Letter to Hungary draws inspiration from Hungarian folk music, which I’ve studied and loved this music since my time living in Budapest in the early 1990’s.
Using a folksong anthology that I’ve had since those days, I found a song that’s appropriate, both in what the text conveys and in that it bears some of the lovely intervals and modal shifts typically found in these folksongs.
Here’s the text:
Madárka, madárka
Csácsogó madárka.
Vidd el a levelem, vidd el a levelem
Szép magyar hazámba.Ha kérdi ki küldte
Mondjad, hogy az küldte
Aki banátában, szÃve fájdalmában
Meghasad a szÃve.
Roughly, it says:
Dear little bird, please bring this letter to my beloved Homeland.
If she asks, tell her it is from one with a broken heart.
To me, this suggests someone in exile, living outside Hungary against his/her will. So, it’s a song about profound and painful homesickness. There are other verses with which I’m unfamiliar, and there are even other versions of the tune, so this is probably one of many possible interpretations.
The tune presents itself in various ways during the 15-minute piece. Fragments of the tune are woven into the texture of the introduction, and in the slow middle section, it gradually comes into the foreground until it is finally heard in a fairly traditional, straightforward setting. The final third of the piece is an energetic scherzo, at the end of which tune slowly emerges in augmentation from the basses and cellos, leading the piece to its final climax.
In addition to this folksong, I’m also exploring the instrumental folk band style you can hear from the many great táncház ensembles like Muzsikás
2 Responses to “Folk elements in Letter to Hungary”
Hát ez nagyon jól hangzik. Sok sikert!
Köszi szépen. Majd meglátjuk….
