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Abstract

In movement I of String Quartet no. 5 inversion shapes of the themes are recapitulated in reverse order – probably the most daring concept of a palindromic structure of a sonata-form movement in Bartók's realm. After all, for him a strict hin und zurück form with strong thematic characters was unthinkable. Already the strategy of this opening movement involved danger. If Theme I after a transition leads to Theme II, which leads to Theme III, as a dramatic series of actions, how could the reverse order of these themes be “natural”? To minimize the danger, in this movement Bartók reconsidered the usual dramaturgy of the exposition. Instead of a continuous growth of the musical “scenes” welded together, he presented three thematic blocks very much different in character, heavily punctuated by fragments of the first theme. Therefore, dramatic contrast rather than organic development is the key term, and so the reverse order of the thematic blocks in the recapitulation is less artificial.

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Bartók: The String Quartets •

An International Colloquium Organized by the Budapest Bartók Archives in Association with the Bartók World Competition at the Liszt Academy (Bartók Hall, Institute for Musicology, Research Centre for the Humanities October 29, 2021)

Studia Musicologica
Author:
László Vikárius
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Abstract

The present paper is a preliminary study to a deeper understanding of Bartók's compositional process: how he filled the music paper even if the notation appears continuous. He did not always write the draft from the top-left corner to the bottom-right corner but occasionally skipped some measures or phrases that he intended to write down later. Thus, the continuity draft is not necessarily regarded as a continuity; it might have consisted of fragments but they have been eventually concealed in the final form of the draft. This may directly affect our interpretation of Bartók's creative process. The present research takes the visual appearance of a draft as a clue to examine its hypothetical fragmentariness. Beginning with the examination of some actual blank spaces that were never filled, the paper deals with cases where the original existence of fragments is suggested by the extraordinary appearance of the draft, such as a blank space at the end of a system, notations in the margin, re-organization of bar-lines, etc. Besides systematic approaches to fragmentariness, the author offers some interpretation concerning the reasons why Bartók did not write the draft in an ordinary way. There might have been different explanations for the interruption of the linear compositional process. One of the important findings of this paper is that Bartók's bar-lines do not always mark metric accents but sometimes simply facilitate the performers' orientation. Even though the occasional special function of some of his bar-lines as mere markers of orientation is explained by Bartók in a letter to Rudolf Kolisch, the existence of philological evidence to this effect may further underline its validity and importance.

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Abstract

The Serenata con una Cantatina by Ignaz von Seyfried is a particular work for choir, soloists and Harmoniemusik, which was performed in 1805 for a courtly occasion. The music is above all entertaining, but certain objectives, probably imposed by Empress Maria Theresia, are in the background. The objective is to understand how Seyfried combines a festive but cultivated music with social and political purposes. The origins of the score and the creation process are first considered. The issues at stake are exemplified by an analysis of the different movements, particularly the Quolibet. This study aims to reveal the composer's engagement, the performance practice as well as the reception of this work a time when the Harmoniemusik was very successful in Vienna.

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Although Sándor Veress achieved his first significant successes in Hungary and abroad at the turn of the 1930s and 1940s, musicological research still remains indebted to the detailed analysis of the composer's career related to the history of Hungarian music and cultural life. Based on press and archival documents, letters and recollections, and the historical literature of the period as well, the present study attempts to explore the socio-cultural environment that characterized and helped to unfold Veress's development. My study looks at the composer's network of contacts, his family ties and the political-ideological movements and relations with the Reformed Church that promoted his career, and examines their direct influence on Sándor Veress's works composed during this period, especially The Miraculous Flute (1937), the Japanese Symphony (1940) and Térszili Katica (1943).

