Photo: Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain · credits
Tier 3 · vertical & regional
Ján Levoslav Bella
Person · male · Austrian Empire · Liptovský Mikuláš · born 1843 · died 1936 · recording since 1994
Slovak conductor, composer and educator (1843–1936)
Also known as Johann Leopold Bella · 扬·莱沃斯拉夫·贝拉
Timeline
8 events▣ Album 4◦ Birth 1✦ Award 1† Death 1★ Debut release 1
1840s
1920s
1930s
1990s
· Debut release
Debut release: Piano Music (Complete)
First documented Album in the MusicBrainz discography.
source: musicbrainz
2010s
Biography
English biography372 words · 3 sectionssource: wikipedia-en · licence CC BY-SA 4.0 · revision 1348432496
Biography
Ján Levoslav Bella (German Johann Leopold Bella; 4 September 1843 – 25 May 1936) was a Slovak composer, conductor and music teacher, who wrote in the spirit of the Nationalist Romantic movement of the 19th century.
Life
Bella was born in Liptovský Mikuláš (Liptau-Sankt-Nikolaus), Austrian Empire (now Slovakia), and raised in a Roman Catholic family. He studied at the college in Levoča and a seminary in Banská Bystrica before taking a degree at Vienna University.
Bella was ordained a priest in 1866. From 1869 to 1881 he was town director of music at Kremnica. He left the priesthood in 1881 and converted to Protestantism, becoming director of music in Hermannstadt/Nagyszeben, now Sibiu in modern Romania, (at that time Kingdom of Hungary) where he remained until 1921. From 1921 to 1928 he lived in retirement in Vienna, moving to Bratislava in 1928, where he died in 1936.
Music
Bella began to compose whilst studying in Levoča. At this time his output was largely small-scale, such as church music, folk-song arrangements and some chamber music. In 1873 however, visiting Vienna and Prague, he heard for the first time the music of, amongst others, Robert Schumann, Richard Wagner and Bedřich Smetana. This encounter with romantic music had a profound effect, of which the first result was Bella's 1874 symphonic poem Osud a ideál (Fate and the Ideal), which premiered in Prague in 1876.
In his day Bella was respected both as a composer and conductor by such important musical figures as Antonín Dvořák, Johannes Brahms, Hans von Bülow, Joseph Joachim and Ernst von Dohnányi.
Bella wrote in many different forms, including songs, church music, organ music, chamber music and orchestral music. His operas include Wieland der Schmied (Wieland the Blacksmith), to a libretto originally written by Richard Wagner and based on German legend. This was written in the period 1880–1890 and first performed in 1926 in Bratislava, where it was performed in a Slovak version as Kováč Wieland.
In recent times, Bella's music and reputation have been revived by, amongst others, the Slovak composer and scholar Vladimír Godár. Recordings of his complete chamber and organ works have been issued by Hudobné Centrum in Bratislava.
Banská Bystrica's Ján Levoslav Bella Conservatory, founded in 1992, is named after him.
Discography & profile
Normalised profile
Percentiles are computed over every artist in the database, so a tier-3 artist can still sit in the 95th percentile on a single axis.
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 15 | 72.5th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 4 | 78.1th |
| Studio albums | 4 | 82.8th |
| Awards recorded | 1 | 89th |
| Timeline events | 8 | 84.1th |
| Recording span (years) | -58 | 6.2th |
| Genres | 2 | 74th |
Percentiles are computed at render time; missing values mean the artist has no data on that axis.
Discography (4 release groups · 4 studio albums)
Albums · 4
1994 · studio album
Search SpotifySearch YouTube Music
Tracklist · 13 tracks · 1:14:18
1Sonata in B flat minor: I. Allegro energico9:042Sonata in B flat minor: II. Andante - Maestoso7:363Sonata in B flat minor: III. Scherzo: Vivace8:064Sonata in B flat minor: IV. Finale: Allegro ma non troppo8:385Piece for piano in C minor (Two movements): I8:326Piece for piano in C minor (Two movements): II6:007Variations on in Pressburg by the Danube, op. 9 (Pro prešporku na Dunaji)4:258Variations on a swarm is flying, op. 21 (Letí, letí roj)3:589Sonatina in E minor7:2310Four little pieces: Caprice2:0911Four little pieces: Vivace2:3312Four little pieces: Fairy Dance2:2613Four little pieces: Capriccietto3:28String Quartet in C minor / String Quintet in D minor
1995 · studio album
Search SpotifySearch YouTube Music
Tracklist · 8 tracks · 57:09
1String Quartet in C minor, op. 25: I. Allegro6:482String Quartet in C minor, op. 25: II. Andante8:423String Quartet in C minor, op. 25: III. Scherzo: Allegro risoluto4:354String Quartet in C minor, op. 25: IV. Finale: Grave - Allegro molto10:405String Quintet in D minor: I. Allegro appassionato9:206String Quintet in D minor: II. Scherzo: Vivace4:467String Quintet in D minor: III. Adagietto6:048String Quintet in D minor: IV. Presto6:142013 · studio album
Search SpotifySearch YouTube Music
Tracklist · 26 tracks · 1:01:59
