Solymosi Tari Emõke

»The Island of Love and Beauty«
Some evidence suggesting 17th and 18th century inspiration in László Lajtha’s music
Emõke Tari Solymosi

László Lajtha (1892-1963), one of the most outstanding Hungarian composers of the first half of the 20th century and a member of the French Academy, is too often categorized as a musician whose primary influences were Hungarian folk music and French music of the turn of the century. In this essay the author seeks to prove that German, Austrian, and Italian arts of the 17^th and 18^th centuries also provided decisive inspiration for Lajtha. He was above all a humanist who strove to recall the European golden age through the preservation of classical ideals of beauty and the creation of a synthesis in his art. In the composer’s own words: “According to my concept I would actually like to write European music. Europe has many faces, and I would like my music to be one of them.” Quotations from unpublished letters by Lajtha are featured, which offer very important insight into the composer’s sense of aesthetics.

“Historical Concerts” and “Highly Successful Self-Education”
Music history teaching, early music concerts and self-education groups over the last three decades at the National Music Conservatory (Budapest)
Emõke Tari Solymosi

Based on recent research into the 1919-1949 period of the Budapest National Music Conservatory, this study aims to answer the following questions: 1. How can the teaching of music history at the institute in this period be characterized? 2. What kind of early music concerts were organized by the Conservatory? How did the F. Liszt Youth Circle contribute to the students’ knowledge of music history?
In The academic year 1919-20, when the Conservatory was nationalized, the new directors (Béla Diósy, Emil Haraszti and Aurél Kern) formulated a new policy on music history teaching. A recently found document provides information about the high quality of music history teaching then: one of professor János Hammerschlag’s students made shorthand notes of his lectures of 1936-37.
In the early music concerts organized by the National Conservatory in the 1920s a number of Renaissance and Baroque compositions were performed for the first time in Hungary. The pieces, the scores and even the instruments were chosen with care and expertise. These concerts preceded the spread of the authentic performing practice of early music decades. Several premieres of pieces demanding a huge performing apparatus were linked to the National Conservatory and these events had music historical significance. A selection of quotations proves that the concerts of the Conservatory were greeted with enthusiasm by the public and experts, and were well received by the press.
The Ferenc Liszt Youth Circle promoted students’ knowledge of music history by unifying theory and practice. The circle held 42 sessions between 1921 and 1924. At the meetings teachers and students gave presentations on different topics (from the musical connections in Greek mythology to contemporary Hungarian composers) and the pieces analyzed were also performed.

Commedia dell’arte and Puppet Theatre
The „Experience of Irreality” in the Ballet Capriccio by Lajtha
Emõke Tari Solymosi

The ballet Capriccio (Farce dansée - Puppet theatre, op. 39, 1944) by the Hungarian composer László Lajtha (1892-1963) has not yet been the subject of research. The ballet was written with the purpose of providing an inner escape in an almost unbearable historical period. Its plot is a typical commedia dell’arte, placed in the 18th century and presented by puppets, and it is one of the most mysterious pieces of his oeuvre. There are only a few data about its formation, it has never been choreographed, nor premiered on stage, and its score has not been published. There are several versions of the libretto but it is not perfectly clear who wrote them. This is one of the two pieces by Lajtha which were originally composed for piano four hands. Is it possible that Lajtha intended this composition for a puppet theatre? If so, which one? In attempting to answer these questions, the study provides several new data on the Hungarian puppet theatre in the first half of the 20th century, mainly on the National Puppet Theatre directed by István Árpád Rév, and especially on its musical connections.

Writing Music for Film – Freely: Hoellering and Lajtha
Emõke Tari Solymosi

This short presentation explores one of the most neglected fields in Lajtha research: the composer's film music. It focuses particularly on his collaboration with the Austrian director Georg Höllering (George Hoellering, 1897-1980), providing new information based on research done in London and Budapest. An examination of their three joint films (Hortobágy, 1936; Murder in the Cathedral, 1951; Shapes and Forms, 1949), as well as letters and other documents proves that Lajtha enjoyed the mutual respect of the director and the writer, and thus was ensured complete artistic freedom in his work with them. Lajtha's film music is not merely illustrative program music, but can stand on its own artistic merit, and as such represents an important part of the Lajtha-oeuvre.

Lajtha and His Minuets
Emõke Tari Solymosi

László Lajtha (1892-1963), one of the most outstanding Hungarian composers of the first half of the 20th century and a member of the French Academy, belongs to a group of masters who composed quite a number of minuets in an age when the heyday of this type of dance or movement had for one and a half century been gone. His eight minuets composed in the course of two decades (1937-1958) form an integral part of diverse genres, such as suite for chamber ensemble, string quartet, sonata for piano and flute, symphony as well as ballet and opera. The ever common existence of this elegant and aristocratic type of dance at the emergence of the communist dictatorship (1948) tends to show that his attraction to minuet was not simply a manifestation of his liking to 17th and 18th century music, but a political statement by an artist neglected and silenced by the regime. This paper analyses the minuets composed by Lajtha showing the functions of this type of dance in his compositions as well as throwing light on its changes in the course of the 20th century.

Sources: László Lajtha’s Lecture on Mozart
Introductory presentation for the concert held at the National Conservatory (Budapest, November 4, 1941) commemorating the 150th anniversary of Mozart’s death

This lecture by László Lajtha (1892-1963), one of the most outstanding Hungarian composers and music educators of the first half of the 20th century, appears here in print for the first time. The manuscript for the text is a part of the Lajtha estate found in the Hungarian Heritage House, Budapest. In this essay the author, who can be considered one of the earliest advocates for historically authentic performance practice in Hungary, tried to introduce a more realistic understanding of Mozart and his music as early as 1941. Although Lajtha was a legendary lecturer, relatively little is known about his method and style of teaching the history of music and aesthetics. This text also illuminates Lajtha’s own image of Mozart.