Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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of the Slovaks who inhabit the north-west
part of the Hungarian kingdom has such a
close affinity with the music of the Slavonic
nations that it requires no separate notice.
The music of the Magyars, ' which is generally
accepted as the national music, is of Oriental
origin. It should be observed that the Hungarian
language has nothing in common with
the Indo-Germanic. Together with the Finnish,
and Turkish (and possibly Basque) languages,
it stands isolated in Europe, and belongs to tllc
Turanian or Ural-Altaic family.
Gipsy music also plays an important part in
Hungary, but it must be clearly understood
that Hungarian music is quite distinct from
gipsy music. Indeed the gipsies do not compose
; they simply imitate and perform the
music of their adopted countries. It is diflBoult
to discover with any certainty the origin of
this wandering race ; but they are supposed to
have come from the North-West provinces of
India, and to have entered Hungary as well as
other parts of Europe in the beginning of the
15th century. It has been pointed out that
the gipsies Hourish raost^ 'among the Spaniards,
Roumanians, and Hungarians, where the
national music excels in originality, fantastic
rubatos, and a certain rhapsodical spirit. ' And
it is a recognised fact, that although the same
melodic intervals and rhythmic peculiarities
occur in Tsigane music all over the world, it
was in Hungary, where an affinity of scale
existed, that gipsy music reached its highest
point. Among the Magyar gipsies i.e. those
gipsies who live among the Magyars and can
speak their language, the songs may have gipsy
words, but the actual tune and rhythm are
Magyar. Moreover, the gipsies rarely sing and
nearly always play the songs of other nations,
imparting their own fire, impetuosity, and embellishments
to the music of their adoption.
It is often difficult, when the gipsies play the
csdrdds, verbunkos, hallgatds, or palcUos and other
dances, to recognise the original folk-song on
which they are based. So full of imagination
are they, that the execution of the extremely
difficult music always appears to be spontaneous
and improvised. It delights Hungarians to
hear their own mu.sio played and embellished
by these wandering musicians, and thus it was
in Hungary that gipsy music first became a
recognised factor in Art. Many composers,
such as Haydn, Hummel, and others, loosely
and indiscriminately employed the words all'
ongarese and alia zingarese, sometimes with
1 The origin of their lAngua^e can hajdly be traced with certainty.
•
Hun^rijui philoiogiflts are divided ; the Orientalists ' assert its
aflRnity with the I'urco-Tartarie languages, while the 'Pinnista'
contend that it belongs to the Ugric branch of the Finnish group.
That some likeness exists between the Magyar and Finnish
language and music has long been recognised.
2 See Jiaiionaiity in Jlutic, F. Korbay.
' 8 The true gipsy songs are never sung by the professional' gipsy
in public. Those songs are reserved exclusively for themselves in
their tented wanderings, and thei-e they are never played but
always sung. See Archduke Joseph's article in vol. vi. (Uvffam)
of Die Oegterreich.-ungariacTte McnArclde, 1902.
SONG 575
one meaning and sometimes with the other.
Likewise Schubert, Liszt, and Brahms, when
they coloured their music with the Hungarian
character, took the real Magyar folk-songs with
their peculiar rhythm and scale, and used also
the grace-notes, arabesques, and ornaments which
the gipsies had added to the melodies with such
skiU that they had become an essential feature
of the melody. In short, it is clear that
although the gipsies have done much to preserve
the folk-music of other nations by imitation and
adoption, they cannot be regarded as creatora of
national music in any strict sense.*
As in other countries, so in Magyar-land, the
introduction of Christianity was followed by a
burst of hymn-poetry. But so strong was the
national feeling that the hymns were sung
even in the churches in the vernacular instead
of Latin ; also it seems that the ecclesiastical
tonal system never took the same hold of the
sacred music as it did elsewhere. A few of
these venerable hymns are still sung. Such,
for instance, is one sung to the Virgin, by
AndreasTasarheli (printed at Nuremberg, 1484)
and another to King Stephen, the patron saint
of Hungary. Again, the influence of the Eeformafion
was deeply felt both in music and
poetry ; and there arose among the Protestants
a literature of hymn-music, such as had already
been stirred among the Hungarian Roman
Catholics. In 1 560 the Roman Catholic Church
forbade, under severe penalties, the use in
Church of any popular Magyar songs, but the
old collections of both churches offer proof that
the tunes of the secular songs were always freely
used, set either to Latin or Hungarian sacred
words.
Further evidence of the cultivation of music
in the 16th century is supplied by the Hoffgraff
collection^ and by the songs of Sebastian
Tinodi, both published by G. Matray in 1859.
Tinodi, commonly called Sebastian the Lutenist,
died about 1559, and was the last survivor of
Hungary's wandering minstrels. His ' Cronica,
dedicated to King Ferdinand, contains songs of
battles lost and won, of the joys and son'ows of
the Magyar people, and the vicissitudes of their
destiny. Such songs being truly national in
their spirit soon passed into folk-songs, and are
sung at this day." It should also be noticed
that dramatic representations interspersed with
songs were introduced by these wandering minstrels,
harpists, and lutenists, and secured a
great popularity.
Neither in the 17th nor 18th century did the
development of music keep pace with that of
poetry, except in sacred lyrics. The difference
4 For further information about gipsy music, see Archduke
Joseph s article ;
ZMe Zigeurwr in Ungam, Die OegtemicK-unaarieclie
Monarchic, vol.vi. ; L. A. Smith, Through Romany Btmg-Land, 1889,
p. 3 et seq. ; Liszt, Die Zigenner und ihre Musik in Ungam, Presaburg.
1861.
5 The collection contains nineteen songs, chiefly biblical narrative
songs, byK. Bajnaj, M. Szirtary, M. Tarjai, A, Farkas, and others.
' For TinCdi's life see Aron SsilMy-s Blgi Magyar EoltSk Tdra, Sl
recent work on old Magyar poets.