Bartay, András

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(b Széplak, April 7, 1799; d Mainz, Oct 4, 1854). Hungarian composer, theatre director and collector of folksongs. He came from a Hungarian noble family and embarked on a career in the civil service; it was not until 1829 that he first appeared on the musical scene, when he and Lajos Menner founded and became directors of the first Pest singing school. Bartay was one of the first to publish Hungarian folksongs: in 1833–4 he published a two-volume collection Eredeti nép-dalok klavir-kísérettel (‘Original folksongs with piano accompaniment’), and in 1834 he brought out one of the earliest Hungarian books on music theory, Magyar Apollo.

In 1837 his comic opera Aurelia, oder Das Weib am Konradstein had its première at the Pest Town Theatre, and in 1839 his comic opera Csel (‘Ruse’) was first performed at the Pest Hungarian Theatre as Ferenc Erkel's benefit performance (Erkel later composed variations on themes from this opera). Bartay was director of the National Theatre in ...