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Abstract

As already pointed out by László Somfai in the late 1980s, Béla Bartók's first fully developed five-movement realization of the so-called “bridge” or “palindrome” form was only an afterthought, a further development of a composition originally intended as a cycle of four movements only. As also discussed briefly by Somfai, the evolution of the Allegretto, pizzicato movement itself had distinct stages. A recently surfaced source further clarifies these compositional phases, among others confirms the existence of a 140-measure-long version without a proper conclusion, which, at one point, the composer considered as a definitive version (for which only the ending needed to be composed) and tested with the Waldbauer-Kerpely Quartet. The present article re-examines the compositional process of Bartók's String Quartet no. 4 with an emphasis on its additional fourth movement and discusses the different compositional phases of the Allegretto, pizzicato.

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Abstract

This article examines Handel's opera Orlando from the period of the new Royal Academy of Music (1729–1734). Handel's operas contain many compelling musical elements which impart information and contribute to the richness of his dramatic acts. This article illustrates the various components of compositional practices such as harmonic progression, rhythm, key changes, and chromaticism in Orlando. The second part explores the application of his theatrical gesture of opera. His music releases the meaning of the texts and conveys the content of expression to the audience in a unique way. Finally, this article studies and examines the overture and three arias of the character Zoroastro from Handel's Orlando by comparing several adjacent arias as a group. By studying the role of Zoroastro, we will find that Handel's musical language in opera contains a hidden complexity displayed through the following: expression of tonality and key signature; certain qualities or characteristics of a wider range both in the vocal line and orchestra; and application of ostinato and cross-rhythm in order to enhance the textual meaning. The study shall benefit our ongoing comprehension of Handel's power for evoking the audience's interest, attention, and admiration which are identified when listening to, performing, and analyzing his arias.

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The miracle narrative of the first oratorio by C. P. E. Bach – the escape of the people of Israel from the thirst death by Moses – comes from the Book of Exodus. In the course of the second part of the work, however, the figure of Moses is unexpectedly taken over by the Redeemer. The place turns out to be a paraphrase of Genesis 3:15. In the context of the German Enlightenment the biblical story can be interpreted as a reference to the assimilation process of the Jewish community. The composed libretto includes an interpolation, which speaks about the real advent of the Messiah, thus placing the work among the representatives of the messianic-cult of the Enlightenment. The interpolated text section focuses on the religion above religions as imagined by the latitudinarianism of the leading philosophers of the Enlightenment and testifies to the Masonic spirit in it. The text of the final chorus re-interprets the church dedication (the original function of Bach’s oratorio) as the dedication of the invisible Church: the soul.

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Abstract

This article provides new perspectives on Claude Debussy's compositional process in his String Quartet through a fresh examination of existing sources, particularly a sketchbook kept in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. First, the fragmentary nature of the material contained in the sketchbook implies the existence of another manuscript, now lost. By analyzing Debussy's notations for his String Quartet in greater detail, it is possible to question the different functions the latter took on in the compositional process: in addition to the musical ideas simply noted as an aide-memoire, there are more exploratory musical fragments. Furthermore, the description and analysis of the sources of the String Quartet's creative process enhance our knowledge of Debussy's compositional methods and techniques. These new insights into the sources also show how Debussy adapted to certain social and aesthetic constraints when writing the String Quartet. The compositional context, the very genre of the quartet, and the fact that Debussy was close to Chausson and the Société nationale, led him to seek compositional solutions to combine the techniques of the Franck school with the personal aesthetic he was developing at the time. In particular, the article reconstructs part of the composer's reflection on the cyclic design, which is at the heart of the questions raised in the sketches.

