PARTOS, OEDOEN

PARTOS, OEDOEN (1909–1976), Israeli composer. Partos studied the violin and viola, and composition (with Zoltán Kodály) at the academy in his native Budapest. In 1924 he became first violinist of the Lucerne orchestra, then appeared as soloist in Hungary and Germany, and from 1936 to 1938 taught violin and composition at the conservatory in Baku. In 1938 he went to Palestine and joined the Palestine (later Israel Philharmonic) Orchestra as first viola player until 1950. He also became active as teacher and composer and in 1953 was appointed director of the Israel (later Rubin) Conservatory and Academy of Music in Tel Aviv. In the same year he received the Israel Prize for his symphonic fantasia En Gev. Partos' interest in Near Eastern musical subjects and techniques had already been aroused during his stay in Baku. In Palestine he was confronted with the added musical traditions of the Oriental Sephardi and Yemenite Jews, toward which he was drawn by bracha zefira , for whose recitals he prepared several imaginative settings of such tunes. His works include Shir Tehillah, concerto for viola and orchestra (1945); Yizkor, for viola and string orchestra (1946), also in versions for violin or viola or cello and piano, based on an East Ashkenazi synagogal chant and commemorating the Holocaust; En Gev, symphonic fantasia (1951), on the motive E-G-B (Israel Prize, 1953); String Quartet No. 2 – Tehillim (1960); Ḥezyonot, for flute, piano, and string orchestra (1957), also performed as a ballet The Mythical Hunter; a quintet for flute and strings (1958); a violin concerto (concluded 1958); Nebulae for woodwind quintet (1967); Metamorphoses, for piano (1971); Three Fantasies, for two violins in 31-tone system (1972); and Music for Chamber Orchestra (1973), and several cantatas and choral works, some of which were published as Shirei Makhelah (1953), including the well-known Ein Addir ka-Adonai, based on a Sephardi melody. His last works include Metamorphoses, for piano (1971); Three Fantasies, for two violins in 31-tone system (1972); and Music for Chamber Orchestra (1973). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: P.E. Gradenwitz, Music and Musicians in Israel (1959), 73–78, 152–3; Who Is Who in ACUM (1965), 63; I. Shalita Enẓiklopedyah le-Musikah (19502), cols. 750–2. (Bathja Bayer)