The musical life of Révkomárom

“Music is not a private pastime, but a spiritual resource that every civilized nation strives to make a public treasure.” ; (Zoltán Kodály) ; ; If we look through the “chronicle” of Komárom, we can see that in the city with a rich past, the arts have always had knowledgeable practitioners and torchbearers, those who sought to make music a public treasure as a spiritual resource, and there were also recipients, those who had a need for music as a “life-giving resource.” ; Military music played a significant role in the life of Komárom (a characteristically military town for centuries). Among the torchbearers we find Béni Egressy, the original author of Szózat and Klapka, the director of General Klapka’s band, and later the name of Ferenc Lehár, the elder, who headed the band of the imperial and royal 30th infantry regiment. ; During the First Czechoslovak Republic, the people of Komárom could enjoy the music of the garrison bands playing in the music pavilion set up in the Anglia Park during their festive walks. ; The establishment of the dalárdás in our region fell on the 1850s. As Zsigmond Fülöp, one of the chroniclers of the musical life of Komárom, noted: "...the silenced Hungarians resorted to song, with which they were most successful in keeping the national feeling awake in the discouraged souls." ; This was also the case in Komárom, as a result of the work of Ádám Molnár, the recognized musical authority and the enthusiastic organizer, at the general meeting convened in the Music Hall on January 24, 1864: "the Révkomárom Dalárda Association was declared definitively established." ; Later, regarding the activities of the choir, which was already operating under the name of Komáromi Dalegyesület, the chronicler wrote, among other things, the following: “A notable and outstanding event for the Dalegyesület was the Song Festival that took place in Komárom on June 25, 1899. The Transdanubian Song Association held its ceremonial general meeting and its fourth song festival and song competition in our city. More than four hundred singers visited Komárom. (...) The huge room of the military riding school was almost completely filled with the interested audience, which enjoyed the pieces of the individual song choirs with the greatest pleasure throughout.” ; In the period between the two world wars, in addition to the Komárom Workers' Association, several choirs were already operating in the city: the Egyetértés Workers' Choir – Mór Krausz, the Catholic Church Choir – Tivadar Molecz, the Industrialists' Choir – Géza Tóth, the Jewish Church Choir – Mór Krausz, the Evangelical Choir – Sándor Nagy, the Reformed Industrialists' Choir and the Reformed Farmers' Choir, the Communist Choir – under the direction of conductors Lajos Leszenszky. ; The Saint Benedict Catholic High School – under the direction of the legendary music teacher József Krizsán – also played a significant role in the life of the city through its orchestra and choirs. ; In the years 1924-1938, an Orchestra and Choir Association was formed under the name Spevokol within the framework of the Komárno Folk Cultural Association, which was founded and led by František Suchý, composer, conductor, teacher, director of the local Slovak State Civil School. After the decision in Vienna, the conductor left Komárno and moved back to Prague. ; “March 5, 1911, remains a day of lasting memory in the cultural life of our city. ... on this day the Jókai Public Culture and Museum Association was founded, which set itself the task of faithfully serving the noble goals of public culture.” - wrote the Komáromi Lapok back then. With remarkable speed – construction began on March 27, 1913, and the inauguration was celebrated on November 29 – the association’s headquarters, the Palace of Culture, was built, the third Palace of Culture in the country after Arad and Marosvásárhely. ; According to Dr. Zoltán Szénássy, history teacher and local historian: “The Jókai Association, or rather its headquarters, the Palace of Culture, was the focus of all social movements that took place in Komárom during the two decades.” ; In 1923, the Music Department was established as an independent subdivision of the association. Under its organization, concerts were held in the city almost every month. Béla Bartók also accepted the invitation of the department, who gave an independent concert to the Komárom audience that filled the grand hall of the Palace of Culture to capacity on February 5, 1924. The department also organized the association's Jókai balls for years. ; After World War II, the "homelessness" that afflicted our national part left a deep mark on the cultural life of Komárom. Between 1947 and 1950, the Salesian, Don Jozef Strečanský, an excellent musician and high school teacher working in the city, organized a youth choir under the name Komárňanskí speváčikovia. ; As a result of the regained Hungarian language, the cultural life of the city was revived. On May 8, 1949, the Csemadok Városi Szervezete was founded, within the framework of which a theater group also operated.   A 20-25-member orchestra was formed under the leadership of József Krizsán, and the long-standing Gyetértés workers' choir (which had been transformed into a mixed choir for a while) also sang again under the direction of conductor Viktor Schmidt. The city's young and old flocked to the literary and musical programs, song evenings, and operetta performances of the "Csemadokos" in an almost euphoric mood. Parallel to all this, János Csík's dizzying career as a dance singer also began in the Csemadokos. At the "five-hour tea" dance afternoons, the Béke band and the Synkopy played host to the joy of young people who wanted to have fun and dance. ; In 1952, Juraj Bobák, a priest of the (then banned) Greek Catholic Church and a teacher at the apprenticeship school, founded DRUŽBA (Friendship) - a high-quality ensemble of 200 members, mainly presenting folk music, consisting of a choir, a dance group and an instrumental chamber ensemble. It was a permanent fixture at the city's cultural events, but also often appeared at various festivals throughout Czechoslovakia. ; Due to the events of 1956, the momentum of the Csemads' cultural activities was interrupted for a while, but despite everything, enthusiastic torchbearers, tireless organizers and excellent professionals could still be found in Komárom, who did not let the fire go out. Géza Dobi, violinist, composer, and