MEMORY OF THE WORLD REGISTER
Béla VIKÁR – Pioneer of Folk Music Recordings
(Hungary)
Ref N° 2010-47
PART A – ESSENTIAL INFORMATION
1
SUMMARY
In terms of both method and quantity the collection of Béla VIKÁR was an outstanding accomplishment. The
main value of his method was combining stenography and phonograph recording. VIKÁR’s collection of
about 8.000 items (folksongs, tales, customs, and vocabulary lists) contains texts documented through on-thespot shorthand notes, phonograph recordings, and photographs of the performers. This collection was
enriched later on by music notation and text data sheets (mainly created by Béla BARTÓK), as well as regular
transcriptions of the shorthand notes, which were produced by Vikár and his students. The collection’s value
is increased by the fact that it documents the culture of an area especially rich in folk music around the turn of
the century. At the same time, it is important to note that this is an interdisciplinary collection, which
rightfully arouses the curiosity of science historians and linguists, as well as musicologists and ethnographers
(for instance, VIKÁR was the first to realize that dialect phenomena also appear in folk music).
2
DETAILS OF THE NOMINATOR
2.1
Name (person or organization)
Museum of Ethnography, and HAS Institute for Musicology
2.2
Relationship to the documentary heritage nominated
Owner: Museum of Ethnography Sounds (Folk Music Collection); manager of part of the collection
(see below): HAS Institute for Musicology, Folk Music Archive
2.3
Contact person (s)
Krisztina PÁLÓCZY, and Pál RICHTER
2.4
Contact details (include address, phone, fax, email)
Krisztina PÁLÓCZY, Museum of Ethnography, 1055 Budapest, Kossuth Lajos tér 12.
Phone: 06-1-473-24-00, Fax: 06-1-473-24-11, E-mail: paloczy@neprajz.hu
Pál RICHTER, HAS Institute for Musicology, 1014 Budapest, Táncsics M. u. 7.
Phone: 06-1-214-67-70/135, Fax: 06-1-375-92-82, E-mail: richter@zti.hu
3
IDENTITY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE DOCUMENTARY HERITAGE
3.1
Name and identification details of the items being nominated
This collection of Béla VIKÁR of about 8.000 items (folksongs, tales, customs, and vocabulary lists) contains
texts documented through on-the-spot shorthand notes, phonograph recordings, and photographs of the
performers. This collection was enriched later on by music notation and text data sheets (mainly created by
Béla BARTÓK), as well as regular transcriptions of the shorthand notes, which were produced by VIKÁR and
his students. The phonographic collection is particularly important due to its interdisciplinary. Apart from
musicologists and ethnographers, it can be of interest to linguists and science historians as well.
3.2
Description
In the Folk Music Collection of the Museum of Ethnography the phonograph collection of VIKÁR
starts with MH 1 (MH stands for “museum roll” in Hungarian). Out of the 782 rolls, 117 are broken,
and 25 is missing; some disappeared at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900.
The extant rolls are as follows:
MH 1–493, MH 501–618, MH 630–659, MH 1172–1225, MH2199–2298
The documentation, vouchers of the recordings relate to these numbers.
The shorthand text material is held at the Manuscript Archives of the Library of the Hungarian
Academy of Sciences, under shelf mark Ms 1055/9–26.
Transcriptions of the shorthand notes can be found at the following places:
An 885-piece handwritten chrestomathy collection at the Ethnologic Documentation Department of
the Museum of Ethnography, under shelf mark EA 2299. Transcriptions, copies can be found in the
library of the Folklore Institute of ELTE University (from KI 1 to KI 24), and at the Folk Music
Department of the HAS Institute for Musicology.
4
JUSTIFICATION FOR INCLUSION/ ASSESSMENT AGAINST CRITERIA
4.1
Is authenticity established?
