Read&listen
READ & LISTEN
In this chapter, you can read about all the Hungarian-born musicians, and composers whom we discuss during the tours, and you can listen to all music mentioned during the tours in our curated YouTube playlists. Obviously this is our non-exhaustive selection of various resources related to the artists mainly in English language. The recommended books and DVDs can be ordered through the major online stores.
A short biography is placed under the link after the names (in brackets you find the original Hungarian name). Further short stories (with links) are randomly placed on each page of this website in the Did you know? sections and weekly on our Facebook account.
The Miscellaneous tab covers publications related to the history, art history, and music history of Hungary and a comprehensive guidebook of the capital.
At the bottom of the page, you find links to places that offer cultural programs in Budapest.
- Roots (Gyökerek) – DVD of a documentary film by István Gaál (HUNGAROTON, 2000)
- Béla Bartók: Pictures of a life (ed: Ferenc Bónis, Balassi Kiadó in 2017)
- Peter Bartók: My Father (Boosey and Hawks)
- The portrait of Classical Music Daily
- Béla Bartók Jr.: Chronicles of Béla Bartók’s Life (Magyarságkutató Intézet Budapest, 2021)
- Malcolm Gilles: The Bartók Companion (London, Faber and Faber 1995, Hal Leonard 2003)
- Agatha Fassett: The Naked Face of Genius: Béla Bartók’s American Years (Houghton Mifflin; First Edition (January 1, 1958))
- Claude Kenneson: Székely and Bartok: The story of a friendship (Amadeus Press, 1994)
- Joseph Szigeti: Szigeti on the violin (Dover Publications, Inc., 1979)
- János Kárpáti: Bartók’s Chamber Music (Corvina Press, 1975)
- György Kroó: A guide to Bartók (Corvina Press, 1974)
- Bela Bartok Letters – by Béla Bartók (Faber&Faber)
- The Bartók Archives’ website
- Bartók Returns Home 1988.
Music mentioned during the tours: YouTube Playlist
- Cannons and Flowers: The Memoirs of Georges Cziffra, 1996
- Mark Ainley: György Cziffra at 100
- The Virtuoso – a documentary film by Attila Kékesi
- György Cziffra at the BBC (1962-1963 complete TV broadcasts)
Music mentioned during the tours: YouTube Playlist
- James A. Grymes: Ernst von Dohnányi. A bio-bibliography; Greenwood Press, Westport–London, 2001
- Veronika Kusz: A Wayfaring Stranger – Ernst von Dohnányi’s American Years 1949-1960 (University of California Press, 2020)
- webpage of the Dohnányi Research Group of the Institute of Musicology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
- Dohnányi: The Pianist (a BBC radio programme by Alan Walker in 1966)
Music mentioned during the tours: YouTube Playlist
- webpage of the Institute of Musicology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences covering the oeuvre of Erkel with a special focus on his operas
Music mentioned during the tour: YouTube Playlist
- a comprehensive article on the Hubay violin school
- Nebyu Samuel: The Hungarian Violin Tradition of Jenő Hubay (DLA Thesis, Temple University, 2022)
- a long obituary from the Danubian Review, 1937
- The Art of Jenő Hubay and the Hubay School – DLA Thesis by Krisztina Anna Körmendy, Doctoral School of the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, 2008
- Edle Astrup Hubay: Licht und Schatten (Autobiography), Published by Bibliothek der Provinz, 2003
Music mentioned during the tour: YouTube Playlist
- Kálmán’s biography issued by the Kálmán Memorial House and Museum
- “A Survey of the operettas of Emmerich Kálmán” by Jessie Wright Martin
Music mentioned during the tours: YouTube Playlist
- The portrait of Zoltán Kodály by Classical Music Daily
- Anna Dalos: Zoltan Kodaly’s World of Music (University of California Press, 2020)
- Zoltán Kodály: Writings on Music Education (Ittzés, M. ed.) Budapest: Liszt Academy, 2019
- Life on Track – Zoltán Kodály (Bónis, F., ed.) Budapest: Balassi Kiadó, 2018)
- Music is for Everyone – Kodály’s life and oeuvre using archive footages (directed by Csaba Varga Zs., Liszt Academy of Music, 2018)
- Kodály belongs to all of us – a documentary film on the international adaptations of the Kodály concept (directed by Attila Kékesi and Gábor Zsigmond Papp, Liszt Academy of Music, 2018)
- Kata Ittzés-Kövendi: In the Footsteps of Zoltán Kodály in Budapest (Hungarian Kodály Society – Kodály Archives, 2017)
- Horvath, J.: Zoltán Kodály: Taking Children Seriously
- Gábor, L.: Kodály’s Principles in the Perspective of the 21st Century
- Choksy, L.: Kodály Method 1,2 New York, Prentice Hall, 1999.
- The Selected Writings of Zoltán Kodály (Bónis, F., ed.) Budapest: Corvina, 1974.