teacher of the local Folk Art School led a new orchestra - under the name of the Csemadok Municipal Organization and the Folk Art School String Chamber Orchestra - which operates under the name of the Komárno Chamber Orchestra - as the ensemble of the Komárno Egressy Béni. Municipal Cultural Center and the Elementary School of Arts - to this day. The orchestra was taken over by Géza Dobi's former student, violinist Török Ferenc, member of the world-renowned Moyzes String Quartet, teacher of the Bratislava Conservatory, who led the ensemble for 15 years. He still holds master classes for the future generation in his hometown, Révkomárom, in the summer. The current artistic director and conductor of the Komárno Chamber Orchestra is Szabolcs Medveczky. The orchestra's performances in Komárno are still events today. ; It is well known that few Slovak cities can boast as many active choirs as Komárom. It has 3 kindergarten, 8 school and 4 adult choirs. The oldest (58 years) active school choir in Révkomárom – the children's choir founded by Zsuzsa Pálinkás, the Jókai Mór Elementary School Children's Choir: the only choir that has participated in all (18) years of the Csengő Énekszó. The Children's Choir of the said school – its founding choirmaster was Mrs. Jánosné Kaszás – has been operating for 48 years. The Marianum Church School Center, as an institution playing an important role in the musical life of the city, successfully represents Komárom with three choirs: Children's Choir, Children's Choir, Girls' Choir, their conductor Yvett Orsovics. ; ; Adult choirs in order of their formation ; ; The CONCORDIA mixed choir was founded in 1980 as the choir of the Csemadok Municipal Organization. Currently, the choir's activities are supported by the Concordia chorus civic association. The choir has been a successful participant in the Kodály Days in Galanta since 1981, where it has achieved a gold bar qualification every time. They regularly perform at concerts and festivals in Germany, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, but most often perform in Hungary. In 2000, the choir took part in a three-week tour of the United States. ; The founder of the choir is István Stubendek, who is still the artistic director and conductor of the ensemble. ; The KANTANTÍNA female chamber choir is currently one of the successful ensembles of the Egressy Béni Municipal Cultural Center. The choir was founded in 1997 by Katarína Čupková, who is also the conductor of the ensemble. ; GAUDIUM is a mixed choir and instrumental chamber ensemble "team" of the Jókai Mór Elementary School and the Egressy Béni City Cultural Center, founded in October 2002 by former members of the children's choir of the aforementioned school, who loved singing and playing music together as children and continue to do so with joy, i.e. gaudium, as adults, hence their name: GAUDIUM. The conductor of the ensemble is Lajos Stirber, who was the school's music teacher for 40 years, and the conductor of the children's choir. The "team" does not enter any competitions, and bases its activities on friendly choir meetings and on being active in local musical life. VOX HUMANA organizes the spring concert of the Komárom choirs every year, at which there is always a guest choir, the international friendly choir meetings, the Advent concerts, the entertainment evenings: Choir Cabaret, Hit Museum, and the literary and musical memorial evenings organized jointly with the Jókai Association are regular. ; CANTUS JUVENTUS is an 80-member female choir, the choir of the Selye János University, founded in the 2013/14 academic year. Its founder is Mgr. Yvette Orsovics PhD. Head of Department, Assistant Professor of the Department of Kindergarten and Teacher Training of the Faculty of Teacher Training, conductor. The choir achieved a gold bar qualification in Galánta at the Kodály Days in the year of its foundation, and is actively involved in the musical life of Komárom, and is a successful representative of it everywhere. ; The "music workshop" of Révkomárom – the Zenetanoda – Elementary School of Music – has greatly enriched the musical life of the city with many excellent musicians and professional events since its foundation (1861). ; In 1985, at the initiative of the initiator, Dr. István Bende, the first Lehár Festival took place, the program of which was later expanded to include a singing competition. In May 2019, the 11th edition of the International Lehár Ferenc Operetta Singing Competition took place in Révkomárom, with the support of the Komárom City Municipality, the Komárom and its Regions Target Fund, and in cooperation with the Budapest Operetta Theatre. ; In 2012, the Lehár Ferenc Polgári Társulás was founded to preserve the memory of the Komárom native and keep his intellectual legacy alive, thanks to the generosity of the city's local patriots and Mgr. Klemen Terézia. ; The association plays a significant role in the city's musical life. ; According to Zoltán Kodály: "Just as Mór Jókai brought joy to millions of people with his stories, Ferenc Lehár brought joy to millions of people with his melodies." ; The city's successful verse singing group is the Borostyán, led by László Nagy and Zsuzsanna Nagy Hollósi. Since 1995, the Borostyán festival has been organized every year, which is one of the longest-running domestic music festivals, with famous bands and musicians performing.  Its concerts are characterized by a colorful musical offering, from folk music to world music, from jazz to pop music, from rock to classical music. The audience can hear many exciting musical productions every year at the three-day music festival in Rév-Komárom. ; In 2010, five excellent musicians from Komárom formed the Memória Társulat. As their leader, music teacher and composer László Zsákovics, puts it, the band, which plays melodic guitar music and high-quality original arrangements, evokes the guitar music of the sixties with catchy melodies. Their concerts are always a great success with the public. In 2020, the Memória Társulat celebrates the 10th anniversary of its establishment. ; Violist Róbert Lakatos is the main organizer of the three-day Kútfest, which has been held since 2011. The primary goal of the increasingly popular open-air festival is to present Hungarian artists from the Felvidék region, who are also internationally recognized, in Komárom, in one of the city's landmarks, the Europa-udvar, with its excellent acoustics.