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7. Reception of Nineteenth-Century Couple Dances in Hungary

László Felföldi

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Introduction

  • 1 For a definition of this group of dances: see the Introduction (Chapter 1) to this volume.
  • 2 In the time-frame of this research, Hungary was a country of ca.300,000 square kilometres, with 14, (...)

1The aim of this chapter is to give an account of the appearance and reception of round dances1 — also known as nineteenth-century couple dances — in Hungary.2 Since these dances did not stand out as a paradigm with a separate name in Hungary, we first need to identify them within the broader Hungarian dance repertoire. The fact that research on social dances in Hungary has focused on the older forms makes this difficult. Round dances were mostly seen as too new and too foreign to be deemed worthy of documentation and research. The task therefore remains to identify them among the dance forms practised in Hungary and to contextualise them in the socio-cultural and political circumstances of the first half of the nineteenth century.

  • 3 Comparison with other countries was beyond the scope of this study.

2Having briefly delimited and situated the dance material in question, we are faced with a great amount of material from a broad range of very different sources. Moreover, only a small amount of this material has been published in languages other than Hungarian. In order to achieve the task, we have set ourselves, a selected corpus of the most important sources is presented here in the form of an annotated catalogue. This catalogue aims to demonstrate the variability and richness of the relevant sources, but also serves as a reference for the last part of this chapter, which discusses issues of reception, the rivalry between Hungarian and foreign dances, and the cultural climate in that context. The rise of a Hungarian counterpart to the foreign round dances is one of the main conclusions. The catalogue material is mainly selected from existing literature about this topic in Hungary, supplemented with results produced by the present research.3

3Following the catalogue, there is a discussion of the Csárdás as a Hungarian reaction and response to the round dances. On the one hand, we will see that the Csárdás does not fall entirely within the definition of round dances. On the other hand, it was clearly inspired by them, making it a national replacement.

4Finally, the chapter maps the changing political contexts and climate during the nineteenth century, which created the framework for the tension that existed among ordinary people between dancing the foreign and the national dances.

  • 4 András Gergely, ed., Magyarország története a 19. században (Budapest: Osiris Kiadó, 2005).
  • 5 See in detail in a later section of this chapter headed ‘Socio-Political and Cultural Contexts of N (...)

5Our point of departure is the identification of the dance repertory in Hungary. At the outset of the nineteenth century, the repertory of dances practised in Hungary was extraordinarily diverse, reflecting the multiplicity of ethnic groups and socio-cultural conditions of the country.4 This was a result of the political, socio-economic and cultural changes taking place in the region during the eighteenth century.5 Since changes continued at an accelerated rate in the nineteenth century, dance paradigms changed rapidly under their influence as well.

Lower-Class Dances

  • 6 Ernő Pesovár, A magyar tánctörténet évszázadai: Írott és képi források (Budapest: Hagyományok Háza, (...)

6It is first worth addressing the traditional dance forms of the lower classes, mainly the peasantry. For instance, these include Hungarian Verbunk; Csárdás; Kanásztánc (swineherd dance); Boricatánc; Slovakian Frisska; Odzemok; Serbian Kolo; Croatian Kumpania; Romanian Lunga, Minitelu, and Căluş; German Német, Ländler, Landaris, and Steirisch; and finally, Ruthenian Kolomejka. Soldier dances, as a multi-ethnic phenomenon inherited from the eighteenth century, were gradually fading from the repertoire. Women singing as an accompaniment to round dances among Hungarians were rarely mentioned by the sources, and researchers paid little attention to them.6 Until the middle of the nineteenth century, this traditional dance repertoire was shared by both the local nobility and, to an extent, the aristocracy.

  • 7 Marián Réthei Prikkel, A magyarság táncai (Budapest: Studium, 1924), p. 233. See Musical Source No. (...)

7In multi-ethnic regions, people learned dances from each other, which in turn became an integral part of their own dance repertory. This process was hastened by the fact that the practise of traditional dance types was not limited to particular ethnic groups or countries. The spread of dances and melodies was likely a result of factors like migration, common service in the imperial army, extensive family relations and seasonal work by rural people in distant provinces. For example, the melody of the ‘Németes’ (German) or ‘Landaris’ (Landler) dance was, according to the evidence, popular among Széklers in the 1840s and beyond due to Hungarian soldiers serving in the Tirol.7 (See Musical Source No. 4).

National Dances for the Upper Classes

  • 8 György Martin, ‘Az új magyar táncsatílus jegyei és kialakulása’, Ethnographia, 88 (1977), 39; Györg (...)
  • 9 Lajos Kilányi, A Kör-tánc mellyet Szőllőssi Lajos a pesti nemzeti színház táncművészének tanítása u (...)
  • 10 Martin György, ‘Tánc és társadalom: Történeti táncnévadás-típusok itthon és Európában’, in Történet (...)
  • 11 The terms ‘regulated’ and ‘non-regulated’ were used in the contemporary social discourse; e.g. in t (...)

8Numerous historical sources mention Magyar Tánc (Hungarian dance), Nemzeti Tánc (national dance), Nemeses Tánc (a nobleman’s dance), Néptánc (folk dance), Körmagyar (round Hungarian), and Magyar Csárdás (Hungarian Csárdás), which were used as nationalistic social dance forms by the nobility to symbolise patriotic feelings. They were also favoured by the less populous, multi-ethnic middle classes who exhibited an anti-Habsburg sentiment, and who had a kind of ‘Hungarus’ identity in terms of country rather than ethnic allegiance.8 There are several references to these dances in the first half of the nineteenth century. They were made by foreign and Hungarian authors alike, but the only detailed description, from which we can reconstruct the dance, was published by Kilányi in Hungarian and in German, in his reference book Körtánc.9 Little by little, the popularity of these dances spread to every social circle in contemporary Hungary. ‘Hungarian dance’ as a kind of social or national dance form had an impact on traditional couple dances, leading mainly to changes in their structural and musical features. Moreover, the name ‘Hungarian dance’ or ‘Hungarian Csárdás’ was also adopted, replacing various previously-used local dance names like the following: Kutyakopogós (dog tapping, Kuferces (‘horse-coper’, a faster Csárdás), Darudübögős (crane stamping etc.10 Körtánc (Körmagyar and several other choreographies, such as Társalgó or Vigadó were composed by Hungarian dance masters and theatre dancers especially for the purposes of national and social expression. As such, they enjoyed only temporary fame. Most of them were soon forgotten, and, instead, the free improvisatory, ‘non-regulated’ forms prevailed under the name Magyar Tánc (Hungarian dance).11

International Fashion Dances

9The so called Divattáncok or Módi Táncok (fashion dances) disseminated by the dance masters and danced as social dances in urban, middleclass and aristocratic circles were clearly differentiated from the abovelisted dance forms. They appear in Hungary in sources from the 1790s, and they include Némettánc (German dance), Németes (Germanic), Voltzerisch, Walzer, Keringő (Hungarian translation of Walzer, meaning ‘whirling’), Kalupáda (the Galop), Lengyel Tánc (Polish dance), the Mazurka, the Polka, Francia Tánc (French dance), the Quadrille, and the Cotillion. To a lesser extent, Csárdás as a Hungarian national dance with a social dance function was also integrated into this group of nineteenth-century couple dances. In everyday discourse, they were seen as a ‘new’ fashion, reflecting the changing social taste and the political orientation of the different social classes.

Dancing Masters and Choreographies for the Stage

  • 12 Klára B. Egey, ‘Szinpadi táncművészetünk fejlődése a reform korban és a szabadságharc első szakaszá (...)

10In the first half of the nineteenth century in Europe, we witness the appearance of ‘wandering’ dance masters and dancers, who created choreographies for show and stage performances. Generally, the choreographies had a fantasy name (e.g. Devil Dance, Highwayman Dance, Turkish Group), but it was also popular to name them after their form, or profession, or nationality. For instance, in a dance-drama titled Az elrabolt hölgy vagy a szerencsés összetalálkozás a fogadóban [‘The kidnapped lady, or a lucky meeting in the pub’] played in 1835 in Buda, the following choreographies were performed by the two pantomimic parts choreographed by Hungarian dance master Szőllősy Szabó Lajos: Ugrós Tízes Tánc [‘Jumping dance with ten dancers’], Kettős Csikós Tánc [‘Horseherd duet by men’], Magános Tánc [‘Solo male dance’], Ideális Magános Tánc [‘Ideal solo dance’], and Végső Körtánc [‘Final round dance’].12

  • 13 B. Egey, ‘Szinpadi táncművészetünk fejlődése’, pp. 67–68.

11In 1845, Hungarian dance master Veszter Sándor and his company gave guest performances in provincial towns and in the National Theatre in Pest with the following dances: Krakovianka, Kozák Kettős [‘Kozak duet’], Magyar Nemes Tánc [‘Hungarian noble dance’], Sváb Tánc [‘Swabian dance’], Komoly Kettős [‘Honourable duet’], and Csárdás.13

  • 14 Ibid., p. 59.

12At the National Theatre in 1846, in the ballet comedy Markotányosnő és a postalegény [‘Madam canteen-keeper and the young postman’] by Arthur Saint Leon, the company performed dance pieces such as ‘A Markotányosnő Tánca’ [‘Dance of the canteen-keeper’], ‘Nagy Négyes Tánc’ [‘The great pas-de-quatre’], ‘Német Nép-Körtánc’ (German round folk dance), and ‘Redowa-Polka’ (original Czech folkdance). These were choreographed by Arthur Saint Leon, and the music composed by Caesar Puigni.14

  • 15 Ibid.

13According to the theatrical posters and the reports in the periodicals, the contemporary audience of the theatres could watch dances like Spanyol Tánc (Spanish dance), Tarantella, Jota, Kínai Tánc (Chinese dance), the Mazurka, the Galop and Polka, danced both by foreign and Hungarian dance companies in Hungary.15

Round Dances in the Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Literature

14As presented above, we can determine a group of new, fashionable couple dances that appeared in Hungary from the 1790s onwards as social, recreational, representational, or stage dances. Among them, we can define some dance types that are partly of German, partly of Slavic (Polish-Czech) and partly of French origin, and show the characteristic features of the nineteenth-century couple dances listed in the Introduction to this volume The following part of this chapter focuses on these dances in particular. We introduce the results of the research in Hungary so far, and provide a selection of the most relevant sources.

15The first signs of a scholarly way of thinking about dance and about the newly fashionable dances can be found in the writings published in the periodicals of the first half of the nineteenth century, parallel with and shortly after the appearance of these dances in social life.

16The main topics of the contemporary discourse among the first ‘experts’ (journalists, actors, writers, historians, etc.) were the national characteristics of the Hungarian dances, and the features differentiating them from the so called ‘foreign’ dances. The laconic remarks and short descriptions regarding the ‘foreign’ dances were summarised by Réthei Prikkel Marián (1871–1925) in his book, A magyarság táncai [Dances of Hungarians] published in 1924. He dedicated to them two separate chapters: ‘Hungarians and the foreign dances’ and ‘Fight against the foreign dances’. Réthei’s ideas about the connection between social dances in the Hungarian dance culture are presented in the introduction of his book:

  • 16 Réthei, A magyarság táncai, pp. 2–3. Translation from the Hungarian by László Felföldi.

I imagine the dances of Hungarians as a tree, the trunk of which is constituted by the folk dances, that is the ancient, original way of their dancing. The branches of the tree represent those peculiar dances which grew out from the trunk, or foreign dances ‘merged’ into the trunk and transformed into Hungarian. Besides, we may find dances which grow beside the tree, neither coming from it, nor being merged into it. I cannot omit either of them from the book, because historical data prove that they became fashionable among Hungarians, although their character could not become Hungarian.16

17In the aforementioned chapters, Réthei collects and evaluates all the historical evidence available to him in connection with the European fashion dances spreading in Hungary. The nineteenth-century couple dances are represented by twelve items of data. Four of them date back to the end of the eighteenth century and the others to the first decades of the nineteenth. The short remarks, musical notes, iconographic materials, epic poems, and political writings listed by Réthei were part of a nationwide social discourse about the ‘Hungarian dance’ that lasted more than a century. Additionally, he supplemented the historical data with valuable ethnographic information about the spreading of these dances among the peasantry in Hungary during the second half of the nineteenth century. As a result, these parts of his book became more complex and scholarly than any other previous writing on this topic. However, we have to take into consideration that Réthei was himself biased by the ideas of nineteenth-century patriots — the authors of these sources — and his book was also dedicated to this issue.

  • 17 Bence Szabolcsi, Népzene és történelem (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1954).
  • 18 Olga Szentpál, ‘Keringő és polka a a 19. században. Táncrekonstrukció Cellarius táncmester leírása (...)
  • 19 Tobias Norlind, ‘Adatok a keringő és a polka történetéhez’, in Emlékkönyv Kodály Zoltán 60. születé (...)

18From the beginning of the twentieth century, dance historians Emil Haraszti (1887–1958), Olga Szentpál (1895–1968), Rózsi Vályi (1907– 1997), Edit Kaposi (1923–2006), László Maácz (1929–1998), Klára B. Egey (1910-?70), and Iván Vitányi (1925-?), paid some attention to nineteenth-century couple dances. As for the music of these dances, historian Bence Szabolcsi has contributed substantially to the research on this topic.17 Among dance historians, Olga Szentpál and Edit Kaposi did most to promote more comprehensive, in-depth analysis of the source material, notably with Olga Szentpál’s book A Csárdás: a magyar nemzeti társastánc a 19. század első felében [Csárdás: The Hungarian national social dance in the first half of the nineteenth century]. Published in 1954, it provides more than one hundred historical sources (texts, pictures, musical notes) about Csárdás, which has a similar history to the nineteenth-century couple dances and in some sense belongs to the same class as these. Due to the nature of the historical sources, the book constitutes a treasure trove of evidence about nineteenth-century couple dances as well. That is to say, in many of the written documents, Csárdás is characterised by comparison with the Waltz, the Polka, the Galop, and so on; ‘foreign’ dances that competed with the Hungarian national dance in the ballrooms. Although the evaluation of these dances is negative, with careful interpretation, researchers can gain good information about these so-called ‘foreign’ dances: their popularity, socio-cultural features, and the particular ways they were danced. Olga Szentpál focused on Csárdás. She did not place special emphasis on the study of the Waltz, the Polka, and the others, but she did collect material that proved to be useful for further research. In the 1950s, members of the research group on Historical Social Dances of the State Ballet Institute in Budapest, headed by Olga Szentpál, made several reconstructions based on dance masters’ books. From the nineteenth century they chose ‘Valse à trois temps’ and the Polka from Henry Cellarius’ manual La Danse des Salons (published in Paris in 1847). The scientific reconstruction based on these two dances was published in Táncművészeti Értesítő [Bulletin of the Dance Arts] in 1956.18 It served both educational and scientific purposes. Reconstructions contributed to the precision of the formal-structural features of these dances. Foreign dance historians enriched the literature, such as Tobias Norlind with his article, published in Hungary, on the history of the Waltz and the Polka, dedicated in honour of Zoltán Kodály’s sixtieth birthday in 1943.19

  • 20 Edit Kaposi, ‘Egy híres táncos önéletírása: Szőllősy Szabó Lajos’, Táncművészet, 4 (1955), 154–56; (...)
  • 21 Edit Kaposi, ’A magyar társastánc szakirodalom forráskritikai vizsgálata I.’, Tánctudományi Tanulmá (...)

