Music History of Hungary - 17th Century

17th Century

During the 17th century, Hungary was divided into three parts, one the region of Transylvania, one controlled by the Turks, and another by the Habsburg. Historic songs declined in popularity, replaced by lyrical poetry . Minstrels were replaced by courtly musicians, who played the trumpet and whistle, or cimbalom, violin or bagpipes; many courts and households had large groups of instrumentals . Some of these musicians were German, Polish, French or Italian, and even included a Spanish guitarist at the court of Gábor Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania. Little is known about the actual music of this time, however.

Instrumental music from the 17th century is known from the collections of various Upper Hungarian and Transylvanian collectors, such as János Kájoni, who collected the Cantionale Catholicum, Kájoni Codex, Organo Missale and Sacri Concentus . The collectors of the Vietórisz Codex, whose identities are unknown, and another anonymous collector from Lőcse, also published "the first examples of autonomous, developed virginal music, equally accomplished in style, melodic texture and technique of adaptation" . These songs were characterized by "flexible, finely shaded melodies, a tendency to create wider and looser forms, and a gradual independence of the forma (sic) principles of song melodies toward a clearly instrumental conception" . At the same time, rhythm became more complicated and notation more general. The Lőcse manuscript also notably presents an arrangement of dances, the first example of the Hungarian cyclic form ; this music and dance had similarities both to the Polish music of the time as well as the subsequent development of the verbunkos style.

17th century Hungarian church music was revolutionized after the 1651 publication of the Cantus Catholici, in which genuine Hungarian motives played a major part. By 1674, the Hungarian Mass was also part of the Cantus Catholici, followed by the adoption of Calvinist psalm tunes in 1693 and Hungarian choral music in 1695 . János Kájoni Organo Missale of 1667 was the first experiment in the creation of a new kind of Hungarian church music, a style that strung together short motives that were shortened, extended or syncopated in a complex rhythmic structure . Italian religious music played an important role in this development, which was documented in an "unparalleled example of ancient Hungarian music", the Harmonia Caelestis of Prince Pál Eszterházy, who tried to create a distinctively Hungarian style of church music using influences from opera, oratio literature, the German music of Johann Kaspar von Kerll and Johann Schmeltzer, and the oratorio and cantata styles . Eszterházy's efforts did not last, as the following century saw an influx of muic from Western Europe under the Habsburgs.

Around the start of the 18th century, however, the last national uprising of the period occurred, leading the spread of "Kuruc songs". These songs were authentically Hungarian and hold a "central position between the style of the ancient and the new folk music" . Their influences include elements of Polish, Romanian, Slovak and Ukrainian music in addition to Hungarian melodies.