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In addition to folk music, Zoltán Kodály was interested in folk dance. This is evidenced not only by his writings dedicated to the subject – some relevant ideas are to be found in his publications mainly focused on other topics. In this article, the author collects both Kodály's writings explicitly related to folk dance as well as the “hidden” ideas, presented partly chronologically, partly in thematic groups. Topics include: Kodály's dance experiences, his practical dance knowledge, his work of exploring data of historical dance music, his role in the emergence of Hungarian ethnochoreology as a scholarly discipline, his critical views on the use of folk dance on stage, etc. In contrast to the earlier literature, this article no longer considers the Hungarian shepherds' horn signals as the inspirational sources for Bécsi harangjátek [Viennese Clock], a movement which imitates a musical clock in Kodály's Singspiel Háry János. The movement entitled Branle de village, part of seventeenth-century Austrian composer Johann Heinrich Schmelzer's Partita ex Vienna, contains some bars that bear a close resemblance to the repeated main motif of Kodály's Viennese Clock. It is safe to assume that Branle de village was Kodály's source of inspiration, given that there is evidence that he studied the DTÖ-collection of Schmelzer's works: he referred to this volume where he found a Styrian version of a Székely dance tune.

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Abstract

We look at the presuffixal vowels occurring after adjectival and nominal stems in Hungarian. We show that their “low” or “nonlow” status depends not only on the morphological category and arbitrary lexical properties of the stem, but also on its semantic properties and syntactic position, as well as the identity of the suffix and the typical environments in which the suffix occurs. Syntactic positions can be arranged in a scale ranging from more adjectival (less nominal) to less adjectival (more nominal). The same scale may be applied to suffixes typical of these syntactic positions. The lowness of the presuffixal vowels neatly follows these scales, with no variation at the two edges and a zone of variation in the middle of the scale.

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Abstract

The paper presents the interpretation and explanation of the findings of two pieces of experimental research within the framework of Varga's (2016) pitch-tier model of the Hungarian declarative sentence. One of the experiments was established to investigate the information-structural contribution of quantified expressions (such as mindhárom barátom ‘all three of my friends’ and Csaba is ‘Csaba also’). The other experiment explored the acoustic features of the spontaneous-speech specific discourse marker hát ‘well/so’. The two topics can be regarded as interconnected if Varga's model is interpreted in the strong sense that pitch – presumably in a more or less strong correlation with intensity – is responsible for indicating the topic–comment dichotomy and other factors of the discourse-embedding of sentences. Thus, the reconciliation of our data with Varga's model requires the consideration of the pitch-tier substructures in their complex dynamism. The experiments support the plausible hypothesis that the variants of the discourse marker hát as part of the preparatory contour primarily differ in duration, while is-quantifiers in different pitch-tier parts differ in terms of pitch values.

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Abstract

The Hungarian question tag mi? is subject to more special contextual restrictions compared to ugye?. An utterance that features mi? i) tentatively commits the addressee as a source for the anchor proposition of the tag question, and ii) it commits the speaker as a source for the addressee's being a source for p, which is a pragmatic presupposition. A speaker is a source for a proposition p if that speaker's commitment to p does not depend on any other discourse participant's commitment (Gunlogson 2008). The results of an online survey of a minimal set of pragmatically relevant contexts support claim i), and indirectly, claim ii). The effect of mi? on the immediate context of the discourse is modeled on a conversational scoreboard (Farkas & Bruce 2010; Malamud & Stephenson 2015).

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Abstract

This paper investigates hitherto unnoticed variation in the linguistic coding of spatial anaphora in locative PPs in Hungarian. While Hungarian primarily employs reflexives in these configurations, it is well-known that pronouns are the default strategy in English, and the reflexive anaphor is allowed in locative PPs only in the presence of certain licensing factors. One such factor is the availability of body-oriented readings (Rooryck & Vanden Wyngaerd 2007, 2011), and we argue here that this plays an important role in Hungarian, too. The paper reports the findings of a corpus study and an online questionnaire study and shows that pronouns are not only acceptable in Hungarian spatial anaphora, but either outperform or form a viable alternative to reflexives when the location denoted by the PP is not close to the referent of the antecedent. A secondary effect of structure building is also observable in two configurations of the extended PP. We argue that the employment of a possessive structure in certain PPs, and moving a P-element to a CPPP cap may also contribute to saving pronouns in contexts of spatial anaphora.

