Tibor Serly

Who was Tibor Serly?

Tibor Serly was a Hungarian violist, violinist and composer.

He was one of the students of Zoltán Kodály. He greatly admired and became a young apprentice of Béla Bartók. His association with Bartók was for him both a blessing and a curse. He made great efforts to make Bartók's music more accessible, by arranging selected works for combinations of instruments, but this brought him more attention than did his own compositions.

For the most part his efforts were highly praised, both by Bartók and by colleagues. Bartók's Viola Concerto took two or three years of Serly's efforts to compile from sketches into a performable piece. It is now one of the most widely performed viola pieces.

One of Serly's most famous original works is Rhapsody for Viola and Orchestra. His work bringing Bartók's work to fruition has paid off in the sense that his works are often paired with those of his better known teacher, on recordings and in live performance.

Serly taught composition at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City and was also a featured composer/conductor with the Danish radio orchestra. A number of his students went on to have notable careers, including composers Manny Albam, Jerry Bilik, and Mark Bucci. Serly also taught orchestration to Carlyle W. Hall Sr, a trumpet player and arranger for Tommy Tucker's band, who went on to orchestrate the Broadway hit musical Man of La Mancha, as well as Cry for Us All, Come Summer, and several others.