1Sonata in B-flat minor: Allegro7:502Sonata in B-flat minor: Andante6:593Sonata in B-flat minor: Scherzo. Vivace5:434Sonata in B-flat minor: Finale. Allegro moderato7:125Sonatina in E minor: Allegretto5:106Variations on the Slovak Folk Song “In Pressburg by the Danube”: Introduction. Adagio1:007Variations on the Slovak Folk Song “In Pressburg by the Danube”: Thema. Andante grazioso0:598Variations on the Slovak Folk Song “In Pressburg by the Danube”: Variation I. Allegro vivace0:559Variations on the Slovak Folk Song “In Pressburg by the Danube”: Variation II. Moderato. Più allegro1:2610Variations on the Slovak Folk Song “In Pressburg by the Danube”: Variation III. Tempo di mazurka1:1511Variations on the Slovak Folk Song “A Swarm, a Swarm Is Flying”: Thema. Moderato0:4512Variations on the Slovak Folk Song “A Swarm, a Swarm Is Flying”: Variation I. Velocissimo0:5513Variations on the Slovak Folk Song “A Swarm, a Swarm Is Flying”: Variation II. Moderato1:1914Variations on the Slovak Folk Song “A Swarm, a Swarm Is Flying”: Variation III. Finale. Agitato1:0215Little Pieces: Caprice. Presto2:0816Little Pieces: Caprice. Vivace2:3617Little Pieces: Fairy Dance. Vivace2:1918Little Pieces: Capricietto. Allegretto3:3619St Martin’s Quadrille: Pantalon0:5620St Martin’s Quadrille: Été0:3821St Martin’s Quadrille: Poule1:3722St Martin’s Quadrille: Trénis0:4323St Martin’s Quadrille: Pastourelle0:4124St Martin’s Quadrille: Finale0:5825Kremnica Fire Brigade Polka1:2426Doll’s Holiday, Waltz for Piano Duet. Mässiges Walzertempo1:53A Tribute to Ján Levoslav Bella (1843-1936)
2017 · studio album
Search SpotifySearch YouTube Music
Tracklist · 15 tracks · 1:06:03
1Festive Mass E-flat major / Festmesse in Es: Kyrie. Maestoso4:512Festive Mass E-flat major / Festmesse in Es: Gloria. Allegro con brio. Andante mosso. Tempo di prima5:213Festive Mass E-flat major / Festmesse in Es: Credo. Allegro eroico. Andante. Vivace assai. Tempo di prima6:594Festive Mass E-flat major / Festmesse in Es: Sanctus. Maestoso. Pìu mosso. Vivace2:365Festive Mass E-flat major / Festmesse in Es: Andante. Vivace assai2:466Festive Mass E-flat major / Festmesse in Es: Agnus Dei. Maestoso3:347Deus meus, ad te luce vigilo3:338Heil'ge Nacht6:369Bergglocke. Weihnacht auf dem Friedhof6:4710Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden: I. Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden. Allegro3:0411Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden: II. Meine Hülfe kommt von dem Herrn. Andante con moto2:4212Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden: III. Das Heu verdorret. Larghetto (non troppo)2:5413Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden: IV. Herr, du bist vormals gnädig. Andante1:0514Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden: V. Lasset uns dem Herren singen. Allegro2:5515Koncertná skladba v uhorskom štýle / Konzertstück im ungarischen Stile10:20
Stats & PK
Percentile within all 23,672 published artists.Put Ján Levoslav Bella head-to-head →
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 15 | 72.5th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 4 | 78.1th |
| Studio albums | 4 | 82.8th |
| Awards recorded | 1 | 89th |
| Timeline events | 8 | 84.1th |
| Recording span (years) | -58 | 6.2th |
| Genres | 2 | 74th |
Awards & honours
| Year | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1928 | honorary doctor of Comenius University | won |
Where this record comes from
portrait—Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bella_jan_levoslav.jpgaliases/urls—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/067780da-184f-475f-a31c-67eb720f793ddiscography—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/067780da-184f-475f-a31c-67eb720f793dcore—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q964103genre—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q964103seed-list—wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A1n_Levoslav_Bellabiography—wikipedia-en · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A1n_Levoslav_Bella
Why this artist is in the database
- List of composers by name
Tier rule: curated genre/region list
Image: Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Wikidata: Q964103 · MusicBrainz: 067780da-184f-475f-a31c-67eb720f793d
Similar artists
Browse every Tier 3 artist →Ranked from this record's own data: shared genre tags (rarer tags weigh more), era, home country and comparable fame. Every card lists the signals that placed it — no editorial picks.
Ignaz Holzbauer
Person
classical music · opera
2 shared genre tags · debut 1996, 2 years apart
15 wikis
Lord Berners
United Kingdom · Person
classical music · opera
2 shared genre tags · debut 1995, 1 year apart
15 wikis
Marc Blitzstein
United States · Person
classical music · opera
2 shared genre tags · debut 1991, 3 years apart
15 wikis
Alun Hoddinott
United Kingdom · Person
classical music · opera
2 shared genre tags · debut 1996, 2 years apart
14 wikis
Pascal Collasse
France · Person
classical music · opera
2 shared genre tags · debut 1993, 1 year apart
14 wikis
Giuseppe Gazzaniga
Republic of Venice · Person
classical music · opera
2 shared genre tags · debut 1991, 3 years apart
17 wikis
Paul Le Flem
France · Person
classical music · opera
2 shared genre tags · debut 1993, 1 year apart
17 wikis
Henri Casadesus
France · Person
classical music · opera
2 shared genre tags · debut 1993, 1 year apart
13 wikis