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Abstract

During the period of Ottoman rule in Hungary (1541‒1686), palisaded castles of differing sizes were typical elements in the border-castle networks on both sides of the battlefront: the Ottoman and the Christian. Archaeological remains (post-holes, beam structures, parts of palisades) complement the data in the written sources, making perceptible and measurable the great quantities of timber used in the building of castles. In the case of the Ottoman palisaded castle at Barcs and in that of the royal palisaded castle at Bajcsavár (southern Transdanubia), attempts were made ‒ on the basis of archaeological observations and reconstructions of ground plans ‒ to determine the number of palisade stakes used for the walls at the time of building, as well as to establish the number of trees felled in order to make them. By way of environmental history researches, an answer was sought to the question of how much the construction of these palisaded castles impacted on the forests in their respective districts. In the case of Barcs Castle, investigations were conducted into whether forest clearance in its vicinity can be reconstructed on the basis of pollen samples. Other issues examined are how far forest clearance extended from the two fortifications, its intensity, and the approximate quantities of timber yielded by it.

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The present study outlines the most important results of the aerial archaeological prospection surveys conducted by Zsuzsa Miklós (1948–2014) in South Transdanubia, with special regard to the fortifications, settlements, and landscapes along the Drava photographed between 2008 and 2013. This is a completed and edited version of the paper left to us from 2014.

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Abstract

The burial site of the owner family of a Roman villa rustica in Baláca, dating back to the 2nd century AD, is a mound grave called Likas Hill. The Earth mound, originally 10–12 m high, with a diameter of about 37 m, covering a double burial chamber and a corridor, was surrounded by a red sandstone wall with a red sandstone cornice. There were tomb altars standing on its stepped footing. The mound had been heavily disturbed over the centuries, and nothing remained of the original burial. The larger fragments of the tombstones were carried away to constructions in the surrounding villages. Until now, it has not been possible to reconstruct the tomb inscriptions remaining in situ in a reassuring way from the fragments, nor to determine the date of construction of the tomb. The two animal burials dug into the Roman age surface, the bustum of a horse and a dog are the only undisturbed set finds of the mound. Excavation observations suggest the existence of additional bustums, which, along with the animal burials, would have been contained in a burial enclosure earlier than the enclosing wall and the tomb structure.

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The Animalistic Style differs in different phases with its own and different characteristics. There is also a 'hybrid' Animalistic Style, in which different phases of this decorative style are juxtaposed or even merged. This variant of the Animalistic Style has been analyzed here with the aim of clarifying the key moments of the evolution between the different phases. Three artifacts from the Regnum Langobardorum were considered, in particular from Cividale San Mauro, Torino Lingotto and San Lorenzo in Vaccoli in Lucca. Comparing the three artifacts, some conclusions were reached. The presence of artifacts decorated in a 'hybrid' Animalistic Style reaffirms an apparently banal concept: the use of a decorative style does not cease with the appearance of a new one. Furthermore, the coexistence in the Italian context of the different phases of the Animalistic Style on the same artifact indicates that the evolution towards the II Animalistic Style may have occurred in Italy.

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The Secret du Roi was Louis XV’s secret foreign policy from approximately 1745 until his death in 1774. This article analyzes Franco-Ottoman diplomatic relations from 1756 to 1774 by using the Secret du Roi as a source. By examining the Secret du Roi, this article shows France’s hostility towards Russia and elaborates on France’s preference for having close diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire instead of Russia. The second half of this article elaborates on France’s confidence in the Ottoman Empire’s political and military capabilities, and why they thought the Ottomans would do well against Russia in 1768.

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In this paper we present and analyse the 6th–7th-century Byzantine coins found at Orosháza and its surroundings. The first Byzantine coin – a follis of Justinian I – was found in Szentetornya in 1877. Using metal detectors during archaeological survey eight Byzantine coins had come to light: a follis of Justinian I, five folles, a half-follis of Justin II, and two folles of Heraclius. A greater part of them was accurately identified. Here we'll analyse their role outside the Byzantine Empire, as compared to the coin circulation in the Avar Age Carpathian Basin. We try to answer the question why Byzantine coins relatively frequently occurred at Orosháza and its surroundings.

