Magyar Hírek, 1987 (40. évfolyam, 1-23. szám)
1987-11-03 / 21. szám
ABOUT THIS ISSUE AND THE PREVIOUS ONE A programme for the further progress of Hungarian agriculture, which is an integral part of the general economic and social stabilization programme of the Government was discussed by the agricultural committee of the parliament in a great deal of detail. As the article published in the Hungarian section of our previous issue showed, expectations regarding the future performance of agriculture have grown in the present, difficult economic situation of the country7. A further improvement of the range and quality of food is necessary7 in order to maintain the already achieved high consumer level. The quantity of agricultural exports to capitalist markets cannot be increased any further, products of middling quality and middling processing are not competitive under present conditions. Depending on the state of the market, exports will have to be either as raw materials or in the form of highly processed goods. A consensus was achieved in committee concerning details e. g., that the share of fodder will be increased, that vegetable production will be increased as well, that the economy of cattle raising will have to be improved, that the production of the range of special meat products will be increased. A meeting of musicians The first meeting of Hungarian musicians living abroad took place in Budapest and Kecskemét under the heading: “Hungarians in the Musical Life of the World”. Klára Zika’s article in the last issue deals with the subject . Gábor Carelli, formerly of the New York Metropolitan Opera House, was the only singer present. He told Klára Zika that although he left Hungary fifty years ago he still maintains strong ties with his native land. He is doing his best in New York to hold together the local Hungarians as chief executive of Fészek Club. Since giving up active singing he has held master courses in Budapest on a number of occasions. Klára Zika also interviewed István Járay, the conductor of the Symphonic Orchestras of Johnstown and Livingstone in the USA, and Robert Gerle, the noted violinist, who also lives in the United States. Gerle is also a conductor and has made numerous recordings of works by Bartók, Kodály, Dohnányi, and Weiner. Ferenc Albert, the violinist, formerly President of the Chicago Conservatory regarded the musicians’ meeting in Hungary as the overture of establishing contacts with the old country. “I have always cherished a wish to take part in violin teaching here”, he said. György Arányi-Aschner, a composer, and teacher at the Graz Academy of Music in Austria, declared: “I should like to emphasise two aspects. One is that personal contacts could be established here amongst Hungarian musicians living in various parts of the world, and the other is even more important than this: the meeting gave an opportunity to Hungarians to discover whether we are still Hungarians. Well, we did remain Hungarians. We popularise Hungarian music. I learnt from Ferenc Liszt that once a man achieves something he can use it for the benefit of others. This offers me my artistic credo.” The visit of István Hajdú and his wife, Erzsi Horvay made me particularly happy. Both are old friends from the days when they were noted and popular participants in Hungarian musical life, “Pista” Hajdú as permanent accompanying pianist on Hungarian Radio, and “Erzsi” Horvay as a violinist of the Budapest Symphony Orchestra. Until his retirement Hajdú taught at the Rotterdam conservatorium and they came home annually — also to give concerts. “The only think l missed, besides all the good and beautiful we experienced, was that while we, musicians were invited here from the whole world we found none who live here — perhaps because it is summer.” István Hajdú told Klára Zika. Three young Hungarian musicians came to the meeting from neighbouring Czechoslovakia: Imre Németh, Péter Csiba and Júlia Kaszás. They hold fulltime jobs but Németh and his two companions also play in a chamber orchestra with the explicit objective of helping musical education in the Hungarian schools of Slovakia. 