Magyar News, 1995. szeptember-1996. augusztus (6. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1995-09-01 / 1. szám
FIFTY YEARS AFTER BELA BARTÓK At the Bard Collage. Concert in the F. W. Olin Auditorium and in the 900 seat acoustical tent. Bartok's portrait on the cover of the Bluebeard's Castle Album. Back in Hungary during my senior year in high school, with many of my friends. I took part in researching folk traditions, craft and music. We even had a small choir to perform folk songs. Naturally we learned from some of the collections gathered bv leading researchers as Jeno Adam. Bela Vikar, Zoltán Kodály and Bela Bartók, just to mention a few. One of my favorite song was Evening at the Seklers from Bela Bartók. I still love it and hum it from time-to-time. Somehow I couldn't connect with his bigger compositions. That took time, study and more maturity In between, though, I came across Bartok's name in an unusual place. It was at a Russian prisoner-of-war camp in Cegled. People would talk about anything there just to kill time. I still don't know how rumors from the outside got across the barbwire fence. One day the topic was about a new government. Some prisoners knew that the new president will be Bela Bartók who was in exile in New York. We never found out if that could really happen because Bartók died in 1945 and was buried at the Femcliff Cemetery in Hartsdale. Bela Bartók was bom on March 25, 1881 in Nagyszentmiklos. Bartók and his friend, Zoltán Kodály, had an early start in music. They were fortunate enough to set their professional goals at the beginning of their career. The goal was to achieve a synthesis of Hungarian music emphasizing the national character. They created compositions that are universally contemporary and are among the best of the world. Both musicians were extremely successful. They started out their work among the Hungarian people They reached out to the oldest roots. They researched and collected folk song among the peasants, recorded them on wax cylinders and learned the ancient melodies. The Hungarian Academy of Science has over 6.000 melodies collected by the two musical geniuses. Bartók composed around 100 works. The first major one was the Kossuth Symphony in 1904. For the stage he wrote Bluebeard's Castle, The Wooden Prince, and The Miraculous Mandarin. His string quartets are compared to Beethoven's. Bartók had a great impact in the 1950-s on composers throughout the world. On the fiftieth anniversary of his passing away, the Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson organized a six full day tribute with twelve programs This is the college's sixth annual Bard Music Festival. The concerts were performed by the American Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leon Botstein. Among the many musicians and singers we came across some Hungarian names. They are Lorand Fenyves, Veronika Kineses, Tamas Szüle, Janos Kárpáti, and Peter Laki. Also participating was the Muzsikalis Folk Ensemble. The lectures and concert took place in the summer acoustical hall and in the F W Olin Auditorium. The Hungarian program directed by László Pal, at the Fairfield University Radio Station aired a nice talk in English and gave an extensive sampling of Bartok's work. A few years ago the earthly remains of Bela Bartók were taken to Budapest to its final resting place by Bartok's two sons, Peter and Bela. Today a monument marks the place of Bela Bartók in the Farkasréti Cemetery. In the Femcliff Cemetery the previous resting place remains marked and also gives information on where the remains were taken. Joseph F. Balogh 4