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Bioarchaeology can contribute to interdisciplinary research on the social organization of the Avar Empire (568 AD to around 800 AD) by providing information on the health, lifestyle and habitual activity patterns of Avar populations, thus offering an important, additional perspective to traditional archaeological methods focusing on material culture. The so-called horse riding syndrome refers to a combination of changes on the human skeleton, which may indicate that the individual in question practised horse riding as a habitual activity during his or her lifetime. The aim of this paper is to identify potential differences in habitual horse riding activity between different socioeconomic groups within the adult male population of the Avar cemetery of Wien 11-Csokorgasse, using a major criterion of the horse riding syndrome (namely the ovalization or vertical elongation of the acetabulum) and an indicator of social status in burials of Avar men (namely the depth of burial). The sample included only males (age group adult or older) with at least one completely preserved acetabulum (n = 38 for the left acetabulum, n = 40 for the right acetabulum). The ovalization of the acetabulum was determined using a basic measurement method, the Index of Ovalization of Acetabulum (IOA). The sample was divided into two groups according to depth of burial: The “high-status” group included the skeletal material of adult male individuals with a depth of burial of 1.00 m or more. The “low-status” group included the skeletal material of adult male individuals with a depth of burial less than 1.00 m. We observed highly significant differences regarding the ovalization of the acetabulum between “high-status” and “low-status” adult males. This may reflect considerable variation in lifestyle and/or habitual activity patterns between these two groups, which could suggest differences regarding the prevalence of habitual horse riding between “high-status” and “low-status” adult males. Hence, using a major criterion of the “horse riding syndrome” – the “ovalization” of the acetabulum – we may have identified a group of “high-status” Avar warriors, whose way of life appears to have differed from that of the “lower-status” male population buried in the Avar-period cemetery of Wien 11-Csokorgasse.

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This paper explores the convergence of motives between philosophy and art through the examination of a curious object at the University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong – a unique stone-ware pillow featuring the unconventional representation of a skeleton enthusiastically beaten by two herding boys. The scene, which evokes the episode of Zhuangzi’s pillowing of a skull, presents a number of elements that allow us to deconstruct the complex connections between Buddhist and Daoist imagery featuring skulls and herding boys, as well as the way popular beliefs were instrumentalized into religious performances and luxury objects for either personal enlightenment or for the conversion of the masses. In the conclusion, we analyze additional examples of Daoist narratives in ceramic pillows and other luxury products, drawing conclusions on the stoneware industry and its role in medieval times in the proselytization and the development and understanding of religious beliefs.

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The second sentence of line 18 (= line 1 on the east side of the first stele) of the Tunyukuk Inscription has been amended as [: eki] süm[üz b]oltï or [biz eki sü b]oltï ‘We had two armies’. Considering the second sentence of line 17, the information from the first and second sentences of line 18 would be that the peoples around us joined us and thus the number of our soldiers, which was 2,000, increased. If that is the case, the second sentence may be hypothetically amended as [: bir] tüm[än b]oltï ‘It (= the number of our soldiers) became 10,000’ or [: eki] tüm[än b]oltï ‘It (= the number of our soldiers) became 20,000’.

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In his paper the author re-examines the lost funerary inscription of Constantius ‘dux’ following his earlier study and the subsequent study written by J.W.P. Wijnendaele and M. Hanaghan. In their study, the authors used the results of Kovács's earlier paper but several times they misinterpreted the author's conclusions. According to the author, their work was unnecessary and there is no need to re-evaluate the suggested date (420s) and identification given by him.

