Franz Liszt, the other child of the century (1811-1886)
This citizen of the world left his mark on Europe from 1830 to 1840 with his exceptional qualities as a composer and pianist. Proud of his origins, he worked throughout his life for the development of Hungarian musical life. Born in Doborján in 1811, he embodies the very essence of musical Romanticism. An intelligent and influential virtuoso, Liszt's curiosity led him to take an interest in all forms of music in particular, and in art in general. In 1842, he was appointed conductor of the Weimar court orchestra, marking the start of a fifteen-year period during which the composer toured Europe on several occasions. It was in Weimar that Liszt composed many of his major works, such as the Gran Mass and the Faust-Symphony. He became close to Richard Wagner, whose work he admired, and then staged Tannhäuser and Lohengrin at the Weimar theater. In 1864, Franz Liszt made an unexpected decision and joined the Franciscan order, becoming Abbé Liszt. The Franciscan church on the banks of the Danube, near the Liberty Bridge, became his refuge for prayer and organ playing. In 1886, feeling that death was approaching, he set off one last time, crossing Italy, Belgium and France before ending his journey in Bayreuth, where he is buried. Liszt's conception of harmony opened up a new path. The piano pages composed for the nineteen Hungarian Rhapsodies are inspired works, in which the composer perfectly transcribed his feelings and emotions. To recapture some of the musician's spirit, visit the Franz Liszt Museum, housed in the apartment Liszt lived in at the end of his life, on the second floor of the former Academy of Music. The museum's collection includes not only original musical instruments, but also Liszt's period furniture and paintings, books and scores. The Bösendorfer piano, the composer's favorite instrument, is bound to stir your emotions.
Founded by Franz Liszt in 1875, theAcademy of Music is a showcase for Hungary's musical heritage. It is a place of musical learning, with an international university and performance facilities. While remaining true to its original credo - the defense of national music and the performance of the great works of Hungarian composers - the academy is focusing its development on creativity and innovation. Some also claim that the Grande Galerie has the best acoustics in the world. If you pick up your ticket early enough in the day, take advantage of the opportunity to see if a rehearsal is underway in the Great Hall, and discover how important the conductor's work is to the success of a performance. The Academy also houses the Kodály Museum and Institute, as well as the Franz Liszt Research Center.
Béla Bartók, the modern folklorist (1881-1945)
With his synthesis of modern music and Hungarian musical traditions, Béla Bartók is considered one of the greatest figures in the history of music. As a young man, he began his career as a precociously talented virtuoso pianist. Two influences clearly marked his first creative period: the Verbunkos and Richard Strauss. His interest soon turned to folk music, prompting him to embark on voyages of exploration. The challenge of this period was to integrate these contributions into his movement towards the avant-garde. He thus created a unique style, drawing on the themes and rhythms of popular traditions. As such, he is now considered one of the founding fathers of ethnomusicology. Each period enriched Bartók's musical thinking with complementary elements. The third period brought him to dodecaphonism, before he tried his hand at contrapuntal writing. In reality, Bartók respects and follows the traditional forms of art music in each of his works (sonata, rondo, rhapsody, lied...), but each time he brings a different nuance to them.
As a world-renowned pianist, he toured not only Hungary, but the whole of Europe and even the United States. This genius, with an incredible capacity for hard work, found the time to compile folk melodies from the Hungarian countryside for eight to ten hours a week, to perform regularly in concert, and to compose major works. Thanks to the rhythmic patterns of folk songs, he found new principles of musical arrangement. His most famous compositions include three works for the stage (an opera entitled Bluebeard's Castle, which is said to have inspired John Williams when he composed the music for the film Star Wars, the ballet The Wooden Prince and a pantomime, The Wonderful Mandarin), symphonic cycles, six string quartets, the Cantata profana, three piano concertos, a violin concerto, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, the Microcosm series of piano exercises and the Divertimento for string orchestra. The house occupied by the musician from 1932 to 1940, before his exile to the United States, has been transformed into the Béla Bartók Museum, with two floors of photographs, furniture and objects belonging to the composer. It also traces the musician's life and work.
Zoltán Kodály, an original musical thought (1882-1967)
"To form a nation, you must first become a people again", Kodály asserts in one of his works. He turned his attention to Hungary's past, bringing it to life in his music. In contrast to Bartók, who turned to the avant-garde, Kodály placed great emphasis on the importance of music in education, and is renowned for his teaching methods. He had noticed that, despite the existence of an opera and musicians of international stature in his country, this was not accompanied by an adequate number of qualified music teachers in schools, especially in the provinces. He set out to remedy this by proselytizing music throughout the country, while working to collect and study Hungarian folk heritage. As a composer, Kodály combined the post-Romantic tradition with the folk song repertoire. He composed mainly vocal works, as well as two oratorios(Psalmus Hungaricus, Te Deum de Buda), two operas(János Háry, Veillée sicule) and numerous pieces for soloists. The Zoltán Kodály Museum, located in the composer's Budapest apartment, offers an insight into his creative environment. You can also go as far as Kecskemét, his birthplace, to visit a small museum dedicated to him.
Opened in 1894, Budapest's Farkasrét cemetery contains numerous graves of Hungarian personalities. This is where Zoltán Kodály is buried, and where the remains of Béla Bartók were transferred in 1988. Bartók was originally buried at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, near New York. A stroll through the Farkasrét cemetery also affords a magnificent view of the city.
György Ligeti, the seeker of the absolute (1923-2006)
György Ligeti's works are a synthesis of the most elaborate acoustic research and a perfectly traditional musical universe. Starting with the influence of Bartók, from whom he inherited "chromatic tonality", and the language of the most diverse folklore, he sought his own path. He explained his vision of music perfectly: "I imagine music as something very far away in space, which has always existed, and will always exist, and of which we hear only a small fragment." Considered one of the pioneers of twentieth-century music, Ligeti was born in 1923 into a Hungarian-Jewish family from Transylvania. His father and brother were murdered by the Nazis, and from 1943 to 1945, he himself was forced to perform forced labor. While his early works were largely censored by the Hungarian Stalinist regime, his move to Vienna in 1956, where he met representatives of the Western musical avant-garde, opened up new horizons for him. In the process, he developed a technique that was uniquely his own - "micropolyphony", as he called it - which interweaves colors and musical textures in compositions that transcend the traditional boundaries of melody, harmony and rhythm. Ligeti gained worldwide renown for his 1978 opera Le Grand Macabre, as well as for his contribution to the soundtracks of Stanley Kubrick's films, including 2001: A Space Odyssey.
