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In preparation for the Liszt commemorations in Sopron in October 1929, Jenô Hubay was looking for a new piece, and among his sheet music he noticed a forgotten Liszt work: Die drei Zigeuner... Paraphrase für Violine und Pianoforte. The master wrote it in 1864 for Ede Reményi for violin and piano based on his own song of the same title. It was known by Hubay and his contemporaries that Reményi himself ('gypsy among virtuosos') never played the piece. It is strange that the violin transcription remained essentially unknown even after its publication in 1896 by Kahnt in Leipzig. It was not included in the concert repertoire, nor was its score in music shops and libraries (Hubay received a publisher's complimentary copy). Hubay saw the explanation in the fact that the violin part was not instrumental enough, which is why he, who had played and improvised with Liszt several times and was well-acquainted with Reményi's playing style, created a virtuoso 'concert version' from the piece. He orchestrated the accompaniment and had it published under the title Ungarische Rhapsodie by Universal Edition, dedicating the solo part to József Szigeti. The article seeks to answer how the song became a paraphrase and the paraphrase a rhapsody, a souvenir of the collaboration and mutual inspiration of three outstanding performers, these 'drei Zigeuner'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the fact that the first Hungarian sound recordings were made at the end of the 19th century, a Hungarian National Sound Archive does not exist even today. The idea of a collection of Hungarian sound recordings with an institutional background was first raised in 1908, and the creation of a Hungarian National Sound Archive was recommended and endorsed from the 1930s by individuals, such as, museologists, composers, ethnomusicologists, private record collectors, sound recording experts, politicians, journalists and librarians, or institutions like the Hungarian Radio or the Hungarian Branch of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML). During the twentieth century, the plans changed a lot; various things were taken into consideration: different points of view (ethnographical, musicological, discographical etc.), different dimensions, and different technical backgrounds from the possibilities of the 1930s to an online database. In the present article I give a chronological overview of these efforts and their contexts, with some consideration of projects which can be regarded as their offshoots, like Béla Bartók's contribution at the Commission Internationale de Coopération Intellectuelle of the League of Nations in Geneva, the so-called Patria Series, the Hungarian Radio's collection or the planned record collection of the Royal Hungarian Opera. I discuss the planned projects on the basis of archive documents, the daily press, the specialist literature, and, in some cases, with the help of interviews. This survey will demonstrate the progress of how the ideas of collecting Hungarian sound recordings developed during the 20th century and how the different institutions joined the issue of the national sound archive. It also demonstrates the attitude towards sound recordings of personalities such as Béla Bartók and László Lajtha. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the fact that the first Hungarian sound recordings were made at the end of the 19th century, a Hungarian National Sound Archive does not exist even today. The idea of a collection of Hungarian sound recordings with an institutional background was first raised in 1908, and the creation of a Hungarian National Sound Archive was recommended and endorsed from the 1930s by individuals, such as, museologists, composers, ethnomusicologists, private record collectors, sound recording experts, politicians, journalists and librarians, or institutions like the Hungarian Radio or the Hungarian Branch of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML). During the twentieth century, the plans changed a lot; various things were taken into consideration: different points of view (ethnographical, musicological, discographical etc.), different dimensions, and different technical backgrounds from the possibilities of the 1930s to an online database. In the present article I give a chronological overview of these efforts and their contexts, with some consideration of projects which can be regarded as their offshoots, like Béla Bartók's contribution at the Commission Internationale de Coopération Intellectuelle of the League of Nations in Geneva, the so-called Patria Series, the Hungarian Radio's collection or the planned record collection of the Royal Hungarian Opera. I discuss the planned projects on the basis of archive documents, the daily press, the specialist literature, and, in some cases, with the help of interviews. This survey will demonstrate the progress of how the ideas of collecting Hungarian sound recordings developed during the 20th century and how the different institutions joined the issue of the national sound archive. It also demonstrates the attitude towards sound recordings of personalities such as Béla Bartók and László Lajtha. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]