Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1986. július-december (40. évfolyam, 27-49. szám)
1986-08-28 / 32. szám
8. AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZÓ Thursday, Aug. 28. 1986. Great Anniversaries: Ferenc Liszt He was one of the greatest superstars of music in his times. Even in his death he was immortal... He died exactly one hundred years ago in the German town of Bayreuth, and in this coming October we will be celebrating the 175th anniversary of his birth in the Hungarian village of Doborjan. His national identity is still a matter of dispute, just as well as the question of how his first name should be spelled: Francois, Franz or Ferenc... He grew up in an area where German was spoken, he preferred to speak French in his private life and his music has a very special, particular Hungarian character. A good example of this is his Hungarian Rhapsody which clearly draws on the tunes of a Hungarian recruiting dance called "verbunkos" and the melodies of the lively Hungarian national dance, the "csárdás". One of his compositions has made the Rákóczi March, a tune based on a musical lament sung by Hungarian patriots at the turn of the 17th century, a well-known melody all over the world. The piano transcription of the Rákóczi March has virtually made it a "pop song" of classical music, a tune which is often hummed by even those who are not particularly fond of the classical masters. If we had a "top of the pops" in classical music, Liszt's music, would likely be among the leading, most successful pieces of the "classical hit parade". On the occasion of the Liszt anniversary celebrations, when music fans of the world, together with the Hungarian music world pay homage to the great 19th century musician, let us recall the important stages of Liszt's life. He was the greatest piano virtuoso of his time who started his career as a child prodigy. He was 8 years old when he gave his first concert. He studied under Czerny and Salieri, the famous music instructors of those days. His concert tours took him all around Europe, scoring success after success. Like his music, his life was also spectacular, full of turns and changes. The books written about his life and work in the century since his death would add up to a small library. He performed for the famous monarchs of his age, in the most celebrated concert-halls of Europe, but at the same time any of his recitals, held in more modest places and circumstances, served charitable purposes. Charity his homeland needed badly, for instance when the capital of Hungary was seriously damaged by an unusually severe flood, when Pest-Buda - as Budapest was called in those days - needed help to rebuild its centre with an increasingly urbanized look; Liszt was also ready to offer a helping hand when the 1848 revolution and war of independence, the "European Spring" was crushed. The great musician also contributed to the development of culture in Hungary in an age when both money and good intentions were running short. He was always ready to come to Hungary in times of need and desperation to give a concert and offer its proceeds for noble, national causes. His example is still a living heritage and tradition among famous Hungarian artists. István Kubinyi's poster on Ferenc Liszt Ferenc Liszt showed in a number of ways that he considered himself to be Hungarian. One of his major compositions connected with Hungary is his "Legend of Saint Elisabeth" which recalls the life and deeds of the daughter of one Of Hungary's first kings of the A'rpad dinasty, a royal family whose name is connected with the establishment of the Hungarian state. His musical innovations based on national characteristics and the general spirit of his music had a strong influence right up to Béla Bartók. There “are many musicologists who underline the universal character of his music: his piano transcriptions of Paganini, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Rossini and Glinka, or the variations he composed on their music seem to support this view. The songs he composed on the poems of Goethe, Heine and Schiller, the Dante Symphony inspired by his travels in Italy and the Petrarca Songs are universal rather than national in their character. All this is true, but it is equally true that every musical genius can be regarded as a source of universal human culture. This is the reason why great artists cannot be "monopolized" by any particular nation. Nevertheless, the roots and the heritage of great masters are always of defining nature, consequently their impact on both their personal features and their works of art is inevitable. In 1881 he settled in a house in Budapest where a memorial museum is to be opened for the anniversary. (Earlier he had stayed in Rome, near the fountains of Villa d'Este which he honoured with a special composition.) The new memorial museum will display in its modest setting the different personal belongings of Ferenc Liszt which have been discovered or collected in recent decades. The exhibition items will include a Bosendorfer piano which was combined with a table so that the great musician could compose his music more comfortably. A large number of books, manuscripts and scores will be on display together with two fine Dóré drawings illustrating Liszt's music. One of them was inspired by the Dante Symphony, the other one by "Saint Francis on the waves". In one of the corners of the exhibition room visitors can find the portable keyboard of a piano which Liszt always carried with him in his concert tours and journeys, a good evidence of the fact that even the most celebrated artists cannot afford to neglect regular daily practice. Once he made a famous comment on how to be ETHEL BALLA The greatness of America is based upon the unsung works of thousands of men and women who literally, with the sweat of their brow, with the expenditure of their life-forces, their energies, their honest, diligent work, built this nation, its industries, its cities, its institutions. Our readership consists in overwhelming proportion of such men and women. Artisans, skilled craftsmen, day laborers, intellectuals, small businessmen. Among them with the deepest reverence must we now mention and place in our own modest "Hall of Fame" our recently departed, beloved friend, Ethel Balia. Her life and that of her husband's is a miniature American epic. After long suffering Mrs. Balia died on August 17th. She was born May 7th, 1894, in Bodonhely, Hungary. Her husband, John arrived in the United States in 1905 when he was 18 years old. He wandered throughout the entire country, worked on the railroads, on farms in the Dakotas, was a lumberjack in the mighty forests of the Northwest. He reached finally the west coast in 1906, soon after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. In the depression years following that event he only had temporary jobs in various cities. He settled in Chicago in 1913. Previous to that he met and married Ethel with whom he lived in happiness until his death in 1962. For years he worked in the Argo Corn Products plant in Chicago. When its workers decided to form a union, he helped to organize it. It took a strike to achieve that but they won and the firm had to pay them for the time they were striking. After Argo he went to work in the Borg and Beck plant and worked there for ten years. There too the workers had to strike for recognition of their union. This time however they lost. Following that he worked at a smelting firm, then in. a soapfactory, until a heart attack rendered him permanently disabled. He retired and spent a great deal of time in his garden. But troughout these years he supported the best he could all movements in behalf of the unemployed, the movement for social security and unemployment insurance. Throughout her life Ethel Balia was a loyal partner of her husband and supporter of our press. we shall treasure the memory of Ethel and John Balia forevermore in our hearts. We are proud that they considered our newspaper their lifelong friend. Zoltán Deák for the Editorial Board, Magyar Szó. prepared for^the concerts, a one-liner many musicians and artists have quoted ever since: "If I miss a day of practice I can already feel it in my concert next day, if I miss two days the audience can also sense it..." Liszt's advice may be just as relevant for the average man in the street in his own job, as it is for great artists. And its message is certainly not restricted to the great anniversaries of the history of music...
