Laszlo Szendrey-Karper and the traditions of the Hungarian guitar school
The modern guitaristics is a well-developed branch of musicology now. Since the late 90’s of the 20th century one has been observing the burst of research both of the historical direction (the development specificity of the guitar as an instrument in relation to historical stages and epoch-making styles) and of the theoretical (organology, justification of the specifics of guitar texture, rhythms, and genres) and methodological directions (specificity of performance, teaching, etc.). However, the study of the peculiarities of the guitar development in various ethnic contexts and the specifics of the national schools themselves remains relevant. The way of forming a performance standard in the context of European culture and its national refraction is another problem. Among the brightest guitar schools of the 20th century (Spanish, English, Italian, and German) the Hungarian school may not be so prominent. But the activities of Laszlo Szendrey-Karper, who is rightfully considered the founder of the Hungarian guitar school, because he was the first to teach the guitar class in the Academy named after F. Liszt in the middle of the 20th century, had a tremendous influence on the formation of the principles of European performance practice and these activities require a more thorough study. Analysis of recent publications. Among the studies devoted to classical guitar, one should specifically distinguish the book by M. Summerfield, which describes the process of the guitar becoming since 1800. The problems of guitar schools in terms of modern tendencies (in particular, postmodernism) are T. Ivannikov’s research object, the development of the guitar in Hungary from the very beginning to the end of the 19th century was explored by A. Bozoki, the role of creativity of I. Albenis, M. Granados and A. Segovia in the evolution of classical guitar was investigated by D. Pavlovich, the analysis of some contemporary tendencies is in the thesis by Chaki Andras, almost complete information about L. Szendrey- Karper’s activities can be found in a small monographic study by Fodor Lajos, which presents a rather complete picture not only of the musician’s creativity becoming, but also the history of the famous festival in Estergom, which became the representative of the Hungarian guitar school. The purpose of the article is to study the stages of the formation of the Hungarian performance school of the 20th – the beginning of the 21st century, and to determine the positions that make up its specificity, based on the guidance by L. Szendrey-Karper. The methodology is based on the principles of comparative analysis. At the beginning of the becoming of L. Szendrey-Karper as a performer (1950s), Hungary did not have a guitar education at a professional level, but it can be assumed that guitar traditions were inspired by the traditions of Austrian musicians, first of all. Thanks to the activities of the Hungarian Guitar Association (1925), famous guitarists visited Hungary. Thus, in 1928, M. Istvan gave a solo concert in the Music Academy, A. Segovia gave three performances, in 1936 and 1937 the teachers of the Vienna Academy of Music K. Sñheit and J. Ortner gave concerts, as well as L. Walker, a young, but already recognized guitarist. In the postwar years, one of the soloists of the new National Hungarian Philharmonic Society was the amateur B. Kovach, thanks to whom the audience became acquainted with the classical guitar repertoire, and the chamber music with the participation of the guitar (with violin and cello) was presented by Carpaty Ernst in the Academy halls. But nevertheless, the new, academic level, the guitar in Hungary received only due to the work and activities of L. Szendrey-Karper. He was not only the winner of the worldwide guitar competition in Warsaw (1955), a well-known guitarist, teacher, author of publications, but also the organizer of the festival of guitar music in Estergom (since 1973), which received a world recognition. The analysis of the existing records of L. Szendrey-Karper’s performances showed that an important feature of his performance was the use of different musical nuances of the instrument, as well as a clear rhythm. This is especially obvious in his performance of the Bach Suites, his versions of J.S. Bach’s and B. Bartok’s compositions, 50 Hungarian folk melodies for the guitar, and "Guitar Playing School". The ideas grounded in the "School" were developed in the following works by Tibor Pushkash (School, 1968) and D. Pavlovich (a compilation of etudes for a guitar). The modern period of the development of the guitar school in Hungary is impressive with the presence of the guitar at all the levels of education (school-collegehigher education institutions), large-scale concert activities, and well-known guitarists – J. Eotvos, D. Pavlovich and others. Conclusions. Based on the analysis of the three fundamental guitar manuals made by the outstanding guitarists of Hungary, the following tendency has been traced: the main quality of the guitar school of L. Szendrey-Karper is the combination of the methodical character of the teaching and Hungarian folklore, the elements of its musical language are tightly "woven" into the exercises. The school represents a great variety of genres, different styles (baroque, classicism) and nationalities. The general folkloristic tendency is developing in the works of Hungarian composers-guitarists of the 20th and 21st centuries (in particular, in the "School" of T. Pushkash). Regarding the cycle of D. Pavlovich’s etudes, it is noted that it at least includes Hungarian folk means of expressiveness: the widespread use of open strings implies the presence of tonal chords, which, in its turn, is associated with academism. At the same time, D. Pavlovich’s etudes represent a vivid example of the continuation of the guitar art traditions of L. Szendrey-Karper, and enrich them with the experience of the 21st century. The prospect of further study of the topic is related to the development of the Hungarian guitar school at the present stage. So, it is necessary to conduct a separate study of the projects that took place within the framework of festivals and as separate events of the world level: some of them, for example, the performance of guitar music continuously for 48 hours, an orchestra, were put into the Guinness Book of Records, and the project of "100 guitarists" (December, 2016) presented new dimensions of the sound of a guitar orchestra.