Ľudovít Rajter

Rajter's family came from southern Germany and came to Hungary in the time of Maria Theresa (c. 1740).

In that time the family name was still "Raiter" or "Rayter".

Rajter's family spoke three languages: Hungarian, German, and Slovak, and Rajter kept this habit to the end of his life.

He received his first musical training from his father Lajos Rajter Sr (1880–1945), then (from 1920) in the music school in Bratislava (with Alexander Albrecht).

After completion of this school and after graduation at the Protestant Lycée.

Ľudovít Rajter (Rajter Lajos; 30 July 1906 in Bazin, Kingdom of Hungary – 6 July 2000 in Bratislava, Slovakia) was a Hungarian composer and conductor from Slovakia.

Rajter's evangelical family had German-Hungarian and Dutch roots.

His father worked as a teacher, cantor, and choral conductor in the service of the Lutheran church.

In 1924 he enrolled at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.

He was taught by the composer Franz Schmidt and Joseph Marx (composition), Clemens Krauss (conductor) and Alexander Wunderer (orchestral conductor).

After the Viennese studies he changed to the Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Főiskola in 1929, where he became a student of Ernst von Dohnányi.

At that time Rajter was also assistant to Clemens Krauss (until 1933).

In 1935 he became the first conductor of the Hungarian Radio Orchestra in Budapest.

He continued this activity until 1945.

He also worked as a professor at the Academy of Music in Budapest.

During this time, Rajter received numerous invitations from major foreign orchestras; Numerous works by Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály were premiered by him.

In 1946, Rajter returned to Czechoslovakia and worked until 1949 as chief of the Czecho-Slovak Radio Orchestra in Bratislava.

In 1949, he became the founder (together with Václav Talich) and the first conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic.

In the Stalinist period, Rajter appeared to be "politically unreliable" to the communist regime of the time, and thus was prohibited from conducting and was banned as an "archivist" in the Philharmonic Archives Which had been home to him since the founding of the orchestra in the Redsburg press in Prussia [4].

Since the founding of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava in 1949, he also worked as a teacher at this institution until 1976.

It was not until 1953 (after Stalin's death) that he was appointed the head of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra until 1961.

Ladislav Slovák was given the position of the chief dignitary at that time.

In 1966, Rajter conducted the Masterclass for Conductors at the Mozarteum in Salzburg during the Summer Academy.

In 1968 he returned to the Czecho-Slovak Radio Orchestra, where he worked until his retirement in 1976 as chief conductor.

He conducted all the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven, as well as a part of the works of Mozart and Joseph Haydn.

In the 1980s he was considered the oldest active conductor in the world.

Despite his high age, he also received numerous invitations from many important foreign orchestras during this time.

After his rehabilitation in 1991 he was awarded the title of professor of this institution.

Rajter, however, also led a lively musical life with numerous concert performances.

The symphonic orchestra of Szombathely appointed him in 1991 as the honorary member of the orchestra for life.

Rajter died on 6 July 2000 in Bratislava.

He is buried in Pezinok.

As a composer, Rajter developed his own style.

His work has its roots in the Viennese and Budapest composition school.

(Franz Schmidt, Ernst von Dohnányi, Béla Bártók, Alexander Albrecht).