History of the Liszt Society (2)
After
this
successful
concert,
the
officers
and
members
of
the
two
music
societes
functioning
at
the
time
decided
to
merge
as
the
"Ferenc
Liszt
Musicians'
Circle".
Tne
Zenelap
reported
on
February
21
1895
on
the
inaugural
general
meeting.
The
aim,
according
to
the
statutes,
was:
[...]
To
cultivate
music
in
general
and
particularly
Hungarian
music,
and
to
preserve
and
further
the
intellectual
and
financial
interests
of
musicians in Hungary, and grant them occasional support [...]
The means therefore:
1. Publication of new works of music, with special attention to Hungarian products.
2. Organization of community gatherings to discuss musical matters in a professional way and to develop a community spirit [...]
3. Concerts, scholarly performances and lectures.
4. Award of prizes.
It
took
barely
three
months
for
the
Ferenc
Liszt
Musicians'
Circle
to
gain
the
distinction
of
being
described
as
"an
elegant
factor
in
our
music
life",
and
it
won
the
privilege
of
"presenting
the
musical
works
that
have
received
awards
in
the
royal
prize
competition,
at
its
gala
concert",
since
"the
Minister
of
Culture
has
charged
the
music
circle
in
question
with
offering
eight
prizes,
and
a
five-member
jury
with
adjudication
of
them".
Yet
after
this
fine
beginning,
the
circle's
activity
soon
began
to
wane,
as
the
musical
periodicals
pointed
out.
In
June
1902
it
announced its dissolution.
The
resurrection
had
to
wait
for
thirty
years,
when
a
National
Ferenc
Liszt
Society
was
formed
in
1932
on
the
initiative
of
the
wife
to
Count
János
Zichy.
A
few
letters
on
the
subject
have
been
preserved
in
the
archives
of
the
National
Széchényi
Library
in
Budapest.
On
July
28
1932,
the
society
wrote
to
Jenő
Hubay,
informing
him
of
its
plans
for
a
forthcoming
Liszt
festival.
On
September
4,
they
invited
the
composer
to
a
committee
meeting,
and
later
they
thanked
him
for
taking
part
in
two
concerts
(one
on
the
radio
on
October
5,
and
a
gala
concert
on
October
22).
Finally,
it
welcomed
him
as
a
founder
member
of
the
National
Ferenc
Liszt
Society.
Árpád
Szendy
also
wrote
to
Hubay
about
Liszt: "You bear the picture of one of the greatest musical geniuses, Ferenc Liszt the Hungarian, in your heart."
The
National
Ferenc
Liszt
Society
considered
as
its
main
task
the
organization
of
the
Liszt
jubilee
year
in
1936,
and
it
made
a
splendid
job
of
it.
The
Liszt
year
opened
on
October
21
1935,
to
celebrate
the
125th
anniversary
of
the
composer's
birth
and
the
50th
anniversary
of
his
death.
A
festive
mass
was
celebrated
in
the
morning
in
the
Coronation
Church
in
Buda
by
the
Bishop
of
Csanád,
with
the
church
choir
and
orchestra
performing
the
Gran
Mass,
conducted
by
Viktor
Sugár.
In
the
great
hall
of
the
Academy
of
Music
the
National
Ferenc
Liszt
Society
held
a
gala
meeting
in
the
afternoon,
attended
by
many
members
of
the
government
and
the
diplomatic
corps,
leading
musical
personalities,
and
representatives
of
musical
institutions.
The
meeting
was
opened
by
the
society's
president,
Countess
János
Zichy.
She
was
followed
by
State
Secretary
András
Tasnádi
Nagy,
who
paid
tribute
to
Liszt
on
behalf
of
the
Minister
of
Religion
and
Public
Education.
The
main
speaker
at
the
meeting,
Peter
Raabe,
spoke
of
Liszt
as
a
man
and
a
composer,
pointing
out
that
"Liszt
always
declared
himself
a
I
Hungarian,
and
this
he
also
proved
with
his
deeds".
The
evening
gala
concert
in
the
Opera
House
included
the
composer's
symphonic
poem
Hungaria,
his
malevoice
chorus
An
die
Künstler
(To
Artists)
and
excerpts
from
Die
Legende
von
der
heiligen
Elisabeth
and
the
Hungaria cantata.
After
the
opening
celebrations,
"there
was
scarcely
a
day
without
a
Liszt
concert
or
Liszt
celebration
in
the
capital
or
the
provinces".
On
August
2
"a
Ferenc
Liszt
train
will
run
to
Sopron,
where
a
festivity
will
be
held
in
the
morning,
and
in
the
afternoon
a
visit
to
Doborján"
(Raiding), as the Executive Committee of the Liszt Memorial Year notified Jenő Hubay, when asking him to take part in the event.
