Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
THE SCHOOL IN ITS “OLD NEST” AGAIN HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE BETWEEN1703 AND 1777 - Laying the foundations for growth
HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE BETWEEN 1703 AND 1777 70 Topography of the College circa 1765 Organized singing was an activity which the original regulations had already prescribed. Selected groups of students regularly went to sing at funerals and for this they received some specific remuneration. Between 1728 and 1770, these occasions were annually recorded in the common accounts, this being where a portion of the money for the services rendered was deposited. The expenditures for medicine provided for the needy students who were ill were covered from this source and, in case of their death, the costs of the funeral, also. By 1752, the choir had a prefect (cantus praeses) who received a regular salary of thirty forints annually from the school, this detail being indicative of the progress having been made in the organizational framework as compared to the situation preceding this period. Sámuel Miklós was cantus praeses in 1753 and later became the senior. When graduating, his farewell address to the school was reciprocated by a ceremonious farewell song, in all liklihood sung by the choir. It was a witty piece of verse composed by the university student Sámuel Varannay: Do not leave, my Miklós Sámuel, my child! Spare me of this, for you have been such a good son! I thought ‘twould be but death to separate us, but you deceived me! Leave you your devoted mother and faithful nurse who raised you?! Do not go, I shall hold you back, I’d rather give you in marriage, Because I live only if I can see you. Naturally, the mother mourning her departing student is the school itself, the Alma Mater. The song bearing the earliest date in the Sárospatak song collection (melodiarium) compiled by Kulcsár is from 1762. This compilation is indisputable proof that, in Patak in the middle of the 18th century, the student choir already included polyphonic (harmonic) singing in its repertoire. The collection has a great number of funereal songs, a reflection of the students regularly singing at funerals. Equally present in the collection are the folk songs brought by the students from their home area, these songs being subjected to adjustments in their harmony as inspired by the harmonic model of the Psalms arranged by Goudimel. Professors selected class teachers to teach and be responsible for the secondary school students and they also selected assistant teachers from within the ranks of the academy students. The professor would provide the introductory and initial lectures but delivering the core of the curriculum was left to the assistant teachers. It would have been otherwise impossible to successfully manage such a large number of students. In 1765, there were eight hundred seventy students at the secondary school and four hunderd at the academy level, and surely there were plenty other younger students enrolled in introductory classes studying the basics and intricacies of their mother tongue. Similar data from the end of the 18th century show that approximately one hundred students were enrolled in elementary classes, eight hundred in the secondary school and three hundred at the academy level. The number of students graduating from the academic program - who became teachers - was significant: between 1783 and 1792, two hundred forty-three of them became rectors in schools somewhere in Hungary, one hundred twenty-nine became preceptors and thirty-four of them became private tutors.
