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History of the Liszt Society (1)
The history of the Hungarian Ferenc Liszt Society up to 1948 is the history of six different associations. Between 1870 and 1902 there were
continuous efforts to express esteem for the maestro, both in his lifetime and after his death in 1886, by preserving his memory and spirit.
After 1902 came a 30-year break until the foundation of the National Ferenc Liszt Society in 1932. Of the six associations just mentioned,
two were not set up with the express aim of fostering the spirit of the composer, but that is what they accomplished in the end. With the
exception of the last, they were all established in Hungary during the period after the 1867 Ausgleich, the political compromise with the
Habsburgs, when there was a period of rapid capitalist development, and they bear the marks of that period and its conflicts and
inconsistencies.
In 1870, barely three years after the Ausgleich, a group of women with musical training and inclinations initiated the idea of founding a
music society named after the great Hungarian musician. The initiator was the wife of Matyas Engeszer, who paid a visit to Liszt on
December 13 1870, taking along the other 11 members of the new society and asking his permission to use his name. Their aim, she
explained, was to take up music and singing on a serious basis and only admit lady members with a musical training. Liszt approved of the
plan and gave permission for the use of his name. The society spent a year preparing for their debut, and Liszt himself attended the full
rehearsals.3 The first concert took place on January 28 1872 and received a glowing review from the Zeneszeti Lapok (Musical Papers):
"The programme consisted of four extremely interesting women's choruses of select artistic merit. The first was the children's chorus from
Liszt's Elizabeth oratorio [Die Legende von der heiligen Elisabeth], after which came a chorus by Volkmann which he had composed for the
occasion, followed by Liszt's chorus O salutaris hostia, and finally by the Spinning Chorus from Wagner's opera, The Flying Dutchman." At
the very end, Liszt played as well. "The performance of the choruses was always precise, rich in nuances and artistic [...] Only those
familiar with the difficulties involved in organizing and training such a society, and raising it to an artistic level, can truly appreciate the
eagerness, self-sacrificing effort and competence that the Engeszer couple have displayed to so great an extent with this society. [...] The
forces behind its organization and the hands guiding it predestine the society to play a leading role in this field here in the capital.
Another matinee performance by the Liszt Society was reported in the Leneszeti Lapok on March 10 1872 (p. 383), and reviewed in the
same paper on March 17 (pp. 394-95). The account suggests it was an even greater success: "This time the programme was interesting
and varied to an extent rarely encountered. It consisted of works by Palestrina, Liszt, Schubert, Schumann and Volkmann […] Liszt himself
played a piece, besides accompanying all the works on the piano […] We cannot reiterate often enough the worthy recognition that is due
to the Engeszer couple, who have managed to produce such a splendid success in only a year." The other music paper, Apollo, also had
warm comments to make on the concert 6 and in its March 1 issue it carried the news that "the Liszt Society (a women's choral society)
has donated 100 Forints from the takings from its latest matinée to the Benefit Society for Hungarian writers." Three years later, in 1873,
the women's choir became a mixed choir, and the men's Liszt Society held its first rehearsal on March 4 1863.
The liszt Society gave many successful concerts as a mixed choir, but it was unfortunately affected by the general mood of antagonism
towards Liszt at the time. The last public appearance by the society took place on April 27 1879, at the consecration of the new church in
Bakács tér, Budapest. No evidence has survived of any subsequent activity.
There followed a twelve-year break in the cult of Liszt. Only in 1893 was the idea raised at the annual general meeting of the National
Society of Music Teachers, which had formed a decade earlier, of adopting the Liszt Society as its name. This in fact marked the birth of the
present Ferenc Liszt Society, which celebrates its centenary in 1993.
József Ságh (1852-1922), a teacher and writer on music, called on the Hungarian music teachers to join forces in the February 1882 issue
of Zenészeti Közlöny (Music Review), and the National Society of Music Teachers was formed in the same month.
The new society invited Cardinal Lajos Haynald to be its patron, and he complied. József Ságh became the chairman; the society already
had about 100 members when it was founded.
The new society was welcomed by the Zenészeti Közlöny, which considered "the moral elevation and strengthening of the whole class of
Hungarian music teachers" as the most important of its stated objectives.
No information about what prompted the society to turn itself into the Ferenc Liszt Society has been found apart from the fact that all the
surviving reports on the society pay tribute to Liszt as "one of the greatest sons of our country". The Zenelap carried a straightforward
report: "The National Society of Music Teachers held its annual general meeting on January 6. The agenda was as follows: 1. Chairman's
opening speech. 2. Report on the operation of the society in the year 1892. 3. Reorganization of the society. 4. Amendment of the statutes.
5. Discussion of motions.
"Following a resolution passed by the general assembly, the society abandons its present title and takes the name Liszt Society. After the
discussion of the programme of the general assembly, elections were held." The daily papers commented on the formation of the Ferenc
Liszt Society as an event giving a welcome boost to musical life in the capital, and reported on the very next day that "with the participation
of many notabilities of the musical and social scene, the Ferenc Liszt Society was founded [...] on the premises of the National Society of
Music Teachers." On March 22 a concert was held "in the small auditorium of the Vigadó [...] Most of the performers paid tribute to the spirit
of FERENC LISZT." Kálmán Chován played Schumann's fantasia An Franz Liszt, and Árpád Szendy performed Liszt's Hungarian
Rhapsody No. 12. The programme ended with Liszt's Concerto pathétique, rendered by István Thomán and Árpád Szendy on two pianos.
"Those familiar with this extremely difficult and complex work will know what a difficult task they accomplished in their eminent performance
of the work." The Zenelap wrote: "The Ferenc Liszt Society celebrated the anniversary of Ferenc Liszt's birth on October 22 in a worthy
manner, as behoves the great name it bears L..) They marched out together to the statue of Ferenc Liszt that adorns the entrance of the
Opera House, and there laid a wreath with a ribbon in the national colours at the plinth of the statue, accompanied by an elevated speech,
paying their tribute of respect." The same paper caried an article on the society's annual general meeting on the afternoon of March 4
1894, chaired by Elemér Szentirmay. After the chairman's opening speech, the annual report was read, in which special emphasis was
given to the fine moral successes the society had achieved by its public appearances, and it was stated that there had been a welcome
growth in the society's membership."
This Ferenc Liszt Society, however, remained in existence for two years (1893-1895), and then gave way to yet another formation: the
Budapest Musicians' Circle, established in 1892. According to its Statutes dated July 21 1892, the circle's aim was "the cultivation of music
in general, but in particular Hungarian music, along with the preservation and furthering of the intellectual and financial interests of
musicians in Hungary". The circle's activities in 1892-1894 were confined, apart from holding a few minor concerts, to a humorous benefit
concert for the Budapest Voluntary First-Aid Society. This took place on March 9 1894 at the Pest vigadó, and on the same day the Pesti
Hírlap (Pest News) carried a report saying that the concert "has aroused the attention of the Viennese.
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