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Die ungarische Tanzhaus-Bewegung
Ein Beispiel für Volkskultur in der Moderne
Ein typischer Tanzhaus-Abend ist geprägt von einer ausgelassenen Stimmung unter jungen Menschen, Gemeinschaftsgefühl und aktiver Teilnahme an der Reproduktion von Volksmusik und Volkstanz. Vor allem junge Intellektuelle setzten sich aus Unzufriedenheit mit der staatlich gelenkten „sozialistischen Folklore“ auf ihre eigene Art mit der ungarischen Volkskultur auseinander. Das ungarische Tanzhaus hat sich seit der ersten Veranstaltung im Jahre 1973 von einer teilweise politisch motivierten Bewegung zu einer Tanzhaus-Szene entwickelt, die heute ihren festen Platz in der ungarischen Unterhaltungskultur einnimmt. In der von Fortschrittsdenken und Schnelllebigkeit geprägten Moderne wird durch die Tanzhaus-Enthusiasten bewusst auf die Güter der ungarischen Volkskultur zurückgegriffen. So wird eine neuartige, experimentelle Auseinandersetzung mit traditioneller Musik und den entsprechenden Tänzen gefördert. Das ungarische Tanzhaus als Retrokultur vereint Traditionsbehaftetes mit Neuartigem und stellt demnach eine an moderne Ansprüche angepasste Form der Volkskulturpflege dar. Somit besteht die besondere Rolle der Tanzhaus-Bewegung sowie der heutigen Tanzhaus-Szene für die Volkskultur in der Moderne darin, dass bei den Veranstaltungen ein für ihr Fortbestehen notwendiges Bild vermittelt wird: Volkskultur ist nichts Vergangenes oder Vergehendes, sondern etwas Gegenwärtiges.
In the domain of non-verbal predication, three predication strategies are identified in Erzya. Predication is expressed in nominal, adjectival and locational predicate constructions by (i) the zero-copula construction, (ii) the predicative suffix construction or (iii) the copula construction. The variation of predication patterns is constrained by at least two factors. The part-of-speech affiliation of the predicate affects the choice of predication strategy. The relative frequency and degree of obligation for using the predicative suffix construction decreases as we move along the scale verb-adjective-noun. Thus, nominal predicates are encoded more often by zero-copula constructions than adjectival and locational predicates are. Another important factor that affects the choice of predication strategy is genre. To encode the present tense, predicative suffix constructions are more frequent in written Standard Erzya, while the zero-copula construction is more typical of spontaneous speech and translations. In written Standard Erzya, the predicative suffix construction occurs more regularly than the copula construction for encoding the past tense, too, whereas in the data coming from folklore, spontaneous speech and translations, the copula construction is clearly preferred.
The aim of the present study is to show that the poetic language of Slovo o polku Igorevě can be traced back to the common Indo-European poetic thesaurus. The study focuses on the hymn-like fragments of the Slovo: Yaroslavna’s lament and Sviatoslav’s golden word. The novelty of the approach is the special attention to the sequences of morphemes in the texts that can be distinguished as reflections of the Indo-European hymn (besides Slovo’s fragments, also Ukrainian folklore texts, Homeric prayers, Homeric hymns, Orphic hymns, and Old Latin charms were analyzed). The grammatical comparison showed that each compositional part of the hymns has its own characteristic morphological features of common Indo-European origin. Furthermore, morphological devices are chained in series that are stable and function as base for the composition of the hymn. The use of morphological formants should have been determined by oral tradition because from the range of semantically close formants of a distinctive language only one is chosen, cognates of which are used in other analyzed traditions. It leads to the conclusion that orality and authenticity of the Slovo’s hymn-like fragments are supported by the common Indo-European morphological chains.
Plumbago zeylanica L. (PZ) is a significant medicinal plant in Ayurveda, so is used for the treatment of various disorders. The main active part of this plant is the root, and due to its inherent uses, it has been exploited hence becoming an endangered species. Dyerophytum indicum (Gibbs ex Wight) Kuntze (DI), mainly considered as a substitute of PZ, is also an important folklore medicine, used in many health problems. Both plants are much similar in their physical as well as chemical properties. However, an effective validation is required before declaration of substitution. In the present study, quantitative and qualitative estimations were performed on both plants with the help of modern analytical techniques. Simultaneous high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) and quantitative determinations of β-sitosterol have been performed for comparing both plants, i.e., PZ and DI. HPTLC fingerprinting analysis was also performed comparatively in different plant parts of PZ and DI. Successive extracts from different plant parts were evaluated for TLC separation profile of secondary metabolites. A comparative polyphenolic content- and antioxidant screening was evaluated to check the free radical scavenging effect of both plants (leaf, stem, and root) in comparison with the standards gallic and ascorbic acid.
Commelina benghalensis (Commelinaceae) is widely used as traditional and folklore medicine in India. In the present study, a reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography—photodiode array detection (RP-HPLC—PDA) method was developed for the separation, identification, and quantification of bioactive phenolics. Antioxidant potential was also accessed to validate the presence of identified markers. Method was developed on C18 column with 1% formic acid (in water) and acetonitrile as solvent system, and data acquisitions were achieved at wavelength of 285 nm. The developed method was also validated for accuracy, precision, robustness, limit of detection and quantification (LOD and LOQ), repeatability, and recovery according to International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. In this method, five phenolics, viz., protocatechuic acid (0.033%), vanillic acid (0.262%), ferulic acid (0.365%), apigenin (0.126%), and kaempferol (0.544%), were quantified in linearity range of 0.2–1.0 μg with correlation coefficient of more than 0.9949. Relative standard deviation (RSD) (%), LOD, LOQ, and recovery (%) are within the acceptable limit. Besides that, methanolic extract shows the inhibition (%) range from 24.45 to 68.75% at 0.02–0.12 mg mL−1. IC50 of extract was observed at 46.75 μg mL−1, suggesting the promising activity in methanol extract. Hence, the proposed method for simultaneous quantification of five bioactive phenolics in the tuber of C. benghalensis using HPLC–PDA detection under the specified conditions is specific and accurate, and validation proves its selectivity and reproducibility.
