Konti, József
Konti, József
Konti, József, Polish-born Hungarian conductor and composer; b. Warsaw, Oct. 24, 1852; d. Budapest, Oct. 23, 1905. He studied at the Warsaw Cons, and in Vienna, where he began his career as asst. conductor at the Theater in der Leopoldstadt. After conducting in Salzburg, he held conducting appointments at theaters in Debrecen (1876) and in Kolozsvâr (1878). In 1878 he composed his first stage piece for Budapest, where he settled. His first major work was the comic opera Az eleven ördög (The Living Devil; Aug. 8, 1884), which proved a significant score in the development of lighter works for the Hungarian stage. Its success was so great that Konti was made chief conductor of the Népszinhâz in 1886, a post he held until 1903. During these years, he also composed the operettas Királyfogás (The King’s Capture; Oct. 29, 1886), A suhanc (The Good-for-Nothing; Jan. 12, 1888), A kópé (The Crafty One; Feb. 7, 1890), A citerás (The Zither Player; Feb. 23, 1894), and Talmi hercegnö (The Counterfeit Countess; Feb. 4, 1898). He also composed incidental scores for plays. In 1903 Konti became chief conductor of the Kirâly Szinhâz, where his last operetta, A fecskék (The Damsels; Jan. 20, 1904), was first heard.
—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire