Page 14 - new hungarian voice

Spring 2010 - Free
Volume IX, Issue 2
©
EXPOSED ON PAGE 4
Page 6
Page 14
Hungarian knights
by Aladár Fáy
EDITOR
A NOTE FROM THE
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Jack Keir
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Published by
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Editorial Committee
© 2010
All rights reserved
There‟s going to be a Hungarian folk dance camp from June 30th to July 4th, in the beautiful
Okanagan Valley here in BC. The passion for ethnic Hungarian dance has come a long way
since our immigrant parents brought their memories of it with them – today, our first generation
Hungarian-Canadians enthusiasts have combined a refreshing new cultural authenticity with the
simple joy of dance. The days of the stage-mother and politically charged “duties” of the
younger generations are gone – today, Hungarian folk dance in Canada is a cultural embrace,
accessible to all.
“Patak Tábor welcomes participants from all backgrounds and of all dance abilities. We can
promise four days of interesting and challenging dance and music instruction during the day,
with special programs each evening. Hungarian folk dance is alive and flourishing across North
America, as many dance groups learn authentic folk dance dialects and music from villages
throughout Hungary and Transylvania. Through camps like Patak Tabor - the first of its kind in
Western Canada - we are celebrating Hungarian folk dance and music in a fun, relaxed, and
affordable way.”
THE PATAK TÁBOR ORGANIZERS
In 1985, Sue Bíró became the Artistic Director of the Csárdás Hungarian Dance Ensemble of
Edmonton, and since then has directed performances and created over 30 choreographies,
including large-scale productions and festivals within Canada. Sue has studied dozens of
Hungarian folk dance dialects from well-respected instructors from Hungary and has attended
over fifty formal teaching workshops, both nationally and internationally. In addition, Sue has
directed performances for the Csárdás ensemble at the annual Western Canadian Hungarian
Folk Festival from 1985 to the present. Sue served as artistic director for the last three festivals,
organizing weekend workshop events and multiple performances for 200-300 participants.
Jim Cockell is an Edmonton musician, producer, writer and music instructor. As a violinist,
Jim has played for the symphony orchestras of Edmonton, Red Deer and Saskatoon, the Alberta
Baroque Ensemble, the Citadel Theatre, and the National Ballet of Canada. He has also
recorded, broadcast and toured internationally with his own ensemble, Cifra. As an orchestra
manager, Jim has worked with Diana Krall, Anne Murray, Il Divo, Paul Potts, Attila Glatz
Productions, Video Games Live, the Canadian Music Competition, and the Beijing Opera.
László Horváth began his folkdance journey shortly after walking. His wife, Trenna Buzash,
started her folk dance journey shortly after meeting Laci. For many years, Laci and Trenna
were members of the Balaton Dancers of Regina. In 2000, they were dancers and founding
members of The Maros Folk Ensemble of Regina. Over the years, they have acquired some
great friends and mentors from Hungary and Transylvania. The Maros Ensemble continues on
today and cherishes its family ties with our Western Canadian friends. Laci writes, “We
feel proud and honoured to be a part of the first Patak Tábor and are counting the days until
we can renew our common love of Hungarian folk culture!”
Iggy Kádár was born in Sopron, Hungary, and his wife, Louise was born half a world away,
in Victoria, BC. Iggy and Louise have been dancing, choreographing and teaching Hungarian
dance for three decades. Not only do they teach the Victoria Búzavirág group, but have also
taught and choreographed for groups from Vancouver, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Seattle.
To compliment the dancing, Iggy also plays hegedű, and Louise is learning to play bőgő.
NHV Team member Andrea Szilágyi is originally from Edmonton and has been involved
with the Hungarian community since 1986. She started folk dancing at a young age and
attended her local Hungarian school and Scout troop for many years. She has been a member of
the Edmonton Csárdás dance group, a member and teacher of the Forrás dance group in
Vancouver, and has worked with the Forrás band and the Cifra Ensemble as a singer. Andi
completed her MA at UBC in Children‟s Literature; her research focused on Hungarian folktales in English. She now works at UBC‟s Okanagan campus as a writer and instructor.
The Patak Tábor organizers are excited to welcome “kempers” (that's “campers” with a
Hungarian accent!) to this first dance camp! The waterfront location at Mabel Lake in the
Okanagan makes for a perfect vacation spot, the price is unbeatable in North America, the dance
and music instruction is top notch, and the company will be second to none. Families are
welcome, and we will do our best to accommodate special requests. Register early to reserve
your spot at Patak Tábor 2010.
2
Patak Tábor
June 30 - July 4, 2010
Western Canadian Hungarian Folk dance and Music camp
mabel lake, okanagan valley, british columbia
instructors from hungary
Majorosi Marianna
KÖkÉny Richárd
Guest Musicians from hungary
HrÚz DÉnes
HrÚz Szabolcs
teaching material
Kis-KüküllOmenti
ó
ó
romáN
forgatós - invertita
friss - hirtag
legényes - fecioreasca
singing material tba
FEES - before april 15: $315 - After April 15: $375
(price includes instruction, accommodation, and food)
For more information and to register, please visit
www.pataktabor.ca
3
VOGUE
VAMPIRES
Vampires are in vogue. I suppose they have never really
been out, in one way or another, especially since Bram Stoker‟s
novel Dracula was published in 1897. Prior to its appearance
there was a roaring trade in vampire novels, short stories and
plays which kept the public well entertained. There was even
an opera called Der Vampyr by Heinrich Marschner, written in
1828. However, the starting point for the modern world‟s
image of the vampire is Stoker‟s novel.
Every now and then a book or film comes along which gives
a new slant on the perennial bloodsucker, which affects the
common perception of the beast. These very often reflect
contemporary attitudes - in the good old days, the only good
vampire was one with a stake driven through its heart, but now
they are sensitive, afflicted characters in tune with our more
touchy-feely society. Vampires are now cool kids mirroring our
youth obsessed culture – they are free to walk in the daylight,
do good deeds; and they don‟t change into bats and don‟t shun
sanctified objects. What is there to be frightened of?
I suppose these days, full evening dress and opera cape
might just look a bit out of place on West Georgia, so some
updating is inevitable, if regrettable. I did always wonder why
if vampires don‟t cast a reflection in a mirror - that goes for
their clothes as well.
It has to be said that most vampire books and films are pretty
rubbish. Bandwagon hoppers are grafting vampires into stock
plots of mindless violence, and since Buffy came along, endless
streams of the now compulsory triple-somersault-beforeanyone-can-pick-their-nose gimmicks abound. That film really
has a lot to answer for! There are, of course, many honourable
by
Jack Keir
exceptions. On British television at the moment there is a quite
splendid series called Being Human which has the bizarre storyline of a vampire, werewolf and ghost sharing a flat in Bristol.
It is a drama with a bit of comedy, and not a back-flip in sight.
It is made by the BBC, so quality guaranteed. If it ever makes it
to Canada, give it a try - it is highly recommended.
In referring to the evening dress and opera cape, those of us
of or beyond a certain age will immediately recognise the
image. I speak, of course, of Béla Lugosi, who was Hungarian,
and his portrayal of the eponymous anti-hero in the 1931
Universal movie Dracula. The movie is a classic - very scary
for its day, but now a bit creaky, and can be watched quite
comfortably with the lights out.
For those of you who do not already know it, the plot of
Dracula is, very briefly, this: Dracula engages a firm of
solicitors in London to acquire property for him in England.
Jonathan Harker travels to Castle Dracula at the Borga Pass in
the Carpathians to have the documents signed. Harker is kept
hostage in the castle but escapes. Meantime, Dracula travels
to England, killing the crew of the ship on the way. He lands at
Whitby and sets about pursuing Harker‟s fiancé. Professor Van
Helsing is engaged to investigate the strange illness afflicting
a friend of the fiancé, and latterly, said fiancé and he, Harker
and some others, pursue the Count back to Transylvania where
they put an end to him.
After he had written the novel, Bram Stoker adapted it for
the stage. The 1931 movie is an adaptation of the stage play.
Lon Chaney was ear marked to play the role of Dracula, but he
died in 1930. After considering a number of other actors for the
4
role, Béla Lugosi was chosen. Lugosi had been performing the
role to some acclaim in the stage play which had been running
at the Fulton Theatre in New York since 1927. That fact alone
indicates a continuing public taste for blood sucking entertainment.
In one aspect, the 1931 movie is historically accurate. One
of the early scenes has Harker (albeit in the play and movie his
character is combined with the lunatic Renfield and is named as
such) travelling in a carriage on his way to Dracula‟s castle.
The carriage stops near an inn from which Harker/Renfield will
be picked up and taken to meet his client. While in the carriage,
there is some dialogue by the locals who are travelling with
him. The dialogue is in Hungarian. When the carriage gets to
the inn, all the signs are in Hungarian. When the movie was
made, Transylvania was part of Romania, but when the book
and play were published it was
Erdély (the Hungarian name for
Transylvania) and part of Hungary. While the setting of the
film is clearly contemporary, it
properly respected the Magyar
traditions of the area. So was
Count Dracula Hungarian? I will
come back to that.
Born Béla Ferenc Desző
Blasko in 1882, in the town of
Lugos, Hungary (now Lugoj in
Romania), Lugosi trained and
had a distinguished career as a
classical actor appearing in major
theatres all over Hungary. At the
outbreak of war in 1914,
he joined the army and was
commissioned as a lieutenant.