Abstract
The gains from the folk music collection movement initiated by Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály in the first decade of the twentieth century set a path for Hungarian music theory that continued to influence the approach to composition in later decades. Placing folklore material in composed, classical works is complicated by tonal and formal problems and by political overtones. For quotations or thematic material from folk music may introduce complex implications and associations. So the way a composer imbues folk music calls for more than mere technical skill – it embodies an artistic statement. This article analyzes two works by the Hungarian composer and ethnomusicologist László Lajtha (1892–1963): his string quartets nos. 7 and 10 completed in the early 1950s. Through these two quartets I attempt to fathom the aesthetic, ideological and personal motives behind Lajtha's use of folk material in classical composition. Analysis of the composing process involved and the reception the two works received reveal the manifold scope that folk music brings as a source of inspiration.
Abstract:
Although belief narratives and charms are regarded as two different folklore genres with different modes of transmission, performance and function, they are both in a constant dialectical relationship, yielding mutual feedback. One of the main forms of this interactive relationship concerns the etiology of a dis-ease (construction of a dis-order, i.e. belief narratives) and its therapeutic treatment (restoration of order, i.e. charms). This relationship between the cause of diseases and their treatment is clearly reflected in a Christian content belief narrative closely associated with incantations used to heal abdominal diseases. The basic personage embodying this belief narrative – registered in many and different areas of Greece – is the figure of a monk or Christ himself, who, often disguised as a beggar, is hosted by a family. Violations of both religious norms associated with fasting and social ethics connected with accepted behaviour towards a guest have as a result the manifestation of an abdominal disease, which eventually the monk or Christ treats using an incantation. This article shows that the parallel analysis of legends and charms, where possible, is necessary since it can provide useful information, not only on the ways by which the charm text is produced and reproduced, but also on the position and status of the genre in the context of a wider folk religious system. Furthermore, it could contribute to the understanding of the charm text, without which the knowledge of the belief narrative is often incomprehensible, if not nonsensical.
Before ending his performance career by concerts in Odessa and Elizabethgrad in 1847, Franz Liszt visited Istanbul, gave a number of public concerts and performed twice for Sultan Abdul-Medgid in the Tcheragan Palace. A widely reported incident in relation to this trip concerns an impostor named Listmann, a historically unidentified character, who supposedly passed himself off as Liszt in Istanbul and who received valuable presents from the Sultan under this pretext. According to some accounts Listmann almost caused Liszt to be arrested upon his arrival. The purpose of this work is to present historical data on this folkloric Liszt-Listmann tale. We present primary sources that show that Herr Listmann of the Liszt-Listmann incident was in fact a German Tonkünstler and a man of letters named Eduard Litzmann who toured Spain and the orient, and who was apparently a pretty competent pianist. The sources indicate that notwithstanding Liszt’s own letter to his cousin Henriette, numerous colorful aspects of the incident as reported in the literature result from self-perpetuating transformations of fiction and cannot be substantiated.
At the beginning of the 1970s there was a drastic turn in the history of Hungarian folklorism brought by the ‘dance house’ [táncház] movement. This movement, based on civil initiative, aimed to evoke and revive the patterns of peasant dance and music culture of local communities, preserving its aesthetic values. Within its confines, many young people followed the example of the initiators, Ferenc Sebő and Béla Halmos through the intensive appropriation of instrumental folk music. Their professional leaders were such folklore researchers as Lajos Vargyas, Imre Olsvai, and György Martin, later the amateur activity ignoring scientific requirements came to play a determinant role. (N.B. the “dance house method” was inscribed in 2011 on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.) As an urban subculture rooted in the peasant traditional culture, it expanded independently from the centrally supervised cultural establishment — without the control of the communist party. It seemed to be dangerous from ideological point of view, because it could have involved the ideas of nationalism, liberty, and self-organized communities as well.
As an overt response to the Soviet bloc invasion of Czechoslovakia, Karel Husa’s Music for Prague 1968 makes an obvious nationalistic statement. In his foreword to the published score, Husa describes Prague’s use of the Hussite war song “Ktož jsú boží bojovníc” as its most important unifying motive. He says this song has long been “a symbol of resistance and hope.” The author does not debate the work’s nationalistic intent, he finds remarkable that, in 1968, Husa was an American citizen, teaching at Cornell, and using compositional techniques not frequently associated with Eastern European nationalism. If musical nationalism (expressed by folkloric elements) in Eastern European countries can be used to express primacy over avantgarde music, Music for Prague 1968 presents the opposite — a traditional war song submersed in an entirely Western European/American musical language. The study examines several portions of the composition to demonstrate the ways in which Husa expresses his nationalism in a non-nationalistic manner, including chromatic transformations of the Hussite song; the integrally serial third movement, in which unpitched percussion instruments are intended to represent the church bells of Prague; and the opening movement’s non-tonal bird calls, intended to represent freedom. Furthermore, Music for Prague 1968 uses a Western avant-garde language in a way that Husa’s other overtly nationalistic post-emigration pieces (Twelve Moravian Songs, Eight Czech Duets, Evocations of Slovakia) do not. In this light, it will be seen that Music for Prague 1968 fills a special role in Husa’s nationalistic display.