1 ‘At least 40 — 50 concerts would be necessary each year to visit all of the Hungarian schools every two or three years” Imre Nemeth said “we could do that only if these concerts would be our full-time work. As things are we can give only 20 — 25 concerts a year.” A recording of medieval melodies and folksongs of the Zoboralja district will soon be issued in the interpretation of their ten-member Hungarian music group in Pozsony. An Anthology of Hungarian prose Két dióhéj (Two nutshells) is the title of a recently published important anthology of works by Hungarian writers in Western countries. The Hungarian section of this issue con-The late National Theatre tains an article by Béla Pomogáts about this selection. The anthology is edited by László Rónay and Erzsébet Berkes. Pomogáts, calls this publication an important Hungarian literary event because - as he points out — it rounds of the image of Hungarian novelists writing in the Western world, and focuses attention on some, who until recently, were practically unknown in Hungary. The literary panorama conjured up by the new anthology to Hungarian readers is colourful and diverse. These Hungarians write not only about the remembered experience they took with them, but also draw on the society as members of which they have lived for many years. Thus the reader finds characteristic and marked differences in content as well as in the mode of writing between — for example — the works of Győző Határ, Mátyás Sárközi and Loránd Czigány, in Britain, Endre Karát son, Gergely Lehoczky and Pál Nagy, who live amongst Francophones, Sándor András in America and András Domahidy in Australia. Pomogáts emphasises that in spite of the diversity present in these works they also have a common feature: that they all write as Hungarian writers. As the late László Cs. Szabó put it: “In the Western reality the Hungarian writer creates his own world while critically weighing that environment, without dreams and distortions, looking towards the old country.” The writings in the anthology describe some societies and forms of life new in Hungarian literature. Older authors — Gyula Illyés, Sándor Márai, András Hevesi, Antal Szerb — wrote about Paris, or Italy, and the South American novels of Zsigmond Remenyik displayed more exotic colours. Now György Ferdinándy writes about Puerto Rico, Sándor András about California, György Halász about Göteborg, Tamás Kabdebo about Guayana — to mention just a few of many. There are some outstanding works in the anthology, which claim a place also in the universal Hungarian literature. Pomogáts underlines László Cs. Szabó’s short story, A görög hajó (The Greek Ship), Győző Határ’s Angelika kertje (Angelika’s Garden), and András Domahidy’s Két dióhéj eponymous for the whole volume. He also stresses the value of the works of Sándor András, Mátyás Sárközy, Endre Karátson, Pál Nagy, György Ferdinándy, Antal Lökös and György Gömöri, representatives of what is now the middle-generation, young men who left Hungary in 1956, and a short story of Loránd Czigány, which may be a surprise to many people since he is better known as a literary historian and critic. The publication of the anthology itself, on the other hand, is no surprise but a long overdue event, which enriched the whole literary life of Hungary. The 150th anniversary of the National Theatre It is an important theme of the current number. Rightly so since the theatre, the first site of which was on the frings of the city of Pest at the time, at the Hatvan Gate - now the corner of Rákóczi út and Múzeum körút — in a classicist building designed by György Telepy and Mátyás Zitterbarth — is an important institution of Hungarian national culture. Mihály Vörösmarty wrote the opening piece: The Awakening of Árpád. The enthusiastic audience crowded the theatre a new centre of the opposition to oppressive Gennanisation was created, a centre where the Hungarian idiom was nursed. The whole country was aware of this. The first manager was József Bajza, a noted poet. His successors included such gifted directors as Ede Szigligeti (1873-1878), Ede Paulay (1878-1894), Sándor Hevesi (1922 — 1932) and Antal Németh (1935- 1944). The building was given a new facade in 1875, in 1913 it was declared a firerisk, and demolished. The National Theatre moved to Blaha Lujza tér, into the building of the Folk Theatre. Unfortunately this beautiful eclectic structure was demolished in 1964, following a hasty decision. Since then it has been temporarily housed in what used to be the Hungarian Theatre, “temporarily” for what is already almost a quarter of a century. The theatre will only get a final and worthy home when, and if, the new National Theatre is built. A full programme has been devised to celebrate the sesquicentenary. The Castle Theatre, the chamber theatre of the National Theatre, houses a memorial exhibition and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences has arranged an international theatrical conference. The National Theatre has devised a jubilee repertory which features outstanding Hungarian classical and modern works. A special celebration was arranged for those actors, Margit Makay, Hilda Gobbi, Margit Lukács, Ági Mészáros and Jenő Pataky, as well as Mátyás Varga, a a set designer, who had already been present at the centenary celebration fifty years ago. Hopefully the next celebration will already take place in the future building of the National Theatre. Zoltán Halász 29
