“We can always count on his inspiring presence and friendly attention.”

Back in the days, how did you choose to study musicology?

I was a student of pianist Kornél Zempléni. We both suspected I was not going to be a podium artist, so Zempléni, who was also very good in the theoretical areas, advised me to give a try to the musicology specialisation. Bartók’s Fugue Art was the title I gave my application paper – later I was myself wondering this bold choice of topic. It was not easy to study Bartók’s works in those times; first there were hardly any recordings available, it was hard to get a hold of music notes as there was only one copy of them in the library, so I had to copy them by hand for, e.g. the whole fugue of the Violin Sonata and parts of the Concerto’s last movement and the Piano Concerto No. 3.

What special memories do you have of your student years?

To my greatest surprise, the admissions committee really liked my paper, particularly Dénes Bartha, who became one of my favourite teachers later. I had an excellent relationship with Bartha from the beginning. We worked together at the National Széchenyi Library not much after I finished my music academy studies, where we processed operas conducted by Haydn – he wrote the historical part, and I analysed the notes. A year later, we wrote a book on the topic. Lajos Bárdos’s music theory classes also had a severe impact on me. My generation still speaks about Bárdos’s courses with enthusiasm, during which he very thoroughly analysed works of Bach or Kodály’s Budavári Te Deum. I also have fond memories of Rezső Kókai, who is probably less known to the posterity. He once held a one-year Wagner course, where instead of playing records he played us everything on the piano. There was one class, for example, where he did not say a word, only played the second act of Siegfried. I have never heard this part in such an impressive performance ever since.

And how did your teaching career start?

As a recipient of the Ford Scholarship, I spent a year in the USA between 1968 and 1969, where besides researching I was regularly giving lectures during 18th-century symphonies researcher Jan LaRue’s seminars at New York University. He recommended me to Bence Szabolcsi – also a teacher of mine at the Liszt Academy – and after I came home, I started teaching from autumn. Dénes Bartha spent more and more time in the US, so initially, I was substituting him in the beginning. We got into the department with György Kroó as representatives of the new generation. Later, when Kroó became head of the department, he allowed every professor colleague to blossom in their own field of expertise, with their own methodologies. The Liszt Academy, to me, is like a real home, feels good to see how my former students have become heads of departments.

What message do you have as a former student and senior professor for today’s young generation?

My most important advice is: they should always analyse what is in the score first, about what the piece is! What we hear in concert halls nowadays, or how today’s fashionable artists perform them is not essential. If a musicologist becomes a critic, he has to confront the performance with the work primarily and not with a former interpretation. What I try to pass on to my students is that they should not just consider the work on its own, but regard it as part of a bigger unit, they should also familiarise themselves with its context as well. When we are studying a Mozart symphony, we should also learn about Haydn symphonies composed during the same time and let us be aware why Mozart is different than Haydn.

Photo: Dénes Erdős / Liszt Academy