Liszt the European and His Transylvanian Rhapsody: An Idyll of Intercultural Harmony (Accepted)

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Ferenc Liszt, the Hungarian who spoke hardly any Hungarian, was a committed pan-European. For example, he composed songs to texts from the literatures and in the languages of Italy, France, Germany, Britain, Hungary, Russia – and even America. Of course, he supported Hungarian political goals, but especially charitable and cultural goals. His most famous works include his series of Hungarian Rhapsodies (published as Rhapsodies hongroises, S. 244). Still obscure – partly because of their extreme technical difficulty – is his earlier set, published as Magyar dalok és magyar rapszodiak, S. 242. One of these latter, no. 20, deserves special attention. Its first publication in 1936 was entitled “Rumanian Rhapsody.” Upon inspection, it contains Hungarian themes (of urban café origin) and a Transylvanian Saxon march Liszt calls a “Hermannstädter.” And it contains the most remarkable theme of all, an authentic Romanian folk shepherd tune he titles “Walachische Melodie,” set in harmonic and pianistic colors that would not be written again until Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances, many decades later. Liszt develops and combines these themes in a manner idealizing the potential harmony between three cultures, in what is neither a Hungarian nor a Romanian rhapsody, but truly a Transylvanian one. He epitomizes the concept of a harmonious cultural crossroads and presents a musical vision of the human ideals at the center of the European Union project, one to set beside the EU anthem, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy with its alle Menschen werden Brüder. Musical excerpts will illustrate the talk.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Peter Czipott (B.A. 1975, physics, University of California, San Diego; Ph.D. 1983, physics, UCSD) has had four decades’ experience in R&D and management of projects, personnel and intellectual property. He has contributed in areas ranging from oceanography of the Arctic Ocean to development of sensors for detection of threats and contraband, medical diagnostics, and nondestructive evaluation. He holds 12 patents and is co-author of over 40 technical publications. He is a literary translator with three book-length publications and two more seeking a publisher, plus over thirty shorter translations and scholarly articles. He is a 2010 Balassi Memorial Medallion laureate.