This very attitude of the general public is the highest praise for Hubay's violin compositions. Indeed, their poetic charm, their effectiveness and singularly idiomatic style stamp him as a genuinely inspired poet of the instrument. In violin literature he occupies perhaps the most nearly analogous place to that of Chopin in piano music. His deeply-felt tone-pictures, his 'Csárda (tavern) Scenes,' in which he preserved many a treasure of Hungarian folk-song, those magnificent illustrations of Sirva vigad a magyar, those rapturous Hungarian rhapsodies for the violin, are surely not of less value than many of Liszt's finest piano compositions.
The facts that Hubay's name is chiefly associated with his standard violin compositions and that his reputation is mainly that of a great violin pedagogue were obstacles to the popularity of his other works. Yet his creative activity has been most varied: he has written songs, sonatas, concertos, symphonies, and seven operas. One of these operas, 'The Violin Maker of Cremona' (libretto by Coppée), was successfully performed in seventy European theatres. The music of the 'Violin Maker' is characterized by refined elegance, genuine passion, and the nobility of its ideas. The remark of a Hungarian critic that Hubay's music impresses one 'as if he had composed it with silk gloves on his hands' may be accepted as real praise, for Hubay's technical mastery is applied with uniformly exquisite taste. He especially shows his superior musicianship in the operas Alienor, 'Two Little Wooden Shoes,' 'A Night of Love,' 'Venus of Milo,' and in the two Hungarian operas, 'The Village Rover' and 'Lavotta's Love,' the first based on a Hungarian peasant play, the second on the life of the composer Lavotta.
Hubay's two essays in the field of national grand opera are sincere products of his artistic conviction—conscious manifestations of a national ambition; he can, therefore, not be accused of trying to hide a lack of original invention behind a cloak of folk-music.
VI
Between Mihálovich, Zichy, Hubay, and the representatives of 'young Hungary' there are composers of note who are not young enough to be classified as such nor old enough to be called masters, if we apply the term to artistic stature rather than actual age. This applies especially to Ernst von Dohnányi (born 1877), a former pupil of the Hungarian Academy and of d'Albert and at present a professor at the royal Hochschule in Berlin. Virility, vehement pathos, enthusiasm, and brilliant sonority are the outstanding qualities of Dohnányi's music. His best works are perhaps in the field of chamber music: the beautiful string quartet in D-flat, the 'Trio Serenade,' full of caprice and coquetry, the violin sonata in C-sharp minor, a work of fine inspiration, are of solid merit. His four 'Rhapsodies'—well known to pianists—are interesting. One of them reveals the author's nationality, while another one re-echoes his honored ideal, Brahms. His effective and brilliant piano concerto, too, speaks here and there in Brahmsian phraseology. Although he reflects slight special influences in places (as that of Mahler in his Suite), his style is eclectic and expresses at the same time a strong individuality. In works of larger form he has tried his hand at a symphony (D minor), excelling in beautiful harmonies, and a comic opera, Tante Simonia, containing a characteristic overture in which the jovial character of the comedy is successfully reflected. This, like his pantomime, 'The Veil of the Pierette,' reveals him as a musical dramatist, with a special gift for effective orchestration. Dohnányi's substantial accomplishments already make it unnecessary to predict for him a place in musical history.
Undoubtedly the hyper-critical and unreceptive attitude of modern critics is responsible for the lack of popularity of certain composers. It would seem that Emanuel Moór is one of these. Moór is a tremendously prolific composer. He has written no less than five hundred songs, seven symphonies, three operas, six concertos, and a mass of chamber music. Many of these have real merit; also, they do not lack exponents and interpreters (witness Marteau, Ysaye, Casals, Bauer, the Flonzalay Quartet). Still, they have not been able to gain a general appreciation. Time only will assign a proper place to their creator. Here, also, should be mentioned the name of J. Bloch, a successful composer of numerous violin pieces.
National qualities are displayed to telling advantage in the 'Aphorisms on Hungarian Folk-songs,' by the brilliant Liszt pupil A. Szendi. In fact, the 'Aphorisms' (difficult piano pieces) have perhaps more Hungarian color than the Rhapsodies of Liszt. Szendi is also the author of some good chamber music and of an opera, 'Maria,' which he wrote together with Szabados. 'Maria' is built upon Wagnerian principles. The subject of this ambitious opera is the struggle between the Christian and Pagan Hungarians in the twelfth century. The music, in which Hungarian elements also have a prominent place, is of exquisite workmanship.
While Dohnányi and Moór are not living in Hungary, Szendi, Bloch, and the brilliant group referred to as 'young Hungary' develop their growing talents within the borders of their native land.
On the whole, the characteristics of the present products of the young Hungarian school are above all individual; but there is also a strong tendency toward ultra-modernism, and, finally, a certain fragrance of the Hungarian soil, a quality that one may feel but can not analyze. The aim of the school is no less than the creation of a new national style, which they endeavor to reach by different ways. Brilliance and robust individualism characterize every one of these disciples, mostly of Hungarian education. This is especially true of Leo Weiner (born 1885), whose very first attempt in the field of composition attested a considerable technique. If Weiner's first composition took his master (Hans Koessler[30]) by surprise, a later one, which he wrote for the final student's concert of his class, fell little short of being a sensation for musical Europe. This, his last student work—a 'Serenade'—spread his fame through the continent. It was performed in almost every musical centre of Europe. In it the composer displays a really individual style of his own. It is full of ideas garbed in brilliant orchestration and glows with the fire of enthusiasm. Weiner's ingenious harmonic sense and ability is as astonishing for his age as his fine architectural sense. In his other works—a quartet in E, a trio in G minor, a sonata for violin and piano in D (a valuable addition to the list of modern sonatas)—the harmony, while sonorous and pure, is quite simple, though his modulations often act as surprises. In form he never abandons logical progression and artistic unity, since he never loses the general outline of his movements. It is true that one may find dull moments in Weiner, yet of what composer is that not true? Weiner is less successful where he attempts to produce Hungarian color, but as dignified examples of music produced for its own sake his works are likely to persist.
One of the chief representatives of musical ultra-modernism in Hungary is Béla Bartók, a remarkable individuality whose modernism has probably reached its own limits. According to his principles, applied in his compositions, every kind of key-relationship is possible. Thus he combines a melody E major with a motive A-flat major. His waltz, 'My Sweetheart is Dancing,' is astonishingly grotesque and novel in its pianistic effects. It will hardly fail to make a listener smile or laugh—perhaps by direct intention of the composer. Bartók's colleague in the field of grotesque but effective dissonances is Z. Kodály, with whom he undertook the notable task of collecting Hungarian folk-songs in their genuine natural form. With these true and unalloyed Hungarian melodies the two 'futurists' proved that the genuine Hungarian folk-song differed essentially from those known generally under that name. Bartók's and Kodály's folk-melodies are not built on the Hungarian scale, which is of gypsy invention. They display primitive qualities and preserve even the influence of the ancient church modes. They have a great variety of constantly changing rhythm and metre, and a distinct feature is the frequent return of characteristic formulas, also the employment of a peculiar pentatonic scale. Whatever may be his merits as a composer, Béla Bartók's work as a scholar in Hungarian music is of unquestioned historical importance.