- Zoltán Kodály in North America (Johnston, Richard, ed.). Willowdale, ON: Avondale Press, 1986
- Mein Weg zur Musik. 5 Gespräche mit Lutz Besch (Zürich, Verlag der Arche, 1966)
- The website of the Kodály Institute
Music mentioned during the tours: YouTube Playlist
- His biography on the website of his international publisher Boosey&Hawkes
- A guide to György Kurtág’s music by The Guardian
- György Kurtág: Three Interviews and Ligeti Homages – Compiled and edited by Bálint András Varga
The Matchstick Man / The Seventh Door – Two films on Gyorgy Kurtag and Peter Eotvos by Judit Kele
Music mentioned during the tours: YouTube Playlist
- the website of Joseph Joachim
- Joseph Joachim – A Biography (1831-1899) by Andreas Moser, Lilla Durham, trans., London: Philip Wellby, 1901.
Music mentioned during the tours: YouTube Playlist
- Norbert Linke: Franz Lehár (Rowohlt TB, 2001)
- an overview of the oeuvre of Lehár by the English National Opera
Music mentioned during the tours: YouTube Playlist
- György Ligeti: Music of the Imagination by Richard Steinitz, 2003
- György Ligeti: Of Foreign Lands and Strange Sounds (Ed.: Louise Duchesneau, Wolfgang Marx, 2011- an overview of his oeuvre by the Southbank Centre
- Amy Bauer, Márton Kerékfy: György Ligeti’s Cultural Identities (Routledge, 2019)
- a collection of articles and obituaries by Ionarts
- Hungarian composer György Kurtág remembers his lifelong friend, György Ligeti, a gesamtkunstwerk.
- the Facebook page of György Ligeti
- a website of Ligeti currently managed by Dr Mike Searby
Music mentioned during the tours: YouTube Playlist
- Alan Walker’s 3-volume biography (Cornell University Press):
- Franz Liszt: The Virtuoso Years, 1811-1847 (Volume 1)
- Franz Liszt: The Weimar Years, 1848-1861 (Volume 2)
- Franz Liszt: The final years, 1861-1886 (Volume 3)
- The Death of Franz Liszt: Based on the Unpublished Diary of His Pupil Lina Schmalhausen (ed: Alan Walker published by Cornell University Press)
- Klára Hamburger: Liszt (1987, Corvina Publishing House)
- Franz Liszt: A Chronicle of His Life in Pictures and Documents (Ed.:Ernst Burger, translated by Stewart Spencer, 1989)
- Liszt in Context (ed: Joanne Cormac, published by Cambridge University Press, 2021)
- Great Masters – Liszt – His Life and Music (Ed.: Robert Greenberg)
Newly Discovered Treasures: Unknown Manuscripts of Published Works by Liszt (ed: Zsuzsanna Domokos, Liszt Memorial Museum and Research Centre, Budapest, 2021)
Unknown Versions of Liszt’s Works From the Archive of the Liszt Museum in Budapest – a digibook (2022)
Ágnes Watzatka: Following Franz Liszt’s Footsteps in Budapest (2011, Helikon)
Music mentioned during the tours: YouTube Playlist
- His website: http://www.davidpopper.org/
- Stephen Deák: David Popper (1982)
Music mentioned during the tour: YouTube Playlist
- Christopher Fifield: True Artist and True Friend: A Biography of Hans Richter (foreword by Georg Solti), Oxford University Press
- Double Life: The Autobiography of Miklós Rózsa, 1982
- A Composer’s Notes: Remembering Miklós Rózsa. A personal recollection by Jeffrey Dane, 2006.
- Miklos Rozsa Documentary
- “Man Who ‘Saved’ The Movies“: Juliet Rozsa Interview
- The website of the Miklós Rózsa Society
Music mentioned during the tours: YouTube Playlist
Sir Georg Solti
- Solti on Solti: a memoir written by Sir Georg Solti and Harvey Sachs, 1997
- The entry of grammy.com
- The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s entry on Solti
- Solti 100 – The Chicago Symphony Orchestra members remembering Solti
- Sir Georg Solti – The Making of a Maestro – a film by Peter Maniura
- Sir Georg Solti (1912 – 1997) – Great Conductors In Rehearsal
Music mentioned during the tours: YouTube Playlist
Music mentioned during the tour: YouTube Playlist
Miscellaneous
- Music in Hungary: An Illustrated History (Rózsavölgyi and Co., 2011)
- Miklós Molnár: A Concise History of Hungary (transl. Anna Magyar, Cambridge Concise Histories series)
- Paul Lendvai: The Hungarians: A Thousand Years of Victory in Defeat (transl. Ann Major)
- András Török: Critical Guide of Budapest
- Duncan J.D. Smith: Only in Budapest (The Urban Explorer, 3rd edition, 2014)
- Béla Bede: Architecture in Budapest (Corvina Publishing House, Budapest, 2020)
- György Palkó – Anett Mizsei: Budapest Architecture 2000-2020 (self-publishing, 2022, Budapest)
- Art-nouveau bestiary of the Museum of Applied Art Budapest
- Periodic table of the Hungarians (compiled by the team of MagMa Design Shop)
Useful Links
Concert halls, jazz clubs:
Major Museums, Galleries & Archives
Capa Center Contemporary Photography Center
Liszt Memorial Museum and Research Centre
Mai Manó Museum of Photography
Museum of Hungarian Architecture (The Villa of Rózsi Walter)
Museum of Musical Instruments in the Institute of Musicology