He achieved the rank of captain
before being wounded and invalided out. He returned to the
stage in 1916, and continued his
career until the end of the war.
Lugosi was an active trade unionist and supported (and had some
involvement with) the short-lived
communist administration of
Béla Kun in the summer of 1919. He fled Hungary after the
collapse of the Kun government, initially to Vienna and then on
to Germany. He appeared in some films during his time there
before emigrating to the United States in 1921. His associations
with the Kun regime would cause him problems in the 1940s
and 1950s.
Lugosi‟s portrayal of Dracula very much set the movie
image of the Count for many years to come. The seven Hammer films from between 1958 and 1974, starring Christopher
Lee as Dracula had him, at least in the earlier ones, similarly
attired. (As a side note these were the first movies to show
vampires sporting fangs, though not during speaking parts).
Dracula made Lugosi the first star of horror pictures, and he
would spend most of his remaining movie career in that genre.
Sadly, after the Second World War his career declined.
A combination of stereotyping, substance abuse brought on
from lasting pain from his war wound, blacklisting and
a change in public taste, found him reduced to resuming the role
of Dracula in Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein in 1948.
His final screen appearance as a vampire was in the British
movie Mother Riley Meets the Vampire released in 1952. The
Dracula stage play was revived at the Little Theatre in London
in 1951, and Lugosi starred in a lengthy run there, but is said
to have been forced into making the movie to pay for his return
to the United States. I have to confess, I quite enjoyed the
Mother Riley movies when I was a child. Mother Riley was
played by Arthur Lucan and the films are harmless nonsense.
However, for one who had had such a distinguished career in
classical drama, this really was the pits for Lugosi.
Lugosi died of a heart attack in 1956 during the making of
what was, obviously, his last movie. In one way, Lugosi‟s
Hollywood career started with a cult movie and ended with one.
Alas, the cult status of his last movie comes from it being so
incredibly bad. It was Ed Wood‟s
Plan Nine From Outer Space.
I much prefer to remember
Lugosi, not for chasing old
Mother Riley around the kitchen,
but for the strong Hungarian
accent commenting upon the
howling of the wolves outside
Castle Dracula: “The children of
the night, what music they make!”
A full list of the movies and plays
in which Lugosi appeared is available on the website created by his
son George:
www.lugosi.com
There seems to be a notion that
Count Dracula was based upon
Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia
(between 1456 and 1462), otherwise known as Vlad the Impaler.
But looking at the novel, there is
no suggestion that Count Dracula
was Vlad the Impaler – resurrected, or even descended from
him. (Why take a demotion from
Prince to Count?) There maybe a
suggestion of fighting alongside
him against the Ottomans, but that
is as close as it gets. There has been quite a debate on the
subject over the years by those that get heated up over these
issues. Stoker‟s original name for the Count was Count
Wampyr, but this changed to the much more evocative Dracula.
The proper origin of the name Dracula, or Dracul (meaning
dragon), came from a society founded by Sigismund of Luxembourg, King of Hungary (1387-1437), to uphold Christianity
and combat the ever threatening Ottoman Empire. Since 1918
(the original 1931 movie honourably excepted), there has been a
Romanianisation of Count Dracula. The 1992 blockbuster
Bram Stoker’s Dracula was the first major film adaptation,
albeit in parts pretty loose, of the novel, as opposed to the stage
play. It begins with a clear suggestion that Vlad the Impaler,
having renounced God, becomes a vampire, and over the
centuries metamorphoses into Count Dracula. The Count in this
movie is clearly Romanian - it is the language spoken and the
clerics shown in the opening scenes are orthodox.
Continued on page 24...
5
OLD-SCHOOL ARMS
Recently, a friend of mine in Hungary came across a hundred year-old document detailing the official renderings of the
then Hungarian coat of arms. He shared the images with me, and the engravings were so fine and beautifully executed, I
thought I must share them, along with a few other images I have collected, with New Hungarian Voice readers. The current
insignia of Hungary, by the way, is nothing less than the central portion of the old national coat of arms.
The shield is split into two parts – the viewer‟s right side consists of a silver double cross with a red background, above a
small golden crown, situated in the middle of three green hills, representing Tátra, Mátra and Fátra mountains. The left side
features what are known as the “Árpád stripes” (from the Hungarian royal house of Árpád) - four silver and four red. It is
CZINK COLLECTION
CZINK COLLECTION
10 Korona gold coin
from 1910 (actual size
1.9cm in diameter)
Enamelled pin from
1902 (actual size 2.6cm
in diameter)
Coat-of arms used by the Hungarian Post Office in the 1930s
6
sometimes said that the silver stripes represent the
rivers Duna, Tisza, Dráva, and Száva.
The final version of the coat of arms, which
would often be illustrated supported by two angels, was established during the reign of King
Matthias II in the beginning of the 17th century,
WEIDEMAN
COLLECTION
Patriotic brooch from the
late 19th/early 20th century
(shown actual size)
and its usage became official during the reign of
Queen Maria Theresa. For different official purposes, the basic coat of arms could have the angels
substituted by a traditional spray of oak and laurel
leaves.
Over time, the Hungarian national insignia
became more complex with the additions of the
arms of territories conquered by Hungary around
the basic shield and crown. This “great” coat of
arms was used from the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 until 1915. The red and white
“checker-board” of Croatia is top right, and below
it are the arms of Transylvania. On the top left,
Dalmatia is represented, and below it, Slavonia.
Below centre represents Fiumé. Later, in 1915,
the arms of Bosnia were squeezed in to the left of
Fiumé.
P.Cz.
7
TRANSLATED BY
ANDI SZILÁGYI
Hungarian
FOLK TALES
The Poor Man's Violin
Far, far away, beyond seven countries, and even beyond the Operencia Sea, lived a King,
who had three beautiful daughters.
One day the King said to his three daughters, “Na, daughters, go into the forest to pick strawberries, and the one who
picks the most strawberries will earn the red skirt*.”
Away went the daughters to the forest, and they picked and picked strawberries. When it was just after noon, they all
kneeled under a tree to see who had gathered the most strawberries. As it turned out, the youngest daughter had picked
more than the two older daughters together! The two older daughters were very jealous because now the youngest
daughter would earn the red skirt.
The oldest said, “Come on, girls, let's go pick a few more! We can't go home with so few strawberries anyway.”
The youngest protested that they leave right then or they wouldn't make it home before nightfall, but the older
daughters wouldn't listen. They just wanted to go and pick more, and they set off in one direction and the youngest in
another. But the older daughters did not in fact pick strawberries. No, together, they decided that they would kill their
young sister. If they couldn‟t have the red skirt, then it shouldn't go to the youngest either!
They snuck up on their sister and grabbed her! The youngest daughter begged them to let her go, and she promised to
give them all of her strawberries - but they killed her anyway.
Just then, a blind pauper wandered by. The older daughters took his violin, put their youngest sister‟s body inside, and
threw it into a rotten hole of a nearby tree. Then they left.
When they got home, the King asked, “Where is your sister?”
“We don't know, but we told her enough times not to wander away from us. Who knows?
Maybe she lost her way, or maybe the forest thieves killed her.”
Meanwhile, a woodcutter had gone into the same forest and started chopping down the same tree into which the sisters
had thrown the violin with their sister's body. You can imagine his surprise when the tree fell over and a violin popped
out!
He picked it up and ran the bow over the violin strings -- here and there, just like the gypsies do. Well this violin didn't
just play music - no! It also sang!
Play slowly poor man,
So you don't hurt my weakened arm.
My weakened arm, fiddle-bow,
Princess Erzsi's violin.
“Ejnye - the devil's doing!” mumbled the woodsman, “This violin is bewitched! I will take this with me and try my
luck – maybe people will pay to hear this beautiful song.”
So he left, roamed the country and the world, and he made so much money that he had to pull the heaping pile behind
him in his wagon. One day while he was roaming, he ended up in the city of the King -- the one whose youngest daughter
was killed by her older sisters.
The woodsman stood in front of the King's palace and began to play the violin. The King heard the beautiful song of
the violin and sent his footman to invite the musician inside. Out ran the King's footman to invite the musician inside, but
the musician replied, “I will not take even a single step inside because I have so much money that even the King does not
have as much.”
The footman went back to the King and told him what the musician had said.
What was he to do?
So the King went outside himself and asked the musician to come in and pull a couple of songs from his violin. The
King asked and asked until the man went inside.
Continued on page 25...
8
Finding a travel book on Hungary can be a
challenge. Finding a good travel book can be even
harder. Most travel books lump Hungary in with
larger books on Eastern Europe, with all of Hungary
being afforded just a few pages. On top of being
chintzy in terms of volume, the information itself can
be rather skimpy. You might find the odd book on
Budapest, but they also tend to be somewhat lacking in
substance. How simply smashing to find something
worthwhile!
While Rick Steves’s book is called Budapest, it
actually includes write-ups on other attractions, cities
and towns: Gödöllo Palace and the “open-air museum”
of Hollókő; the Danube Bend towns of Szentendre,
Visegrád, and Esztergom; as well as Eger, Pécs,
Sopron, and even Bratislava, Slovakia, known to
Hungarians as Pozsony, and to the Germans and
Austrians as Pressburg. The bulk of the book,
however, is dedicated to Budapest.