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Techno-typological analysis of two chipped stone assemblages from Šenov-Salaš 1 and 4 in the Moravian Gate (Czech Republic) indicates they belong to the Aurignacian. The two assemblages, preferentially made of Baltic (erratic) flints, comprise few distinctive tool types, though. A statistical analysis was conducted to compare their raw material strategy, tool typology, and topography with other Moravian Aurignacian sites. It transpired that they answer to other Aurignacian sites in their specific topography, raw material strategy, and (a few) Aurignacian endscrapers, but both assemblages comprise few carinated burins. The altitude here is somewhat higher than that for most Moravian Aurignacian sites, but it is still probable that the two assemblages belong to the Aurignacian and that their rather atypical aspect (the small dimensions of artefacts, simple core preparation, few distinctive tools) are due to the small size of the processed flint nodules, which did not allow for thorough core preparation. Predominant plain butts, the virtual absence of archaic, or other distinctive tool types speak for either Evolved Aurignacian or some specific Aurignacian facies of the Moravian Gate. The assemblages cannot be linked with the young AMS 14C date 14 270 ± 40 uncal BP, acquired from a bone from the surface at Salaš 1, just slightly preceding the Moravian Magdalenian, as such a date would be too young not only for any Aurignacian but also for Epiaurignacian sites. Still, the Aurignacian estimation of the assemblages is interesting as the Moravian Gate comprises relatively few sites attributed to this Upper Palaeolithic culture.

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The aim of this note is to review the passage of Polyaenus, Stratagemata 5. 2. 12. The seizure of Amphipolis by the Syracusans, narrated by Polyaenus, may have taken place in 388, when Dionysius I sent a war fleet to the northern Aegean Sea. The presence of Syracusans in the city on river Strymon may have had an impact on the cultural, religious and artistic life of Amphipolis. In particular, the kidnapping of Kore by Hades on a carriage driven by only two horses in the mosaic of tumulus Kasta near Amphipolis may be due to this western influence.

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The Old Uighur fragment (GT15-64) preserved in National Library of China, Beijing and its parallel fragments (Ch/U 6005 + Ch/U 6411 + Ch/U 7287) preserved in the Berlin Turfan collection are different copies of the same text. This text consists of two parts, an adhyeṣaṇā verse that extols the merit of good deeds, which is immeasurable when one implores the Buddha to turn the dharma-wheel, and a colophon. Although the adhyeṣaṇā part contains many quotations from the Suvarṇaprabhāsasūtra, the colophon indicates that it is an original literary work by Buddhist monks who praise the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra.

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This article revisits the history of Du Fu 杜甫 (zi Zimei 子美, 712–770) studies and demonstrates that although annotated editions of Du Fu’s poetry claim to follow zhiren lunshi 知人論世 (‘knowing the person by considering the age in which he or she lived’) and/or yiyi nizhi 以意逆志 (‘inferring the author’s intention through sympathetic effort’), which are dogmatic approaches that seemingly balance objective and subjective views, they nevertheless lead to the development of highly divergent ideas. Treating the two principles as ‘rules of competition’, annotators have attempted to refute other annotations and commentaries in the process of annotating Du Fu’s poetry. The sense of historicity in Du Fu’s poetry in these editions is also strengthened by the use of these two principles.

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In his paper the author deals with the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon where a certain Valerian, the bishop of a settlement called Bassiana emerged several times. As he attended the synod of 448 at Constantinople as well, he lived in Constantinople most probably as refugee. Following E. Schwartz's correction, the author also comes to the conclusion that Valerian was mistakenly identified as the African bishop in the original Greek list and he was rather the bishop of the Pannonian Bassianae. He had to flee from his hometown to Constantinople because of the Hun occupation in 441 as his province already belonged to East Rome.

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Abstract

This study will use rhetorical criticism to analyze eleven Hungarian animation films and four TV shows from the Soviet-era to discover how Hungarian animation in this period utilized folktales to criticize the government. The Thompson Motif Index will be used as a point of comparison. Results from the study show that multiple animation films utilized folktale elements to criticize the government, leaving it open for further study to explore other ideologies that may be reflected in Hungarian animation in the Soviet-era.