19From the 1970s to the 1990s, Edit Kaposi’s research focused on the history of social dances; the activities of dancing masters; dance masters’ books; the life and career of nineteenth-century Hungarian dancers and dance masters; and scenes of dancing in theatres and ballrooms. Her comprehensive articles address the history of European and Hungarian dance teaching as a craft from the fifteenth to the twentieth century. They give a wide panorama of the topic, with numerous interesting details contextualised in the political, social and cultural situation of the period.20 With the critical analysis and publication of the social dance literature — mainly dance masters’ books (not only by Hungarians) — she created a firm basis for the further investigation of this field of research.21 Being based in ethnography in Budapest University, she was sensitive to the socio-cultural relatedness and cross-cultural features of the social dances, and in her field research she paid special attention to them.

  • 22 Ernő Pesovár, A magyar páros táncok (Budapest: Planétás, 1997).
  • 23 Ernő Pesovár ‘A csárdás kialakulásának szakaszai és típusai’, Ethnographia, 48 (1985), 17–29; Pesov (...)
  • 24 Ernő Pesovár, ‘A lengyel táncok hatása a reformkorban’, Néprajzi Értesítő, 47 (1965), 159–77.
  • 25 László Felföldi, ‘Táncábrázolások az abszolutizmus és kiegyezés korabeli kottás kiadványok címlapja (...)

20In the 1950s, György Martin and Ernő Pesovár studied social dances and their derivatives among the lower classes in a wider historical and geographical framework. Among others, Ernő Pesovár dealt with social dances (also from the nineteenth century) and their affinity to (or isolation from) the couple dances practised in Hungary.22 He revised the previous understanding of the genesis of the Csárdás by a reinterpretation of the historical couple-dance sources from the end of the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth century.23 He paid special attention to the impact of Polish dance on life in the first half of the nineteenth century.24 I myself contributed to this research with the discovery of some new historical documents and the reinterpretation of some lesser known ones related to the nineteenth-century social dances.25 Martin put more emphasis on determining the place of the dances (deriving from the nineteenth-century couple dances and practised in local communities in the twentieth century) in the system of Hungarian folk dances. In his classification, Martin created a special category for them, beyond the old and new stylistic layers. He claims:

  • 26 György Martin, Magyar tánctípusok és táncdialektusok (Budapest: Népművelési Propaganda Iroda, 1970) (...)

We rank the dances of foreign origin (mostly of Western European, noble, bourgeois or dance-master’s-school origin, which were practised in some strata of the peasantry, in one generation or more, temporarily and regionally) into a mixed layer of the Hungarian dance culture. The criterion belonging to this stylistic layer is not simply their obvious foreign provenance, but the limited degrees of their assimilation, folklorisation and spreading. These dances preserved their original form, and music of their own. Their style is totally different from that of our old- and new-style dances.26

  • 27 Ferenc Pesovár, ‘Táncmesterek a szatmári falvakban’, Tánctudományi Tanulányok, 1959–1960 (1960), 30 (...)
  • 28 Tamás Hofer, ‘A magyar népi kultúra történeti rétegei és európai helyzete’, in Martin György emléke (...)

21Ferenc Pesovár (Ernő’s Pesovár younger brother) also contributed to the topic by the presentation of historical forms of dance mastery and dance events.27 Historical anthropologist Tamás Hofer assisted dance researchers to contextualise these phenomena in the socio-cultural changes of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.28

  • 29 Színészeti lexikon, 2 vols, ed. by Németh Antal (Budapest: Győző Andor kiadása, 1930).
  • 30 Horst Köegler, Balett lexikon (Budapest: Zeneműkiadó, 1977); Magyar táncművészeti lexikon, ed. by D (...)
  • 31 Magyar Néprajzi Lexikon, 5 vols, ed. by Ortutay Gyula (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1978–1982).

22Among lexicons related to dance, the Színészeti Lexikon I–II [Theatrical Lexicon] published in 193029 deserves most attention. Pálfy György, dance historian and writer of ten to fifteen entries on the Waltz, the Polka, the Mazurka, the Galop, the Ecossaise, and the Cotillion, used the available international and Hungarian literature, though unfortunately without detailed references. He dedicated a separate entry to the social dances, which he named ‘Modern Szóló Táncok’ [Modern solo dances] and in which he gives an overview of the socio-cultural background and changing mentality behind the social dances in comparison with stage dance, modern dance and sport. Other professional lexicons (Balett lexikon, Magyar táncművészeti lexikon)30 published in the twentieth century paid less attention to these dance forms, except for the Ethnographic Lexicon. Ernő Pesovár and Ferenc Pesovár, writers of the entries on nineteenth-century couple dances in the Hungarian Ethnographic Lexicon, volumes 1–5 (1978–1982),31 group them under the name ‘Bourgeois social dances’ or ‘Bourgeois fashion dances’. They give relatively detailed information about their history and ethnographic features (spreading, social function in the local communities, activity of dance masters etc) in Hungary.

  • 32 Dóka, Krisztina, ‘19. századi társastáncok a magyar paraszti tánckultúrában’, Tánctudományi Közlemé (...)

23In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, young dance researchers became more interested in the investigation of nineteenth-century couple dances.32 Hopefully, this will lead to the formation of a separate research field on this topic. The hundred or so documents discovered and published so far (one third from between 1790–1850) and the scientific knowledge accumulated in these books and articles may be a good basis for this.

Selected and Annotated Source Catalogue

24The next passage contains documents representing the most characteristic types, and thematic groups, of sources about nineteenth-century couple dances. Written texts, such as public or scientific papers, reports on balls, personal letters, dance masters’ books, or literature, are the most common. Iconographic material, like engravings of dance events or portrayals of the Waltz, the Polka, the Mazurka, or the Quadrille on, for example, the front page of the printed musical scores, is not so widespread, but this makes it all the more interesting to researchers. There is also a collection of musical scores, both with and without text. The written sources and the titles of other kinds of documents were translated by the author.

Written Sources

No. 1: Description of a Ball in Pest (Fragment) from 1790

25(Gvadányi, József) Egy falusi nótáriusnak budai utazása, melyet önnön maga abban esett viszontagságaival együtt az elaludt vérű magyar szivek felserkentésére és mulatságára e versekbe foglalt [A Village Clerk’s Journey to Buda, Put into Verse in Order to Refresh and Entertain ‘Sleepy’ Hungarian Hearts, Including his Adventures on the Way] [n.a.] (Pozsony és Komárom: Wéber Simon Péter, 1790), p. 29.

A táncok többnyire álla keringésből
The dances consisted mostly of whirling,
forgószél port mint hajt, olyan tekergésből,
like a whirlwind driving dust,
gondoltam: virradtig sok meghal ezekből,
I thought: they would die at dawn,
Guta következik a fej-szédülésből.
from a stroke caused by dizzyness.

tAz én iffiúm is közöttök fetrengett ,
My son was whirling among them,
Egy csínos lyánkával, mint többi, keringett,
with a nice girl like the others.
Izzadt vólt; mondotta, mindjárt vesz más inget.
He sweated so heavily, that he had to
úgy is tett, hogy éppen csúf táncnak vége lett.
change his shirt at the end of this ugly dance.

Kérdém— ‘Uram! ugyan mi neve e táncnak?
I ask: — ‘Sir, what is the name of this dance?
Mert egyszer, keringős hogy lett ökröm, annak
Once my ox was ill, it was whirling
szint ilyen tánca vólt, mint itten forganak,
like the people are whirling here.
Az is csak keringett, itten sem ugranak’.
It was similarly whirling without jumping’.

Felelt— ‚Uram! hívják eztet voltzerisnek,
Answer: — ‘Sir, its name is: voltzerish.
Voltzen kallót tészen, s természete ennek
Valzen means wool mill, which
szűntelen forgani, mint malomkeréknek,
turns endlessly like a mill-wheel.
kalló-tánc ez tehát, melybe keringenek.
Namely, it is Kalló-tánc, where they turn.

‘Higgye az úr nékem, hogy lészen az nagy kár,
‘Believe me, Sir, it is unfortunate
hogyha el nem megyen, egy voltzerist nem jár,
if you do not dance a voltzerish.
Ama dáma olyan könnyű, mint a madár,
that lady is so light, like a bird,
vigye el: mert látom, hogy csak az úrra vár’.
take her; she is waiting only for you’.

‘Uram! bolondgombát még sohase ettem,
‘Sir, I am not crazy. I have never danced,
mint a bódúlt marha, nem is keringettem;
like a dazed cattle; I have not been whirling.
Ha táncoltam, tehát igaz táncot tettem,
If I ever danced, I did a real dance,
melyből a fejembe szédűlést nem vettem.
which did not make my head dizzy’.

26Comments: The writer of this epic poem, József Gvadányi, a Hungarian poet (1725–1801), is a representative of the radical nationalist lower nobility. His work (first published in 1790) is a good example of the initial reception the new fashionable dance — Voltseris (Hungarian pronunciation: Valtserish) — received when it came from Vienna. The main hero of the poem is attending a ball held in Pest, in Hét Kurfürst fogadó (a restaurant with hotel and a ballroom, named ‘dance palace’) where the multi-ethnic dancers came from the middle classes and the aristocratic circles. He evaluates the Valceris from the perspective of a village man having his first experience of it in the town. He characterises it with vulgar words and describes it in an ironic way. The dancers, among them his son, are portrayed in similar tone. In addition, he gives a detailed, realistic description of the ballroom, the dancers and their dresses. He emphasises the intensive whirling and jumping as the main features of the dance, and also mentions the ‘Kontradanz’ [contradance] elsewhere in the poem.

No. 2: Comparison of German, French, and Hungarian ‘National’Dances in a Poem of Classical, Metrical Style from 1811

27Dániel Berzsenyi, ‘A táncok’ [‘Dances’], in Berzsenyi Dániel összes versei, ed. by Merényi Oszkár (Budapest: Szépirodalmi Könyvkiadó, 1982), p. 134.

Nézd a tánc nemeit, mint festik játszi ecsettel
Perceive the various dances, how they mirror, with playful brush,
A népek lelkét s nemezetek ízleteit.
The folks’ soul and the nations’ taste.
A német hármas lépéssel lejtve kering le,
The German is whirling with triple steps
S párját karja közé zárja s lebegve viszi.
He embraces his partner and carries her as if floating.
Egyszerű a német mindenben, s csendesen örvend,
The German is simple in everything, having fun silently,
Egyet ölel mindig, s állhatatos szerető.
He always embraces the same women and is a faithful lover.
A gallus fellengve szökik, s enyelegve kacsingat,
The Gallic jumps high-flown with flirting winks,
Párt vált, csalfa kezet majd ide, majd oda nyújt:
He changes partner, with deceitful hands here and there:
Ez heves és virgonc, örömében gyermeki nyájas
He is passionate and agile, delighted at everything, like a child.
Kényeiben repdez, s a szerelmbe’ kalóz.
He flatters in high spirits, and he is a pirate in love.
A magyar egy Pindár: valamerre ragadja negéde,
The Hungarian is a Pindar: when his enthusiasm takes him
Lelkesedett tűzzel nyomja ki indulatit.
His feelings burn like fire.
Majd lebegő szellő, szerelemre olvad epedve,
Then he melts into longing for love, like a soft breeze
S buja hevét kényes mozdulatokba szövi;
And he weaves his enthusiasm into delicate movements.
Majd maga fellobbanva kiszáll a bajnoki táncra
Then he gets to martial dance
(Megveti a lyánykát a diadalmi dagály),
(The woman is taken by the fighting spirit as well)
S rengeti a földet: Kinizsit látsz véres ajakkal
The earth quakes under his feet: You see a ‘Kinizsi’ with bloody lips
A testhalmok közt ugrálni hőseivel.
Jumping among the dead bodies together with his heroes.
Titkos törvényit mesterség nem szedi rendbe,
Its secret rules are not tamed by dance masters,
Csak maga szab törvényt, s lelkesedése határt.
Only the dancer creates rules, and his enthusiasm inscribes limits.
Ember az ki magyar tánchoz jól terme, örüljön!
He, who has talent for Hungarian dance, let him be glad!
Férfierő s lelkes szikra hevíti erét.
His blood is filled with manliness and sparks of zeal.

  • 33 Pesovár A magyar tánctörténet évszázadai p. 95. Pál Kinizsi (1413?-94) was a famous general in the (...)

28Comments: Dániel Berzsenyi (1775–1836), a Hungarian poet, represents the educated and creative landowners who participated actively in cultural and political life. His aim in this poem is to depict and emphasise differences in the characteristic features of German, French and Hungarian ways of dancing. He intended to show how dances harmonise with the national character of different peoples. The German way, with its triple basic step, whirling character and ‘simple’ structure might describe the Waltz — the German national dance — which was already well known in Hungary in 1811, at the time of the genesis of the poem. French people were famous for their Quadrille, contra dance, Galop, and Cotillion, executed in a passionate, agile and delightful way as regulated, collective couple dances. The Hungarian way of dancing is represented as a free, unregulated solo male and couple dance with high emotions in a rapturous mood. It was known as the national dance of Hungarians inside and outside Hungary. By mentioning Pindaros (Pindar in the poem), the Greek poet (c. 522/518–422/438 BC), famous for his passion for dance and dance songs, Berzsenyi refers to the similar zeal for dance on the part of the Hungarians. Recalling Kinizsi Pál’s dance on the battle field in 1478 against the Turkish army, he confirms the heroic character of the Hungarian national dance.33

No. 3: Journalistic Feuilleton Concerning the Characteristic Features, Social Position, and Necessity for Regulation of the ‘Magyar Nemzeti Tánc’ [Hungarian National Dance]

29Balla Károly, ‘A’ Magyar nemzeti Tánczról’ [On Hungarian National Dance], Tudományos Gyűjtemény, 7 (1823), 85–106.

  • 34 Pp. 86–87.
  • 35 P. 95.

… A’ honnan a mái pallérozott nemzetek, kiknek tánczok eleinte szinte darabos és rendetlen vala, annyira igyekeztek tánczaikat kipallérozni ’s határok közé szorítani, hogy többnyirő a’ maga tökéletessége grádusát már már mindenik elérte; ’s bár az emberiségbe oltott tarkaságon való kapás, az idegen tánczokat is járatja velek; de mindeniknek önnön táncza azelső, ’ s egy sincs ki benne ne büszélkedne. Annyival inkább minél bizonyosabb az, hogy az idegen nemzetek szokásainak követéséből, minden csalatás nélkül sokat veszt ’a Nemzetiség; és csak az látszik legtisztább nemzetnek, kinek nyelve, öltözete, törvénye és szokása a’ többi Nemzetekétől leginkább különböznek.
Az idegen Quadril’t, Cotilliont, Ecossoisét, Mazúrt ’s t. e’ f. gúnyolni nem célom: mivel azok a Nemzeti muzsikákhoz lévén alkalmazva, a’ hangoknak megfelelnek, de dicsérnem is bajos, ha csak előbb meg nem mutatnám, hogy a’ szeles test-fintorgatások a’ lélek’ nemes tüzének külső jelei. Hogy azonban ezeknek táncolása, némi-nemű hozzájok hasonló nyomot hágy a lélekben is, azt némely mazúrkás ifjaink tapasztaltatják, kikben a’ nemzeti fő bélyeg már már lengeség. Annyival inkább, hogy ezen tánczokhoz Medvenadrág vagyis Bolondon (pantallon), Csizma helyett holnap czipő: nyakravaló helyett vörös Schal; és kalap helyett főkötő kívántatván, még akkor sem fogja az eltanúlt gyermek felhúzni a sarkantyús csizmát és mentét, ha a’ magyar nemes név’ elvesztésével ijesztgetik.34
[…] megilletődve tapasztalám egy magyar faluba, midőn egy kegyetlen bőgős a’ kemencze torkán egy német nótát, a’gatyás és rásaszoknyás köztársaság pedig a’ német tánczot nyaggatták. Mit csinálsz Zsiga! mondám, miért nyomorgatjátok a levegőt? A sötét képű prímás, ki már verejtékezett a’ nehéz munkába: Kegyelmes Uram! úgymond, a’ Nagyságos földes Uraktól tanulták paraszt Uramék őkelmék. Szemébe inték ekkor a Falu urának; ki elkomolyúlt; s’ 20 forintot adott az igazság szembe való mondásáért. —ALagzi számára pedig 50 fltot ajándékozván: kifordúltunk; hogy már a magyar paraszt is mit csinál — s ki ennek az oka? — azon töprenkedve.35

  • 36 That is, the dancers.

