Bojtár Zenei Bt. László Bojtár composer was born on 21. February 1926 in Mohács. He began to attend secondary grammar school in his native town. Later he continued his studies in the secondary grammar school of the Cistercian Order in Pécs named after Lajos Nagy where he graduated in 1944. After the Second World War he obtained his university certificate at the Faculty of Law at the University of Pécs. Neverthless he chose to become a musician for he was encouraged by notable personalities such as Sebestyén Pécsi, the professor of the Academy of Music and one of his composition for organ was sent for review to him in 1948, and Sebestén Pécsi performed that piece in the Basilica of Budapest. From 1949 he worked as a Catholic parish choir master in his native town, in Mohács, for 40 years. So he held firm to his activity during that period, although the ecclesiastical service counted not as a merit at that time.
One milestone of his life was when, as a result of a Magnificat competition, he got acquainted with Lajos Bárdos who held the opinion that "in each of his compositions powerful musical talent is manifested." From that time onwards the elderly master guided his musical development. Altrough it was not a commonly accepted practice in his time, for the ecumenical László Bojtár it was not extraordinary the least to cooperate at ecclesiastic events regardless of the creed (Calvinist, Lutheran or Israelite).
In 1978 a piece of László Bojtár’s works was brought out in a publication compiled as a result of a competition released by the Reformed Church on choral variations. In 1989 he won the „first prize for oeuvre” for his seven pieces of work for organ sent to the competition announced by St. Anne’s Congregation in Miskolc. Nine organ compositions of him were recorded to CD, played by dr. Lukács Áment, Benedictine priest.
The other main field of his activity as a composer was the folk musical setting. His works of this type are regularly broadcast in radio programmes. László Bojtár composed several musical fairy tales for schools on Mohács. The most outstanding of them is the children’s opera performed in 1967.
The material of two commemorating concerts was pubilshed in CD, which is also integrated in the programme of the Hungarian Radio. One of this concert CDs his Wind Quintet is played by the Concordia Wind Quintet from Budapest. The author’s CD contains oboe-piano duets, choir and organ compositions, singing solos accompanied by chamber orchestra and the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble, which can be considered as priceless worth.
He dedicated his choral compositions to choirs in Mohács, Pécs, Győr and Budapest. His compositions for oboe and piano can be put partly in the category of folk song treatment and partly in works influenced by folk songs.
The International Music Museum in London guards the collection of László Bojtár.
The collection of the Institute of Musicology in Budapest also contains his life work. His oeuvre is still waiting for treatment.
As a performer he was also given the possibility of playing music in the radio programmes of Budapest, Pécs and Újvidék (Novi Sad).
He was an enthusiastic researcher of the cultural development in Mohács. It is indicated by three Academy awards, manuscript monograph paper in eight volumes and 300 newspaper articles published in the regional and county newpapers. In 1988 he obtained the ’Deserving Personality’ medal from Baranya County and in 1993 he was awarded the honorary citizen title of town, Mohács.
He died on 13. November 1995 in Mohács.

His Style

As we can see from the above, though he lived in the hectic 20th century his fundamental experience was the Hungarian folk music. Treating it in he embodies it with individual tone. His melodies, however, radiate the spirit of the folk songs even when they have nothing to do with their treatment. His chords are never atonal, since his life itself was harmonic as well, avantgarde is foreign to his nature. So they are for anyone to comprehend. He does not aim at light popularity, even musically educated listeners enjoy his works. His musical construction is often polyphonic, the form is always clear. In this respect he was highly influenced by the great forefather, J. S. Bach. Those who become profoundly familiar with Bojtár’s compositions realise that he has a recognisably individual style. It is due to his musical sincerity with which he insisted on his own ideas not submitting to the tempting tendencies of shallow populatity or musical aristocratism.