Far from being just a list of tourist attractions with
a quick blurb written in “telegraphese” on each, Steves
provides comprehensive information on all things the
traveller needs to know: from in-depth information on
sights and histories of towns and important historical
figures, to specific details on using the transit system,
how to use the phone system, currency conversion,
etiquette, how to book rooms and ask for your bill at
the restaurant, among a host of other handy tips and
interesting facts. As you’d expect from a good travel
book, Steves also provides recommendations for good,
local (i.e. non-touristy) restaurants at decent prices,
respectable accommodations at a range of prices and
standards, and he notes places to avoid or things to be
aware of, such as unscrupulous taxi drivers and rip-off
artists posing as exceedingly friendly local women!
A helpful feature of the book is that Steves doesn’t
just rattle off a bunch of attractions, he actually walks
you through the city, taking you from one attraction to
the next - even estimating the amount of time you
might spend in each one, how long it’ll take you to
walk between sights, and even which direction to turn
at the exit of the last one to get to the next. The book
is literally a tour guide in the palm of your hands,
outlining daily itineraries. If you prefer a real-life tour
guide, Steves also provides contact information and
prices for guides you can hire to show you around
Budapest, or even to drive you around from one city to
another. Given that the book is principally about
Budapest, the information on the other towns and
cities is quite a bit more limited, but follows the same
format.
Steves has a very conversational, humorous style,
and the book is eminently readable. It also features
lots of maps, summary tables, short sections, and
appropriate highlighting, so that you can still find what
you’re looking for without having to sift through a
bunch of extraneous detail and commentary. I’d
recommend the book even as a recreational read if
you’re not actually going to Budapest, but from the
perspective of a tourist who needs to use it for
practical purposes, there are a few matters to note.
First of all, be careful with some of the
pronunciation keys. To be fair to Rick Steves, I have
yet to find a book on Hungary with an accurate
pronunciation key, and they often make me cringe.
Granted, some Hungarian sounds, such as “Ő” and
“GY” simply don’t exist in English, which makes it
difficult to accurately demonstrate the sound in
writing. Steves fails to clarify that some of his keys
are based on a British accent. Thus, the Hungarian
word for thank you (köszönöm) is demonstrated as
“KUR-sur-nurm.” (I don’t see any Rs in the Hungarian
word, do you?)
Similarly, no self-respecting
Hungarian would pronounce “Magyar” as “MUD-jar.”
Ugh! (For those who aren’t in the know, the
combination “GY” sounds like “DY”, not like a “J.”
That’s an all-too-common mistake committed by nonHungarian speakers.)
Secondly, Steves’s biases are clear. I didn’t always
agree with his assessments of what’s worth seeing and
what isn’t. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and
what some consider fun, others don’t. He does tend to
judge attractions, rather than just presenting the
information, which may or may not be helpful,
depending on your taste. For example, he repeatedly
emphasizes taking a dip in the thermal baths
throughout the country – true, a popular activity and
something that was clearly a favourite pastime for him.
He also dismissed the fortress at Visegrád as a sight
worth seeing only if you have time, but I, on the other
hand, thought it was the best part of my last trip. So
take his comments with a grain of salt – check out the
types of attractions that you typically enjoy and don’t
worry too much about someone else’s assessment.
Thirdly, if you’re looking for a book for naturelovers or adventure-seekers, this ain’t it. In terms of
sight-seeing, Steves sticks to the cities themselves and
to the typical tourist attractions within them for the
most part. If your bent runs to roaming the hills and
seeing the little picturesque villages along the way, I’d
recommend another book called Walking in Hungary:
32 Routes through Upland Areas by Tom Chrystal and
Beáta Dósa. But that’s a review for another issue…
Having been chauffeured around, and taken care of
by my relatives on all previous trips, I realized how
lucky I’ve been – I didn’t have to worry about all the
details that Steves notes in his book. There is a lot to
know if you want to live like a temporary local, and it
can be overwhelming, but Steves does a great job in
conveying his wealth of knowledge, and also in taking
your hand and leading you to the tourist information
offices, if you require anything else. All in all, the
book is enormously helpful, fun to read, and the best
travel guide on city touring in Hungary that I’ve seen.
9
NHV BOOK REVIEW
WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO?
Rick Steves and Cameron Hewitt. Rick Steves’ Budapest
Berkeley: Avalon Travel, 2009 - $24.50
by Anita Bedő
The other week I wandered into one of my favourite emporia
in Edinburgh. While principally a book shop, it also dispenses
a discerning line in CDs, and has a not too bad café in the
basement – therefore combining under one roof, three of my
favourite things. The coffee is good but not up to Central
European standards - coffee always tastes better in Central
Europe, (and no better than in Hungary), just as tea always
tastes better drunk from a bone china cup.
Edinburgh has become even more civilised lately, with the
opening of an Hungarian restaurant, the city‟s first. I have only
just learned of this so I have not yet made my way there to
sample what‟s on offer and to see if they actually speak
Hungarian, unlike Krakow‟s sole étterem.
Anyway, the shop had a sale on, and I picked up a trio
of CDs, all with Hungarian connections, although with one of
them the connection was not immediately obvious.
Having some time to spare before meeting a friend for
dinner, I repaired to a café for some tea (not, alas, from a bone
china cup), and I commenced reading the notes which
accompanied the discs I had just purchased. Part of the
enjoyment of music on disc is opening the case and reading
intelligent and informative notes on what one is listening to,
or is about to listen to. And when the cover has a facsimile of
some attractive painting or a mug-shot of the performer, all the
better (iPods just don‟t do it for me).
It was the rather scrunched up facsimile of a painting which
hangs in the Hungarian Embassy in Vienna, and its description
on the insert (that did not immediately occur to me as having an
Hungarian connection), had me almost spray a mouthful of Earl
Grey over the window next to me. Only an iron will inhibited
the frothing and fulminating, which would undoubtedly have
led to anyone sitting near me gently shuffling their chairs away,
and the proprietor inviting me to leave. The reason for my near
apoplexy I will address later.
The disc in question contained recordings of three sinfonias
by a chap called Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (Naxos 8.570198).
Dittersdorf was a contemporary of Haydn, and enjoyed great
success at the time, and was, for his efforts and the pleasure
he brought the Viennese, ennobled by Maria Theresa. Haydn
was not so honoured, yet today anyone with a passing
knowledge of music at least knows his name (and knows
the tune of what is now the German national anthem), and poor
old Baron von Dittersdorf is virtually unheard of and, sadly,
his rather fine music is very rarely promoted. Haydn was as
Austrian as boiled beef (though with a side order of lecsó),
but his complete symphonic legacy has been brought to life on
disc only twice, and only ever by Hungarians.
Franz Josef Haydn was born at Rohrau, near Vienna,
in 1732. His output as a composer was massive. He composed
in almost every genre for almost every imaginable instrument
and combination of instruments and voices. Between 1762 and
1790, Haydn was in the service of the Eszterházy family which
owned sumptuous palaces in both Austria and Hungary.
Although revered today, Haydn was little more than the
hired help, kept to compose new delights for the family,
and directing the court orchestra. Not only was he prolific
in his output, but in settling the forms of the symphony and
concerto as we now understand them. Haydn is traditionally
credited with 104 symphonies, although some additional
compositions have appeared over the years.
Amongst those who fled Hungary after the 1956 Uprising
10
Continued on page 18...
Established on 14 May 1901, the Hungarian Numismatic Society is a
non-profit association uniting amateurs and professionals interested in the
scientific study of numismatics – the universally popular collecting and
documentation of coins and medals. For over a hundred years, the Society
has represented the highly regarded principles laid down by its founders.
The aim of the Society is the scientific study of numismatics, the promotion of its results, the preservation of Hungarian cultural heritage, as well as the establishment and development of relations between
people interested in the field.
The Society maintains and operates the only public reference library in Hungary, and publishes
the Numismatic Journal - the only scientific journal of Hungarian numismatics, which is well-known
and recognised worldwide. Moreover, the Society provides expert‟s reports in the field of numismatics,
and organises regular meetings, lectures, scientific conferences, exhibitions and professional excursions.
It also operates work groups, has commemorative medals minted, and maintains relations with similar
societies in Hungary and abroad.
The aims of the Society have not changed during the past century, however, being a non-profit
organisation, its financial situation has become very insecure during the last decade. The economic crisis
that took place last year had an especially severe influence on Hungary, and has posed a real threat to the
existence of the Society. Therefore, all organisations and private individuals interested in Hungarian
numismatics are kindly requested to support this unique institution, and are warmly invited to actively
take part in the preservation and study of our Hungarian cultural heritage.
The HNS welcomes new
members, and gratefully
accepts donations.
Membership is $30.00 US
annually and includes the
Numismatic Journal
published every second year.
Membership application
form and details:
[email protected]
11
NEWS
FROM HUNGARY
SPAIN-BELGIUM-HUNGARY
PRESIDENCY FOR THE EU
2010.I.30.
The three countries have worked out
the program for this new triopresidency. At a conference in Budapest on January 29, Diego Lopez
Garrido, a senior official from Spain‟s
foreign ministry said that the triopresidency‟s task is to steer the EU in
the new period of its history which
started with the introduction of the
Treaty of Lisbon.
European citizenship, justice, cooperation, immigration and the integration of the Roma will be the key issues.
Another focus area will be to step up
efforts to end violence against women,
he said. The trio-presidency‟s foreign
policy will be aimed to set a balance
between Eastern and Mediterranean
relations. Spain will focus on Mediterranean-US relations, Belgium on
Africa-Asian relations and Hungary on
Eastern relations. The trio-presidency
started with Spain this January, then
Belgium, followed by Hungary in the
first half of 2011.
