György Láng (1908–1976)

György Láng was born to a Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary. His parents were Rozália (Grünfeld) and Salamon Láng, a state railway official. He graduated from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where he was a student of Zoltán Kodály, with a degree in composition. At the same time, he graduated from the College of Fine Arts. He composed symphonic, chamber. and choral works. In the 1930s, he also wrote music reviews for numerous Hungarian publications. In 1940, he published his best-known written work, A Tamás-templom karngya (The St. Thomas' Church), a full-length biography of Johann Sebastian Bach. During World War II, Láng was sent to a Hungarian forced labor battalion, then deported to the Nazi concentration camp of Gunskirchen, a sub-camp of Mauthausen. He edited a newspaper in the camp, which was published under the title "Alpenjäger." He survived to be liberated in May 1945. After the war, Láng remained in Germany for two years. In the 1950s, back in Budapest, he gave lectures on music and the visual arts and organized choirs. When he was out of favor politically, he played the piano in pubs and night clubs to support his family. Among his other books were The Life and Works of Bartók (1947); Joseph Haydn (1959); the novel Primavera (1969), about Sandro Botticelli; and Beethoven's Spring (1973). His last novel was Hanele, which he illustrated himself; it was published posthumously in 1980. One of his most significant musical works was his Concerto Ebraico for violin and piano (published 1998), based on Jewish motifs. He was married to Izabella Weinstein, with whom he had two sons.