The book is published on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the composer and pioneer of musical culture in Slovakia. This new volume in the Sources series, conceived by editor Peter Javorka as a scholarly anthology, continues the tradition of the Music Centre’s monographs dedicated to Slovak composers.

Viliam Figuš-Bystrý (1875–1937) was active as a composer, organist, pianist, conductor, choirmaster, collector and arranger of Slovak folk music, educator, and a significant organizer and founder of musical life in the modern history of Slovakia. His work, which expanded previously non-existent or only sporadically represented areas of chamber, orchestral, and vocal-instrumental music, is once again being brought to life through publishing, concert, and recording activities. Figuš-Bystrý was also the author of the first Slovak opera based on a national subject, inspired by Andrej Sládkovič’s poem Detvan.

For the first time on this scale, the book offers a panoramic view of the life and work of Viliam Figuš-Bystrý and is divided into several sections:

1. Figuš’s own writings.
2. Contemporary press texts devoted to Figuš-Bystrý (reflections on and reviews of his music, later obituaries and memoirs).
3. Musicological perspectives on Figuš’s work as a whole.
4. Studies focusing on individual areas of his output: folk music arrangements, art songs, the opera Detvan, choral works, piano works, organ works, chamber music, and orchestral compositions.
5. Additional texts of a musicological and archival-editorial nature (reports on the state of Figuš’s estate, diary materials, archiving, and publishing activities).

The sixth section consists of a newly republished edition of Muntág’s catalogue, which takes the form of a “book within a book.”

The volume is complemented by an extensive photographic appendix.