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Contents

Preface

LADY MACBETH - CONCEPT OF MODERNITY
Leon Stefanija: Concept-analysis of Modernity through Rhetorics on Slovenian Orchestral Music (1918-1945)
László Gombos: Jenő Hubay's Place in the Annals of Hungarian Music
Ivana Medić: Playing Catch-Up: Serbian Art Music against the Odds
Nemanja Sovtić: From the Opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District to the Ballet Katerina Izmailova '77 - Rationalization of Violence Reflected in the Creative Dialogue Between Rudolf Bruči and Dmitri Shostakovich

THE AGE OF GOLD - BURDENED NATIONAL MEMORIES
Attila Farkas: The Anti-Communist Minimal State against History. Antal Jászay and a Lesson for a Lifetime
Tamás Kollarik - Bálint Zágoni: The Career of Jenő Janovics (1872-1945)
Ákos Windhager: The Musical Memory of Trianon in the Interwar Period
Áron Máthé: Literature, Kádár, the Soviets and Trianon: How the Issue of "Hungarian Nationalism" was Present in Communist Literary Policy between 1956 and 1968
Bence Csatári: The Appearance of National Identity in the Pop Music of the Kádár-era - From the Nemzeti dal to István, a király

THE LIMPID STREAM - RELATIONS OF POLITICS AND CULTURE
János Boros: Freedom, Force and Culture - A Philosophical Account
Valerio Severino: The Strained "Catholic Anti-Pagan Alliance" in the Aftermath of Dollfuss's Assassination - Data on the Italian "Altar of the Fatherland"-Building Renovation in 1934
Andor Wesselényi-Garay - Miklós Köllő: Reactions to Guest Identities: Architectural Regionalisms in Europe

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Preface

First of all, this is not a musicology book, nor primarily a Shostakovich study book despite its (sub)title but rather a selection of academic essays of Central European cultural memory. The studies discuss the reception of Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) as a symbol of burdened memories of work of arts, persons and societies. Shostakovich, in spite of having a significant international reputation and a relevant oeuvre, is a controversial figure today due to his former ideological, political and cultural readings. There are many similar authors, works of art and styles that have been revaluated due to the political events of the last century. Shostakovich's reception related to the key issue of the self-identification of our region: to what extent has contemporary culture been determined by the multiple changes of identity imposed against the will of society?

This question would have been answered at the third scientific workshop in Szigliget, if it had been held. Its further aim was to explore how the successor society could live by the cultural reminiscence created by state ideologies. What should we do with the monuments, the films and ideological poems? The survey focuses on three elements of intellectual history: ideology (represented by states), culture (cultivated by societies) and collective memory (imbued with life by people). We detected the conflicts of modernisms in changes in the lifeworld. In our region the changes in lifestyle, values and place caused difficulties for the masses. The appearance of the modern symptoms of the economy, culture and mentality was rapid for the greater part of the societies in the region, and they sought alternative ways to reconstruct their former world. Both the first stream of modernism and the cited restoration of the old times failed as the dictatorships usurped both trends. However, both modernism and restauration deconstructed the former collective memory, with this deconstruction carried out by academic apparats during the dictatorships. That's how we find the collective memories of the last century laden with such burdens.

Although the annual workshop in Szigliget by the Hungarian Academy of Arts Research Institute of Art Theory and Methodology was postponed in 2020 we still invited researchers to answer the questions above in the following way: How did modernisms appear in the region? Which ideological burdens of interpretation can be detected in culture that are no longer current? What is the region-specific relation of memory, culture and politics? Finally, how can culture exist without using force? Our editorial staff selected the twelve best ones from among the invited studies. We divided them into three parts: Lady Macbeth - Concept of Modernity, The Age of Gold - Burdened National Memories and The Limpid Stream - Relations of Politics and Culture.

