Ruin Concert - The Great Hymn Story

The Great Hymn Story 

A performance by Krisztián Nyáry and Ádám Bősze 

An Óbudai Társaskör production 

Why did it take 166 years for Ferenc Kölcsey's poem 'Hymn' to become the legal national anthem? Why did the politicians of various regimes dislike Erkel and Kölcsey's work, and what alternative marches did they try? What was the anthem before 'Hymn'? What does the swineherd's dance have to do with Kölcsey's text? Why did the poet consider his own work a mediocre poem? How many minutes did Ferenc Erkel take to write the music for 'Hymn' while under house arrest, and does it even have an authentic score? How do Erkel's 'Appeal' and Béni Egressy's 'Hymn' sound? Why was Franz Liszt offended after writing an anthem for the Hungarians? Why was 'Hymn' not allowed to be sung in church, since when is it proper to listen to it standing, and why did an incorrect text codified? 

Why did Zoltán Kodály and Gyula Illyés refuse to write a new anthem at Mátyás Rákosi’s request? And speaking of anthems written by Hungarians, what do Sándor Kisfaludy and the wine of Badacsony have to do with the anthem of the European Union? Why do Hasidic Jews around the world sing a Hungarian flower song of love as a religious hymn? What makes the Szekler anthem Szekler and why was the song 'Szép vagy, gyönyörű vagy Magyarország ('You are beautiful, you are wonderful Hungary') not played in 1944? Why does the Slovak anthem resemble a Hungarian folk song and the Israeli anthem a Hungarian Catholic church song? What do the members of the French elite tank battalion sing in Hungarian and how did the Hungarian operetta end up in an Icelandic football stadium? What makes the Uruguayan and Paraguayan anthems Hungarian? And anyway: how is an anthem born if it is Hungarian? Krisztián Nyáry and Ádám Bősze reveal all this in an adventure through the history of literature and music, one with plenty of good cheer - on the 200th anniversary of the birth of 'Hymn'.