AntalDaniel: Created page with "'''Ján Levoslav Bella''' (German '''Johann Leopold Bella'''; 4 September 1843 – 25 May 1936) was a Slovak composer, conductor and music teacher, who wrote in the spirit of the Nationalist Romantic movement of the 19th century. == Life == Bella was born in Liptovský Mikuláš (Liptau-Sankt-Nikolaus), Austrian Empire (now Slovakia), and raised in a Roman Catholic family. He stud..."

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Created page with "'''Ján Levoslav Bella''' (German '''Johann Leopold Bella'''; 4 September 1843 – 25 May 1936) was a Slovak composer, conductor and music teacher, who wrote in the spirit of the Nationalist Romantic movement of the 19th century. == Life == Bella was born in Liptovský Mikuláš (Liptau-Sankt-Nikolaus), Austrian Empire (now Slovakia), and raised in a Roman Catholic family. He stud..."

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'''Ján Levoslav Bella''' ([[German language|German]] '''Johann Leopold Bella'''; 4 September 1843 – 25 May 1936) was a [[Slovakia|Slovak]] [[composer]], [[Conducting|conductor]] and music teacher, who wrote in the spirit of the [[Romantic music|Nationalist Romantic]] movement of the 19th century.

== Life ==
Bella was born in [[Liptovský Mikuláš]] (Liptau-Sankt-Nikolaus), [[Austrian Empire]] (now [[Slovakia]]), and raised in a [[Roman Catholic]] family. He studied at the college in [[Levoča]] and a [[seminary]] in [[Banská Bystrica]] before taking a degree at [[Vienna]] University.

Bella was ordained a priest in 1866. From 1869 to 1881 he was town director of music at [[Kremnica]]. He left the priesthood in 1881 and converted to Protestantism, becoming director of music in [[Sibiu|Hermannstadt/Nagyszeben]], now [[Sibiu]] in modern [[Romania]], (at that time [[Kingdom of Hungary]]) where he remained until 1921. From 1921 to 1928 he lived in retirement in Vienna, moving to [[Bratislava]] in 1928, where he died in 1936.

== Music ==
Bella began to compose whilst studying in Levoča. At this time his output was largely small-scale, such as church music, folk-song arrangements and some [[chamber music]]. In 1873 however, visiting Vienna and Prague, he heard for the first time the music of, amongst others, [[Robert Schumann]], [[Richard Wagner]] and [[Bedřich Smetana]]. This encounter with [[romantic music]] had a profound effect, of which the first result was Bella's 1874 [[symphonic poem]] ''Osud a ideál'' (''Fate and the Ideal''), which premiered in Prague in 1876.

In his day Bella was respected both as a composer and conductor by such important musical figures as [[Antonín Dvořák]], [[Johannes Brahms]], [[Hans von Bülow]], [[Joseph Joachim]] and [[Ernő Dohnányi|Ernst von Dohnányi]].

Bella wrote in many different forms, including songs, church music, organ music, chamber music and orchestral music. His operas include ''[[Wieland der Schmied (Bella)|Wieland der Schmied]]'' (''Wieland the Blacksmith''), to a [[libretto]] originally [[Wieland der Schmied (libretto)|written by Richard Wagner]] and based on [[German folklore|German legend]]. This was written in the period 1880–1890 and first performed in 1926 in Bratislava, where it was performed in a Slovak version as ''Kováč Wieland''.

In recent times, Bella's music and reputation have been revived by, amongst others, the Slovak composer and scholar [[Vladimír Godár]]. Recordings of his complete chamber and organ works have been issued by Hudobné Centrum in Bratislava.

[[Banská Bystrica]]'s Ján Levoslav Bella Conservatory, founded in 1992, is named after him.

== References ==
'''Sources'''
* Elschek, Oskar (ed.) (2003). ''A History of Slovak Music''. Bratislava: VEDA. {{ISBN|80-224-0724-0}}
* Godár, Vladimír (n.d.). "http://0-www.oxfordmusiconline.com.catalogue.libraries.london.ac.uk/subscriber/article/grove/music/02575 Bella, Ján Levoslav"], in ''[[Grove Music Online]], Oxford Music Online. Accessed 27 November 2016.
* Godár, Vladímir (1998). "Bella, Ján Levoslav" in Jurík, Marián and Peter Zagar (eds.), ''100 slovesnských skladateľov'', pp. 34–41. (In Slovak) Bratislava: Narodné hudobné centrum. {{ISBN|80-967799-6-6}}

== External links ==
* [https://hc.sk/en/o-slovenskej-hudbe/osobnost-detail/993-bella-jan-levoslav Short biography and photo] at The Music Centre Slovakia
* [http://www.naxos.com/person/Jan_Levoslav_Bella/25978.htm Brief biography] at [[Naxos Records]]

Ján Lavoslav Bella - Revision history