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Chopin monument in Tchaikovsky Park, Budapest, 1961, photo Bartłomiej Gutowski, 2023
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Fundacja Akcja Kultura, Warunki licencji
Fotografia przedstawiająca Chopin in Budapest
Chopin monument in Tchaikovsky Park, Budapest, 1961, photo Bartłomiej Gutowski, 2023
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Fundacja Akcja Kultura, Warunki licencji
Fotografia przedstawiająca Chopin in Budapest
Bust of Fryderyk Chopin in Budapest, photo Akela3, 2012
Licencja: CC BY 3.0, Warunki licencji
Fotografia przedstawiająca Chopin in Budapest
Chopin monument in Gödöllő, aut. Margó Ede, 1929
Licencja: CC BY 3.0, Źródło: Digitális Képarchívum (DKA), Warunki licencji
Fotografia przedstawiająca Chopin in Budapest
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ID: POL-001861-P

Chopin in Budapest

ID: POL-001861-P

Chopin in Budapest

During his stay in Paris, Fryderyk Chopin befriended the eminent Hungarian composer Ferenc Liszt. It is difficult to assess unequivocally what influence this friendship with the 'national composer' had on the Hungarians' interest in Chopin's music. Nonetheless, in the Hungarian capital, we can find a special awe in the commemoration of our illustrious compatriot. Liszt himself was a promoter of his work, also in Budapest.

The best known and most interesting in artistic terms is undoubtedly the monument in Gödöllő by the Hungarian sculptor Ede Margó from 1929, created as a result of a competition announced in the mid 1920s by the Budapest authorities. The sculpture of Chopin was to stand in the Horváth-kert garden, but the nature of the work, in which alongside Chopin we see a pair of young, naked people - a woman and a man - immersed in an ecstatic, half erotic, half musical, dancing rapture, or perhaps ecstatic fainting, aroused controversy. Initially, it was refused to purchase the work and put it on public display. Perhaps it was not only the 'obscenity' but also the Art Nouveau style, heavily backdated to the late 1920s, that was the reason for the refusal. Eventually, however, in 1931, the city purchased the monument and its bronze cast was placed away from the city centre, on Szent László Square in the Kőbánya district. The Chopin monument, despite its different composition, may be inspired by the Chopin sculpture in Park Monceau in Paris.

In 1948, the monument was probably considered too vulgar and incompatible with the socialist aesthetic, and was dismantled, with plans to use it - along with others - for a monument to Stalin. Fortunately, Ferenc Pálfalfi, founder and president of the Hungarian Frédéric Chopin Society, found out about this and hid the sculpture. It is not known when exactly the statue found its way to the Károlyi Palace, then to the Kiscelli Museum, then to the headquarters of the Budapest Gallery in Sülysáp and finally to the Szentendre Sculpture Garden.On 12 December 1983, the statue was placed in the park next to the music school in Gödöllő named after Fryderyk Chopin. In 2009 a decision was made to carry out conservation, which was completed in 2010 (thanks to financial support from the City of Gödöllő and the Polish Institute in Budapest), and it was unveiled again. The location was then changed; it was originally situated in the courtyard of the school, but is now in front of the entrance.

The statue depicts Fryderyk Chopin seated at a piano, focused on playing. The composer's head is gently bent over the instrument, with his hands actively engaged in playing resting on the keyboard. He is dressed in a long coat whose outlined lines follow the shape of his body. Next to Chopin is a naked couple, a man and a woman, in a dynamic arrangement. The man is leaning forward, with his torso slightly twisted towards the woman. His left leg is stretched backwards and his right leg, on which most of his weight rests, is bent at the knee. His left arm is pointed backwards and his right arm is raised to shoulder height and bent at the elbow, facing the woman, his head resting on his hand. The woman kneels on her side, with her left leg slightly back, her head tilted and her hair falling freely down her back. Her hands are raised forward. The monument sits on a granite plinth with the inscription CHOPIN on the front. Ede Margó also made busts of Chopin.

Budapest's second Chopin monument was created in the early 1960s and is located in what was then Tchaikovsky Park in the 10th district. The park was created from the transformation of the area around the former Dreher Villa. The area was later renamed Tchaikovsky Park, where there is, among other things, a concert shell and monuments to famous composers, including Frederic Chopin. The limestone sculpture was unveiled in 1961 and was created by Hungarian sculptor János Konyorcsik.

The third, and earliest trace associated with Chopin, is Richard Füredi's sculpture 'Polonaise', established in 1866 in the Vigadó Concert Hall. It commemorates Chopin's Polonaise concerts, which were performed by Liszt. This Hungarian composer not only wrote a book dedicated to Chopin, but was also to donate a marble sculpture of Chopin's left hand to the National Museum. He also commissioned a bas-relief portrait of Chopin from the Swiss artist Antoine Bovy in 1837, which is to be housed in the Liszt Museum today.

There is a bronze portrait of Chopin by Ksawery Dunikowski in the building of the Academy of Music. On the other hand, Szigfrid Pongracz (1872-1929) is the author of the Chopin bust, which is in the Hungarian National Gallery. The 2011 statue, on the other hand, is located in Horváth-kert in the Krisztinaváros district, where the statue of Ede Margó was originally intended to stand. It is a replica of the composer's 1899 bust by Boleslaw Syrewicz, which stands in the Luxembourg Garden in Paris.

In 2023, a 'smart bench' was set up in Budapest, which not only measures the temperature and air pollution, but also allows you to listen to excerpts from works by Chopin and Liszt.

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Bartłomiej Gutowski
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