Tibor Serly

Tibor Serly (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈtibor ˈʃɛrli]; Losonc, 25 November 1901 – London, 8 October 1978) was a Hungarian violist, violinist and composer. He was one of the students of Zoltán Kodály. He greatly admired and became a young apprentice of Béla Bartók. His association with Bartók was for him both a blessing and a curse. He made great efforts to make Bartók's music more accessible, by arranging selected works for combinations of instru... more

Tibor Serly (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈtibor ˈʃɛrli]; Losonc, 25 November 1901 – London, 8 October 1978) was a Hungarian violist, violinist and composer. He was one of the students of Zoltán Kodály. He greatly admired and became a young apprentice of Béla Bartók. His association with Bartók was for him both a blessing and a curse. He made great efforts to make Bartók's music more accessible, by arranging selected works for combinations of instruments, but this brought him more attention than did his own compositions. For the most part his efforts were highly praised, both by Bartók and by colleagues. Bartók's Viola Concerto took two or three years of Serly's efforts to compile from sketches into a performable piece. It is now one of the most widely performed viola pieces. One of Serly's most famous original works is Rhapsody for Viola and Orchestra. His work bringing Bartók's work to fruition has paid off in the sense that his works are often paired with those of his better known... less