[For the civilised nations of today, their own dance is best and they are all proud of it; they tried to regulate their dance and keep it within limits, so that it could reach perfection, and they dance the foreign dances as well, following the natural human instinct to be fond of diversity. It is becoming more and more evident that practising the customs of the foreign nations, without a doubt, harms a nation; and only that nation seems to be immaculate, whose language, costume, law and customs are most different from the others.
I do not want to make fun of the foreign Quadrille, Cotillion, Ecossoise, Mazur, since they are well applied to their national music, but I can hardly praise them, unless I first prove that their windy ‘body-grimacings’ are expressions of the fire of their soul. We may experience it in the case of our youngsters who subscribe to mazur-mania, whose national mark has almost already disappeared. What is more, for these dances, people have to wear medvenadrág [Bear-trousers] or bolondon [pants]; put on shoes instead of boots; instead of a necktie they wear a red schal [scarf] and instead of the hat, they have the bonnet; and these spoiled young men cannot be forced to put on boots with spurs and mente [a short fur-lined coat], even if they are threatened with the loss of their noble ‘Hungarian’ name.
[…] I was surprised in a Hungarian village, that on the top of the oven an ugly bass player is playing German music, and that the ‘re-public’36 in gatya [white linen culottes] and in rasha [half-linen type of textile] skirts are aping the German dance. ‘What are you doing, Zsiga?’ — I ask — ‘Why do you afflict the air?’ The dark-faced primate sweating because of the hard work, says: ‘Your Excellency! The peasant “excellencies” learn it from the honourable landlords’. I looked at the landlord of the village inquiringly. He frowned, and gave twenty forints to the primate for telling the truth. Moreover, he presented fifty forints to the participants of the wedding, and at last we left the place meditating on what the peasants were doing, and who can be blamed for it.]

30Comments: Balla Károly (mándi) (1792–1873) is a poet, writer and publicist, correspondent of numerous journals and newspapers in Hungary and in Vienna, who dealt with very diverse topics, from sociocultural matters to economic and political issues. His article, published in the Tudományos Gyüjtemény (Scientific Collection, a monthly periodical published between 1817 and 1941), is a kind of polemic essay about the problems with the Hungarian national dance. As we can see from the above quotation, he was of the opinion that Hungarians ought to regulate their national dance after the model of the other nations in Europe. He raises the question of the responsibility of the national elite for the increasing decline of their traditional dances among the peasant communities, in favour of the foreign, fashionable dances.

No. 4: Characterisation of the Hungarian Dance Compared to the Contemporary Fashion Dances Coming from Abroad (Fragment) from 1831

31August Ellrich, Die Ungarn wie sie sind. Charakter-Schilderung dieses Volkes in seinen Verhältnissen und Gesinnungen (Berlin: In der Fereins Buchhandlung, 1831), pp. 142–3.

Schritte, Toure, Bewegungen, Attitüden sind willkürlich, dem Genie, dem Geschmacke der Tanzenden überlassen. Man schreitet nicht in regelmässigen, abgezirkelten Schritten, eins, zwei, drei und vier, auf und nieder wie im Menuett, es ist nich das monotone Drehdichum des Walzers, es ist ein freier, durch irgend eine Idee belebter Tanz. Die Leute macht nie bummere Gesichter als da sie Menuet Tanzen oder walzen, und das ist natürlich: Mann siecht nie belebtere, geistvollere Menschenäntliche, als im ungarischen Tanze, und das it wieder ganz natürlich, denn der ungarische Tanz ist Poesie, der Walzer, Das Menuett sind mechanische Gewerbe. Der Mechaniker kann ein Automat machen, welches vortrefflich Menuet tanzt und übertrefflich walzt, aber er kann keines machen, welches ungarisch tanzt, oder eine Arie komponirt […] Das Minenspiel solcher ungarisher Tänzer is eben so admirable als das Spiel ihrer Füsse.

[Dancers execute their steps, turnings, movements, attitudes according to their own talent and taste. This is not regulated, reserved stepping: one, two, three and four, up and down, as in the Minuet, and not incessant turning like the Waltz; this is a free dance in which an idea is living. People do not make such silly faces as they do when dancing the Minuet or the Waltz, and this is self-evident. Faces are never and nowhere so vivid and enthusiastic as in the Hungarian dance, and this also obvious, because the Hungarian dance is poetry; the Waltz and the Minuet are mechanical products. An engineer is able to make a robot that dances the Minuet and the Waltz in a splendid way, but he cannot make one for the Hungarian dance and cannot compose such music. […] The facial expressions of these Hungarian dancers are as magnificent as the movements of their legs.]

  • 37 Kohl, Georg Johann, Hundert Tage auf Reisen in den östereichischen Staten (Dresden und Leipzig: in (...)
  • 38 Arthur Patterson, The Magyars: Their Country and Institution (London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1869).
  • 39 Victor Tissot, La Hongrie: De l’Adriatique au Danube: Impressions de voyage (Paris: Plon, 1883).
  • 40 Margaret Fletcher, Sketches of Life and Character in Hungary (, New York: Macmillan and Co, 1892).
  • 41 Albert Chervinszki, Geschichte der Tanzkunst bei den cultivirten Volkern (Leipzig: Velagbuchshandlu (...)

32Comments: August Ellrich (whose real name was Albin Johann Baptist von Meddlhammer, 1777–1838) was a German writer and traveller, who gave detailed accounts about the culture and way of life of the Austrian Monarchy, including Hungary. He paid special attention to dances, and to the theatrical life of Hungary. He appreciated the freedom and poetic quality of Hungarian dance, in contrast to the regulatedness and mechanic features of the Menuett and the Walzer. Some other foreign travellers who noticed the distinctiveness of Hungarian dances include George Johann Kohl (1808–1878), a German geographer;37 Arthur Patterson (1835–1899), an English writer and teacher of the English language;38 Victor Tissot (1845–1917), a French writer of Swiss origin;39 Margaret Fletcher (1862–1943), an English writer and religious activist;40 and, finally, Albert Czerwinski, a dance historian who also witnessed dances when he happened to be in Hungary, and wrote about them in the same style as Ellrich and the others.41

No. 5: On the Differences between Hungarian and ‘Modish’ Dances. Fragment from a Letter Sent by Dániel Berzsenyi, Poet and Nobleman, to Count István Széchenyi, Politician and Patriot, written in Nikla, 1830

33Published in Berzsenyi Dániel, Összes Művei [The Complete Works of Daniel Berzsenyi] collected by Oszkár Merényi (Budapest: Szépirodalmi kiadó 1956), p. 688.

[…] A mi táncaink nem két-három gyermekes lépdelésbül állanak, mint a mostani módi táncok, melyeket egy-két napon belül megtanulunk, harmadikon pedig egyforma, gyermekes, lelketlen volta miatt meg is ununk; hanem olyan célerányosak, hogy azoknak tanulása egész ifjúságunkban dolgot adott, s aesthetiás természeteik szerint olyan kedvesek, hogy azok bennünk passzióvá válnak, s azáltal a barátságnak, nyájasságnak ösztönei lesznek. S tapasztaljuk, hogy azokkal fogy a barátság, mert saját táncainkat elfeledtük; az idegent pedig nem szeretjük, s megszűnt muzsikánk. Ez pedig a görögöknél nagy szó vala, s annyit tett, mint a legfőbb oskolának — a társalkodásnak romlása.

[[…] Our dances do not consist of two or three childish steps, as do the fashionable dances of today, which we learn in one or two days, and on the third day we get bored of them because of their shallow, childish character. Our dances are so purposive that we make ourselves master them throughout all of our youth; and because of the aesthetic nature of our dances, they are so good for us that they become our passion, and with that comes the motivation to make friendships and good relationships with others. Now we realise that good relations are coming to an end, because we have forgotten our dances; we do not like the foreign ones; our music has disappeared. And this was a significant word for the Greeks, and it meant the destruction of the supreme school — the social life.]

34Comments: As this letter proves, national dance was a theme in the correspondence among the cultural and national elite (mainly noblemen). Count István Széchenyi (1791–1860), a landowner, politician, and outstanding figure of the political and cultural life in Hungary, was an expert on the economy and finance. However, as an educated aristocrat and patriot, his field of interests also covered literature, philosophy, and several socio-cultural questions as well. Dániel Berzsenyi (1776–1836) was a poet and writer dealing with the Harmony thesis of the classical Greek philosophers, and he intended to apply this to the fields of the Hungarian language and literature, music, and dance. His ideas were explained in detail in his essay ‘Poetai harmonistica’ in 1833. In his opinion, in the world of arts, the only constant component is Harmony, regardless of whether the artistic piece is the product of Classicism, Romanticism or something else. His letter to Széchenyi reflects this mentality.

No. 6: Short Presentation of Some National Dances in Europe with Arguments for Their Correspondence with National Characters. Opinion about the Regulation of the National Social Dances from 1841

35Vahot Imre, ‘Nemzeti társastánczunk, tánczzenénk és öltözetünk ügyében’ [‘About our Social Dance, our Dance Music and our National Costume’], Athenaeum, 2 (1841), 859–62.

  • 42 P. 859.

[…] milly szépen mutatkozik a tánczok külön féle nemeiben minden egyes nép és nemzet sajátos jelleme; mennyire érdekes például a quadrilleben egyszerre megismerni a franczia heves, könnyű, finom, udvarias jellemét, a walzerben a német bárány kedélyét, gyáriasan egyidomú, fáradságos, de czéltalan életét, a tarantelltáncban az olasz dühét, a mazurban a lengyel örökös éber lelkesedését, a bonekkatánczban a szép görög nők fölötte víg természetét, vagy az Európába is áthurczolt bayaderek eleven testmozgásaiban a hindu nép magasztos vallásosságát.42

  • 43 Pp. 860–61.

[…] Nincs itt egyéb kérdés, mint az: valljon úgy amint meg volt kezdve, tovább is minden szabály nélkül s csak természetesen tánczolják azt, vagy kissé rendbe szedve? — Mindenesetre ez utóbbit kell választani, mert a puszta természetesség ugyan magában szép is lehet, a művészi természetesség még szebb. Azonban nemzeti társastáncunk szabályozása csak olly feltételek alatt engedhető meg, ha az által eredeti sajátosságából, egyszerű szépségéből legkissebet sem veszt, s holmi feszes, cifra torzfigurákkal el nem rontatik, sőt ellenkezőleg, ha könnyű hajlékony természeténél fogva, a szábályzó által oly széppé alakíttatik, hogy művészi becsben valamennyi társastánczot felülmúlja.43

[[…] It is so nice, how the individual character of each people and nation are represented in the different varieties of dance. How interesting, for example, to discover the passionate, easy, gentle and polite nature of the French in the Quadrille; the lamb-like temperament and tedious, tiresome but aimless life of the Germans in the Walzer; the fury of Italians in the Tarantella; the constant burning enthusiasm of the Polish people in the Mazur; the cheerful nature of the nice Greek women; or the exalted piety of the Hindu people in the lively movements of the bayadères, who were forced to come to Europe.

[…] The only question here is whether it (Hungarian social dance) should be executed as before, without any rules, naturally, or in a slightly regulated form? At any rate, the latter should be chosen, because mere naturalness might be nice in itself, but artistic naturalness is even more beautiful. Regulation of our national social dance could be permitted only under conditions which do not deprive it of even the smallest part of its original features and simple beauty, and if it is not spoiled with strange, deformed figures; on the contrary though, it might also be spoiled if the regulator, knowing its easy, flexible character, makes it so excessively beautiful that it surpasses all the other social dances in artistic qualities.]

36Comments: Vahot Imre (1820–1879) was a public-spirited Hungarian lawyer, writer, dramatist, editor of periodicals and one of the main figures of the cultural life of the middle of the nineteenth century. He published his polemic writing on the matter of national dances, music and costume in the Athenaeum, the most influential periodical of political opposition that was active between 1837 and 1843. It was the mouthpiece of the urban middle-class people who had characteristic national anti-Habsburg feelings, and criticised the ideas of the aristocrats. His ideas became very popular for almost a decade, and inspired the Hungarian dance, musicians and other members of the cultural elite to create art in this spirit.

No. 7: Description of the Csárdás (Chardash) Dance and Dance Music Compared with Other Fashion Dances, Written by Arthur J. Patterson

37Arthur J. Patterson, The Magyars: Their Country and Institutions, 2 vols (London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1869), I, Chapter 9, pp. 195–96.

This dance is a peasant’s dance, yet I do not know that I have ever seen it danced better or with more spirit than in middle-class circles in the country. Since the policy taken up by the Viennese Government after the revolutionary war drove the greater part of the Hungarian aristocracy into opposition to the court, this dance has been admitted into the balls of the haute voleé in Pest. But like other European aristocracies, the Hungarian is too denationalised and too self-conscious to surrender itself wholly to the enthusiasm which is the soul of this dance. Well as the countesses and baronesses dance, one misses, in their csárdás, the abandon of the wives and daughters of their stewards and attorneys. A lady who had been educated at Vienna said to me, « Je n’aime pas le csárdás; pour le danser bien il faut être très-coquette ».

But it would be indeed inexcusable were I here to omit to notice the musicians, upon whom so much of the Hungarian’s enjoyment depends. In Hungary ’no amusement without the gypsy’ has passed into a proverb. In some of the principal balls of the Carnival at Pest, where the csárdás alternates with dances of more European celebrity, two bands are provided, one of Bohemians, the other of gypsies. As long as it was a question of quadrilles, waltzes, & c., the Tshekhs were the performers; but as often as the turn of the csárdás came round, they remained quiet, and the music was given by the swarthy children of India.

38Comments: Arthur J. Patterson (1835–1899) was a writer, university professor and correspondent for several British journals and newspapers. Between 1862 and 1867 he stayed in Hungary and collected material for his book The Magyars, published in 1869 in London. This short passage from the detailed description of the Csárdás shows that he paid much attention to the socio-political and ethnic relations of the country. He emphasises that, although it is a peasant-dance, it became popular among middle-class people, and it temporarily became widely favoured by the aristocracy as well. He mentions only the ‘unregulated’ form of the Csárdás, which could be explained by the domination of the free, improvisatory form in the 1850s and 1860s. He depicts the situation in the big balls of Pest, where the organisers hired two kinds of music bands: Bohemian musicians for the Quadrille, the Waltz and other dances of ‘European celebrity’, and gypsy bands for the Csárdás.

Iconographic Material

Fig. 7.1 Pollencig József, Grosser Ball bey Sv. Kőnigh Hoheit de Palatins Ofen den 11ten Februar 1795 [Great Ball held by His Royal Highness of Palatine], 11 February 1795. Paper and gouache, 282 x 408 mm. Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest, Index number: 1930–2188. Image courtesy of Szépművészeti Múzeum.