HUNGARY URGES BAN ON
CYANIDE TECHNOLOGY
2010.II.02.
Andor Nagy, the head of parliament‟s environmental committee said
that Hungary is urging a Europe-wide
ban on cyanide mining technologies. At
an environmental conference in Budapest, Nagy said that Hungary had put a
law in force in December 2009, banning
cyanide based extraction technology,
and the ban should be in all of Europe.
The conference marked the 10th
anniversary of a contamination from
cyanide spills on the Tisza River from
Baia Mare, Romania, which caused
devastating damage to the river‟s wildlife. Nagy also said that Hungary‟s EU
presidency, in the first half of 2011,
would promote such issues.
POPULATION INCREASES
2010.II.23.
The population of Budapest grew by
about 10,000 in 2008, according to the
Central Statistics Office. More people
seem to be moving to the capital than
are leaving it, while the number of immigrant is also growing. Foreigners
account for 4.4% of the population of
Budapest, compared to only 1.7% in
Hungary as a whole. Nearly two-thirds
of the immigrants are younger than 40
years of age, as most of them come to
Budapest to work, since the capital
provides better job opportunities. The
population of Roma in the city has risen
from 2% in 1990 to 4.6% in 2009.
HUNGARY REMEMBERS
WAR OF INDEPENDANCE
2010.III.15.
Hungary marked the 162nd anniversary of the 1848 War of Independence
against the Habsburg Empire with series
of political and cultural events. Speakers at political party rallies focused on
the upcoming parliamentary elections in
April. High ranking state officials attending the ceremonies included President László Sólyom, Prime Minister
Gordon Bajnai and House speaker Béla
Katona, as well as government members
and representatives of parliamentary
parties and the diplomatic corps.
BRITAIN’S PRINCE CHARLES
MEETS HUNGARY’S PRESIDENT
2010.III.18.
Prince Charles of Britain received
the Grand Gross of the Order of the
Hungarian Republic from President
László Sólyom after he and his wife
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall arrived in
Hungary for a four day visit. The award
given at an official dinner was to recognise Charles‟ efforts and work on behalf
of environmental protection. The environment and equal opportunity issues
are expected to dominate the prince‟s
visit. In his speech at an official dinner,
he spoke about climate change and his
Hungarian ancestry: “I have a special
relationship with Hungary since I am
proud to be one thirty-second Hungarian
myself, through my great great great
grandmother, Countess Rhedey,” he
12
by Magda Sasvári
said.
Prince Charles called Sólyom a
“kindred spirit” referring to their identical stance on the fight against climate
change.
900 MORE POLICE
OFFICERS IN HUNGARY
2010.III.31.
A total of 900 more police officers
will begin work as of April 1st, Prime
Minister Gordon Bajnai and National
Police Chief József Bencze announced
at the inauguration of 168 police graduates in the First District of Budapest on
the 30th of March. Bajnai said law and
order must prevail, adding that despite
the austerity measures, 7 billion HUF
more has been allocated to public
safety.
HUNGARIAN VIZSLA IS
TOP DOG AT CRUFTS
2010.III.14.
A Hungarian Vizsla named Yogi has
been awarded the top prize at Crufts dog
show in Britain, which is the biggest in
the world. The seven-year-old beat off
competition from six other finalists to
take the coveted title of best in show at
the culmination of the four-day competition in Birmingham, central England.
“He is just such a wonderful dog, I am
just pleased that he stood up to it,” said
his handler John Thirlwell.
The dog, from Carlisle, northwest
England, is the first Hungarian Vizsla to
clinch the top prize and also won the
gundog category. Almost 22,000 dogs
across 187 breeds were entered for best
in show this year, said the Kennel Club,
which runs the prestigious event.
EARTH HOUR 2010
2010.III.30.
The Hungarian capital stood with the
rest of world in the fight against climate
change during Earth Hour, the global
sustainability movement organized by
WWF. Budapest plunged into darkness
for Earth Hour 2010 like up to 4,000
other cities and locations around the
world. Highlights were the Parliament,
Buda castle and all the capital‟s bridges
going dark, along with Hero‟s Square,
Vajdahunyad castle, the National
Museum, Széchenyi Spa and the Gellért
Hotel. A great number of multinational
companies, hotels and restaurants,
schools and homes also participated in
the annual event in Budapest.
SLOVAK-HUNGARIAN
CONTEMPORARY MUSIC
FESTIVAL IN BUDAPEST
2010.IV.07.
The Slovak Cultural Institute of
Budapest and the Ferenc Liszt Academy
of Music will organise a festival of Slovak and Hungarian contemporary music. The event will open with a concert
featuring works by three generations of
Hungarian and Slovak composers in the
grand hall of the Hungarian Academy of
Sciences. Other programmes during the
festival include a workshop for two
Hungarian and two Slovak young composers and a concert by young composers graduating from the Liszt Academy.
The festival will close with a
composers‟ competition before a jury of
acclaimed Hungarian musicians on
April 23.
HUNGARIAN PAINT COMPANY
CONTRACT WITH DUPONT
2010.IV.7.
Hungarian paint company Poli-Farbe
and chemicals giant DuPont will put a
jointly developed family of paint
products on the market in the framework of a licensing contract, the companies announced on Wednesday.
walk along the river Danube, is to pay
tribute to all victims of the Holocaust Jews, Roma, political prisoners and
resistance fighters - as well as those that
worked to save the persecuted.
Two thirds of the Hungarian Jewish
community (725,000 people according
to 1941 census data) were killed in
1944-45.
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY
2010.IV.6
The 66th anniversary of forcing
Hungarian Jews into ghettos will be
commemorated on April 16, Hungary's
Day of Remembrance, and the traditional March of the Living across
central Budapest will be held two days
later, the Holocaust Memorial Centre
told MTI on Friday.
As part of the commemorations, the
centre will recognise people whose efforts have helped keep memories of the
Holocaust alive, with its Simon Wiesenthal Prize. The programme will also
include the opening of an exhibition of
artists that fled Hungary between the
two world wars, Gabor Szekely, head of
the foundation running the centre, said.
The March of the Living, a torchlight
BUDAPEST'S AQUINCUM
MUSEUM EXHIBIT
2010.IV.6.
Budapest's Aquincum Museum will
display its most interesting finds
unearthed last year at an exhibition
opening on April 16.
Most of the exhibits were found at
excavations connected to the construction of the M0 ring around Budapest,
and represent four thousand years from
the Bronze Age to the early Middle
Ages, the statement said.
The exhibition, dubbed “New Under
the Earth” will offer some 200 objects,
including Roman jewellery, weapons
and household utensils, as well as
reconstructed tombs and remnants of a
medieval manor found on an island in
the river Danube.
Hungarian
WORD PUZZLE
by Andi Szilágyi
HUNGARIAN MUSEUMS
Aquincumi Múzeum
Budapesti Történeti Múzeum
Gül Baba türbéje
Hadtörténeti Intézet és Múzeum
Iparmûvészeti Múzeum
Középkori Zsidó Imaház
Közlekedési Múzeum
Liszt Ferenc Emlékmúzeum
Magyar Mezôgazdasági Múzeum
Magyar Nemzeti Galéria
Néprajzi Múzeum
Mûcsarnok
Petôfi Irodalmi Múzeum
Szépmûvészeti Múzeum
Zenetörténeti Múzeum
Unscrambled museum
names are on page 23…
No peeking ‘til you’re done!
13
13
ALADÁR
FÁY
by Lorraine Weideman
Artists often do not receive recognition in their lifetime, but it is never too
late to pay a little homage. Several years
ago, I was given a lovely Hungarian
language book entitled Aladár Fáy - Life
and Art, from Hungarian Visual Artists‟
Association of Canada treasurer Barbara
Majthényi - a friend and eminent artist
who lives in Toronto. It‟s full of images
of paintings and drawings that dynamically portray nature. In a PostImpressionist and Art Nouveau style,
animals leap from the pages and are
combined with vibrant Hungarian folk art
motifs.
If that wasn‟t inspiration enough,
recently, dear friends from Hungary sent
me a package containing a series of
eleven vintage 1922 postcards by the
very same artist - Aladár Fáy, illustrating
János Arany‟s beloved folktale Toldi.
Through Barbara, who happens to be
related to Fáy, I have had the good
fortune to be put in touch with his son,
Árpád Fáy, who brought his father‟s
history to life, inspiring me even further.
Aladár Fáy was the second child born
to Dr. Aladár Fáy and Gizella Edvi-Illés
on April 11th, 1898. Remarkably, by the
age of eight, young Aladár was already
producing sophisticated work. His son
Árpád was very patient with all of my
inquiries, and in an email to me wrote:
“His talent for drawing animals was
significant. He was eight years old when
my grandparents sent several of his
drawings for an international competition in London. The organizing committee sent them back, remarking that the
drawings were disqualified since surely
they had not been drawn by a child.
He felt that this was an injustice.”
Around the age of ten he began painting in oil and creating works with clay.