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This study explores the life-mode of Hungarian migrants in their destination country, England, particularly London in the last decade, focusing on their housing conditions and working experiences. Relying on her participant observations and interviews, the author formulates a picture through the eyes of Hungarian migrant laborers regarding how both the real estate and labor market exploits them (micro level). She explains the motives of the main economic actors (entrepreneurs, real estate and employment agencies, employers) leading to exploitations (meso level) in addition to discussing how all of these fit into the wider socio-economic context (macro level).

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Abstract

The self-definitions of today's folk artists, as well as the concept(s) of folk art of official umbrella and quality assurance organizations, are rooted in complex, interrelated processes. In my study, I focus on the post-World War II concept of folk art, which is full of contradictions, but, despite all protests, has had an undeniable impact on the folk art of today. The system of applied folk arts paradoxically fostered the prominence of individual creators, in contrast to the communication of its novel cooperatives in the decades after World War II, which emphasized communal work. These creators – often possessing truly authentic folk art knowledge (some having gained their reputation before World War II) but no longer following the peasant way of life – were depicted by the media in rural or bucolic genre situations, thereby heavily aestheticizing the concepts of folk and folk art. At the same time, socialist cultural policy also emphasized their status as artists and creators, making them key figures in the cooperatives' work for decades as lead designers, prompting them to revitalize their local motif stock. At this point, another paradox of the Applied Folk Arts Council's perspective emerges, as the representation of the folk art of emblematic regions can increasingly be seen as the representation of the style of an individual (lead designer or charismatic artist). In my opinion, considering the 19th-century roots of the process, the definition of today's folk artists' products as unique works of art and the profound respect for design skills is rooted in this perspective that focuses on the work of iconic personalities, as I also point out in my case study analyzing Tiszafüred pottery through the work of several generations, a style that was adapted by Sándor Kántor and became known as Karcag pottery.

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Abstract

The Royal Hungarian State School of Lacemaking in Körmöcbánya was the earliest independent institution in the field of Hungarian bobbin lacemaking. Unfortunately, there is little information available about the school, largely due to the revision of national borders as a result of the Treaty of Trianon. Following a survey of what remained of the lacemaking cottage industry in Upper Hungary [now mostly present-day Slovakia], teaching was organized from 1883 in itinerant workshops in Bars and Zólyom counties (in Úrvölgy, Sóvár, Eperjes, and Hodrusbánya). Annual training courses, as part of a school-based teaching system, were introduced probably in around 1894, and from 1899 yearbooks were published by the Royal Hungarian State School of Lacemaking in Körmöcbánya. Until 1909 (with the exception of the 1888/89 academic year), Körmöcbánya functioned as the administrative center, while teaching took place in local schools, first in Jánoshegy and subsequently in Óhegy, Jánosrét, Kunosvágás, and Kékellő, where schools opened in succession. Poorer students were awarded scholarships to participate in the two-year training, and those who wished to work in the cottage industry were given employment following graduation. Besides introducing the readily marketable Carlsbad, Idrija, Cluny, and Torchon lace patterns that were taught at the school, Béla Angyal was the first to expand the treasury of Upland lace patterns with the addition of new Hungarian designs, while Emília Angyal was responsible for their technical elaboration. For a while, state-sponsored lacemaking in Upper Hungary provided a relatively good livelihood for the female members of working families, although this situation changed with the influx of cheap foreign lace, and especially with the spread of mass production. Besides popular foreign patterns and techniques, the school in Körmöcbánya also played an important role in the spread of new tools in Hungary.