39Comments: This picture portrays a ball of aristocrats, with a great number of participants in a luxurious, spacious room, decorated with rococo ornaments and magnificent chandeliers. The orchestra is located on a high pulpit in the left foreground (presumably ten fiddlers and flutists, noticeably not gypsies.) The space in front of the musicians is almost empty, so we can clearly see the closest dancers (three to four couples) and the onlookers (around twenty people, men and women who are standing, talking or sitting by the wall). The other participants are covered. We can distinguish only their heads in the picture, so we cannot positively say that they are dancing. The first dancing couple on the right-hand side is embracing each other in a face-to-face position. The right arm of the man is above the woman’s arm, and his hand touches her waist from the back. The left arm of the woman is under his, and her hand is placed on the same part of the man’s body. They hold each other with their other hand in a so-called Walzer position. The other two couples are holding each other with their arms in a side-by-side position. The women’s arms are above the men’s, and they hold their skirts with their other hands, as if they could stop the skirts from flying too high while turning. The costume of the participants is the fashionable ‘Hungarian’ aristocratic one. Some of the men are carrying swords, which would have been a curious sight for the visitors coming from abroad. Two figures in the front wear costumes like those of the lackeys in Vienna. One of them seems to be engaged with the musicians and the other with the dancers. The artist, Pollencig József (1763–1823), painter and engraver on copper, lived in Pest from 1787 to 1795. During his stay, he worked as an illustrator for periodicals and so he may have had direct experiences of the portrayed events. He was not a talented painter, but he was appreciated for commemorating the social life and architecture of Buda and Pest.

Fig. 7.2 Unknown artist, Bál a kis Redoute-ban [Ball in the small Redoute], c.1830. Coloured lithography. Historical Museum, Metropolitan Gallery in Budapest. Image courtesy of Budapesti Történeti Múzeum.

40Comments: The unknown artist portrays an aristocratic ball in luxurious (in the so-called Small Redoute) in Pest. The ballroom is decorated with classical half-columns, ceiling frescos, magnificent curtains, and both standing and hanging chandeliers (it was built between 1829 and 1832 in the Classical style). Musicians (about ten men with string and wind instruments) are playing on a gallery in the middle of the back wall. The event is not too crowded, with about twenty-five couples standing or sitting on benches or chairs around the room. In the foreground of the picture, around eight couples are situated facing the musicians, as if they are having a rest or waiting for the next dance. Women are sitting on chairs and men are standing behind or beside them talking to each other. In the background of the room, with their backs to the musicians (presumably Czechs), there stand five to six couples. Presumably, they are dancing, holding each other by the arm in a side-by-side position. From the left side, the men hold their partners by their left arm on their left side, and by their right arm on their right side. The men stand with their legs apart (in the second position). The participants’ costumes are of a new international fashion with trousers (pantaloons), shoes and jackets (presumably neckties). In the foreground, the central man wears a ‘frakk’ or tail-coat.

Fig. 7.3 Max Felix von Pauer, Pest-Budai bál [Ball in Pest-Buda]. From the collection: Original Skizzen aus Ungarn, 1837–1839. Paper and ink, 110 x 16 mm. Metropolitan Szabó Ervin Library of Budapest (FSZK). János Jajczay, Pest-Budai figurák a múlt század 30-as éveiből. Max Félix Pauer rajzai a Fővárosi Könyvtárban (Budapest: Stadtbibliothek, 1941), pp. 9–10. Image courtesy of Fővárosi Szabó Ervin Könyvtár, Budapest.

41Comments: The author of the picture is Max Felix von Pauer (1804-?), a German-born draughtsman and architect from Bavaria. He spent several years as an architect in Hungary in the 1830s. It was his pastime to commemorate contemporary Budapest through his drawings. He was interested mainly in the representatives of the lower social strata. As an artist, draughtsman, and architect, he did not idealise his experiences. His pictures are like his technical drawings: precise, naturalistic displays of the subject without any particular artistic ambitions. The black-and-white ink drawing here portrays a lower-middle-class ball, in a solidly decorated small hall, with a mixture of participants. Based on their costumes, we assume that some of them are soldiers, tradesmen, merchants, clerks, and servants. Judging by their movements, we presume that half of the twenty-five guests are dancing and half of them are talking or looking at the dancers. There are ten people on the high pulpit at the back wall of the hall, the majority of them being musicians: a violinist, a viola player, a bassist, a clarinettist, a drummer, and some other people who cannot be identified. The dancers (six couples) are moving around counter-clockwise in the room, which is graphically indicated by the artist with a broken curved line on the floor. Three of them (one on each side and one at the back) dance in a sideways position and hold each other by their inner arm. The women’s arm is under her partner’s. She puts her hand on the man’s waist; he holds her back at the shoulder blade. One couple in the middle consists of two women. The taller woman keeps her right hand on her own hip from the back, while the shorter woman embraces her partner at her shoulder-blade. Presumably they are dancing around. The couple on the right side at the back are dancing face-to-face with each other without physical contact. Both are concentrating on their leg movements. She rests her hands on her hips, and he keeps his left hand in the pocket of his trousers, his other hand not being visible. The role of the couple in the middle at the back (with the man wearing a fur coat) is unclear. It seems as if they are turning away from each other. It may also be the case that the woman is dancing alone. It is remarkable that some of the female participants wear spurs as well as the men. One of the male dancers has a pipe in his mouth.

Fig. 7.4 Unknown artist, Tánciskola [Dance school], 1845–1846. Lithography. Historical Museum, Metropolitan Gallery in Budapest. Ignácz Nagy, Magyar titok [Hungarian secret] (Pest: Hartleben Konrád Adolf, 1845– 1846), p. 258. Image courtesy of Budapesti Történeti Múzeum.

42Comments: This picture is an illustration from a novel by Ignácz Nagy (1810–1854), first published in 1845 in Pest. The event is happening in a petit-bourgeois milieu in Pest. The small room in the flat of the dance master serves to teach fourteen people (seven women and seven men). The rest of the people in the middle of the picture are the fiddler, who is the dance master himself; the clarinettist, from the neighbouring flat; and the author of the novel, standing at the door. They are portrayed in an ironic style with their shabby costumes, grotesque movements and ridiculous grimaces. The dancers are divided into two lines, facing each other. There seem to be four men and three women on the left side, and three men and four women on the right side. They are learning a French dance (a kind of contra dance) as the author informs the readers. He writes, on page 258:

Francia tánczot tanultak és nem magyart, s én ezért egyáltalán nem bírok neheztelni, mert ennek valóban nem annyira a tánckedvelők az okai, mint magok a tánczkedvelők tanítói, vagyis a magyar tánczmesterek, akik a szép magyar tánczot annyira kiferdíték, a magyar zene eredeti jelleméböl, hogy lábficamítás nélkül, alig lehet azt már eljárni. Mintha bizony tagrángásokban szépség rejlenék.

[They learnt a French dance and not Hungarian, but I cannot blame the dancers for it, because, to tell the truth, it is not the dancers but the teachers that are at fault for it, the dance masters themselves, who so deformed the nice Hungarian dance from the original of the Hungarian music that it can not longer be executed without spraining one’s foot. As if jerking one’s body were nice.]

43Irony is created by the surroundings — the empty, plain room — if we think of the pomp of the ballrooms. The writer continues, on page 261:

A két város hemzseg ily táncziskolától, s a reményteljes lyánykák, […] csapatonként barangolnak a művészet efféle csarnokaiban.

[The two towns (Buda and Pest) are filled with these dance schools, and the hopeful young girls […] go around in troops in these halls of art.]

Fig. 7.5 A playbill of the opera Hunyadi László composed by Ferenc Erkel, ‘father’ of the Hungarian national opera. Textbook written by Béni Egressy. The opera was premiered in the National Theatre in Pest, in 1844. The original playbill belongs to the collection of the Széchenyi István State National Library.

44Comments: Hunyadi László is the opera composed by Ferenc Erkel (1810– 1893), creator of the Hungarian national opera, as a genre. As conductor of the National Theatre, he was familiar with the operas by Cherubini, Auber, Bellini, Rossini, and Donizetti and he considered their style as a model for his compositions. He tried to amalgamate it with the style of verbunkos and the Hungarian traditional songs of that period. This happened also in the case of other masters, for example, the German Flotow, or the Polish Moniuszko, or the Czech Smetana, the Russian Glinka, who all respectively combined the musical characteristics of their own nation with Italian and/or French and German traditions. Hunyadi László, Erkel’s second opera premiered in 1844 in the National Theatre in Pest, is one of his best composition embodying his aspiration. The dance scene, named ‘Csárdás’, inserted into the Act 3 of the opera, titled ‘Ármány’ (Intrigue), mirrors the same ambitions followed by Tóth Soma, the probable choreographer as well. The kinetic style of the dance modelled that of the ‘Első Magyar Körtánc’ mentioned in later in this chapter. (In 1850, the title was changed to ‘Palotás’, which means ‘in the palace’ in sketchy translation.) At that time the dance scenes were integral parts of the operas, but they were rarely parts of the plot. They were inserted separately between two Acts or added to the end of the opera. In contrast, Erkel tried to give dramatic significance to the dance. Hunyadi László and Mária Garay, the main figures of the opera, are celebrating their forthcoming wedding with their young friends in the garden of the palace, while inside the palace, the king and his landlords are weaving a conspiracy for arresting and executing László. This situation gives the dance huge emotional charge. Since then, ‘Palotás’ has become very popular independently from the opera. It frequently plays the role of opening dance of national significance at the balls and other dance events, even today.

Fig. 7.6 The Polka Mazur, on the front-page of the publication with musical notes, 1864. 150 x 90 mm. Kränzchen-Souvenir, Polka Mazur für pianoforte von kapellmeister Josef Dubez (Pest: Rózsavölgyi & Comp., 1862). Image courtesy of the Library of the Liszt Ferenc Music Academy, Budapest.

45Comments: The picture illustrates a piece of music issued by the most popular music publisher (Rózsavölgyi & Comp.) in Hungary. The music of the Polka Mazur was composed in Vienna by Johann Dubez (1828– 1891) (not Josef Dubez, as printed), the famous Austrian composer and virtuoso music player. The artist (or graphic designer) is not indicated on the front page, but we assume that it was Vilmos Tatzelt, the so-called ‘resident graphic designer’ for the publisher between 1860 and 1864. The picture portrays an evening ball from the perspective of the open gates of a restaurant or hotel, the location of the dance. We can see the garden of the restaurant with some guests just arriving, and others sitting at the tables on both sides under the trees. The dance might occur inside the building (which has a colonnade and a tympanum in the classical style, and a flag on the top of the roof). Some people might be dancing outside as well, under the trees on the left-hand side, but we cannot be sure because of the small size of the image (115 x 90mm). The whole picture is framed by a decorative wooden construction similar to a greenhouse, and the text crowds around the picture. The publication serves as a ball gift (kränzchen-souvenir), as is written on the top of the front page. In the 1860s, these kinds of musical publications — with light dance music in an easy piano forte arrangement — were very popular and appropriate for making music at home. The dance music that was published most often was Csárdás, but the Polka, the Polka Mazur, the Mazurka, the Waltz, and the Quadrille featured as well. This fashion came from Vienna, and it was fostered by the appearance of music publishers with more modern techniques in Hungary.

Musical Sources

No. 1: Rábaközi stajer tánc [Styrian Dance44 from the Rábaköz Region, a North-Western Region of Hungary], 1813.

  • 44 The Styrian was a dance name but was also used to refer to Austrians during this period. Given the (...)

Fig. 7.7 Pálóczi Horváth Ádám, Ó és új mintegy Ötödfélszáz énekek, ki magam csinálmánya, ki másé [450 Old and New Songs, Composed by Myself and Others] (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1953), pp. 172–73 (notes) and 528–29 (lyrics).

46Lyrics:

Hát, Isten néki! kapjunk rá, szokjunk rá a német táncra;
Let it be! Let us take to, let us turn to the German dance;
Bécs után úgyis minket ver a fegyver a szolgaláncra;
After Vienna it is our turn to be chained as slaves by this weapon;
A táncmester nem ismeri, nem méri a mi hangunkat,
The dancing master does not know the sound and measure of our music,
Csosztatót vér, ne pengessük hát, vessük el sarkan (t) yúnkat.
He plays shuffling music, so we stop jingling our spurs, we cast them away.

Szánd meg, Árpádom! szánd unokádat!
My Árpád, feel pity for your grandchildren!
Tartsd meg ez vérrel szerzett hazádat!
Keep your homeland obtained by blood.

  • 45 The manifesto refers to that written by the Hungarian aristocracy against Napoleon when he attacked (...)

Már a Rábán túl a nagy sas, a kakas körme mivé tett?
What was the great eagle, the nail of the cock doing with us over the Rába (river)?
Stájer tánc végzi a manifestummal kezdett minétet;
The Styrian dance ends the Minuet which was begun by the manifesto;45
Nyalka csizmám elrombolja a pór szolga-saru formára;
The servant deforms my smart (male) boots into sandals,
Fűzött topányom elszabta francia cipő-kaptára.
He cut my (female) footwear badly like a French shoe.

Szánd meg Árpádom, szánd unokádat,
My Árpád, feel pity for your grandchildren!
Tartsd meg ez vérrel szerzett hazádat.
Keep your homeland obtained by blood.

No. 2: Ekuzén felel Napóleon [Napoleon answers for the Écossaise], 1813.46

  • 46 The speaker in this allegorical poem, in which dance forms symbolise nationalities, is Napoleon, an (...)

Fig. 7.8 Pálóczi Horváth Ádám, Ó és új mintegy Ötödfélszáz énekek, ki magam csinálmánya, ki másé [450 Old and New Songs, Composed by Myself and Others] (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1953), pp. 173 (notes), 529 (lyrics).

47Lyrics:

Nem Minétre lépek én, Szökni szoktam Ekuszénn,
I do not step for the Minuet, I jump for the Écossaise,
Sok tsatám’, vitéz nevem’ Ez nyerette meg velem:
I earned victory and fame in battles:
Sőt ez adta Thrónusom’, Bétsi Herczeg Asszonyom’:
I gained my throne and my princess from Vienna:
Szerszem elme, friss kezek Által épül a Remek.
The masterpiece is made by a sharp mind and quick hands.

Nem Minét hozá tehát A ‘Stájer litániát;
Thus, the Styrian litany was brought not by the Minuet;
De mind e jó Magyarom! Mind Ipam, mind Sógorom;
But all of you my dear Hungarians, together with my father in law and my brother in-law;
Hogy velem ki szálltatok, Ekuszét ugrottatok:
You jumped the Écossaise when you came against me:
‘S ki fitzamla lábatok, Bankóra szorúltatok:
And you sprained your leg, and you became in need of money:

Tudsz e Sánta! érzeni— Sorsod’ az elébbeni
And now, what can you feel, lame-footed? Your life had been determined
Sok erőltetés, kozák, ‘S kontra táncz határozák.
by earlier being forced to do the Cossack and the Contra dance.
Meg tsomósodott a’ vér, Megrekedt az aranyér:
Your blood went lumpy, your haemorrhoids became blocked:
A’ Podagra meglepett, Bétsi-bankó-lábra tett.
You were riddled with gout, but the money from Vienna revived you.

  • 47 The musician here, symbolically speaking, is the Habsburg Monarchy.

