brnyi, Emil(bBudapest,22 Sept 1882;dBudapest,11 Feb 1970).Hungariancomposerandconductor, grandson of Kornl brnyi. He studied composition, the organ and piano at the Budapest Academy of Music, and spent a year with Nikisch in Leipzig. From 1904 he was a theatre conductor in Cologne, and from 1907 in Hanover. In 1911 he returned to Budapest to become conductor at the Royal Hungarian Opera House; he was director there (191920) and then at the Budapest Theatre (19216). He taught conducting at the Lizst Academy of Music.brnyi was the most prolific Hungarian opera composer of his generation; between 1903 and 1923 five of his operas and a Singspiel were produced at the Budapest Opera House and the City Theatre. Rather than subscribing to the established Hungarian romantic opera style or folklore, brnyi composed in a cosmopolitan style. The operasMonna VannaandPaolo s Francesca, for example, display a modern approach and indulge in artificially sensuous melody typical of both Italian and GermanJugendstil, whileDon Quijote, on the other hand, draws on the declamatory style of French opera. His choice of colourful and erotic subjects corresponded, in some cases literally, to that of leading opera composers of the time. A similar eclecticism characterizes his works in other genres, whose broadly Romantic style, employing extended tonality, is informed by a variety of folk idioms.Though brnyi was frequently employed by the Budapest Opera House as a composer and conductor (partly, perhaps out of reverence towards his father, an eminent poet, and his grandfather), his operas never gained lasting popularity.WORKS(selective list)stagefor fuller list see GroveOA kdkirly [The King of Mist] (op, 1, . Psztor), Royal Hung. Op, 17 May 1903

Monna Vanna (op, 3, E. brnyi sr, after M. Maeterlinck), Royal Hung. Op, 2 March 1907

Paolo s Francesca (op, 3, brnyi sr, after Dante:Commedia), Royal Hung. Op, 13 Jan 1912

Don Quijote (op, 3, brnyi sr, after M. de Cervantes), Royal Hung. Op, 30 Nov 1917

Ave Maria: Mjusi intermezzo [A May Intermezzo] (op, 1), Budapest, Municipal, 25 Feb 1922

A vak katona [The Blind Soldier] (Spl, 1, E. Sas), Budapest, Municipal, 11 June 1923

OTHER WORKSPetfi szvit [Petfi Suite], orch, 1898; Str Qt, 1898; Sym., c, 1899; Andante e Minuetto, wind, 1900; Epikus szvit, orch, 1930; Himnusz as rhoz [Hymn for the Lord], male chorus, orch, 1930; Trianon, sym. poem, orch, 1930; Szegedi mise [Szeged Mass], chorus, orch, 1933;c30 songs (acc. pf)

BIBLIOGRAPHYZL(K. Szekeres)G.Staud, ed.:A budapesti operhz szz ve[100 Years of the Budapest Opera House] (Budapest,1984)TIBOR TALLIN/ANNA DALOS