Ignác Ruzitska

Ignác Ruzitska (Bazin, 1777 – Veszprém, 1833) was a Hungarian church musician and composer whose importance rests above all on his compilation of verbunkos music, the repertoire of dances that accompanied the musical history of Hungary in the early nineteenth century.

The son of József Ruzitska, regens chori at Bazin, he began his career in the 1780s as a member of the choir of the cathedral at Pozsony, today Bratislava. He later worked as a household musician to Count Mihály Viczay at Hédervár. Around 1800 he joined the orchestral chapel of Veszprém cathedral as a violinist, and in 1827 he was appointed Kapellmeister there. He also took part in the secular musical life of the city.

He formed friendships with the verbunkos composers Bihari and Csermák. He noted down the Rákóczy March as Bihari played it on the violin and, shortly before Csermák's death, was entrusted with safeguarding unpublished compositions by him.

His most notable work is the compilation Magyar nóták Veszprém vármegyéből ('Hungarian Melodies from the County of Veszprém'), a collection in fifteen volumes containing 136 Hungarian dances for piano by contemporary composers, among them 24 pieces by Ruzitska himself. It was one of the most important collections of verbunkos in the first third of the nineteenth century and remains a very valuable source for its study.