We don’t know how many born-Hungarians have been made a knight or dame under the power of the United Kingdom, but we are sure the list is very short. To achieve this distinction any such Hungarian must have become a British citizen, as well as be at the absolute top tier of their field. Not many answer to this description.

These words, however, do describe the late Sir George Solti. A Hungarian by birth, he was an eminent conductor of symphony orchestras in Europe and America. Born in Budapest with the name György Stern, in October of 1912, due to anti-Jewish laws he adopted the name Solti, which derives from the small town of Solt in central Hungary. His upbringing on the Buda side included training under innovative Hungarian genius composer Béla Bartók.

A rising star at the Hungarian State Opera, his trajectory was interrupted by WWII’s Nazi threat. Solti was one of the lucky ones, having the foresight to escape to England, and then Switzerland, where he earned his living as a pianist. After the war, the conductor actually moved to West Germany to head the Bavarian State Opera. It wasn’t until 1961 that he moved to England to direct the Covent Garden Opera company. It was there that his talents as a conductor were fully realized. Finally, in 1972, Solti become a British citizen, and in that same year, a knight, now called ‘Sir’ George Solti.

He would go to direct symphonies in Paris and Chicago, and be widely acknowledged as the greatest living conductor, receiving a record 31 Grammy awards as a recording artist. That, for the ‘record,’ is three more than Beyonce. According to wikipedia, “Solti's most celebrated recording was Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen made in Vienna, produced by Culshaw, between 1958 and 1965. It has twice been voted the greatest recording ever made, the first poll being among readers of Gramophone magazine in 1999, and the second of professional music critics in 2011, for the BBC's Music Magazine. It is this recording that is heard in the film Apocalypse Now during the helicopter attack scene”

Solti died in his sleep in 1997, and was laid to rest in a state ceremony in Budapest. He was buried next to his mentor, Béla Bartók.

Here is Solti conduction Brahms Symphony No. 1.

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