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The present paper offers a critical reflection on folk inspirations in Polish design in the early 21st century. It discusses the question of folk as an artistic form, pointing to conceptualizations of folk style and its formal qualities within the field of modern artistic production to which design and craft practices belong. It also touches on the role of the rural actors involved in the processes of the construction of folklore and their attitude towards folk conceived as esthetics, artistic form, and style. For rural producers, folk style was a question of conscious choice, sometimes motivated by conformism and sometimes by a deliberate effort to contribute to local/class/national self-presentation, very often in contradiction to the individual's own taste and that of their peers. The paper then examines the involvement of Polish folk-inspired design (etnodizajn) in the early 21st century with national self-presentation, as well as the various folk (lore)-inspired design strategies followed by contemporary Polish designers. It concludes with the observation that 21st-century design practices drawing on folkloric inspiration are part of a long sequence of cultural appropriations, where appropriation can mean both the alienating inequality experienced by the rural manufacturers of folk, as well as a necessary condition for the understanding of alterity by both sides in the cultural exchange.

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Abstract

New ecovillage communities, and individuals who simply move from the towns to the countryside in Estonia, are inspired by a desire to be involved in heritage preservation, local customs, and traditional skills. Ecovillages are keen to attract people who are skilled in various traditional handicrafts, while craftspeople, in turn, may encounter fewer problems finding the facilities and raw materials needed to practice their crafts on moving to the countryside. The present paper focuses on activities in five new rural communities from the perspective of craftspeople. We asked them to describe their initial incentives for establishing and joining the respective communities, and the directions of their joint activities. We documented a significant diversity among the five communities. Some were self-evolved, while others had been deliberately established. Some communities had local roots, while others were spearheaded from elsewhere. Some of the communities sought idyllic landscapes and indigenous culture, social life, and friendship, while others valued the region's economic potential. We found highly skilled niche producers in excellently equipped workshops who were involved in so-called content-focused activities in various manor estate buildings renovated with the help of European Union funds, as well as those starting from scratch on principle. Community representatives included those striving for the greatest possible economic independence and minimal ecological footprint, as well as those looking for opportunities to recreate the kind of farming life typical of last century, based on work carried out by people and horses — and, across almost all groups, people with a keen interest in a wide variety of handicraft skills from the past. We also observed other, personal motivations and experiences among our respondents — for example, how they had been invited there, what supported their move, and what they found problematic. We were interested in the present state of affairs: how the community contributes to their new skills and practices; how the new community and other local inhabitants manage communication networks; and how they see themselves and their way of life in their new home. We were keen to find out whether the symbiosis of local nature, old values and skills, and innovative and fresh practical solutions will prove sustainable in the long term.

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Abstract

In the study, I provide a comparative overview of the aesthetical debate that took place at the turn of the 18th and 19th century in Germany and Denmark concerning the use of the Old Norse versus the classical mythology in literature. I discuss Johann Gottfried Herder’s ideas on this topic, expressed in his work Vom neuern Gebrauch der Mythologie (1767) and especially in his dialogue Iduna oder der Apfel der Verjüngung (1796), with focus on the following question: Does the rejuvenating potential of the Norse myth as suggested by Herder in Iduna, allow any room for the classical inspirations in modern literature? Herder’s view will provide a starting point of the comparison for the cultural situation in Denmark where the University of Copenhagen announced in 1800 a prize question on aesthetics “Would it benefit Northern polite literature if ancient Northern mythology were introduced and generally accepted by our poets in place of its Greek counterpart?”. The entries in this contest represented the view of the younger generation, namely Adam Oehlenschläger, Jens Møller and Ludvig Stoud Platou. I summarize their views and examine Herder’s influence on the debate.

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Abstract

Although no Aeschylean hypomnemata have been preserved, the papyri have returned evidences of ancient scholarship, such as fragments with marginalia and hypotheseis of several lost tragedies. For this reason, it is difficult to compare the scholia tradition, but it provides particular value for these ancient annotations. If the limited papyrus notes could testify a lower fortune of Aeschylus, the discovery of scholar materials, linked with lost tragedies, denotes that his productions was still available during the first centuries of Imperial Age. Interesting evidence is P.Oxy. XX 2257, which offers important information on the Aitnaiai stagecraft. My purpose is to reconstruct the drama setting and explain the technical modality of scene changes.

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