Már neked tsak Stájer jó; Mellyben nints mutatio:
Only the Styrian is good for you, which has no variation:
Szokj hozzá szegény Nemes! Másra nem vagy érdemes;
Get used to it, poor Noblemen! You do not deserve any other!
Egy ’s közös a’ Musikás, Egy a’ szála, táncz se más.
You have only one musician, who plays for everybody for the same dance in the common hall47
Ha tsak egy régi lejtő Nem lesz a’ bú felejtő.
Unless we dance an old Lejtő [Hungarian dance] to comfort us.

No. 3: Magyar Táncz [Hungarian dance], 1813, ad notam Vissza-nevetés [sung to the melody entitled Laughing Back, or Answer by Laughter]48

  • 48 Magyar Táncz is the name of the song which is sung to the popular melody Vissza-nevetés.

Fig. 7.9 Pálóczi Horváth Ádám, Ó és új mintegy Ötödfélszáz énekek, ki magam csinálmánya, ki másé [450 Old and New Songs, Composed by Myself and Others] (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1953), pp. 131 (notes), 265 (lyrics).

48Lyrics:

Azt mondják, hogy nem illik a tnc a magyarnak,
They say that dancing does not suit the Hungarian,
Nem ha neki butyogót s fél nadrágot varrnak,
It is true, if they sew knickerbockers and short trousers for him,
De pengő sarkantyúnak, kócsagtollas főnek,
But our dance suits the jingling spurs and the cap with egret feather, Illik, gyönygyös pártának, Magyar fejkötőnek.
And it suits the pearly headdress and the Hungarian bonnet.

  • 49 Appropriate dress was important to the performance of Hungarian dances. Foreign fashions in dress a (...)

A franc tánc mind negédes, mind szeles a német,
French dances are all affected, the German ones are giddy,
Nincsen mutációja, mind egyrül varr hímet,
They have no variety; they sew the figure only on one side,49
Melancholis az anglus szövevényes tánca,
The entangled dance of the English is melancholic,
Csak az ugrós magyar tánc a Szent Dávid tánca.
Only the jumping Hungarian dance is worthy of Saint David’s
dance.

49Comments to Nos. 1–3: The author of the three songs is Pálóczi Horváth Ádám (1760–1820), a poet, writer, and collector of songs at the turn of the eighteenth century and in the early years of the nineteenth. He came from a family headed by an educated Protestant (Helvetian) priest. His career was that of a community-minded patriot and a so-called ‘honoratior’ — working as a lawyer, engineer and deputy of the parliament. Scholars of Hungarian music history and literature remember him primarily because of his collection of traditional and popular songs, which aimed to preserve the old Hungarian songs at the turn of the eighteenth century and in the early years of the nineteenth. Additionally, he wrote poems himself and ‘applied’ music to them in a similar style to the collected songs. His collection was ready for publication in 1813, but, because of its political, anti-Habsburg content, it was prohibited. The entirety of the material, with texts and melodies together, was only published in 1953 as a critical source publication. The three songs presented here are closely related to dance. On the one hand, the texts written by the author mention several dance names (Steierish, the Minuet, the Écossaise, Cossack, contra dance, and Lejtő, a Hungarian couple dance) and the manner of dancing them. On the other hand, the melodies are adaptations of contemporary dance songs — the first and the second are based on German dance songs, the second, presumably on the music of a Hungarian jumping dance. They were popular as political songs, and, in some areas of Hungary, also as dance music. This is why Pálóczi was chased by the police. The musical transcription he made does not indicate the tempo, the rhythm or the bars. He used old-fashioned, simple techniques for writing music, but it can still be interpreted to a limited degree. Pálóczi’s musical transcriptions are therefore very useful sources for music history, dance history and literature.

No. 4: The Accompanying Music for the “Dance Németes (Landaris) 48 előtt a határőrző székelyeknél” [Germanic Landler before 1848, by Székler Frontier Guards at the Tirolean Border] (Without Lyrics), Early Nineteenth Century.

Fig. 7.10 Réthei Prikkel Marián, A magyarság táncai [Dances of Hungarians] (Budapest: Stúdium, 1924), pp. 232–33.

  • 50 Lajos Kiss, ‘A bukovinai székelyek tánczenéje’, Tánctudományi tanulmányok, 1 (1958), 67–88.

50Comments: The dance melody — ‘Németes’ (German), or ‘Landaris’ (Lendler) — was discovered by Imets Fülöp Jákó (1837–1912), a Roman Catholic priest, canon, dean, teacher, and historian of the Széklers in Transylvania in the last third of the nineteenth century. He sent it to Réthei Prikkel Marián (1871–1925), a philologist, ethnographer and teacher of the Benedict order, who was about to write his monograph, Dances of the Hungarians. Imets informed Réthei that this Landaris dance melody dated back to the first half of the nineteenth century, when the Széklers served in the Austrian army in Tirol as frontier guards. It became so popular among Széklers that they played it even at the beginning of the twentieth century. The melody is set down for a forte piano, in a ‘Tempo di Mazurka’ signature with a dotted rhythm. It consists of two parts in 3/4, and concludes with a short ‘codetta’ or refrain in 2/4 (or 4/4). Both parts are repeated twice. This musical source represents the survival of an early dance fashion, part of a local, isolated community’s dance repertory.50

Nos. 5–7: Printed Music Scores for Nineteenth-Century Couple Dances from the 1850s to the 1860s

51No. 5: Pest-Ofner Polka für pianoforte von Kéler Béler Kapellmeister [Polka from Budapest, for Pianoforte by Conductor Kéler Béler] (Budapest: Rózsavölgyi et Co Cinkography, 1858). Composed by an unknown master. 33 x 26 cm. Dedication: Hern Franz von Jurkovits. Press: Lorber. Collection: Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Egyetem Központi Könyvtára, Rézkarc gyűjtemény 3068 [Central Library of The Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, Rézkarc collection 3068].

52No. 6: Deux valses pour le Piano, composées par Charles Thern, à Mademoiselle Andorine de Kiss [Two Waltzes for the Piano, Composed by Charles Thern for Mademoiselle Andorine de Kiss] (Budapest: Lauffer and Stolp, c.1860s). Budapesti Állami Zenekonzervatórium 4530. M/42411-ik [Budapest National Music Conservatory, 4530. M to M/42411].

53No. 7: Huszár-négyes (Hussar-Quadrille). Zongorára szerzé és Ő nagysága Schiller Lajos a 11ik Würtemberg herceg huszár ezred ezredese s’ parancsnoka, cs.k. Kamarás Úrnak és több magas rendek Vitézének mély tisztelettel ajánlja unokaöccse Schiller Gyula. (Nyomás) Wagner Józsefnél Pesten. [Hussar-Quadrille Composed for Piano and Dedicated with High Respect by Gyula Schiller to Lajos Schiller, Colonel of the Würtenberg Hussar Regiment No 11, Imp. and Roy. Chamberlain and Owner of Other High Decorations. Printed in Pest, by József Wagner.] (Budapest: József Wagner, c.1860s).

Socio-Political and Cultural Contexts of Nineteenth-Century Couple Dances in Hungary

  • 51 In researching these socio-political questions, I have relied on Gergely, ed., Magyarország történe (...)

54The nineteenth century in Hungary was a period of rapid, radical, and irreversible changes in the field of socio-political and cultural life. At the beginning of the century, the country was a subordinated kingdom of the Austrian Empire, isolated from Western European standards of living. At the end of the century, it was a powerful member of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, celebrating the millennium of its statehood and representing its values in Europe. These changes were induced by violent fights between conservative and liberal forces and against Austrian oppression, fuelled in parallel by the ideas of the Enlightenment, nationalist movements, and the French Revolution. The main transitional impetus was the transformation of the feudal social structure, which increased the dominance of the bourgeoisie and resulted in national independence.51 Each of the political powers consented to the common aim — the construction of a national culture — in the fields of language, literature, music, fine arts and others, including dance. But they could not agree on how to realise this. It depended on the significance they attached to the past or the future, to tradition or modernity. It was not a simple task in a multi-ethnic, rural country with so many different religions.

  • 52 Not just because of richness of the natural sources — but also because of its population — Hungary (...)
  • 53 This phenomenon is called Hungarus Consciousness. See Ambrus Miskolczy, ‘A hungarus-tudat a 19. szá (...)

55‘Ungern ist Europa in kleinen’ (‘Hungary is a small version of Europe’) — wrote János Csaplovics (1780–1847), a Slovakian-born Hungarian lawyer and scientist, in his book Gemälde von Ungern [Paintings of Hungary] in 1822.52 The small urban population (teachers, clerks, clergy etc.) was German, Serbian, Greek, Armenian, Slovakian and Jewish, and they shared anti-Habsburg feelings and the political aspirations of the Hungarians.53 They favoured national music and dance as the most visible symbols of their sympathy. But the radicalisation of Hungarian national policy in the 1830s and 1840s, which led to the suppressed revolution and civil war, made them disappointed and disillusioned. In the second half of the nineteenth century, due to the migration of rural populations to the towns, the number of urban inhabitants grew considerably. Pest and the other big urban areas became the scenes of large-scale assimilation and embourgeoisement of the population. Hungarian social dance and nineteenth-century couple dances had a significant role in this process by creating a common ‘kinetic language’ for social communication in the towns. Members of the political elite came from a small, educated, multi-ethnic aristocratic group (about 600–700 families), and from the populous society of Hungarian noblemen (not aristocrats) with an average-to-low standard of living (130,000–140,000 families out of the approximately 14 million inhabitants of the country). They were the most active agents of social change, including the liberation of the serfs and the renunciation of the old privileges of noblemen. At the same time, they contributed a great deal to the creation and propagation of the new Hungarian national culture, which was the symbolic capital of a strong Hungarian identity. Dance and dance music, besides language, literature, music, national costumes, fine arts, and so on, were an integral part and the most attractive elements of these identity symbols, which they used successfully in their political practice. Through the rejection of German dances in ballrooms and the contrasting acceptance of French and Polish dances, ball participants expressed their political sympathies, or lack thereof.

  • 54 For instance: Henri Cellarius, La danse des salons (Paris: J. Hetzel, 1847); Bernhard Klemm, Katech (...)

56The assistants of the political elite propagating these new fashions were the dance masters, predominantly of German, Austrian, Czech, and Hungarian origin, and the musicians, mainly Czech, Jewish, and Gypsy. Over the course of the nineteenth century, teaching dance became a very popular ‘profession’. Until the establishment of the Association of Dance Teachers in Hungary in 1891, anybody (from tailors and barbers, to shoemakers) could teach dance without a certificate. Dance masters were eager to disseminate the most fashionable knowledge in the field of dance. In Hungary, the first dance master’s books were published in the last decades of the nineteenth century. The first to contain descriptions of nineteenth-century couple dances (Keringő, the Hungarian for the Waltz; the Polka; the Mazurka; and the best-known international choreographies) is Rajta párok táncoljunk [Let us, couples, dance], by Sándor Lakatos, which was published in Nagykanizsa in 1871. Before this, dance masters used books that had been published abroad.54

57Some of the most efficient media for disseminating new dance fashions were the theatres. In the first half of the nineteenth century, dances appeared as interludes between two acts or as closing sequences for plays. These were short choreographies, as we read on the playbillspresented in the selected sources of this chapter (see Fig. 7.5). Later, dance became part of the dramaturgy, and there were examples of dance dramas choreographed in several acts. This was the case among the wandering theatrical troupes, in the so-called ‘stone-theatres’ in the towns, in the private theatres of the big landowners and in the theatres of schools maintained by the different churches and religious orders. The whole dance history of nineteenth-century Hungary was dominated by the rivalry between the German and the Hungarian theatres, which ended with the closure of the German theatres (which staged plays in German) all over Hungary in the 1890s, and the simultaneous rising prosperity of the Hungarian ones.

  • 55 Honművész [n.a.], 2 (1834), 37.

58Similarly, important resources for the promotion of nineteenth-century fashionable dances (both Hungarian and international) were the products of the print media. The history of the press in nineteenth-century Hungary was similar to that of the theatre. Both of them suffered because of the propagating politics of the Austrian government. Both of them were controlled by strict censorship. In 1830, there were only ten journals and weekly papers published in Hungarian altogether, but their number had increased to eighty-six by 1848–1849. During this period of time, the most popular literary, artistic and fashion journals — Honderű (1843–1848), Honművész (1830–1843), Pesti Divatlap (1844–1848), and Életképek (1843–1848) — were most interested in social events, theatre performances and balls. This can be explained by the fact that they were the organs of the Hungarian middle classes and the liberal aristocracy. Additionally, almost every journal and weekly paper dealt from time to time with the matter of contemporary social dances. As the articles written by Károly Balla and others in the Tudományos Gyűjtemény [Scientific Collection] (see Written Source No. 3) prove, national dances were treated as a key theme in professional writings. We can read essays propagating the Hungarian language, music, dance, and costume, but the most frequent ‘genre’ was the written accounts of the balls. They celebrate Csárdás — the Hungarian social dance — but they pay attention to the international ones as well, though frequently with a negative undertone. For instance, in 1832 in Honművész,55 the authors write about the dance event in Pest in the Seven Prince-Electors Hotel where the ball was opened with a Hungarian dance performed by one young man. Apart from him, there were no other Hungarian dancers — so all the other dances were Strauss Waltzes, German Quadrilles, Galops etc. The frequency of the Hungarian dances, the number of dancing couples, and the increasing use of the Hungarian language and national costumes during the balls sensitively indicate the ongoing changes in the political situation.

Csárdás as a ‘Nineteenth-Century Couple Dance’

  • 56 Hasznos Mulatságok [n.a.], 13 (1929), 154.
  • 57 Regélő Pesti Divatlap [n.a.], 3 (1844), 127.

59Csárdás’, or ‘Hungarian Csárdás’, first appears in 1835 as the name of a ballroom dance. It has a kind of romantic undertone; its name suggests that it comes from the remote provincial inns (csárda). Hasznos Mulatságok, a popular weekly paper in 1829 explains the motivation behind this name: ‘… Fájdalom, még csak félpallérozású magyar vásrosokban is a magyar nemzeti táncot hiába keressük, de az együgyű falusiak társaságában és a magyar kocsmákon csalhatatlanul feltaláljuk’ (‘Alas, we are searching for the Hungarian national dance in vain, even in the half-educated Hungarian towns, but we may find them for sure in the society of the simple-minded village people or the Hungarian pubs’).56 In 1844, Regélő Pest Divatlap, a similar type of publication, writes: ‘… a Csárdás vagy más néven néptánc […], ez éppen és ugyanaz, melyet vasárnaponként az utolsó falusi csárdában is megláthatni pórleányok által táncolni’ (‘Csárdás, or any other such folk dance […] is just the same as those you can see every Sunday in the last village inn’).57

  • 58 Felföldi, ‘Táncábrázolások’.

60In time, the name ‘Csárdás’ was used for different kinds of dances: the ‘regulated’ ballroom dances based on the aforementioned traditional dances, which were inherited from the previous generations or learnt from experts. The ‘regulated’ ballroom dance choreographies with complicated structures had their own names — Körtánc, Társalgó, Vigadó — but, functionally, they belonged to the group named ‘National ballroom dance’, or ‘Csárdás’ in short. At the same time, it was the name of the fashionable printed (or not printed) ‘folksy’ musical compositions used as accompanying music for these dances, or, more commonly, as music to be listened rather than danced to.58 Traditional dances practised mainly by the peasantry and partly by the noblemen were designated by the name ‘Csárdás’ as well, as a fashionable symbol of ‘Hungarian-ness’. Gradually, the name became widely used.

