Lipót Kondor

(also known as: Leopold Kondor, Yehuda Ben-Cohen)

Lipot Kondor was born in Budapest (Hungary) in 1902. He studied music at the academy in Budapest under Albert Siklos and Zoltan Kodaly (composition) as well as Arnold Szekely and Tivadar Szantho (piano). After his studies Lipot Kondor first worked as a pianist (sometimes with his wife Rozsa Balint) and accompanist. But his declining health forced him to quit performing and so he focused on composing and teaching. From 1946 to 1949 Lipot Kondor taught at the National Conservatory (Nemzeti Zenede) and later at the Academy of Music in Budapest. In 1965 Lipot Kondor emigrated to Israel and adopted the Hebrew name Yehuda Ben-Cohen. In Israel he continued with teaching and composing. In 1969 his string quartet was awarded by the Braemer Foundation in Philadelphia as the best "Hebraic string quartet". He died in Ashdod (Israel) in 1976.

Among the compositions by Lipot Kondor are a ballet, a fairy-tale opera, chamber music like the mentioned string quartet, paino compositions, songs and choral works.

In my possession is the autograph manuscript of a "Piano suite" by Lipot Kondor. The work was composed in 1920 when he was still in school or at the beginning of his studies. The work consists of five small pieces titled: 1. Ajanlas, 2. Allemande, 3. Courante, 4. Menuetto and 5. Gavotte es Mussette.