Later, although not even a teenager, one
of Fáy‟s sculptures of a polar bear was
purchased for production by world
famous Zsolnay factory (one of Hungary‟s top pottery firms established in
1853). Árpád noted: “At fourteen he
spent every Sunday at the zoo drawing
animals. Since they were constantly on
the move, he developed innovative
technique. At a glance, he fixed the
14
contour in his mind and drew it without
looking again at the animal (as if making
a photograph in his mind); after the
contour was established, the details were
added with subsequent glances. Later,
as a professor at the Fine Arts Academy,
he taught the same technique to his
students. He was fond of drawing and
painting animals all his life.”
Aladár Fáy attended the Academy of
Fine Arts in Budapest from 1916 until
1920, he completed his schooling with a
teacher‟s certificate. During the summers of 1917 and 1918 he was part of
Nagybánya artist colony, (today Baia
Mare in Romania), these were decisive
years in his life. After 1919, Nagybánya
belonged to Romania, so many of the
famous artists from Nagybánya settled
down in Kecskemét, Fáy joined them and
lived in Kecskemét from 1920 to 1922.
He then studied art under István Csók
during this time. He married Gizella
Csengey on December 8th, 1923, and
had four children: Ildiko, Aladár, Csaba
and Arpad, born between 1924 and 1933.
From 1923 until 1943, he taught the
principles of folk art at the Budapest
School of Applied Arts, working in the
decorative painting department. In 1941
he wrote, A Magyarság Díszítő Ösztöne
(The Hungarian Decorative Instinct) – a
book that expressed the challenges of
embracing Hungarian cultural identity
within visual art. He wanted to portray a
graphic expression that would show the
“true Hungarian artistic soul.” Breaking
down these unique Hungarian elements,
he went further to illustrate how and why
they are used. He believed that these
image styles are not inflexible - that they
are fluid and are not bound by strict
rules. His analyses of Hungarian folk art
appealed to Hungarians, as well as other
cultures, which warranted a reprinting of
WEIDEMAN COLLECTION
WEIDEMAN COLLECTION
this definitive book in 1994.
Fáy was involved with the Magyar
Képírók Társasága (literally Hungarian
Picture Writers‟ Society) from 1930
through 1944, as vice president and later
president. He was also the director of the
School of Applied Arts from the fall of
1943 until January 1944, when the institution was closed. That year, both of his
parents passed away. Árpád recalled that
“The Museum of Arts and Crafts
(housing the forth largest collection in
Europe) also belonged to this school. In
November of 1944, the government ordered the collection to be shipped to Austria to save it from the Soviets. Instead,
my father had collection hidden in the
cellars. The crates containing the artefacts were only opened at the end of 1945
when conditions were normalized. In
this way, the whole collection was saved
from both the German and Soviet
troops.”
After the war Aladár Fáy continued
his work as an educator until he was arrested on December 21st, 1946, and later,
in 1947, sentenced to nine years in prison
for “conspiracy.” He spent seven and ahalf years in prison, and when released,
he became a helper at his beloved Budapest Zoo. He continued painting and
drawing his extraordinary animal images
and passed away on February 18th, 1963.
In 1994, Hungary officially rehabilitated Fáy‟s reputation, and in 1998 his
children collected information and stories
for the publication of Aladár Fáy - Life
and Art. In 1998, Peter Paul Toth directed A Képíró, a film commemorating
my favourite Hungarian painter and folklore researcher - Aladár Fáy.
“Lorraine, your article is a tribute to a
Hungarian artist who had no exclusive
exhibition of his works during his lifetime. On behalf of his descendants (forty
family members in 2010), I express our
sincere thanks to you.”
Árpád Fáy
WEIDEMAN COLLECTION
Originally published in 1574 by
Péter Ilosvai Selymes, one of
Hungary’s most cherished folktales is
the story of the remarkable Miklós
Toldi. This peasant-lad folk hero was
born in 1320 and was known for his
great strength, and interest in his
adventures were revived in the nineteenth century. János Arany adapted
the tales during the late 1840s and the
early 1850s, and Aladár Fáy later
illustrated them, pictured here on
three of his postcard series.
15
TORONTÁLVÁSÁRHELY
by Eddi Wagner
Torontálvásárhely, in Hungarian means “Torontál (county)
market place.” Torontálvásárhely, a small town in the south
Bánát, Délvidék (today's Serbia), is known for its markets and
fairs. It is situated some twenty kilometers northwest of the city
of Pancsova.
A legend says that there was a big market ground here, even
before the town was built. Imagine a place, in the middle of
puszta, where people come from faraway countries to trade,
buy, sell and entertain. In 1872, two local judges, Sámuel Tóth
and István Mező, wanted to make it official - they went all the
way to Vienna in order to personally ask for Royal permission
from the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef. This fruitful
trip resulted in the town of Torontálvásárhely being granted the
requested permission (the document, apparently, was written in
golden ink, and in three languages: Latin, German and Hungarian). These happy events officially extended the centuries-long
traditions of markets in Torontálvásárhely - traditions that are
alive even today. In the past, the markets lasted three days:
Thursdays were reserved for farm livestock; Fridays for food
products and households goods; and Saturdays for horses only.
Horses and everything related to them (exhibitions, sports,
competitions, riding, buying and selling, as well as horserelated gear and goods) attracted thousands of visitors and customers from as far as Belgium and Turkey. Apart from buying
and selling, there was plenty of food and fun - complete with
entertainment, music, merry-go-rounds, and sporting events.
Torontálvásárhely is a typical Panonnian town with very
wide streets at perfect right angles. The center of the town is
also very typical: a large park in the middle, churches, the townhall, hospital, schools, fire-hall, inns, the bus station. There is a
railway station on the outskirts of town. Carefully cultivated
grass fields, flowerbeds, decorative shrubs, and tree-lined
streets give this town a specific beauty - you can still see the old
roads leading lined with tall poplar trees, as they were two
centuries ago. Torontálvásárhely is widely known for being
very green, clean and neat. Locals are very much natureoriented, and take very good care of their surroundings. As
elsewhere in the Bánát, biking is very popular: it is said that
each person owns at least two bicycles! Cycling is not only for
recreation – it‟s also a serious means of transportation there.
Locally grown fruit and vegetables are delicious and even smell
healthy, and locals are also proud of the rich assortment of their
dairy products – from cattle, buffalo, goat, sheep, llama, camel,
horses and donkeys.
It was in 1660 that the town was mentioned in documents for
the first time. Up until the mid eighteenth century, the town
bore a few different names, for example Develák (which sounds
similar to the name Serbs now use: Debeljača). The Ottoman
Turks conquered the Hungarian Délvidék in the mid sixteenth
century. After over a hundred years of occupation, they were
finally expelled by united European armies – and it was then
that the Austro-Hungarian military decided to settle and employ
a number of Serbian soldiers and their families to guard the area
against possible future Turkish attacks. As a result, the ethnic
Serb population in this part of Hungary grew significantly. The
Tisza-Maros military border was dismantled from 1768 to 1774,
however, and many Serbs left the town after in search of
military contracts elsewhere. A wave of Hungarians from the
Northern Tisza region settled in Torontálvásárhely in 1794.
Generations of these hard-working Hungarians cultivated the
land, and dug canals and irrigation systems, turning the puszta
into fertile, arable lands. These massive projects took a heavy
toll on Hungarians - until the puszta was developed into a more
liveable region, many people died of cholera and similar
diseases. A sharp decline of the population was recorded in
1838, after yet another wave of cholera. During the Hungarian
16
War of Independance of 1848-49, a
town either. The Bánát was in the
large number of Hungarians moved
hands of the local volksdeutsche
Reformed church in
north, as the town was constantly
(ethnic Germans of the Bánát), diTorontálvásárhely
attacked by Serbs. Serbs and other
rectly controlled from Germany.
Slavs sided with the Austrians during
Local Hungarians were divided that conflict, and Serbian rebels, lead
some students joined the Yugoslav
by General Knićanin, expelled Hunpartisans voluntarily. After the war
garian civilians from Délvidék.
ended, all remaining ethnic Germans
After the war was over, many
were expelled from town.
Hungarians returned home and
The brutal wars of separation of
stayed there permanently, sharing the
the former Yugoslavian republics,
town with ethnic Bulgarians who
international economic sanctions and
continuously lived there since their
blockades in 1991; years of suffering
ancestors first came to the Pannonian
under the regime of the Serbian
Plains in the beginning of the millendictator Slobodan Milošević; and the
nium, long before our Hungarian
NATO bombing in 1999, all left deep
ancestors settled there. Today, Hunscars and irreparable damage to the
garians still form a very strong
lives of the locals. The Hungarians
majority in this town which they
generally suffered from ethnically
share with Bulgarians, Serbs, Roma
motivated tensions, and mistreatment
and a few other minorities.
by the ethnic Serb refugees who
It received its present name of
moved there from the war-torn
Torontálvásárhely in 1888, which
Bosnia and Croatia. As a consestayed in official use until the end of
quence of that, many local HungariWW I, when the entire Délvidék
ans moved to Hungary, or elsewhere.
came under Serbian control. At the end of the nineteenth
Those who stayed are now happy that (as of the beginning
century, with 6,000 inhabitants, Torontálvásárhely became
of 2010) they do not need apply for a visa when traveling to the
a leading town in south Torontál County, with a public library
countries of the European Union – including Hungary.
and reading club, theatre, trade union, two banks, two brick
There is still a Hungarian elementary school in town, and
factories and a modern grain mill. Many locals sent their
sports and folklore are very much alive in Torontálvásárhely.
children to schools in Szeged, Pest or Vienna. While some setPeople there still cultivate their traditions, and many locals still
tled in cities, many of these intellectuals returned back home,
wear their wooden clogs (very typical of Torontálvásárhely and
sharing the knowledge and culture gained in big European
south Bánát in general), and you can still see older Hungarian
cities. The cultural and economic
women wearing their extremely wide,
prestige of Torontálvásarhely was
A road to Torontálvásárhely
knee-length skirts.
very strong until the end of WW I,
A local art professor, Jolánka
when it became a town within a
Szécsenyi, was responsible for the
larger municipality of Kovačica,
establishment of the first local
inhabited by ethnic Slovaks. At the
museum in the early 1970s. She
end of the nineteenth century, a few
gathered some enthusiastic locals and
families from Inner Mongolia settled
got them interested in collecting
in town, and produced and sold
everything related to the everyday
household items and other things
lives of Hungarians through history.
made of straw. Locals loved their
Many locals appreciated this idea and
shopping baskets and brooms.
donated items left behind by their
The First World War caused terrielders - old clothes, furnishings,
ble losses in human life to
household goods, musical instruTorontálvásárhely. As a tragic conments, and tools. Thanks to professor
sequence of the war, the victorious
Szécsenyi, Torontálvásárhely is now
powers decided to claim two-thirds
home to a lovely collection of priceof the Kingdom of Hungary‟s terriless items that document the presence
tory - its southern parts known as
of Hungarians in Délvidék.