61Having clarified the origin of the name and identified its meaning, it is illuminating to follow the career of the Hungarian national ballroom dance though the nineteenth century.

1790–1830

  • 59 Réthei, A magyarság táncai, p. 287.

62In this period, the absolute rule of the Habsburgs was at its zenith. Dance life in the urban context was dominated by foreign (German, French and Polish etc.) dances. Foreign dance masters propagated their own international repertoire. Around the turn of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries they began to create dance choreographies in ‘Hungarian’ style. Their areas of activity were predominantly Vienna, Pressburg and Budapest and their ambition was to make ‘Hungarian’ dance acceptable as a national ballroom dance. These regulated, male solo and couple dances met with serious criticism from the Hungarians (see, e.g. Written Source No. 3). In parallel with this process, foreign travellers and visitors to Hungary discovered special features of the Hungarian way of dancing that differed from the other European fashionable dances. They found it exotic and expressive of the romantic attitude of the age. They appreciated the capacity for individual self-expression within it. This excerpt from a short description of the Hungarian dance, written by a German officer in 1792, illustrates the contemporary Verbunk and the quick couple dance, which was named Magyar Tánc [Hungarian dance]. He saw it danced at a noble wedding in Hungary near Pest:59

The ungarischer Tanz charakterisiert so ganz einen Menschen der sich frei und ungebunden fühlt, indem der Tänzer mit nachlässiger Bewegung des oberen Teils seinen Körpers, mit den Füssen willkürliche Wendung macht, solange er für sich allein tanzt, als er will, und dann, wenn es im einfällt, seine Tänzerin nimmt und sie ganz ungekünstelt von der Rechten zur Linken und der Linken zur Rechten umdrecht.

[In fact, Hungarian dance characterises such a man, who feels himself free and uncontrolled, since he turns his leg at his pleasure, moving his upper body carelessly; he dances alone as long as he will, he takes his partner when it comes to his mind and he turns her around from right to left and from left to the right in an entirely unsophisticated way.]

Fig. 7.11 An iconographic illustration of the dancing style described above, by Czech-born painter Georg Emmanuel Opitz (1775–1841), Táncoló Magyarok [Dancing Hungarians], early nineteenth century. Paper, gouache, 478 x 361 mm. Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum, Történeti Képcsarnok T. 7136. Image courtesy of Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum.

1831–1848

  • 60 Pesovár, ‘A csárdás kialakulásának szakaszai’.

63In Hungarian history, this is known as the Reform Age, which was preceded and triggered by the political events of the 1820s. The radicalisation of the Hungarian nationalist movement, and the democratic revolution induced by the unfavourable political situation for the Austrian Empire, resulted in significant socio-cultural changes in the country. Hungarian dance became a kind of political demonstration and effective medium for representing patriotic feelings. This atmosphere was favourable for the development of Hungary’s own democratic, national dance culture. The aim was to create a ‘national social dance’ form that would be marketable in European social life, and expressing national characteristic features perfectly. From 1835 its name became Csárdás and gradually it developed into a two-part (slow and quick) couple dance. The previous ‘verbunk’ and ‘friss’ was absorbed in the new dance type.60

64In the contemporary printed media, we witness a long and intensive discussion about the character of the Hungarian national dance among the experts and the public. The basic question was whether to regulate the movements as western European nations did, or to permit them to stay unregulated and preserve the features of the traditional dances (see Written Source No. 6).

65It seemed that one of the best solutions was to compose a standard, regulated form based on the figures and features considered to be the most characteristic of the traditional dances practised at that time. Several Hungarian dance masters tried to create such dances, but only one of them survived to the present day in written form: the Körtánc. The music was composed by Márk Rózsavölgyi (1788–1848), and the choreographer of the dance was Lajos Szőllősy Szabó (1803–1882).

Fig. 7.12 Márk Rózsavölgyi, Első magyar társas tánc [First Hungarian Social Dance]. The front page of the publication of the accompanying music, from Szentpál Olga, A csárdás (Budapest: Zeneműkiadó, 1954), p. ix.

66The text reads as follows:

Első Magyar társas tánc mellyet Szőllősy Szabó Lajos táncművész allapterve szerint az 1842-iki carneval ünnepére zongorára szerkesztett és hazánk lelkes hölgyeinek mély tisztelettel ajánl Rózsavölgyi Márk. Pest.

[First Hungarian Social Dance constructed on the basis of Szőllősi Szabó Lajos’ draft, set for piano and dedicated to the enthusiastic young man of our homeland by Rózsavölgyi Márk, for the occasion of the Carnival in 1842. Pest].

67The dance and dance music together were published in Vienna in 1845 in Hungarian, and in German with textual description and graphic illustration by Lajos Kilányi (1819–1861), Hungarian dancer, dance master, and choreographer:

  • 61 Kilányi, A Kör-táncz, p. 2.

A Kör-táncz mellyet Szőllősi Lajos a’ pesti nemzeti színház táncművészének tanítása után Minden tánczrész könnyen felfogható rajzolatával és magyarázatával terjedelmesen előadta Kilányi Lajos nemzeti és balettánczoktató, a nemzeti színház tagja. 6 rajzolattal és egy zenemű melléklettel. Der Kör-Tanz. Erste Ungarische National-Quadrille, Erfunden Von Ludwig Szőlősi… Beschrieben Von L. Kilányi… Mit Abbildungen… und Einer Beigabe Der National-Musik.61

[Circle dance taught by Szőllősi Szabó Lajos, dancer of the National Theatre in Pest, presented by Kilányi Lajos, teacher of national and ballet dance, member of the National Theatre, with its easily comprehensible graphic transcription and detailed explanations. Six drawings and one musical supplement.]

68Kilányi’s dedication in the introduction of the dance master’s book was written in the spirit of the general contemporary understanding of the relation of dance to the national character of the nations:

  • 62 Ibid.

Egy nemzet jelleme ’s táncza közti szoros viszony kétségbe vonhatatlan, a’ német rajongó ömlengése ’s ismert állhatatossága magát keringőben élénken tükrözi; — a’ frank heves és állhatatlan természete tánczában megismerhető, — ’s a magyar táncz deli, keleti és szép mozdalatai, nemde nemzeti jellemünk hű tolmácsai […] E jelen munkácska czélja a’ magyar táncz tanulását világosan és lépéseinek módját oly érthetőleg előadni ’s lerajzolni, a’mennyire ezt leírni ’s írásból elsajátítani lehetséges. Pest Őszhó 20-án 1844, Kilányi.62

[The close relationship between the character and the dance of a nation is unquestionable; the Germans’ passionate enthusiasm and well-known steadfastness is well shown in their Waltz, the hot-tempered and flighty nature of the Franks is recognisable from their dance, and the gallant, oriental and nice movements of Hungarian dance are a faithful indicator of our national character […] The aim of this small work is to present, as clearly as possible, how to learn and perform the Hungarian dance using words and drawings. Pest, the 20 October, 1844, Kilányi.]

69For illustration we present here one page of the graphic drawings on the first part of the dance from the book published by Kilányi.

Fig. 7.13 Lajos Kilányi, Andalgó [Promenade], 1844. Image copied from Szentpál Olga, A csárdás (Budapest: Zeneműkiadó, 1954), p. 32.

70Szőllősy, who named his dance simply ‘Hungarian Quadrille’, used ‘Les Lancieres’ as an example for how to structure the dance. Changing partners while dancing, alternating the male and female parts, rotating the individual and collective parts, varying the floor pattern and returning back to the starting position at the end of each part — these are all characteristic elements of the contra dances in Körtánc. But the differentiation of the men’s and women’s movements, and the selection of local dance figures proposing different methods of execution and dancing behaviour, shows that the choreographer endeavoured to preserve the character of the Hungarian dance. Körtánc soon became very popular all over Hungary, in Transylvania and abroad. Dance events for the middle classes and the aristocracy also took place. They danced the Körtánc several times during the ball and followed it with the Waltz, the Polka, the Mazurka, the Galop, the Quadrille, and other fashionable dances from Vienna. Travelling dance groups performed it in Milan, Munich, London, and Paris with much success. Its accompanying music, whose author was an educated and talented musician, contributed very much to its acceptance.

71Some years later, the regulated couple dance was in competition with the unregulated free couple dance for the dominant position in dance life. But from the second half of the 1840s the latter, with the name Csárdás, became the generally accepted social dance even in the provincial towns. According to much evidence, Csárdás as a ballroom dance changed in some ways compared to the traditional Csárdás, but it preserved its main traditional features. Mosonyi Mihály (1815–1870), composer and musicologist, remembers Csárdás of his youth in the 1830s, when he was forced to dance the Walzer and the Galop in order to be accepted in his community. He draws attention to the inter-generational character of Csárdás:

  • 63 Mihály Mosonyi, ‘Két népies csárdás’, Zenészeti lapok, 1 (1860–1861), pp. 186–87.

A Csárdás valóban a szabadság táncának nevezhető […] Hasonló az egy forgó lángoszlophoz melynek alakja szűntelenül változik. […] Nem olyan ez, mint a keringő vagy a zepperpolka, mely egymáshoz köti a táncolókat. A Csárdásban épp olyan szabad a nő, mint a férfi, s csak kölcsönös akarat mellett egyesülnek, sőt ez esetben is apró ingerkedésekkel ellensúlyozhatják egymást; ha a lovag elveszti táncosnőjét a sokaságban, táncolva s kedélyesen keresi fel ismét. E táncban minden mozdulatot kellemessé lehet tenni, s semmiféle 1-ére, 2-me sat. féle positiók nem korlátozzák az illető szabadságát. Ha néha éltesebb urak is […] sorakoznak e táncban az ifjak mellé, ez nem hogy nevetséges lenne, de még inkább emeli annak szépségét s új életre költi a kedveket; mit a keringő vagy polkára vonatkozólag éppen nem lehet elmondani, mert ez esetben csak mosolygó vagy gúny-arcokkal találkozhatni. Ha pedig valami házi-ünnep alkalmával még a nagyanyák és a nagyapák is egyet-kettőt fordulnak, akkor a kép még méltóságosabb alakot ölt…63

[The Csárdás, really can be named as the dance of freedom […] It looks like a flaming column continuously alternating its form. […] It is not like the Waltz and Polka, which bind the dancers together. In the Csárdás, the woman is as free as the man; they unite only by their mutual wish, accompanied with tiny alluring gestures as a kind of compensation. If he lost his partner in the crowd, he would find her with dancing steps in a merry manner. In this dance you may make every movement in a pleasant way, no first, second etc. positions limit your freedom. If sometimes elderly men joined the dance of the young dancers, it would not be ridiculous, it would even contribute to the beauty of the dance and would increase the high spirits; it is not the same as the Waltz and Polka: such a case would result in smiling and mocking. And if, during some family event, grandmothers and grandfathers made one-two turns in the dance, the picture would be even more dignified.]

1849–1867

72This was the last period of Austrian Absolutism, which began with the total control and oppression of all kinds of ‘Hungarian’ political ambitions, leading the Hungarian political elite into passive resistance. However, from 1859, because of the deterioration of the political conditions of Austria due to its relations with England, France, Italy and Russia, the Habsburgs were forced to compromise with Hungary. This happened, finally, in 1867, and most of the Hungarians’ demands were fulfilled. In this positive political atmosphere, the depoliticisation, denationalisation and embourgeoisement of social life accelerated significantly. Consequently, Csárdás began to lose its role as a national symbol.

1867–1918

  • 64 Sándor Lakatos, Rajta párok táncoljunk!: Tánckedvelők könyve (Nagykanizsa: Waidits József, 1871); P (...)
  • 65 Patterson, The Magyars, pp. 195–96; Tissot, La Hongrie, pp. 199–200; Fletcher, Sketches of Life, pp (...)

73This was the period of Dualism, with the establishment of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The compromise of 1867 between Austria and Hungary animated social life considerably. Plenty of new civil society organisations (unions, associations, societies, clubs) came into being. It led to the establishment of the first association of the dance masters in Hungary in 1891. Most influential dance masters began to publish dance books in the Hungarian language.64 They built on the practice of the German and French dance masters. Instructions for teaching the Keringő, the Polka, the Mazurka, Sottis etc. were borrowed from them. The common name for round dances in Hungarian was ‘Körvonat Táncok’ or ‘Túr Táncok’ (Tour dances). Generally, Hungarian dance masters confessed the impossibility of teaching Csárdás because of its free, improvisatory character. Notwithstanding, at the end of the nineteenth century we can find short, simplified, easily memorised dance compositions in the Hungarian dance masters’ books, which became popular in the countries of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Their name was ‘Magyar Szóló’ (Hungarian male solo and ‘Magyar Kettes’ (Hungarian couple dance), not Csárdás, although ‘Magyar Kettes’ belonged to the Csárdás-type category of ballroom dances. During this period, visitors coming from abroad turned from the urban, national ballroom dances to the dances of the peasantry, and published several detailed descriptions of them (see Written Source No. 7).65

74During the period of Dualism, the Csárdás and Hungarian ballroom dances of the same type (e.g. ‘Palotás’, or ‘For the palace’) appeared again in ballrooms, or at midnight as a kind of ‘national five minutes’ in the program of the ball. Gradually, it became an empty display of ‘Hungarian-ness’ in the ballrooms.

Fig. 7.14 Front page of the musical publication of Palotás [For the Palace], composed by the Hungarian composer and pianist Bertha Sándor (1843– 1912). Budapest: Khor & Wein könyvnyomdája, 1864. Lithograph, 31 x 26 cm. Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Egyetem Könyvtára, 50.471.

75Having presented the career of Csárdás throughout the nineteenth century, we now summarise those features which make it both similar to, and different from, other nineteenth-century round dances:

  1. They both originated from traditional dance forms, which expressed a mixture of democratic and Romantic dedication to the lower social classes, who preserved ‘ancient’ cultural elements.
  2. As far as their function is concerned, they serve the purpose of social amusement.
  3. Dancers of the nineteenth-century couple dances more or less shared the ideology of ‘national character’, as well as notions of Romanticism. Moreover, Csárdás became a strong national symbol for the Hungarians, used for democratic aims and serving as a kind of political demonstration in the context of the Austrian Empire.
  4. Round dance practice and events worked in the nineteenth century as catalysts for the accelerating social changes in Europe, promoted mainly by the populous bourgeois, who were its most active agents. In Hungary, because of the low level of embourgeoisement, the leading force came from the middle stratum of the nobility.
  5. While European round dances gained international fame and spread across the continent, the international popularity of Csárdás was limited.
  6. Regarding the structure, improvised, free forms exist universally, but the regulated sets are less frequent in Csárdás compared to other European dance forms.
  7. Csárdás is constructed from two parts, one slow and one quick. Both are of even rhythm. In European one-part round dances, even and odd pulsation is alternating, according to their different types.
  8. Concerning the proxemic features, close connection between the partners, who embrace each other, dominates in European forms, while, in Csárdás, the dancers are either more loosely connected or move without holding each other.
  9. The leading and initiating role being ascribed to the men is a general tendency in both European forms and in Csárdás, but women have more room for individual creativity in the latter.
  10. Both types have the general tendency to prescribe a specific floor pattern, advancing counter-clockwise in a round formation. However, free forms are predominant in Csárdás, which allows a freer use of the space.
  11. The division of movement types according to gender is one of the main characteristic features for Csárdás dancers, which is not necessarily true for the European round dances.
  12. Whirling is a basic movement type for each of these dance forms, but in Csárdás, it is used only in certain special parts of the dance dedicated to whirling.66
  13. In Csárdás, typical inter-generational restrictions are missing. Elderly people may participate in the dance freely, together with the young dancers. This is far less accepted in the European ballroom dances.
  14. Family relations between the partners are not restricted, e.g. mothers may dance together with their sons, or men will dance with their female relatives. This was not the case for other nineteenth-century round dances.
  15. Both Csárdás and the European round dances have a great repertory of accompanying music, with great rhythmic diversity and variation in their musical features. This did not only serve a dance purpose, since people also enjoyed these pieces by listening to them and playing them in family circles as ‘dance music’. This was promoted by the modern newspaper habit of facilitating the mass reproduction of the musical scores, and the growing popularity of the music.

