Wurtzler, Aristid von (20th September 1925-30th November 1997)

He was a harpist born Wurtzler Arisztid in Budapest, Hungary to a family where his father was a music critic, composer and violinist and his brother Bela was also a musician. He first studied the cello and piano but when he was 12 or 13 years old decided to switch his attention to the harp. He studied at the Lutheran High School at Aszod and in Budapest at the the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where he studied composition with Zoltan Kodaly and the harp with Miklos Rekai. He was expelled at one point after missing lectures on Marxism but was taken back later on to complete his studies.

He gave performances and played as a substitute to Miklos Rekai at the Opera House while he was ill in November 1956. This would turn out to be his final performance in Hungary before he and his brother, Bela, left the country when the revolution began. They went to Vienna in Austria before moving on to settle in the United States.

His first while in the US was difficult as he spoke no English so he took on casual and odd jobs and lived in a house whose main residents were prostitutes. They were a huge help to him, however, when they gave him a loan to purchase a harp.

By 1958 he was performing and he became a member of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as their first harpist. Bela also performed in Detroit and remained there before later becoming a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Aristid was then auditioned by Leonard Bernstein and taken on as a member of the New York Philharmonic.

In 1959 the International Harp Contest became the first of that type in the world and in 1962 the International Association of Harpists and Friends of the Harp were formed and all of these became an inspiration to him and in 1963 he became a faculty member of the University of Hartford as Professor of Harp and founded the annual harp master classes, often asking renowned European harpists to attend.

At the end of the 1960s he put together an international harp competition in the United States in 1969, but due to some confrontational aspects he decided to move on in 1970. It was also around this time that he met and later married the Polish harpist Barbara Pniewska. This was when he co-founded his own group of four harpists in New York which became popular and acclaimed throughout the 1970s and ’80s on a national and international level as the New York Harp Ensemble. He was the arranger of established works and also requested other composers to write harp works for him, as well as being a composer in his own right. He put together at least 200 pieces for the ensemble’s repertoire. The ensemble made many recordings that include 26 LPs and at least 6 CDs and performed at the White House for 4 different Presidents. They also performed at the Vatican for Pope John Paul II.

In the field of musical education he had been a Professor at Bridgeport University, Hofstra University, New York Universty and Queens College of the City University of New York and presided in Germany at Harp Master Classes and established Harp Master Classes in several cities in Hungary. He was often a jury member at various international harp contests. The Hungarian government presented him with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his accomplishments in music.

He published the book Talking About Harp which speaks of his own life and the ensemble’s history.

While touring as a conductor in Hungary he died of a heart attack in Debrecen, 1987. He was 72 years old.

Sources:

Wurtzler, Aristid von (20th September 1925-30th November 1997)

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