Délvidék were awarded to the KingMy last visit there was in the
dom of Serbia.
The people of
winter of 1991. It has changed a lot
Torontálvásárhely, if they had not
since becoming more modernized,
already been expelled by the Serbian
and life there is constantly improvarmy, had to accept the reality of
ing. Torontálvásárhely is best to visit
calling the newly formed Republic of
in September. And if you do, you will
Hungary a “neighbouring country.”
never forget the heavenly smell of
They were also required to learn the
freshly picked grapes and apples - a
new official language - Serbian.
true gift from the Gods, directly from
World War II did not spare the
the fertile lands of the Bánát.
17
...Haydn Seek continued from page 10
had been put down by the Soviets, was a large number of very
talented musicians. In 1957, a new orchestra was formed
comprising over fifty of those musicians under the direction of
the conductor Zoltán Rozsnyai in Baden, Austria (the orchestra
was set up with funds provided by the Swiss and American
governments). The orchestra‟s name was the Philharmonia
Hungarica. Ironically, the first headquarters of the orchestra
had been used by the KGB when the Soviets were
occupying Austria after the war. In June of 1957, the orchestra
performed its first ever public concert at the Musikverein
in Vienna.
According to Time magazine, the performance started off
in rather lacklustre fashion with Beethoven‟s Egmont overture.
However, what followed was a sensation. The programme
consisted of Kodály‟s Psalmus Hungaricus and Bartók‟s Violin
Concerto No. 1. Psalmus Hungaricus is a choral work, the text
of which is based upon the 55th psalm, and was written during
the Ottoman occupation of Hungary (and was particularly apt
for a nation once again under foreign tyranny):
the world of music.
The second complete cycle was made by the AustroHungarian Haydn Orchestra directed by Hungarian conductor
Adam Fischer. Fischer is a regular conductor at the Hungarian
State Opera in Budapest, and has recorded all the symphonies
in the hall known as the Haydnsaal. This was the summer
palace of the Eszterházy‟s and the very place where Haydn
and his orchestra performed. The players are all members of
the finest outfits in Vienna and Budapest, and the orchestra
comes to life only during the summer months when the
players are not engaged with their main employers. These
recordings were set down between 1989 and 1993 - the Nimbus
company which initially issued this set has since disappeared,
but some of the later symphonies are still available from
Brilliant Classics as part of a larger set of works by Haydn.
Everyone, of course, has their own tastes in music and
how they like it performed. I already possessed the last fifty
or so symphonies recorded by the Austro-Hungarians. The
person to whom I owe so much in respect of my love of music
had all the Philharmonia recordings on LP when I was but a lad
(which was certainly not yesterday), and I had not listened to
any of them since. I acquired a single disc of the Philharmonia
(Penguin Classics 460 628-2), not feeling I would ever do
justice to the 33 that comprise the full set which had tempted
me while browsing the sale in Edinburgh. I selected my
favourite symphony, number 100, commonly known as the
“Military” and listened to it played back to back by the
Philharmonia and the Austro-Hungarians.
I found both recordings very appealing, and I was most
surprised by the Philharmonia recording. I have to confess,
my own preference in this repertoire is for the period
performance, using instruments, techniques and styles in use
at the time the music was first performed, all with a somewhat
smaller orchestra. This style, I think, offers a cleaner, faster
and more vivid performance. While the Philharmonia was
obviously a full modern symphony orchestra using modern
instruments, the performance was bright and fluid and
zipped along nicely. Nothing stodgy or laboured, just beautifully formed and phrased music that was a delight to listen
to. Not only was the Philharmonia the first to commit to disc
all the Haydn symphonies, but it pretty much did Haydn
better than anyone had before. These recordings have stood
the test of time and fashion, and remain seminal to how Haydn
is performed today. A magnificent achievement.
What was it that annoyed me so much? The description of
the painting was “The coronation of the Empress Maria
Theresa at Pressburg.”
How horribly and inaccurately
Austrocentric! Of course, the coronation was of the Archduchess Maria Theresa, as Queen of Hungary, at Pozsony!
Without that event, which set the good queen up for the
War of the Austrian Succession, Maria Theresa (who was
only ever an Empress due to her husband being elected
Holy Roman Emperor some years later), would never have
been quite the figure she became. She needed the support of
Hungarians to have any prospect of success (and indeed
succession).
Due to the efforts of the Hungarians, we know Maria
Theresa to have been a great ruler, and due to the efforts of
Hungarians we know the full glory of Haydn‟s symphonies.
The moral to all of this: behind every great Austrian there is
always an Hungarian.
Jack Keir
Oh hear the voice of my complaining,
Terrors of death are fallen upon me.
Yehudi Menhuin, one of the truly great musicians of the 20th
Century was the soloist in the Bartók concerto. I can only
imagine Menhuin‟s agreement to appear with the orchestra was
motivated by a feeling of solidarity with the Hungarian people.
This was, after all, a brand new orchestra with as yet no track
record. However, after the concert, Menhuin had this to say
about the orchestra: “It‟s the first time I ever played the whole
concerto right through at rehearsal without stopping and
explaining. This music is in their blood…”
In 1959 the orchestra found a new home in Marl, NorthRhine-Westphalia in West Germany, where it was generously
supported by the federal and lander governments. This funding
very much had an eye to the propaganda value of the orchestra that notwithstanding, it was a very fine orchestra indeed.
Perhaps in tribute to the support offered to it in its earliest
days, the orchestra‟s new headquarters was named Yehudi
Menhuin House. It performed regularly in West Germany
and toured many countries abroad, including Canada.
A recording contract with Decca was secured and the Philharmonia, under various conductors, put down many fine
recordings, a number of which received much sought after
prizes and awards.
The huge task of recording every one of Haydn‟s
symphonies was commenced in 1970 - the orchestra‟s president
Antal Dorati conducted all 104 plus two strays. The enterprise
took four years to complete, and box sets of LPs were
released as the task progressed. The appearance of each box
set was met with great critical acclaim, and even today these
recordings are frequently used as comparators for any new
release of a Haydn symphony reviewed in Gramophone
magazine. The complete set in CD format was released in 1996
(Decca ADD 002894485312).
Notwithstanding the conclusion of the Cold War, the West
German government continued subsidising the orchestra for
a number of years. However, the subsidies were eventually
withdrawn. That, combined with falling attendances at concerts
caused the orchestra to be disbanded in 2001. A great loss to
18
THE HUNGARIAN CROWN GUARD
ASSOCIATION NEEDS YOUR HELP
In association
with the
INTERNATIONAL
HUNGARIAN MILITARY
HISTORY PRESERVATION
SOCIETY
www.NewFront.ca
www.koronaorseg.hu
The Hungarian Crown Guard Association is looking for historical
information, copies of documents, and photographs relating to the Crown Guard,
the Holy Crown of Hungary, the Szent Jobb and the 1938 Golden Train.
Many things were taken from Hungary following WW II, and the Association would
be very grateful for information about any material that may be unknown to them.
19
by Mária Vajna
Beef in Gravy
(Vadas Marhahús)
1 ¾ lb eye of round
1 ¾ oz smoked bacon
1 ¾ oz lard
2 tablespoons flour
1/3 oz sugar
3-4 drops vinegar
1-2 teaspoons mustard
¾ cup sour cream
For the marinade:
3 ½ oz carrots, cleaned, sliced
3 ½ oz parsnips, cleaned, sliced
1 small onion, cleaned, sliced
5-6 black peppercorns
1-2 bay leaves
salt, to taste
1-2 tablespoons vinegar
Method for best results:
First prepare the marinade: put carrots, parsnips and onion into 1 litre (1 quart) of water seasoned with black pepper, bay
leaves, and salt. Cook until half-done, add vinegar. Pour marinade on the meat, cover and keep refrigerated for 2 to 3 days (turn
the meat once in a while).
Remove meat from the marinade, drain, cut slits into it and insert small slices of bacon, then roast in the oven for 1 ½ hours,
adding the liquid a little at a time. Then add the marinated vegetables. Cook another hour or more until the meat is tender,
continuing to reduce the liquid until all the water is gone and only the fat is left.
