Tibor Serly

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Tibor Serly (Losonc, 25 November 1901 - London, 8 October 1978) was a Hungarian violist, violinist and composer.

He was one of the students 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.

A notable student of Serly was Manny Albam, a jazz composer. He taught compostition at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City (among other institutions) and was also a featured composer/conductor with the Danish radio Metropole Orchestra. Another of Serly's students was the American composer Jerry Bilik.

The American objectivist poet, Louis Zukofsky, wrote a dedicatory poem to Serly, published in the avant-garde magazine, Blues, in February 1929.

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