Gyula Juhász and his correspondents

Dear Readers,

What novelty could be written about Gyula Juhász that you do not know yet? That Anna was not quite eternal? That this young man from Szeged was terrified in his whole life that he would become dement due to his imaginary syphilis, while he should have worried about his depression? The writer of these lines can only hope that you will not find these lines debunking and will read them with pleasure.

Dear Juhász, who are you?

Gyula Juhász was born in Szeged in 1883. He was one of the greatest love lyricists of the 20^th century. What kind of man was he? His peers described him as a quiet and reserved person, who thought that his appearance was extremely disadvantageous. His father died early – because his syphilis caused him neurotic diseases -, thus he clung to his mother very much. Juhász wanted to be a priest, but finally turned his back to ecclesiastic life and enrolled in the Hungarian-Latin department of the University of Budapest. He made friends with Babits and Kosztolányi here. After finishing university, he taught in hidden little villages, without having a real company, and he suffered from headaches and depression. Fortunately, he went to Nagyvárad later, where he met Anna Sárvári, the muse of his Anna poems.

Voices of muses

The poet could meet Vilma Zöldi first in 1918, when he had an unexpected success with his performance at the theatre of Szeged. Their relationship started then; he called Vilma on the name in her role in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Probably, he did not consider her real name poetical enough. Did she requite the poet’s feelings? Remained letters hint that she was a more serious and deeper soul than Anna Sárvári. She must have understood his letters to her, loved and appreciated him in her own way, but could not return his emotions. Her life ended just as tragically as Juhász’s did.

The confidential secretary – Irma Kilényi

The poet hired Irma Kilényi as of 1919. The literature-admiring teacher collected the literary relics, manuscripts and photos of the poet. Later, she corresponded with sanatoria, clinics, publishers, and encouraged the distressed Gyula Juhász in her letters written to the ailing poet. The endlessly good and amiable Gyula, as she calls him in her letters, tried to keep his feelings towards her in secret, but returned her friendship and presented her with little gifts. His dear secretary never married; she escaped to suicide when her friend Mrs. Béla Vajda – with whom she kept house together for several decades – was deported.

The self-consuming skinny chap, who was a terrible letter-writer

Being a friend of Mihály Babits could be a great thing; he and his wife Ilona Tanner stayed in Szeged several times. Their friendly correspondence gives evidence of their unreserved relationship. In his letters, Babits invites the poet to his “lodge” in Esztergom many times.

In Juhász’s self-confession, we can all recognize ourselves; and we close our article with this cue:

“…Forgive me for not writing anymore of myself, you know it well that I am almost as bad in letter-writing as you are, and that was already a lot from me.”

TÉ

Translated by Zita Aknai

Sources:

http://tiszataj.bibl.u-szeged.hu/23197/1/tiszataj_1963_004.pdf

http://virtualis.sk-szeged.hu/kiallitas/jgy_szerelmei/muzsak.html

http://epa.oszk.hu/00000/00022/00647/20807.htm

Recommendation

Story of the Valley and the collection of the Kapolcs Club

In the spring of 1985, a red Zhiguli stopped in the middle of a street in Kapolcs, in front of Elli Márvány’s gate, got out of the car and asked: “Is there a house for sale in the village?” He was lucky, because a very nice little peasant house became vacant those days, so they went to see it and bought it immediately. This was how Kapolcs met István Márta and it was followed by the formation of Kapolcs Club and the Valley of Arts. With this exhibition we are going to introduce the beginnings of the Kapolcs Festival and the collection of Kapolcs Club.

The hundredth

100 stories. They say that the first one is crucial in everything. Who could deny it? But for us, who write and edit the virtual exhibitions every week, each composition is special. Our one hundredth selection is also a special one, and we celebrate it in an unusual way.

Blue hour

One of the best occasions for taking city photos is when the sun is disappearing on the horizon or when it hasn’t appeared yet. The sky is blazing in the most beautiful shades of blue, the orange lights of the city have just been lit or they are still on. Plenty of this kind of photos can be found on the internet. Almost every second findings of the search word ‘Budapest’ were made during the ‘blue hour’. The blue colour of the sky is caused by the atmospheric light dissemination; without the atmosphere the sky would be black.

G. B. Göz and engravings of Hungarian saints in Augsburg

One of the most significant fortresses of engraving publication in Central Europe in the 18th century was Augsburg, so it is no wonder that many graphic magazines depicting Hungarian saints were also published here. Several family copper-engraving dynasties (Kilian, Küsel, Rugendas, Heiss, Klauber) were established in the city, who developed their techniques and enriched the form treasure of art through generations. But the demand in engravings may have turned even so famous mural- and oil picture painters towards the reproduced graphic process as e.g. Gottfried Bernhard Göz. In addition to the artist's engravings in the Piarist Museum, our virtual exhibition also presents sacred pictures of Hungarian saints engraved by the Augsburg masters working with him.

The ancient magic of dance

Dance is the most varied form of expression of the soul, a truly ancient instinct, but it is undoubtedly much more than movement, just as music is not only a sequence of sounds. Dance is one of the highest forms of art. In our latest selection, to mark World Dance Day, we look at the history of ballet and contemporary dance, illustrated with photographs of Hungarian artists, and pay tribute to our dancers.

Our National Theaters

From the beginning, the term "national" was used in the theatrical world as a distinctive adjective. Today, national theatres have a much more complex connotation. The representation of regional and national values at the highest level is central to their artistic programme. In our selection you can read about the history of the National Theatre of Pécs, the National Theatre of Győr and the National Theatre in Budapest.

More thematic virtual exhibitions