Conclusion

76This chapter has presented an account of the emergence and reception of a particular dance paradigm in Hungary: the nineteenth-century round dances. I have identified them in the general dance repertory practised in Hungary, and contextualised them in the socio-cultural and political circumstances of the first half of the nineteenth century. My additional goal was to compare the main characteristic features of the European round dances with those of the Hungarian Csárdás, in order to define its local and international (global) uniqueness.

77I am aware that the selected corpus of sources presented here, and the existing knowledge that has accumulated so far in the literature, is not enough to make far-reaching conclusions. Nonetheless, they establish some preliminary proposals for future research. The reception and acceptance of the nineteenth-century round dances were determined by various criteria, from which two groups emerge: a) practical; and b) ideological.

  1. From the point of view of ordinary practice, people either rejected or accepted the new dances because they were unusual and, until then, unknown. They contained new movement techniques (e.g. constant turning, maintaining a straight upper body) and affected the body differently than the former dances had done (e.g. sweat, dizziness, shortness of breath). They required different behavioural patterns (e.g. to emphasise or conceal gendered behaviour, to express enthusiasm and strong feelings, or to use the dance for light amusement — see Written Source No. 1).
  2. As far as ideological criteria are concerned, the rejection or acceptance of the new dances was closely connected to political ideologies and related to nationalist, social, and ethnic sentiment. For instance, Polish dances were popular in Europe because of the country’s political situation in the nineteenth century. In contrast, German (Austrian) dances and dance masters were disliked in Hungary, because of bad political relations with the Austrian Empire.67 Each of the written sources selected in this chapter reflects this mentality.

78We can agree with Ernő Pesovár’s ideas about the global, international features of the changes in dance history during the nineteenth century. He claims:

  • 68 Pesovár, ‘A csárdás kialakulásának szakaszai’, p. 17. Translated from the Hungarian by László Felfö (...)

The emergence of the new traditional and national style in Hungary, reflecting the change of taste in dance culture, is not an isolated phenomenon, but part of that comprehensive historical process taking place in Europe. The common feature of this new period in dance history is that the modern forms unfolded organically from the earlier traditions, determining the future of traditional dance and the characteristic features of the new national social dances. These traditional-national styles and social dances, with a variety of roots in Europe (to the north and west of the Carpathian basin) developed in interaction with each other and resulted in forms to some degree similar to each other. The best examples are the Mazurka, the Polka and the Waltz, which were rooted really in earlier traditional forms, and they were significant not only as traditional and national dances, but as widely popular ballroom dances.68

79In his article about the history of Csárdás, Pesovár draws attention to the inter-relatedness of the traditional, national and ballroom dances in nineteenth-century Europe, and their roots in the earlier traditional forms. He emphasises that changes in Hungarian dance culture happened in harmony with wider global tendencies, conditioned by local possibilities and capabilities.

80Martin also emphasises the embeddedness of the changes in Hungarian dance culture in nineteenth-century historical processes at a regional and European level. His propositions and conclusions about the creative endeavours of the Hungarian national ballroom dances are important contributions to the research:

  • 69 Martin, ‘Az új magyar táncstílus jegyei’, p. 42.

By the end of the 1820s, the demand for the creation and dispersal of a nationally-based social dance culture was growing. At the beginning of the century, even the dignified slow dance was emphasised at the expense of the swirling, friss [high-tempo] dance. However, national dances, which correspond to the earlier forms, are consciously linked with certain western and neighbouring dance forms, and they also seek domestic historical antecedents and analogies to them (Slow Palotás’ slow dance in the palace, Polish dance). Our nobility and our citizens tried to make the national dance acceptable, following the example of currently politically sympathetic Polish and French dance cultures. This innovative endeavour smothered the Austrian-German dance and music culture, because this nation had impeded our independence efforts. But its effects could not have been avoided by the proximity of the linguistic boundary, the direct, constant fashion influences and the presence of significant German citizenship that recently became Hungarian.69

  • 70 György Martin, ‘East-European Relations of Hungarian Dance Types’, in Europa et Hungaria: Congressu (...)

81My chapter has attempted to deepen the knowledge accumulated so far in Hungary with the presentation and analysis of some specific examples. Written, pictorial and musical sources are ordered chronologically, showing the local individuality of the global historical process. On the basis of these we may conclude that dances (traditional, national, social) are very significant elements of national self-identification, and an important part of national memory. What is more, self-identification is closely connected with the picture that other nations create of us, and with how we depict others’ dances. The historical trajectory of Hungarian dance culture can be understood only in comparison with that of others.70 Dance and music sources have already been discovered, but not exploited enough from the point of view of national self-understanding and critical evaluation of the cultural ‘image’ created so far.

82The identification and comparison of the many diverse source materials may enable us to understand the global changes in dance that were taking place in the nineteenth century. To mention only a few:

  1. The popularity of the so-called ‘deli’, ‘daliás’, ‘délceg’ [tight, straight, erect] posture of the upper body (unlike the curved body posture, kneeling, beating the ground etc.). This was a new kind of fashionable technique for holding one’s body, which was probably propagated by the dance masters before becoming the norm in national, ballroom and traditional as well. It is mentioned in most of the written sources in this chapter.
  2. The disappearance or declining popularity of the exclusively men’s — and exclusively women’s — dances, and the dominance of the mixed-couple dances in the ballrooms. In the nineteenth century, this was an ongoing process in Hungary and in Eastern and Central Europe. It was brought about by Western dance fashions and the mentality that considered couple dance as an ideal dance form.
  3. The detachment and growing role of ‘social entertainment’ as a special social activity (the pleasant use of leisure time), and dance as a more and more frequent form of entertainment, mainly in an urban context. This was unlike the traditional culture in rural areas, where dance had not yet become a separate, segregated form of entertainment — rather, it was an integrated part of social life. The encounter between these two mentalities in Hungary, where a great part of the nobility also shared the traditional way of life, brought about political tension among both the promoters and the opponents of the new dance fashion — the nineteenth-century couple dance.

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— —, ‘Társastáncok a magyar paraszti közösségben a 19–20. században’, in Notitiae Iuvenum: Tanulmányok Ujváry Zoltán 75. születésnapjának tiszteletére, ed. by Kiri Edit, Kovács László Erik, and Szilágyi Judit (Debrecen: DE-BTK HÖK, 2007), pp. 199–242.

Kilányi, Lajos, A Kör-táncz mellyet Szőllősi Lajos a’ pesti nemzeti színház táncművészének tanítása után Minden tánczrész könnyen felfogható rajzolatával és magyarázatával terjedelmesen előadta Kilányi Lajos nemzeti és balettáncz-oktató, a nemzeti színház tagja. 6 rajzolattal és egy zenemű melléklettel. Der Kör-Tanz. Erste Ungarische National-Quadrille, Erfunden Von Ludwig Szőlősi Lajos. Beschrieben Von L. Kilányi Lajos. Mit Abbildungen… und Einer Beigabe Der National-Musik (Vienna: Wagner 1845).

Kiss, Lajos, ‘A bukovinai székelyek tánczenéje, La musique de Danse des ‘Székely’ de Bukovinie’, Tánctudományi Tanulmányok, 1 (1958), 67–88.

Klemm, Bernhard, Katechismus der Tanzkuns (Berlin: J.J. Weber, 1855, 1869, 1876).

Kohl, Georg Johann, Hundert Tage auf Reisen in den östereichischen Staten (Dresden und Leipzig: in der Arnoldische Buchhandlung, 1842).

Köegler, Horst, Balettlexikon (Budapest: Zeneműkiadó, 1977).

Lakatos, Sándor, Rajta párok, táncoljunk!: Tánckedvelők könyve (Nagykanizsa: Waidits József, 1871).

Maácz, László, A magyar néptánc színpadi pályáfutása a XIXXX. században (Budapest: Népművelési Intézet, 1976).

Martin, György, ‘Tánc és társadalom: Történeti táncnévadás-típusok itthon és Európában’, in Történeti antropológia, ed. by Hofer Tamás (Budapest: MTA Néprajzi Kutatócsoport, 1984), pp. 152–64.

— —, ‘Népi tánchagyomány és nemzeti tánctípusok Kelet-Közép-Európában a XVI–XIX. században’, Ethnographia, 95 (1984), 353–61.

— —, ‘Táncdialektusok és történeti táncdivatok’, in Előmunkálatok a Magyarság Néprajzához 7, ed. by Paládi-Kovács Attila (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1980), pp. 139–45.

— —, ‘Az új magyar táncstílus jegyei és kialakulása’, Ethnographia, 88 (1977), 39.

— —, Magyar tánctípusok és táncdialektusok (Budapest: Népművelési Propaganda Iroda, 1970).

— —, ‘East-European Relations of Hungarian Dance Types’, in Europa et Hungaria: Congressus Ethnographicus in Hungaria, ed. by Ortutay Gyula (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1965), pp. 469–515.

— —, ‘Magyar tánctípusok kelet-európai kapcsolatai’, Az MTA Irodalomtudományi Osztályának Közleményei, 21 (1964), 67–96.

Miskolczy, Ambrus, ‘A hungarus-tudat a 19. században’, Limes, 4 (2009), 71–96.

— —, ‘ “Hungarus Consciousness” in the Age of Early Nationalism’, in Latin at the Crossroads of Identity: The Evolution of Linguistic Nationalism in the Kingdom of Hungary, ed. by G. Almàsi and L. Šubarić (Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2015), pp. 64–93.

Mona, Ilona, ed., Magyar zeneműkiadók és tevékenységük, 17741867, 2nd edn (Budapest, MTA Zenetudományi Intézet, 1989).

Mosonyi, Mihály, ‘Két népies Csárdás’, Zenészeti lapok (1860–1861), 186–87.

Németh, Antal, ed., Színészeti lexikon I–II. (Budapest: Győző Andor kiadása, 1930).

Norliond, Tobias, ‘Adatok a keringő és a polka történetéhez’, in Emlékkönyv Kodály Zoltán 60. születésnapjára, ed. by Gunda Béla (Budapest: Magyar Néprajzi Társaság, 1943), pp. 181–94.

Ortutay, Gyula, ed., Magyar Néprajzi Lexikon I–V., 5 vols (Budapest, Akadémiai Kiadó, 1978–1982).

Patterson, Arthur, The Magyars: Their Country and Institutions (London: Smith, Elder and Co. 1869).

Pesovár, Ernő, A magyar tánctörténet évszázadai: Írott és képi források’ (Budapest: Hagyományok Háza, 2003).

— —, Tánchagyományunk történeti rétegei: A magyar néptánc története (Szombathely: Berzsenyi Dániel Főiskola, 2003).

— —, A magyar páros táncok (Budapest: Planétás, 1997).

— —, ‘A Csárdás kialakulásának szakaszai és típusai’, Ethnographia, 96 (1985), 17–29.

— —, ‘A lengyel táncok hatása a reformkorban’, Néprajzi Értesítő, 47 (1965), 159–77.

Pesovár, Ferenc, A magyar nép táncélete (Budapest: Népművelési Propaganda Iroda, 1978).

— —, ‘Táncmesterek a szatmári falvakban’, Tánctudományi Tanulányok, 1959–1960 (1960), 309–22.

Réthei Prikkel, Marián, A magyarság táncai (Budapest: Stúdium, 1924).

Róka, P. Pál, A táncművészet tankönyve (Nagykőrös: Ottinger Kálmán kiadása, 1900).

Szabolcsi, Bence, Népzene és történelem (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1954).

Szentpál, Olga, ‘Keringő és polka a 19. században: Táncrekonstrukció Cellarius táncmester leírása alapján’, Táncművészeti Értesítő (1956).

— —, A Csárdás: A magyar nemzeti társastánc a 19. század első felében (Budapest: Zeneműkiadó vállalat, 1954).

Tissot, Victor, La Hongrie: De l’Adriatique au Danube: Impressions de voyage (Paris: Plon, 1883).

Vályi, Rózsi, A táncművészet története (Budapest: Zeneműkiadó, 1969).

Vitányi, Iván, A tánc (Budapest: Gondolat, 1963).

Zorn, Friedrich Albert, Die Grammatik der Tanzkunst (Leipzig: J. J. Weber, 1887).

Notas

1 For a definition of this group of dances: see the Introduction (Chapter 1) to this volume.

2 In the time-frame of this research, Hungary was a country of ca.300,000 square kilometres, with 14,000,000 inhabitants belonging to the Austrian Empire. See János Csaplovics, Gemälde von Ungarn (Pest: Hartleben, 1829).

3 Comparison with other countries was beyond the scope of this study.

4 András Gergely, ed., Magyarország története a 19. században (Budapest: Osiris Kiadó, 2005).

5 See in detail in a later section of this chapter headed ‘Socio-Political and Cultural Contexts of Nineteenth-Century Couple Dances in Hungary’.

6 Ernő Pesovár, A magyar tánctörténet évszázadai: Írott és képi források (Budapest: Hagyományok Háza, 2003); Ernő Pesovár, Tánchagyományunk történeti rétegei: A magyar néptánc története (Szombathely: Berzsenyi Dániel Főiskola, 2003); György Martin, Népi tánchagyomány és nemzeti tánctípusok Kelet-Közép-Európában a XVI–XIX. században’, Ethnographia, 95 (1984), 353–61.

7 Marián Réthei Prikkel, A magyarság táncai (Budapest: Studium, 1924), p. 233. See Musical Source No. 4.

8 György Martin, ‘Az új magyar táncsatílus jegyei és kialakulása’, Ethnographia, 88 (1977), 39; György Martin, ‘Népi tánchagyomány és nemzeti tánctípusok’, 361. Ambrus Miskolczy, ‘ “Hungarus Consciousness” in the Age of Early Nationalism’, in Latin at the Crossroads of Identity: The Evolution of Linguistic Nationalism in the Kingdom of Hungary, ed. by G. Almàsi and L. Šubarić (Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2015), pp. 64–93.

9 Lajos Kilányi, A Kör-tánc mellyet Szőllőssi Lajos a pesti nemzeti színház táncművészének tanítása után Minden táncrész könnyen felfogható rajzolatával és magyarázatával terjedelmesen előadta Kilányi Lajos nemzeti és balettánc oktató, a nemzeti színház tagja 6 rajzolattal és egy zenemű melléklettel. Der Kör-Tanz. Erste Ungarische National-Quadrille, Erfunden Von Ludwig Szőlősi… Beschrieben Von L. Kilányi… Mit Abbildungen… und Einer Beigabe Der National-Musik (Bécs: Wagner, 1845).

10 Martin György, ‘Tánc és társadalom: Történeti táncnévadás-típusok itthon és Európában’, in Történeti Antropológia, ed. by Hofer Tamás (Budapest: MTA Néprajzi Kutatócsoport, 1984), pp. 152–64.

11 The terms ‘regulated’ and ‘non-regulated’ were used in the contemporary social discourse; e.g. in the description given by August Ellrich, a German traveller, in 1831. See Written Source No. 4.

