungarian Band Association to write a band piece. His immediate response was that he does NOT know what concert band is, so it’s better not to ask him for this challenge. The committee members encouraged him not to run away from the challenge, but think about the instruments of the band, and not the medium associated with outdoor orchestra transcription performing groups. In addition to those, handle the task
as he would write music for symphony orchestra. The result was the "Capriccio" for band as an immediate success. The band world did not let him go, and he composed music for band until the end of his life.
I remember, when my HS band director, Maestro Erno Keil (also favorite bass trombonist of Richard Strauss) conducted the Hidas Capriccio with us, said: ..."Hidas music is modern music BUT good music!" He was not mistaken as time has proven.
Years later, I was working with Mr. Hidas on his Concertino for band (1978) and asked him to write a "Concerto for Symphonic Band", such as Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra. He responded with starting the work immediately. He followed the 4-movement pattern, and even the tempo structure based on Bartok’s work.
The first movement is composed in a traditional Sonata Form with nice contrasting themes, where the introductory chromatic descending minor chords become the musical material of the victorious CODA in A-Major. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBVJIwGxOrI
The second movement is characteristically happy as is typical Hidas with a keyboard pattern harmonic tetrachord theme, surrounded with the circle of fifths melodic movements. The form is a traditional A-B-C-A form with every-aspect contrasting musical materials celebrating the happy D-Major tonal center.
The third movement could also be titled as "Homage a Bartok" based on the structure of the main subject/theme. That Hungarian folk-music characteristic of symmetric melody is the basic material of this "theme and variations" form. The descending shape of the main theme represents a melancholic atmosphere concluding in a painful B-Minor seven chord on the low-brass instruments.
The fanfare-shaped arpeggiated Eb-minor chord-based theme for the last movement depicts the basic human struggle/characteristic of mortality. In the middle of the movement, he suddenly recalls his organist life with the application of a baroque imitative fugato based on an atonal theme. This returning opening theme with its "sad" characteristics summarizes the message of the entire piece he titled as Concerto for Symphonic Band.
Music like this Concerto for Symphonic Band by Frigyes Hidas, Hungarian composer, clearly demonstrates the existence of high-quality band repertoire. The more you know, the more you hear, so you can transfer all thoughts behind the notes clearly to the audience.
Everyone, including musicians, listeners, and conductors will recall the performance with great and noble feelings as part of your aesthetic experience of the concert. I wish you lots of fun by studying, rehearsing, performing, and listening to this work by Frigyes Hidas.
Published by the Wind Music Research Quarterly, 2025 March
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