Hungarian art has been both stunted and spurred on by the pivotal events in the nation's history. King Stephen's conversion to Catholicism brought Romanesque and Gothic art and architecture to Hungary, while the Turkish occupation nipped most of Hungary's Renaissance in the bud and left much of its Gothic legacy in ruins. The Habsburgs opened the doors to baroque influences. The arts thrived under the Dual Monarchy, then through truncation and even under fascism. The early days of communism brought art celebrating wheat sheaves and muscle-bound steelworkers to less-than-impressed Budapest urbanites, but much money was spent on music and 'correct art' like classical theatre. While the artistic, cultural and literary hypertrophy of Budapest is indisputable, it would be foolish -if not impossible -to ignore folk art when discussing urban (and urbane) fine art in Hungary.The two have been inextricably linked for several centuries and have greatly influenced one another. The music of Béla Bartók and the ceramic sculptures of Margit Kovács are deeply rooted in traditional Hungarian culture. Even the architecture of the Secession incorporated many folk elements.
Hungary has one of the richest folk traditions in Europe and, quite apart from its music, this is where the country often has come to the fore in art. Many urban Hungarians probably wouldn't want to hear that, considering folk art a bit déclassé and its elevation the work of the communist regime, but it's true. From the beginning of the 18th century, as segments of the Hungarian peasantry became more prosperous, ordinary people tried to make their world more beautiful by painting and decorating objects and clothing. It's important to remember two things when looking at folk art. First, with very few exceptions only practical objects used daily were decorated. Second, this is not 'court art' or the work of artisans making Chinese cloisonne or Fabergé eggs. It is the work of ordinary people trying to express the simple world around them in a new and different way. Some of it is excellent and occasionally you will spot the work of a true genius who probably never ventured beyond their village or farm.
Hungary has made many contributions to the music world, but one person stands head and shoulders above all: Franz or Ferenc Liszt. Liszt (1811-86), who established the Academy of Music in Budapest, liked to describe himself as 'part Gypsy', and some of his works, notably Hungarian Rhapsodies, echo traditional Roma music. Ferenc Erkel (1810-93) is the father of Hungarian opera and two of his works -the stirringly nationalist Bánk Bán, based on József Katona's play, and László Hunyadi - are standards at the State Opera House. Erkel also composed the music for the Hungarian national anthem. Imre Kálmán (1882-1953) was Hungary's most celebrated composer of operettas. The Queen of the Csárdás is his most popular -and campiest- work. Try to catch it at the Budapest Operetta Theatre on VI Nagymezo utca in Pest. Béla Bartók (1881-1945) and Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967) made the first systematic study of Hungarian folk music together, travelling and recording throughout the Magyar linguistic region in 1906. Both integrated some of their findings into their own compositions -Bartók in Bluebeard's Castle, for example, and Kodály in his Peacock Variations. Hungarian folk musicians play violins, zithers, hurdy-gurdies, bagpipes and lutes on a five-note scale. There is a variety of different groups but ones to watch out for are Méta and Muzsikás (especially when Márta Sebestyén sings). Anyone playing the haunting music of the Csangó region in eastern Transylvania is also a good bet. Traditional Yiddish music is less known than Gypsy and Roma music but is of similar origin, having once been closely associated with Central European folk music. Until WWI so-called klezmer dance bands were led by the violin and cymbalom, but the influence of Yiddish theatre and the first wax recordings inspired a switch to the clarinet, which is the predominant instrument today. Klezmer music is currently going through a great renaissance in Budapest and the Budapest Klezmer Band is world class. There are two ballet companies based at the Opera House in Budapest though the best in the country is the Gyori Ballet (from Western Transdanubia). Groups like the State Folk Ensemble perform dances essentially for tourists throughout the year; visit a tancház (literally 'dance house' but more like a folk-music workshop) if you prefer authentic folk dance and not touristy two-stepping. There are several symphony orchestras based in the capital, including Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Hungarian Radio & Television Orchestra.
