If the technology worked, you just listened to Mr. Tamas Bardos, a conductor and composer, sing a comic little ditty–a song from early Hungarian folk history. He sang it to us…and we were enchanted. We began by laughing with him and ended with tears. You may have noticed a melancholy tone in some of the recent postings…Hungarians cannot escape their history…it is a long and distinguished one, but one that is characterized by the struggle for national and cultural survival. I made a remark to that effect recently to my friend Zoltan and his response was telling. He said, “I wish history would leave Hungary alone for just 5 minutes.”
But I digress. Mr. Bardos gave us an overview of Hungarian music and the contributions of Hungarians , including Liszt, Kodaly and Bartok. Music became a way to express a uniquely Hungarian identity and a way to challenge the political entity that sought to deny Hungarians their freedom…it didn’t matter whether it was the Turks, Habsburgs, Nazis, or Communists. And of course, because Hungarian liberty was so often denied, the music necessarily expressed that sadness and sense of loss. The title of this blog is also the first line of another famous folk song from the 16th century. It is a dominant and persistent theme in the arts.
The despots clearly recognized the power of music to inspire unity and rally resistance and artists faced incredible difficulties…composers like Kodaly and Bartok, for example, faced prison, being silenced, and/or exile.
So this morning we listened to Hungarian history and we both laughed and cried…
Thanks and stay tuned,
Marcsi
Leave a Reply