By John Dunkelgrün.
This is a time of remembrance. As I write this on September 11th, I am also thinking of the Hungarian revolution of 1956, now 60 years ago, in which over 2,500 Hungarians were killed by the invading Russian troops. The Hungarian embassy commemorates this tragedy with a series of events, the first of which happened in Utrecht on September 10th.
Sponsored and exquisitely catered by the Embassy, Musix For You, the programming company of alt-violinist Ms Örzse Adam, offered a varied program of old and contemporary classical music. The afternoon started in an original way, by having several musical families perform light classical music aimed at musical families with young children. This was followed by a high tea with good Hungarian champagne and exquisite pastries prepared by the Embassy cook.
Ms. Adam then explained the goal of her Musix For You and the VOET Foundation (“Variaties Op Een Thema”). There are a great many people in The Netherlands of Hungarian descent as over 5,000 fugitives found a safe home here after 1956. Ms Adam together with Mr. Martin van der Randen of VOET recognised a need to integrate Dutch and Hungarian culture and started the Zene (“music” in Hungarian) Festival.
The second speech was by Dr. Zoltán Lékó, Deputy Head of Mission of the Hungarian Embassy. He pointed out that the opening work was going to be Beethoven’s Egmont Overture. This work had become the signature music of the 1956 Revolution just like the Chant des Partisans was to the French Résistance. This happened because at the beginning of the revolution the Budapest broadcasting studio was destroyed and the make-shift studio had hardly any music records. However, they had the Egmont and that was played over and over.
There were ten excellent musicians who all came from Hungary, had Hungarian parents or came from Hungarian speaking areas around current Hungary. They performed some eight works in an admirably spirited way. Naturally the program had a strong Hungarian content. To me personally, the most impressive was the cello solo by Örs Köszagy “Jaj Istenem, hogy éljek még”(O my God, that I may survive) which was written by the young composer P. Vigh, who was present himself.
The day was concluded with a buffet dinner during which the Embassy cook really feasted the guests with specialties of the Hungarian kitchen.
The Embassy of Hungary organises a series of events to commemorate the revolution, such as a teachers conference, an exhibition and much more. Details can be found on haga.gov.hu/1956.
A special treat will be an exhibition at the Frans Hals museum of 17th century Dutch masters from the Szépmüvészeti Múzeum in Budapest.
Hollandse meesters uit Boedapest (12 November 2016 through 12 February 1217.
Ms Adam and Mr Van de Randen hope to make the ZeNe Festival an annual event and to cover more aspects of Hungarian culture.
Photography by Mrs Saskia Molema, Embassy of Hungary.