Remove the meat from the pan, put on a plate, cover, and set aside in a warm place. Then prepare the gravy: sprinkle the
cooked vegetables with flour, fry to brown them, pour in the remaining marinade, bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes.
In a small pan, heat sugar until it is light brown, mix with cold water and stir in the gravy, then simmer 5 minutes. Flavour with
vinegar and mustard, and then add sour cream and stir through.
Arrange the sliced meat on a serving plate and pour on the gravy. Serve with bread, dumplings or macaroni.
*Fakanál is Hungarian for wooden spoon. It’s an essential word for your gastronomic vocabulary,
and can also serve as a very naughty sounding expletive for you to use on your non-Hungarian speaking guests.
HUNGARIAN
LANGUAGE LINK
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and Immigration Matters
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604 738-6869
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Working hours:
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20

The Urban Fakanál*
WHO
ARE WE
ANYWAY?
In Part VIII of our ancient history
series, continuing with our exploration
of the people who were writing about
the early Magyars and their contemporaries, we turn our attention to the
Latin sources as documented by
our authority András Róna-Tas.
I found myself a little frustrated by this exercise, since
information on the people themselves proved to be far sketchier
than information on their writings.
Still, I managed to dig up some
pretty fascinating stuff.
Róna-Tas notes that while the
ancient Latin sources refer to
Finnish and Estonian peoples (recall
that the Magyar language is distantly
related to these languages), the first Latin
source of real value in understanding the history
and prehistory of the Magyars came in the 6th century AD. The
author Jordanes was mentioned in Part VII as having provided a
summary of the works of Byzantine writer Cassiodorus on the
history of the Goths until AD 533 (Jordanes himself having a
Gothic background). Jordanes‟s own work included an
extensive examination of the exploits of Attila the Hun, as well
as writings on the relationship between the Goths and the Huns.
Remember, though, that most historians deny any relationship
between the modern Hungarians and the Huns, but reference to
the Huns keeps popping up all the same. Perhaps that‟s because
Hungarians themselves seem to like to align themselves with
this “ancestor,” however fictional the relationship may be.
In a brief genealogical description of his family, Jordanes
makes vague reference to his “conversion,” but conversion to
and from what, however, is unclear. It probably does not refer
to conversion from paganism to Christianity, since the Goths
had already been converted. The name Jordanes Crotonensis,
bishop of Crotona (now Cotrone) in Bruttium in southern Italy
may refer to our Jordanes, since he was believed to have
become a monk and likely a bishop. Judging from his
extremely negative attitude toward Arian Christianity (a heresy
Part VIII
by Anita Bedő
started by a priest named Arius), it is very likely that Jordanes
had himself once been an Arian like most of the Goths, and that
he had later converted to Catholicism. As they say, what we
hate most about others is what we hate most about ourselves.
Very little is certain about Aethicus of Istria (Aethicus of
Istria). He is described variously as a pagan philosopher, a
Christian pilgrim, a Scythian, an Istrian, or merely as a traveller,
who lived somewhere around the fourth to seventh centuries
AD. His name is a reference to the Danube (Ister), or to Istria, a
peninsula in the Adriatic sea. Aethicus Ister was the protagonist
of the 7th/8th-century Cosmographia, which describes the
travels of Aethicus around the world, and reportedly includes
descriptions of foreign peoples in usually less than favourable
terms. Aethicus has been described as a radical and another
author described his book as "wild." Unfortunately, there are no
details on what he thoughts of the Magyars, or any other foreign
peoples, for that matter. Róna-Tas does mention that the book
refers to the Turk people of the Black Sea region, which may
have included the Magyars, since the Magyars were occasionally referred to as Turkic or Turks. Such tidbits are maddening,
Continued on next page...
21
...Whe Are We continued from 21
are they not? Alas, the book apparently does not exist in
English translation and I have not able to find more detail on
how exactly Aethicus Ister bad-mouthed the Magyars. Pity.
I hit the jackpot when I came across a series of letters from
various bishops of Germany that had been written to Pope
John IX around the year 900. Two are of particular interest
here. The first was written by Hatto, the archbishop of Mentz.
He died on May 15th, AD 953, reportedly either by a lightning
strike or by being thrown alive by the devil into the crater of
Mount Etna. According to the Saxons, he had been a cruel and
treacherous soul.
In his letter, Hatto apologizes to the Pope for not having
sent word earlier of the election of a certain king, but such a
letter could not have been delivered due to the roads being
“infested” by the Barbarians, “Masters of the Country between
them and Italy.” It‟s unclear whom he is referring to, but quite
possibly the Magyars. Hatto‟s letter goes on to relay a
complaint from their brethren, the bishops of Bavaria, against
the Slavonians who had, among other dastardly deeds, accused
the Bavarians of the crime of entering into an alliance with
“the Pagans,” i.e. the Hungarians. Hatto wished to assure the
Pope that this shocking accusation had “not the least
foundation in truth.” (Clearly we were an undesirable lot to be
associating with back then.)
The second letter to the Pope was written by Theotmar,
archbishop of Salzburg from AD 873 to 907. The best
information on Theotmar exists in other languages and online
translations are only somewhat intelligible, but I shall
endeavour to explain briefly his history with the Magyars. The
long and short of it is that, in the summer of AD 907, the
Bavarians, accompanied by the small army of Salzburg under
the leadership of Theotmar, marched on the advancing
Magyars. This was an ill-fated battle, however, and on July
4th, Theotmar fell at the Battle of Pressburg (aka Pozsony) to
the triumphant Magyars. In the interim, Theotmar‟s letter,
written in the spring of AD 900, had found its way to the Pope,
complaining of papal corruption and the weakening of the
Archbishopric of Salzburg. This bit, described in the book
entitled The History of the Popes from the Foundation of the
See of Rome to the Present Time, Volume 5, written by Scottish historian Archibald Bower in 1761, deserves to be quoted
directly:
from Theotmar to Pope John IX was long regarded as a fake by
later historians, but even if that is the case, it does still make for
great theatre!
Liutprand (also Luitprand or Luidprand) was another
interesting character. He was the bishop of Cremona, and the
minister of Berengar II of Italy. What is most interesting about
this bishop is his crude sense of humour, with castration,
penises, women, and sex in general being prominent topics in
his writings. This irreverent humour was prevalent in his book
Antapodosis, translated as “Repayment” or “Book of Revenge,”
which is a sarcastic attack and retribution for the slights he
suffered while at Berengar‟s court. It also includes details of
the Magyars‟ raids in Italy, as well as earlier periods.
Liutprand later moved on to the court of Otto the Great, an
emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. His report to Otto of his
mission to Constantinople in AD 968, describing his meeting
with Nicephorus, emperor of the Byzantine Empire, is another
classic. He describes Nicephorus thus: “A monstrosity of a
man, a pygmy, fat-headed and like a mole as to the smallness of
his eyes; disgusting with his short, broad, thick, and half hoary
beard; disgraced by a neck an inch long; very bristly through
the length and thickness of his hair; in color an Ethiopian; one
whom it would not be pleasant to meet in the middle of the
night; with extensive belly, lean of loin, very long of hip
considering his short stature, small of shank, proportionate as to
his heels and feet; clad in a garment costly but too old, and foulsmelling and faded through age; shod with Sicyonian shoes;
bold of tongue, a fox by nature, in perjury, and lying a Ulysses.”
He doesn‟t mince words, does he?
Liutprand‟s report also includes brief references to the
Magyars. We were a cocky lot then: “When you were
besieging Bari only three hundred Hungarians seized five
hundred Greeks near Thessalonica and led them into Hungary.
Which attempt, inasmuch as it succeeded, induced two hundred
Hungarians in Macedonia, not far from Constantinople, to do
the like; of whom forty, when they were retreating incautiously
through a narrow pass, were captured.” Sadly, Liutprand did
not grace us with any more detail than that. Let‟s hope those
forty Hungarians ended up having a congenial chat with their
captors over a nice bowl of gulyás.
Lastly, I‟ll mention Lampert (or Lambert) of Hersfeld,
a medieval chronicler who became a monk at the Benedictine
Hersfeld Abbey in 1058. While Lampert was highly educated,
his reputation as a chronicler and historian was that he was
biased and partisan. He was something of a Charles Dickens
in his day, being a cynical observer of elite society, casting
a critical eye on the political melodramas and scandals of his
day and exposing the way in which power and pride corrupted
rulers and perverted society, elevating the unworthy and
punishing the good and decent. Lampert‟s works include a
history of the Hersfeld monastery, which was visited by King
Henry IV in 1071. Upon the king‟s departure, Leopold of
Merseburg, one of Henry‟s captains, fell from his horse
and died from injuries from his own sword. Lampert notes
that the sword was the one that Anastasia, wife of
Hungarian King Andrew I, had presented to Bavarian
Prince Otto as being the sword of Attila the Hun. Attila strikes
again.
I can not say where András Róna-Tas will lead us next.
You‟ll just have to pick up the next edition of the NHV to
find out.