It is important to distinguish between 'Gypsy music' and real Hungarian folk music. Gypsy music as it is known and played in Hungarian restaurants from Budapest to Boston is urban schmaltz and based on recruiting tunes called verbunkos played during the Rákóczi independence war. At least two fiddles, a bass and a cymbalom (a curious stringed instrument played with sticks) are de rigueur; if you want to hear this saccharine csárdás music, almost any hotel restaurant in Budapest can oblige, or you can buy a tape or CD by Sándor Lakatos or his son Déki. To confuse matters even further, real Roma music does not use instruments but is sung as a cappella (though sometimes it is backed with guitar and percussion); a very good tape of Hungarian Roma folk songs is Magyarországi Cigány Népdalok, produced by Hungaroton. The best modern Roma group is Kalyi Jag (Black Fire), which comes from north-eastern Hungary and is led by Gusztáv Varga. The group plays all sorts of unconventional instruments and gives performances from time to time at Budapest táncházak (dance houses). The táncház is an excellent place to hear Hungarian folk music and learn to dance. It's all good fun and they're easy to find in Budapest, where the dance house revival began.
You won't find as much Romanesque and Gothic art and architecture in Budapest as you would in Slovakia or the Czech Republic -the Mongols, Turks and Habsburgs destroyed most of it -but the Royal Palace incorporates many Gothic features and the sedile (niches with seats) in the Castle District, most notably on I Őri utca (Nos 32 and 36) and Országház utca 9, are pure Gothic. The chapels in the Inner Town Parish Church have some fine Gothic and Renaissance tabernacles and you can't miss the Renaissance stonework, the Gothic wooden sculptures and panel paintings and late-Gothic triptychs at the Hungarian National Gallery. Baroque abounds in Budapest as it does in the rest of Hungary; you'll see architectural examples of it everywhere. The Church of St Anne on I Batthyány tér in Buda and the Óbuda Parish Church on III Flórian tér are fine examples of ecclesiastical baroque while the Citadella on Gellért Hill in Buda and the municipal council office on Városház utca in Pest are baroque in its secular form. Distinctly Hungarian art and architecture didn't come into its own until the mid-19th century when Mihály Pollack, József Hild and Miklós Ybl began changing the face of Budapest. The romantic nationalist school of heroic paintings, best exemplified by Bertalan Székely (1835-1910) and Gyula Benczúr (1844-1920), gratefully gave way to the realism of Mihály Munkácsy (1844- 1900). But the greatest painters from this period were Kosztka Tivadar Csontváry (1853-1919) and József Rippl-Rónai (1861- 1927), whose works are on display at the National Gallery and the Municipal Gallery of the Kiscelli Museum. The 20th-century painter Victor Vasarely ( 1908-97), the so-called father of op art, has his own museum in Óbuda, as does the contemporary sculptor Imre Varga. The romantic Eclectic and Secessionist styles of architects like ÖdÖn Lechner (Budapest Museum of Applied Art, former Post Office Savings Bank) and the Hungarian Art Nouveau of Aladár Arkay (Városligeti Calvinist Church) brought unique architecture to Hungary at the end of the 19th century and the start of the 2Oth. Fans of Art Nouveau will find in Budapest some of the best examples of that style outside Vienna and Brussels. Postwar architecture in Hungary is almost completely forgettable. One exception is the work of Imre Makovecz, who has developed his own 'organic' style (not always popular locally) using unusual materials like tree trunks and turf. His work is everywhere in the rest of Hungary but it's hard to find in Budapest. Two fine examples include the Hungarian Art Academy at III Kesske utca 25 in Óbuda and the spectacular funerary chapel with its reverse vaulted ceiling at Farkasréti Cemetery in district XII.
The movement started among groups of avantgarde artists in Paris and Vienna, from where the term Secession comes. In Budapest, the Secession style was also the inspiration for the development of the Hungarian National Style. The secession movement crossed artistic boundaries, influencing painting and the decorative arts as well as architecture, Colourful, sometimes fantastical designs are instantly recognizable hallmarks of the style. The Hungarian National Style drew heavily on this general trend, incorporating motifs from old Hungarian architecture, particularly that of Transylvania, folk art and even oriental features.