The first part, Lady Macbeth, contains four musicological essays by Leon Stefanija, László Gombos, Ivana Medić and Nemanja Sovtić. These texts analyse the cultural problems of the Shostakovich-syndrome (aka. not-Western modernism), which was summarised by Ivana Medić as: "If someone suffers from Shostakovich syndrome, then he [is] »too avant-garde for their [his] native lands, but not advanced enough for the West«." She presented the cited phenomenon in the case of four Serb composers (Milenko Paunović, Josip [Štolcer] Slavenski, Vojislav Vučković and Vladan Radovanović). The theory of modennism is also analysed in Stefanija's paper. His high-quality semantic study defines the meaning of "modernity" in music, and its conclusion confirms our expectation that "modernity" has a multiple meaning. Gombos's article focuses on the Hungarian violin virtuoso and composer, Jenő Hubay. Upon encoun - tering modernism Hubay was shocked, but later released his orchestration followed German modernity, yet his artistic vein remained French Romantic. Sovtić's study discusses the Lady Macbeth's premiere in 1977 at Beograd. The twist of the text is that this Lady Macbeth is a ballet, not an opera, and moreover, its composer is Rudolf Bruči and not Shostakovich. Another trick is that the essay affects the philosophical perception of the relationship between the common good and violence while presenting a typical collaboration of different branches of art (literature, music, ballet).

The second part, The Age of Gold, discusses what burdened the cultural memory in the above-mentioned period. The anthropological essays of Attila Farkas, Tamás Kollarik - Bálint Zágoni, Ákos Windhager, Bence Csatári and Áron Máthé concur that political manipulation in the collective memory cannot be put into brackets, but that objective discovery can nevertheless repair the harm it does. In the first chapter Farkas summarises the essence of the part as he demonstrates the historical experience of the periods (ideological dictatorships of Nazism and Communism) and suggests a possible way forward for the development of a mature intellectual's thinking. He presents Anthony de Jasay, who was a relentless critic of the welfare state, but who also outlined the basic features of the minimal-capitalist state and even the possibility of the civilised state of nature. Kollarik and Zágoni cover a similar modernist approach against ideological burdens telling the story of the first world-famous Hungarian filmmaker, Jenő Janovics. Windhager, provides a detailed analysis of Hungarian musical works of art between 1920 and 1938, addressing the burdened memory of the Treaty of Trianon. The study deals with the former and corresponding receptions, readings and misunderstandings. Máthé's article represents the same topic in a later period, in the Kádár-era. It dealt with the political- ideological burdens on the national memories, and proposed a solution that could comfort the societies of Central Europe. Csatári also discussed the same topic in the field of popular music. He shed light on the popular conspiracy theories about national pop music, which were widespread in Hungarian society.

The third part, The Limpid Stream, looks at the healthy relationship between culture, politics and memory. The three theoretical essays of János Boros, Valerio Severino, and Miklós Köllő - Andor Wesselényi-Garay give three different answers for the main topic of modernism: Does culture exist without using force? Boros analyses the theoretical background of the relationship between freedom, culture and force. He argues that they are dependent upon different norms. In his inter pretation normativity is an imperative to make something, and to do something in a certain way. Severino tells a story about a chapel, which became a tense crucial point of cultural patriotism and fascist ideology. Lastly, Köllő and Wesselényi-Garay demonstrate the corresponding architectural movements, which were entrenched in regional traditions and moves on to future realms.

Our leitmotifs (keywords): modernism, collective memory, ideology and Shostakovich connect the different studies. We can see many versions for regionalism from Portugal, Italy through the Balkans to Hungary and Romania. The spheres of culture are also various: from music and literature to cinema and architecture, from politics to philosophy. We have some moral justification for using force to create art in order to revive our collective memory. Finally, we are obliged to end with Shostakovich, who had a special way with cultural memory: "The best way to hold onto something is to pay no attention to it. The things you love too much perish. You have to treat everything with irony, especially the things you hold dear. There's more of a chance then that they'll survive."

Ákos Windhager

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