Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1978. január-június (32. évfolyam, 1-26. szám)
1978-05-04 / 18. szám
Thursday, May 4. 1978. POEMS FROM THE GRAUE MIKLÓS RADNÓTI, POET, PATRIOT, MARTYR OF NAZI BARBARISM Thirtyfour years ago outside of Abda, a small village in western Hungary, a mass grave was opened. The bodies of Jews, members of a forced-labour battalion, were exhumed here. It was learned that they were executed early in November 1944, toward the end of the war. In a pocket of the jacket still on one of the bodies, a notebook was found bearing the owner’s moving last request in five languages: “This scrapbook contains the poems of Hungarian poet Miklós Radnóti. The finder is requested to send it to Hungary, to the address of Assistant Professor Gyula Ortutay.” The notebook was blood spattered and showed the trace of the bullet which penetrated it and then killed the poet The poet who yearned for a rational life of light and liberty, was called up in September 1940, and from then on until his death, with a few short interruptions, he dragged out an existence as halfsoldier, half-prisoner. He was taken to Bor, Yugoslavia to work in the copper mines. When, toward the end of 1944, the fleeing Hungarian fascists dragged the remnants of his company along as prisoners, even then under the humiliation and unbearable physical pain and exhaustion, he continued to write poetry: his last will and testament. These were the poems found in the mass grave at Abda, including his little “Picture Postcards.” In the last one of these, written just a few days before his death, he predicted with profound lucidity the final moment: I fell beside him, his body rolled over, Its stiffness like a string tautened. A bullet gone through his neck. “Lie still too I murmured to myself. “The same’ll be your end. Death ’s now the flower patience bears for bud. ” “Der springt noch auf”, I heard above me. The blood on my ear was caked with mud. “... a truly great poet; one in whom the lyrical image-maker and the critical human intelligence dealing with the tragic twentieth century are utterly fused. I feel he is speaking directly to me, the reader, in my time and place, as if from Vietnam or out of my pillow into my ear...” Denise Levertov, New York literary critic. György Buday: RADNÓTI .AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZÓ. After long years of struggle and deprivation, Munkácsy literally became famous at the age of 26 when his painting, “Condemned Cell” was awarded the gold medal of the Paris Salon. After that brilliant, often majestic composition flowed from under his brush “Christ before Pilate”, “Ecce Homo”, “Milton dictating Paradise Lost” /this one is in the New York Public Library/. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest painters of the 19th century, if not of all times. Many of his magnificent masterpieces are on exhibition in the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts and in the National Gallery. When you visit Budapest, do not fail to go to see them. The Churning Woman, by Mihály Munkácsy OPERA IN BUDAPEST By: Evelyn Lustig A few days before our return home from Hungary, we had the privilege of A Night at the Opera. We heard “La Forza Del Destino” by the great Giuseppe Verdi, and a great and moving opera it is. As we entered the Erkel Szinház, I said to Jim: “just look at this audience — mostly teen-ages and young coilege students”. We inquired and found out that this was Subscription Night for Students and that their tickets were half-price. Our tickets were about $ 1.15 in terms of American money, so you can figure it out for yourself how much the students paid at half price. We were sitting in about the 10th row of the orchestra and needless to say, my thoughts immediately turned to the Metropolitan, where such a ticket would be $ 30.00 a piece. It was a delight to hear this opera and without fear of being contradicted, I can say that the Orchestra and Chorus certainly meets the highest standards of performance. The leading singers were good and the entire evening was a real joy. It is so nice to visit Budapest, because there we can at least get some culture at a price we can afford. ■ -------Man is a sun and a moon, and a heaven filled with stars- Paracelsus Bartók Quartets “masterpieces” The six string quartets of Bela Bartók are undisputed masterpieces and central statements of the quartet literature. Of course, they can still sound advanced, particularly the middle quartets. But that’s a tribute to Bartók’s originality, not a condemnation, and in any event this is music that in a good performance sounds—or should sound—fully accessible to even the most conservative of listeners. The New Hungarian Quartet gave two concerts in the New York YMHA devoted to the complete Bartók quartets. The performances were superb. This may not be quartet playing of the ultimate refinement of tone and detail. But technically the New Hungarian Quartet is perfectly fine, with excellent balance and no overt weaknesses at any one position. More to the point, excessive refinement would be downright detrimental to this music, which, even at its most complex, derives audibly from the sturdy roots of Hungarian folk music. John Rockwell (N.Y. Times) M Örkény play staged in New York After a highly succesful run in Minneapolis and Washington, D.C., Cat’s Play, the brilliant social satire of the well-known Hungarian playwright, István Örkény was performed in New York at the Manhattan Theatre Club. “American theatrical life has finally been enriched by a comedy which does not hurt our senses, which takes its cheerfulness and sorrow from credible and universal characteristics. This work as far as its aims are concerned is closer to the comedies of Moliére than to any plays of the recent past.” So wrote the N.Y. Times critic about the Minneapolis premiere of István Örkény’s play. An earlier production in Washington, D.C. met with similar success. The play has also been performed in England, France, the Soviet Union, the FRG, the GDR. Italy, Yugoslavia, Poland, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Finland. The Times reviewer had an enthusiastic comment on the play’s New York production too, particularly on the scintillating performance of Helen Burns, the play’s heroine. ADY POEMS ON CASETTE The Musical Heritage Society recently released a record and a casette featuring music composed to Ady poems by Nicolae Bretan, noted Rumanian- Hungarian composer. They can be ordered by writing to the Society, 14 Park Road, Tinton Falls N.J. 07724. _ 9
