THE NEW HUNGARIAN VOICE WINTER 2006 (Read-Only)

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...continued from page 1 selves in Pozsony of northern ‘pre- Trianon’ (or Greater) Hungary. It seemed a nice fit as a cultural capital of Europe. It is a place where Hungarian legislative sessions were held and three hundred years of Hungarian Kings were crowned. A historical city of such power politics would certainly have highly regarded music schools – and this was a consideration of Bartók’s mother. There, Bartók began self-teaching and followed under some of Pozsony’s most distinguished musicians. One of whom was Ernö Dohnányi, who was a few years Bartók’s senior and a composer and pianist of great distinction. Like many aspiring artists, Bartók considered school in Vienna but, under the influence of Dohnányi, decided on Budapest’s Academy of Music. His first major work ‘Kossuth’ was in memoriam of Kossuth Lajos, who lead the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. One of the pinnacle events of Hungarian history, the revolution was still on the conscience of the nation as the attempt to free Hungary from the Austro- Hungarian Empire happened hardly fifty years before. However, if Bartók could be characterised as a nationalist for this work, he was also an idealist who would develop an interest in the cultural heterogeneity of greater Hungary. After graduation from the Academy, Bartók’s path as a career concert pianist was laid out in front of him. He made good as an international performer and maintained that reputation until his final days, but his trajectory would take a different direction. In his younger years Béla Bartók’s interest was continually tweaked by the songs of the simple countryside. In one instance in 1904 on a trip to compose and study in the countryside near Pozsony, Béla Bartók listened in on the song of an older Székely woman. What began as an informal discussion ended as an interview aimed at grasping the nature and structure of these folk songs. Shortly after, he was introduced to Zoltán Kodály and they soon became best of friends. Prior to their meeting, Kodály had been collecting Hungarian folk music, and this reinforced Bartók’s belief in the value inherent in this art form. Thus, he set out and began collecting music in Hungary’s Békés County. The year was 1906. Bartók eventually left a teaching position at the Budapest Academy, in favour of music collecting excursions. He began to differentiate himself as his interest in the different cultures of the region eventually lead him outside the borders of Hungary and as far way as Turkey and Algeria. Ernö Dohnányi also played an important role, as he was director of Budapest’s Music Academy. Dohnányi allowed Bartók to stay on the payroll, which essentially bankrolled his study adventures through many crisscrossed country-sides. Perhaps some of Bartók’s best-known work came from his excursions among the Székely people in Transyilvania - his first trip there was in 1907. He studied the Székelys and their traditions as they had developed in ethnic isolation from other Hungarians. It was also in Transylvania that Bartók parted ways with the Catholic Church. His increasing disillu- 12 sionment with mainstream religion and his dislike of dogma lead him to the Unitarian Church, which prevails in much of Transylvania. He saw this as more suited to his belief in science and his love of nature. Bartók’s idealism and interest in ethnic diversity caused him some problems, particularly after World War One and the partitioning off of two-thirds of Hungary. Much of where his youth was spent became modern day Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine. His home town of Nagyszentmiklós now took the unfamiliar name of Sînnicolau Mare. Pozsony became Bratislava. To travel and collect in countries newly hostile to Hungary was often considered unpatriotic – especially under the watchful eye of the government and their large institutions. But, Bartók persisted with his work while his disenchantment with Hungary’s interwar regime ripened. Bartók and Kodály were both suspended from their positions at Budapest’s Academy at the end of the First World War. Bartók would later refuse to perform or have his work heard in the fascist regimes in Germany and Italy – he was also averse to performing in Hungary in the 1930’s. At the onset of World War II, Bartók set sail for America with his second wife. By most accounts, his life in New York was difficult as his family lived in poverty and his name was lesser known. Bartók died of Leukemia in 1945 in the U.S. His ashes were transferred to Budapest following the fall of the Iron Curtain. Aside from his compositions, perhaps his best contribution is his approach to the music of the peasantry. Bartók saw folk music as a ‘phenomenon of nature’ which required further study. He did not pass-off folk music as simple, amateur or artless like so many of his time (and so many today). Rather, he saw it as a spiritual community output with a profound inherent value, and incorporated it into his own style. Bartók also believed folk music to be an organic function of nature: a perfectly transcribed tune cannot simply be regarded as authentic, unless context and spontaneity are accounted for. Much of his work carries significance today, almost 60 years after his death. For a look at some of Bartók’s compositions: http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/ cmp/bartok_works.html www.cc.jyu.fi/~tojan/bartok/ bbworks.htm Greg Csiszár
MHBK VANCOUVER CHAPTER JOIN US! PO Box 74527 • Kitsilano PO Vancouver, BC • V6K 4P4 • Canada 604 733-9948 • czink@shaw.ca 1956 - <strong>2006</strong> ANNIVERSARY FULL-COLOUR COMMEMORATIVE PINS (shown actual size) $2.00 each or $16.00 for 20 Contact the MHBK Vancouver Chapter www.mhbk.com Stephen Spinder Fine Art Photography www.spinderartphoto.com stephen@spinderartphoto.com Tíz Esztendő Erdélyben (Ten Years in Transylvania - Traditions of Hungarian Folk Culture) Bilingual edition (Hungarian/English) Explore the rich Hungarian folk culture and hidden treasures of Erdély, presented in over 140 color photographs - images that reveal the still powerful vestiges of an ancient culture still preserved in spite of the quickening tide of ‘westernism’. Spinder’s focus is on traditional music and dance - integral parts of village existence - and the culture that guards and preserves it. Each page brings an anecdotal personal story from over a decade of travels in Transylvania. Forewords by Béla Halmos and László Félföldi further enrich the book. Hardcover, 23cm x 33cm, 156pp.170g. <strong>2006</strong> edition Magyar Moustache Calendar/Postcards (12) 100% pure Hungarian moustaches -the best facial hair this side of the Danube! Each month’s photo is also a printed postcard! They help capture and preserve the essence of a true Transylvanian folklorist - a great ‘stache’! Stephen Spinder • 119 Hidden Valley Road • Rochester, NY • 14624 • USA • 585 247 7956
Page 1 and 2: The New Winter 2006 - Volume V, Iss
Page 3 and 4: THANK YOU! KÖSZÖNJÜK SZÉPEN!* W
Page 5 and 6: Mike Pratt’s NHV INTERVIEW Frigye
Page 7 and 8: chanko-nabe (‘sumo stew’), and
Page 9 and 10: THE WHITE STORK, OR FEHÉR GÓLYA
Page 11: Ladies and Gentlemen that is not go
Page 15 and 16: Anita Rácz Working on NHV has made
Page 18 and 19: ...continued from page 15 amount of
Page 20 and 21: HUNGARIAN INSTITUTIONS THE NANAIMO
Page 22 and 23: LEARNING HUNGARIAN ...CONTINUED FRO
Page 24 and 25: The Urban Fakanál* by Mária Vajna
Page 26 and 27: SOLUTION TO HUNGARIAN CITIES WORD S
Page 28: JANUARYJANUÁR Sunday Vasárnap Mon

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