The phonograph rolls and the related documentation, the vouchers are the most valuable, original
items of the Folk Music Collection of the Museum of Ethnography. Since 1896, the beginning of
VIKÁR’s field work, these items arrived at the museum mostly right away. The documentation related
to these rolls was prepared in the museum, after the stock-taking process. The phonograph as a sound
recording device was in use until the 1950s; as technology developed, the tape recorder took its place,
since the latter was easier to use and also much lighter. Therefore the phonograph became obsolete,
and the recordings were copied to magnetic tapes. The transcription of the music took place in the HAS
Institute for Musicology under the supervision of experts, under the strictest safety measures. The digitization
of the material took place at the institute mainly using the magnetic tapes. There were only few cases when
the use of the original rolls proved necessary. At the HAS Institute for Musicology, the magnetic tapes and the
shorthand notes are kept as ‘original’ items, due to their irreplaceability.
4.2
Is world significance, uniqueness and irreplaceability established?
VIKÁR’s collection provides a genuine picture of the folksong repertory of the two decades around the turn of
the century (1890-1910). It faithfully reflects the divisions according to different styles, and particularly the
true ratio of old and new songs. Apart from the songs themselves, VIKÁR also recorded much background
information, like the function and the origins of the custom of which the music formed part of. It was
precisely this complexity of his collection that inspired BARTÓK and KODÁLY in their research later on and
even influenced their work as composers. It is no hyperbole to say that the world-famous oeuvre of BARTÓK
could not have come to light as we know it today without VIKÁR’s pioneering work. VIKÁR also collected the
music of several minorities within the borders of then Hungary, leading to the first recordings of our
neighbouring nations also coming from his collection. As the Slovenian scholar, Drago KUNEJ emphasized in
his recent book about the phonograph: "It is currently believed that the oldest sound recordings of
Slovenian folk music were made by the Hungarian researcher Béla Vikár." (Drago Kunej: The
Phonograph has arrived!, Ljubljana 2008. p. 256.)
4.3
Is one or more of the criteria of (a) time (b) place (c) people (d) subject and theme (e) form
and style (f) social, spiritual and community significance satisfied?
The greatest merit of VIKÁR’s work is his newly developed collecting method he started to use in
1896: the coupling of sound recording with on-the-spot shorthand notes. His folk music collecting
work covered the whole of the Carpathian Basin, and was not restricted to Hungarian folk music, but
included the Slovakian, Romanian, Slovenian and Turkish repertory. In this respect, his work precedes
these nations’ own folk music research. VIKÁR collected every tune in which he could discover signs of
folkloric variation. He also recorded much background information pertinent to the songs themselves, like the
function and the origins of the custom they formed part of. As a linguist he was the first to recognize the
existence of dialect phenomena in folk music. He was also one of the pioneers in establishing the principles of
comparative folk music research.
4.4
Are there issues of rarity, integrity, threat and management that relate to this nomination?
VIKÁR’s collection provides a genuine picture of the folksong repertory of the two decades around the turn of
the century (1890–1910), since it was collected without aesthetic or ideological prejudices. It faithfully
reflects the divisions according to different styles, and the ratio of old and new songs in particular. Zoltán
KODÁLY rightly said about his work: “A truly valuable part of our folk music treasure survived only in
Vikár’s collection”. VIKÁR has documented each verse through shorthand writing, and noted all other
available information about the performer, the function and origins of the custom etc. together with the
phonograph recordings. He did not select according to his personal taste, but rather recorded everything that
the people in the given area knew. From a methodological point of view, this collection was a unique
accomplishment world-wide for its time and remains an outstanding collection to this day. Partly due to
historical events and the short-term interests of different disciplines, however, some parts of it ended up in
other scholarly institutes. The preservation and protection of the whole for future generations nevertheless
remains essential. Being officially accepted as part of the Memory of World would be a key event in this
process, and would help us immensely in securing the future of VIKÁR’s collection. With modern technology
uniting the parts into a single virtual collection, the restoration of the unity of the different parts would not be a
problem anymore. Of course, the preservation of each separate part of the collection is solved even under the
present storing circumstances; our aim, however, is to make the entire collection – sound as well as written
documents – available and researchable through the internet.
5
LEGAL INFORMATION
5.1.