The Moravians had prejudiced the Pope against the
Bavarians as joined in Confederacy with the Hungarians,
who broke into Germany and Italy at this Time, and committed everywhere unheard of Barbarities, murdering Priests,
burning Churches and Monasteries, and carrying all,
without Distinction of Sex or Age, into Captivity, who had
the Misfortune to fall into their Hands. In Answer to this
Charge, the Bavarian Bishops assure the Pope, that their
Country has suffered as much by the Irruption [sic!] of the
Hungarians as any other; that they have lent those
Barbarians no Kind of Assistance whatever; but, on the contrary, would have readily made Peace with the Moravians, in
order to attack them, as a common Enemy, with their united
Forces; but the Moravians, far from hearkening to any
Terms of Peace, had joined the Hungarians against their
Christian Brethren, and treated them with the same Cruelty.
It must be noted that Róna-Tas mentions that this letter
22
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23
...Dracula continued from page 5
This notion of Vlad III being Count Dracula is repeated in
what must be one of the best vampire novels since Dracula
itself: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, published in 2005.
The novel is so good, I can forgive her for it. This is a wonderful read, meticulously researched and very scary. Part of the
action takes place in Budapest during the later communist
Kádár era. I will not spoil the plot for you in any way, as you
really should rush out and get this book now, but as an habitué
of Budapest, I could identify the hotel (albeit unnamed) where
the young heroes stay, and the unnamed restaurant where the
high ranking communist official takes one of them for dinner.
The atmosphere of the time is eerily captured, as was my imagination.
One of the odd features of the novel Dracula is that it is
comprised entirely of excerpts from diaries, letters, ship‟s logs
and newspaper reports. There is no narrative as such, and we
only hear from Dracula himself second hand. However,
Dracula is reported by Harker in chapter III as referring to
himself as a Szekler. The Szeklers were originally either a
Magyar or Magyarised Turkic tribe, Hungarian speaking,
which, along with the Saxons bravely defended the frontiers of
the Kingdom against the Ottomans from the 11th Century on.
Today, almost all of their descendents are within Romania, but
still identify themselves as a distinct and Hungarian culture.
Having said that, after describing himself as a Szekler, Dracula
seems a bit diffident towards the Magyars, and seems to
suggest a more Wallachian origin. However, Szekler is what he
says and if that‟s what he says he‟s a Hungarian!
It is no doubt sexier and more dramatic to make the connection between Count Dracula and Vlad the Impaler, but it is
fiction upon fiction - as from the mouth of the Count himself he
is Hungarian, whether he likes it or not. Whether that is something for Hungarians to boast about, or whether they should
reclaim him as one of their own, I shall leave you to decide.
Ironically there was no vampire tradition in Hungary - all the
surrounding countries did, however, have vampire folklore.
I wonder whether the lack of such a thing is in any way
connected to the very sensible decree by King Stephen (10001038) that there was no such thing as witchcraft?
My final thought on all of this, is that it is perhaps one of the
better coincidences of movie history that the first and most
iconic portrayal of Dracula was by a kinsman of the old Count.
At least the accent was right. Fangs for reading.
SPOT THE HUNGARIAN
The Count
Dracuslab
Count Chocula
If you are even vaguely familiar with Hungarian immigrant literature and culture, you will have undoubtedly read about “our”
VIPs. There are endless lists of famous ethnic Hungarians compiled by my parents‟ generation – usually topped-off with a
glorification of the “father of the hydrogen bomb” Edmond Teller. Yes, they even dutifully embraced their Jewish-Hungarian
brethren (as long as they were Hollywood celebrities or Nobel Prize winners).
So, in a nutshell, according to the immigrant Hungarian history books, we Magyars are the bees-knees. Some disputes occasionally arise, however, if the Romanians claim ownership of an individual – case in point – Good ol‟ Count Dracula. As a tip-of-the-hat
to the Hungarian immigrant style of the past, I thought I should claim two other notable kinsmen, to get them while the gettin‟s good.
Sesame Street‟s The Count is described on their official website: “The Transylvanian Count von Count is just mad about counting
everything that crosses his path. Whether it‟s black cats, cobwebs, bats, or belfries, if he sees it, he‟ll count it. He also enjoys singing
about numbers while sporting his turned-up collar and monocle.” After further research, I found that: “The Count is a vampire
modelled after Béla Lugosi's interpretation of Count Dracula.” Without a doubt, he‟s Magyar! And get this: “The original „Song of
the Count‟ was written by Jeff Moss as a traditional Hungarian csárdás!”
The second notable is none other than the noble Count Chocula – “a bucktoothed vampire who talks like Béla Lugosi.”
My research revealed that Chocula was “constantly pushing his product” and spoke “with a Transylvanian accent.”
There was a third celebrity I conducted exhaustive research on as well, however, I was unable to determine his true ethnic origins.
He‟s one of my favourite old-school characters: Dracuslab, from season five, episode two of the Flintstones. His past seems to be
shrouded in mystery, so I thought, why not consider him being of both Hungarian and Romanian descent?
P.Cz.
24
...Folktale continued from page 8
He plucked one string and then another, then began to play:
Play slowly poor man,
so you don't hurt my weakened arm.
My weakened arm, fiddle-bow,
Princess Erzsi's violin.
“Ejnye, what a marvelous song!” said the King.
The two daughters were there, too, staring at the man. One
grabbed the violin and started to pull the bow over the strings –
“what might this violin sing for me?” she said quietly.
Play slowly, my executioner,
don't wound my weakened arm!
The other daughter then took the violin and played - it
played the same song for her!
Then the King took the violin and played. The violin sang
for him:
Play slowly, my dear father,
please don't hurt my weakened arm!
This is surely black magic and witchcraft!" said the Queen,
“now let me try it.” So she took the violin in her hands, and it
sang:
Play slowly, my dear mother,
please don't hurt my weakened arm!
My weakened arm, fiddle-bow,
Princess Erzsi's violin.
And in that moment the violin opened and out popped the
little princess, so lively, so beautiful, like a perfect rose.
Ajajaj! The two older daughters were so frightened that they
fainted right then and there.
The King and the Queen shed tears of joy that their daughter
-- believed to be dead -- appeared in such a miraculous way.
The older sisters' horrible act was no longer a secret, and the
King, in his rage, locked them up in a tower for the rest of their
lives.
But the youngest princess begged the King to pardon the
wicked sisters. Since then, they have all lived in peace, if they
have not yet died.
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*The red skirt likely symbolizes the king’s power.
Typically, a king would give his son, who is next in line
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tale is about a female heir, Erzsi, the youngest daughter
in this folktale, a red skirt has been substituted.
Thank you to Szamoskozi Tünde for her
knowledge about and help with this motif.
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www.captaincooktravel.com
2213 West Broadway · Vancouver, BC · Canada · V6K 2E4
Tel: 604 734-8080 Fax: 604 734-8071
[email protected]
Offering the best air fares to Hungary and Eastern Europe since 1968
April 2010
Sunday
Captain Cook Travel
agents are committed to
provide the highest
standards of service
and performance to our
customers
The best air fares to
Hungary and Eastern
Europe
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
1
Friday
2
Hugó
4
Easter Sunday
5
6
Izidor
11
12
Leó, Szaniszló
18
THANKSGIVING
DAYGyula
19
Andrea, Ilma
25
Vilmos, Bíborka
13
14
20
26
27
9
15
21
28
10
16
17
23 REVOLUTION
Csilla
29
Comprehensive travel
insurance and visitor's
medical insurance
30
Valéria
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Péter
Katalin, Kitti
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Fülöp, Jakab
2
3
4
Zsigmond
9
Mother’s Day
16
10
Mónika, Flórián
11
Ármin, Pálma
17
Mózes, Botond
23
5
Tímea, Irma
18
Paszkál
Victoria Day
Dezső
24 Eliza Angéla
Janka Eszter
Zsanett 30 *
Petronella31
REMEMBRANCE
Györgyi
DAY
12
Ferenc
Erik,
Alexandra
25
6
7
Ivett, Frida
13
Pongrác
19
14
20
26
Orbán
8
Gizella
Szervác, Imola
Bernát
27
15
Zsófia, Szonja
22
Konstantin
28
Fülöp, Evelin
Mihály
Bonifác
21
Ivó, Milán
Hella
Júlia, Rita
29
Emil, Csanád
Magdolna
*Heroes’ Day
June 2010
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
1
Wednesday
2
Tünde
6
7
Norbert, Cintia
Captain Cook Travel
György
1
Contact us in English, Hungarian, French,
German, Polish,
Romanian or Russian
This calendar, complete with the
unique Hungarian name-days,
is provided courtesy of
24
May 2010
Sunday
Gergely
Visas and invitation letters
Rudolf
Béla
Hotel and private
accommodations
Car rentals and
rail passes
Zsolt
Csongor
1956
22
Buda, Richárd
Erhard
Anasztázia, Tas
Konrád
Zita, Mariann
3
Áron
Dénes
Tibor
Tivadar
Ervin
8
Herman
Ida
Emma
Márk
Spa and health
resort packages all
over the world
7
Vince
Saturday
Good Friday
13
14
Antal
20
8
Róbert
Father’s Day
27
22
23
29
Levente, Irén
30
Péter, Pál
Pál
12
18
NEW YEAR’S
EVE
Villő
19
Arnold, Levente
25
Iván
Fatime
Barnabás
Laura, Alida
24
Zoltán
5
11
17
Saturday
Bulcsú
Margit, Gréta
Jusztin
Paulina
4
10
16
Friday
Klotild
Félix
Jolán, Vid
Alajos
28
László
9
15
21
Rafael
3
Kármen, Anita
Medárd
Vazul
Thursday
CHRISTMAS
DAY
Vilmos
Gyárfás
26
János, Pál