12 Klára B. Egey, ‘Szinpadi táncművészetünk fejlődése a reform korban és a szabadságharc első szakaszában’, in A magyar balett történetéből, ed. by Vályi Rózsi (Budapest: Művelt Nép, 1956), pp. 32–46 (p. 41).

13 B. Egey, ‘Szinpadi táncművészetünk fejlődése’, pp. 67–68.

14 Ibid., p. 59.

15 Ibid.

16 Réthei, A magyarság táncai, pp. 2–3. Translation from the Hungarian by László Felföldi.

17 Bence Szabolcsi, Népzene és történelem (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1954).

18 Olga Szentpál, ‘Keringő és polka a a 19. században. Táncrekonstrukció Cellarius táncmester leírása alapján’, in Táncművészeti Értesítő, ed. by Morvay Péter (Budapest: Magyar Táncművészek Szövetsége, 1956), pp. 73–89.

19 Tobias Norlind, ‘Adatok a keringő és a polka történetéhez’, in Emlékkönyv Kodály Zoltán 60. születésnapjára ed. by Gunda Béla (Budapest: Magyar Néprajzi Társaság, 1943), pp. 189–94.

20 Edit Kaposi, ‘Egy híres táncos önéletírása: Szőllősy Szabó Lajos’, Táncművészet, 4 (1955), 154–56; Edit Kaposi, ‘Adalékok az európai és a magyar táncmesterség történetéhez’, Tánctudományi Tanulmányok, 1969–1970 (1970), 16–194; Edit Kaposi, ‘Kiegészítő adatok az európai táncmesterség történetéhez’, Táncművészeti Értesítő, 9 (1973), 34–37, 87–91; Edit Kaposi, ‘Szőllősy Szabó Lajos élete és munkássága (1803–1882)’, Tánctudományi Tanulmányok, 1978–1979 (1979), 145–88.

21 Edit Kaposi, ’A magyar társastánc szakirodalom forráskritikai vizsgálata I.’, Tánctudományi Tanulmányok, 1984–1985 (1985), 177–94; Edit Kaposi, ‘A magyar társastánc szakirodalom forráskritikai vizsgálata II.’, Tánctudományi Tanulmányok, 1986–1987 (1987), 50–75.

22 Ernő Pesovár, A magyar páros táncok (Budapest: Planétás, 1997).

23 Ernő Pesovár ‘A csárdás kialakulásának szakaszai és típusai’, Ethnographia, 48 (1985), 17–29; Pesovár, A magyar páros táncok; Pesovár, A magyar tánctörténet évszázadai; Pesovár, Tánchagyományunk történeti rétegei.

24 Ernő Pesovár, ‘A lengyel táncok hatása a reformkorban’, Néprajzi Értesítő, 47 (1965), 159–77.

25 László Felföldi, ‘Táncábrázolások az abszolutizmus és kiegyezés korabeli kottás kiadványok címlapjain’, in Magyarországi kottacímlapok (1848–1867), ed. by Szabó Júlia (Budapest: Argumentum, 2000), pp. 13–23; László Felföldi, ’Tánctörténet’, in Magyar kódex, 6 vols, ed. by Szentpéteri József (Budapest: Kossuth, 1999–2001), I, 269–71; László Felföldi, ‘Picturing Hungarian Patriotism: Bikkessy Album Imaging Dance’, in Imaging Dance: Visual Representation of Dancers and Dancing, ed. by Barbara Sparti and Judy Van Zile (New York: Georg Olms Verlag, 2011), pp. 181–94.

26 György Martin, Magyar tánctípusok és táncdialektusok (Budapest: Népművelési Propaganda Iroda, 1970), p. 40. Translated from the Hungarian by László Felföldi.

27 Ferenc Pesovár, ‘Táncmesterek a szatmári falvakban’, Tánctudományi Tanulányok, 1959–1960 (1960), 309–22; and Ferenc Pesovár, A magyar nép táncélete (Budapest: Népművelési Propaganda Iroda, 1978).

28 Tamás Hofer, ‘A magyar népi kultúra történeti rétegei és európai helyzete’, in Martin György emlékezete ed. by Felföldi László (Budapest: Magyar Művelődési Intézet, 1993), pp. 341–51.

29 Színészeti lexikon, 2 vols, ed. by Németh Antal (Budapest: Győző Andor kiadása, 1930).

30 Horst Köegler, Balett lexikon (Budapest: Zeneműkiadó, 1977); Magyar táncművészeti lexikon, ed. by Dienes Gedeon (Budapest: Planétás, 2008).

31 Magyar Néprajzi Lexikon, 5 vols, ed. by Ortutay Gyula (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1978–1982).

32 Dóka, Krisztina, ‘19. századi társastáncok a magyar paraszti tánckultúrában’, Tánctudományi Közlemények, 2 (2014), 49–66; Kavecsánszki, Máté, ‘Társastáncok a magyar paraszti közösségben a 19–20. században’, in Notitiae Iuvenum: Tanulmányok Ujváry Zoltán 75. születésnapjának tiszteletére, ed. by Kiri Edit, Kovács László Erik, and Szilágyi Judit (Debrecen: DE-BTK HÖK, 2007), pp. 199–242; Máté Kavecsánszki, Tánc és közösség, Studia Folkloristica et Ethnographica 59 (Debrecen: Debreceni Egyetemi Kiadó, 2015).

33 Pesovár A magyar tánctörténet évszázadai p. 95. Pál Kinizsi (1413?-94) was a famous general in the service of the Hungarian army in the fifteenth century.

34 Pp. 86–87.

35 P. 95.

36 That is, the dancers.

37 Kohl, Georg Johann, Hundert Tage auf Reisen in den östereichischen Staten (Dresden und Leipzig: in der Arnoldische Buchhandlung, 1842).

38 Arthur Patterson, The Magyars: Their Country and Institution (London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1869).

39 Victor Tissot, La Hongrie: De l’Adriatique au Danube: Impressions de voyage (Paris: Plon, 1883).

40 Margaret Fletcher, Sketches of Life and Character in Hungary (, New York: Macmillan and Co, 1892).

41 Albert Chervinszki, Geschichte der Tanzkunst bei den cultivirten Volkern (Leipzig: Velagbuchshandlung von J. J. Weber, 1862).

42 P. 859.

43 Pp. 860–61.

44 The Styrian was a dance name but was also used to refer to Austrians during this period. Given the poetic, political, and often allegorical nature of these songs by Pálóczi Horváth Ádám, the allusional quality in my translation has been retained beneath each line of the original Hungarian text.

45 The manifesto refers to that written by the Hungarian aristocracy against Napoleon when he attacked Hungary in 1809.

46 The speaker in this allegorical poem, in which dance forms symbolise nationalities, is Napoleon, and the poem is addressed to the Hungarians.

47 The musician here, symbolically speaking, is the Habsburg Monarchy.

48 Magyar Táncz is the name of the song which is sung to the popular melody Vissza-nevetés.

49 Appropriate dress was important to the performance of Hungarian dances. Foreign fashions in dress and dance did not, the poet claims, suit them. Combining here the symbolism of dancing and embroidery to represent each nationality, the poet scorns the lack of variety and simplicity of German dances.

50 Lajos Kiss, ‘A bukovinai székelyek tánczenéje’, Tánctudományi tanulmányok, 1 (1958), 67–88.

51 In researching these socio-political questions, I have relied on Gergely, ed., Magyarország története a 19. században.

52 Not just because of richness of the natural sources — but also because of its population — Hungary is Europe in miniature; because all the peoples, languages, religions, occupations, cultures of Europe find their home here. See Csaplovics, Gemälde von Ungarn, p. 13.

53 This phenomenon is called Hungarus Consciousness. See Ambrus Miskolczy, ‘A hungarus-tudat a 19. században’, Limes 4 (2009), 71–96.

54 For instance: Henri Cellarius, La danse des salons (Paris: J. Hetzel, 1847); Bernhard Klemm, Katechismus der Tanzkunst (Leipzig: J. J. Weber, 1855, 1869, 1876); and Friedrich Albert Zorn, Die Grammatik der Tanzkunst (Leipzig, J. J. Weber, 1887).

55 Honművész [n.a.], 2 (1834), 37.

56 Hasznos Mulatságok [n.a.], 13 (1929), 154.

57 Regélő Pesti Divatlap [n.a.], 3 (1844), 127.

58 Felföldi, ‘Táncábrázolások’.

59 Réthei, A magyarság táncai, p. 287.

60 Pesovár, ‘A csárdás kialakulásának szakaszai’.

61 Kilányi, A Kör-táncz, p. 2.

62 Ibid.

63 Mihály Mosonyi, ‘Két népies csárdás’, Zenészeti lapok, 1 (1860–1861), pp. 186–87.

64 Sándor Lakatos, Rajta párok táncoljunk!: Tánckedvelők könyve (Nagykanizsa: Waidits József, 1871); P. Pál Róka, A táncművészet tankönyve (Nagykőrös: Ottinger Kálmán kiadása, 1900); Kaposi, ‘A magyar társastánc szakirodalom I.’; Kaposi ‘A magyar társastánc szakirodalom II’.

65 Patterson, The Magyars, pp. 195–96; Tissot, La Hongrie, pp. 199–200; Fletcher, Sketches of Life, pp. 95–96, 110–12.

66 Patterson, The Magyars, pp. 195–96.

67 In vain, because German dances were already widely spread when the radicalisation of the nationalist movements began.

68 Pesovár, ‘A csárdás kialakulásának szakaszai’, p. 17. Translated from the Hungarian by László Felföldi.

69 Martin, ‘Az új magyar táncstílus jegyei’, p. 42.

70 György Martin, ‘East-European Relations of Hungarian Dance Types’, in Europa et Hungaria: Congressus Ethnographicus in Hungaria, ed. by Ortutay Gyula (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1965), pp. 469–515; Pesovár, ‘A csárdás kialakulásának szakaszai’.

Índice de ilustraciones

Leyenda Fig. 7.1 Pollencig József, Grosser Ball bey Sv. Kőnigh Hoheit de Palatins Ofen den 11ten Februar 1795 [Great Ball held by His Royal Highness of Palatine], 11 February 1795. Paper and gouache, 282 x 408 mm. Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest, Index number: 1930–2188. Image courtesy of Szépművészeti Múzeum.
URL http://books.openedition.org/obp/docannexe/image/14802/img-1.jpg
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Leyenda Fig. 7.2 Unknown artist, Bál a kis Redoute-ban [Ball in the small Redoute], c.1830. Coloured lithography. Historical Museum, Metropolitan Gallery in Budapest. Image courtesy of Budapesti Történeti Múzeum.
URL http://books.openedition.org/obp/docannexe/image/14802/img-2.jpg
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Leyenda Fig. 7.3 Max Felix von Pauer, Pest-Budai bál [Ball in Pest-Buda]. From the collection: Original Skizzen aus Ungarn, 1837–1839. Paper and ink, 110 x 16 mm. Metropolitan Szabó Ervin Library of Budapest (FSZK). János Jajczay, Pest-Budai figurák a múlt század 30-as éveiből. Max Félix Pauer rajzai a Fővárosi Könyvtárban (Budapest: Stadtbibliothek, 1941), pp. 9–10. Image courtesy of Fővárosi Szabó Ervin Könyvtár, Budapest.
URL http://books.openedition.org/obp/docannexe/image/14802/img-3.jpg
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Leyenda Fig. 7.4 Unknown artist, Tánciskola [Dance school], 1845–1846. Lithography. Historical Museum, Metropolitan Gallery in Budapest. Ignácz Nagy, Magyar titok [Hungarian secret] (Pest: Hartleben Konrád Adolf, 1845– 1846), p. 258. Image courtesy of Budapesti Történeti Múzeum.
URL http://books.openedition.org/obp/docannexe/image/14802/img-4.jpg
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Leyenda Fig. 7.5 A playbill of the opera Hunyadi László composed by Ferenc Erkel, ‘father’ of the Hungarian national opera. Textbook written by Béni Egressy. The opera was premiered in the National Theatre in Pest, in 1844. The original playbill belongs to the collection of the Széchenyi István State National Library.
URL http://books.openedition.org/obp/docannexe/image/14802/img-5.jpg
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Leyenda Fig. 7.6 The Polka Mazur, on the front-page of the publication with musical notes, 1864. 150 x 90 mm. Kränzchen-Souvenir, Polka Mazur für pianoforte von kapellmeister Josef Dubez (Pest: Rózsavölgyi & Comp., 1862). Image courtesy of the Library of the Liszt Ferenc Music Academy, Budapest.
URL http://books.openedition.org/obp/docannexe/image/14802/img-6.jpg
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Leyenda Fig. 7.7 Pálóczi Horváth Ádám, Ó és új mintegy Ötödfélszáz énekek, ki magam csinálmánya, ki másé [450 Old and New Songs, Composed by Myself and Others] (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1953), pp. 172–73 (notes) and 528–29 (lyrics).
URL http://books.openedition.org/obp/docannexe/image/14802/img-7.jpg
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Leyenda Fig. 7.8 Pálóczi Horváth Ádám, Ó és új mintegy Ötödfélszáz énekek, ki magam csinálmánya, ki másé [450 Old and New Songs, Composed by Myself and Others] (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1953), pp. 173 (notes), 529 (lyrics).
URL http://books.openedition.org/obp/docannexe/image/14802/img-8.jpg
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Leyenda Fig. 7.9 Pálóczi Horváth Ádám, Ó és új mintegy Ötödfélszáz énekek, ki magam csinálmánya, ki másé [450 Old and New Songs, Composed by Myself and Others] (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1953), pp. 131 (notes), 265 (lyrics).
URL http://books.openedition.org/obp/docannexe/image/14802/img-9.jpg
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Leyenda Fig. 7.10 Réthei Prikkel Marián, A magyarság táncai [Dances of Hungarians] (Budapest: Stúdium, 1924), pp. 232–33.
URL http://books.openedition.org/obp/docannexe/image/14802/img-10.jpg
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Leyenda Fig. 7.11 An iconographic illustration of the dancing style described above, by Czech-born painter Georg Emmanuel Opitz (1775–1841), Táncoló Magyarok [Dancing Hungarians], early nineteenth century. Paper, gouache, 478 x 361 mm. Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum, Történeti Képcsarnok T. 7136. Image courtesy of Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum.
URL http://books.openedition.org/obp/docannexe/image/14802/img-11.jpg
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Leyenda Fig. 7.12 Márk Rózsavölgyi, Első magyar társas tánc [First Hungarian Social Dance]. The front page of the publication of the accompanying music, from Szentpál Olga, A csárdás (Budapest: Zeneműkiadó, 1954), p. ix.
URL http://books.openedition.org/obp/docannexe/image/14802/img-12.jpg
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Leyenda Fig. 7.13 Lajos Kilányi, Andalgó [Promenade], 1844. Image copied from Szentpál Olga, A csárdás (Budapest: Zeneműkiadó, 1954), p. 32.
URL http://books.openedition.org/obp/docannexe/image/14802/img-13.jpg
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Leyenda Fig. 7.14 Front page of the musical publication of Palotás [For the Palace], composed by the Hungarian composer and pianist Bertha Sándor (1843– 1912). Budapest: Khor & Wein könyvnyomdája, 1864. Lithograph, 31 x 26 cm. Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Egyetem Könyvtára, 50.471.
URL http://books.openedition.org/obp/docannexe/image/14802/img-14.jpg
Archivo image/jpeg, 124k

Autor

Is a Professor of the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Szeged, Hungary. He is the former head of the Department of Folk Dance in the Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and the Co-Founder of Choreomundus.

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