Owner of the documentary heritage (name and contact details)
Museum of Ethnography, Zoltán FEJŐS, head director
[HAS Institute for Musicology, Tibor TALLIÁN, director]
5.2
Custodian of the documentary heritage (name and contact details, if different to owner)
Krisztina PÁLÓCZY, Museum of Ethnography, 1055 Budapest, Kossuth Lajos tér 12.
Phone: 06-1-473-24-00, Fax: 06-1-473-24-11, E-mail: paloczy@neprjaz.hu
Pál RICHTER, HAS Institute for Musicology, 1014 Budapest, Táncsics M. u. 7.
Phone: 06-1-214-67-70/135, Fax: 06-1-375-92-82, E-mail: richter@zti.hu
5.3
Legal status:
(a) Category of ownership
Property of the Museum of Ethnography
(b) Accessibility
The phonograph rolls and the vouchers can be researched at the Folk Music Collection of the Museum
of Ethnography, while the transcriptions are held in the documentation department. The recordings
and transcriptions of the first 1.000 phonograph rolls can already be found on the internet:
www.neprajz.hu
Those parts of the Vikár collection that relate to Hungarian folk music – the so-called Bartók System –
can be accessed both in Hungarian and English on the website of the HAS Institute for Musicology:
http://db.zti.hu/br. The typewritten transcriptions of VIKÁR’s shorthand notes can be researched at the
Folk Music Department of the institute.
A book and a DVD have been published about the formation and diverse materials of the collection by
Ferenc SEBŐ under the title Vikár Béla népzenei gyűjteménye (Budapest: Hagyományok Háza,
Néprajzi Múzeum, 2006).
(c) Copyright status
Museum of Ethnography
(d) Responsible administration
(e) Other factors
6
MANAGEMENT PLAN
6.1
Is there a management plan in existence for this documentary heritage? YES/NO
Our aim is to make the whole complex collection available and researchable through the internet. We plan to
publish it in a form similar to that used for the Bartók System, now accessible through the webpage of the
HAS Institute for Musicology (http://db.zti.hu/br). The phonograph recordings are already digitized, the
digitization of the c15.000 vouchers is in progress, and all regular transcriptions of the shorthand notes
still has to be digitized.
7
CONSULTATION
7.1
Provide details of consultation about this nomination with (a) the owner of the heritage (b) the
custodian (c) your national or regional Memory of the World committee
PART B – SUBSIDIARY INFORMATION
8
ASSESSMENT OF RISK
8.1
Detail the nature and scope of threats to this documentary heritage (see 5.5)
The special metal locker storage of one part of the rolls is suitable, but the rolls still stored in boxes are
at more of a risk of breaking, therefore to solve the problem of 100% safe storage is urgent. The best
solution for the vouchers is now being discussed with the paper-restorer, since both the notes and the
mount cardboard are acidic.
All transcriptions have to be digitized and placed in non-acidic boxes as soon as possible.
9
ASSESSMENT OF PRESERVATION
9.1
Detail the preservation context of the documentary heritage (see 3.3)
The rolls are stored in air-conditioned storage, under suitable humidity and temperature. Around ¼ of
the rolls are stored in special metal lockers, which keep the dust away, and provide accessibility to
research. The rest of the collection is in paper boxes, also in the air-conditioned storage.
The recordings from the rolls have already been digitized, and are thus accessible and researchable on
CDs within the collections both at the Museum of Ethnography and the Institute for Musicology.
The vouchers are in a unique situation since both the notes themselves and the mounted cardboard
paper are acidic. For long-term preservation we store them in non-acidic boxes in air-conditioned
storages; the best solution for further steps is under discussion. The digitization of the around 15.000
vouchers is in progress. The recordings and transcriptions of the first 1.000 phonograph rolls (about ¾
of these was collected by Vikár) can be found on the internet: www.neprajz.hu and also (as part of the
so-called Bartók System) on the website of the HAS Institute for Musicology: http://db.zti.hu/br.
The storage of the transcriptions of the shorthand notes kept in the Museum of Ethnography is in nonacidic boxes, in metal lockers. The transcripts which can be found at the HAS Institute for Musicology
(about 6.000 pages) can be accessed on A5-size paper, typewritten, and are organized in folders
according to collection areas.