A
Zene
(Music)
reported
on
other
activities
by
the
National
Ferenc
Liszt
Society,
for
example
the
setting
up
of
"the
Ferenc
Liszt
Society
Department
of
Musicians",
which
sought
to
bring
together
"the
eminent
Hungarian
composers
and
performers,
music
teachers
and
writers
on
music
who
wish
to
further
the
development
and
dissemination
of
our
national
musical
culture
by
active
participation
in
the
various
branches of Hungarian musical culture, in the interests of nurturing and expanding the spirit and artistic heritage of Ferenc Liszt".
But
the
Society
was
not
given
the
chance
of
doing
so
for
much
longer.
After
the
destruction
of
the
Second
World
War,
it
never
managed
to
resume
its
activities,
and
after
the
communist
takeover
in
1948-1949
it
was
banned,
like
many
other
such
societies.
For
the
totalitarian
state
that
called
itself
socialist
strictly
forbade
all
forms
of
institutional
intercourse
between
its
citizens
that
were
not
instated
and
controlled
by
the
party-state.
Favourable
conditions
did
not
arise
during
the
liberation
struggles
in
the
weeks
of
the
1956
revolution,
or
in
the
period
of
bloody
retribution
that
followed.
Moves
to
restart
the
society
had
to
wait
until
the
Kádár
dictatorship
had
consolidated
and
began
to
relax
its
grip.
Even
desperate
efforts
were
needed
to
gain
a
permit
to
form
an
apolitical
society,
an
act
that
the
regime
feared
might
set
a
"dangerous"
precedent.
The
following
account
of
how
the
revived
society
was
launched
was
written
by
Miklós
Forrai,
a
Kossuth
prizewinning
choirmaster
and
emeritus
professor
at
the
Ferenc
Liszt
Academy
of
Music,
who
reorganized
the
society
and
remained
its
general
secretary
until
1992,
when
he
was
elected
its
co-president:
"After
the
disbanding
of
the
Budapest
Choir,
since
the
Choir
too
counted
as
a
society,
I
was
appointed
choirmaster
of
the
Art
Ensemble
of
the
Hungarian
People's
Army.
I
was
fairly
reluctant
to
undertake
this
task
and
only
did
so
after
my
wife,
Mária
Gyurkovics,
advised
me
to
accept
it
for
a
short
while
and
meanwhile
teach
the
task
to
some
suitable
person.
And
that
is
what
happened.
But
the
political
instructor
at
the
Art
Ensemble
was
Pál
Ilku,
who
later
became
Minister
of
Culture,
and
I
built
up
a
good
personal
relationship with him.
The
following
account
of
how
the
revived
society
was
launched
was
written
by
Miklós
Forrai,
a
Kossuth
prizewinning
choirmaster
and
emeritus
professor
at
the
Ferenc
Liszt
Academy
of
Music,
who
reorganized
the
society
and
remained
its
general
secretary
until
1992,
when
he
was
elected
its
co-president:
"After
the
disbanding
of
the
Budapest
Choir,
since
the
Choir
too
counted
as
a
society,
I
was
appointed
choirmaster
of
the
Art
Ensemble
of
the
Hungarian
People's
Army.
I
was
fairly
reluctant
to
undertake
this
task
and
only
did
so
after
my
wife,
Mária
Gyurkovics,
advised
me
to
accept
it
for
a
short
while
and
meanwhile
teach
the
task
to
some
suitable
person.
And
that
is
what
happened.
But
the
political
instructor
at
the
Art
Ensemble
was
Pál
Ilku,
who
later
became
Minister
of
Culture,
and
I
built
up
a
good
personal
relationship with him.
"We
were
aware
of
the
fact,"
Forrai
went
on,
"that
we
had
to
reorganize
the
Liszt
Society
in
order
to
foster
a
still
flourishing
Hungarian
tradition,
and
because
Liszt
societies
had
already
been
established
abroad,
so
that
only
Liszt's
native
land
remained
silent.
I
received
a
lot
of
help
and
encouragement
from
Dr
Margit
Prahács,
the
librarian
of
the
Ferenc
Liszt
Academy
of
Music,
and
from
Professor
Bence
Szabolcsi who kept repeating with his well known, gentle persuasiveness, 'It is your task to bring the Hungarian Liszt Society into being'."
The
task
required
tenacious
work.
By
September
1973,
the
petition
to
the
Minister
of
Culture
had
been
completed
at
long
last;
this
was
the
first
occasion
since
the
dissolution
of
voluntary
societies
that
permission
had
been
requested
for
the
functioning
of
an
institution
not
established by some arm of the party-state.
The
international
and
domestic
achievements
of
Hungarian
music
have
suggested
to
us
the
idea
of
submitting
a
proposal
to
establish
a
rallying point for the widest stratum of practitioners of music, and particularly of those interested in music, a
FERENC LISZT SOCIETY.
We
feel
there
is
a
steadily
more
compelling
force
to
do
so
appearing
from
the
many
music
societies
abroad
(e.
g.
the
Bach
Gesellschaft
in
Leipzig,
the
Schütz
Gesellschaft
in
Kassel,
the
Gesellschaft
der
Musikfreunde
in
Vienna
or
the
European
Liszt
Centre
in
London)
and
from
the obligation to foster the intellectual heritage of the great Hungarian geniuses.
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