„MINDIG EGY KICSIT ÚGY, MINT KATONA A HARC ELÔTT": Indulótételek Lajtha László mûveiben.

In Lajtha's oeuvre many movements belong to the musical category of marches. There can be found manifold types: grotesque marches as well as creepy, transcendental movements, or sometimes an unstoppable military march is envisioned in the works. The richness of this musical topos can partly be explained by Lajtha's own military experiences. In the First World War he served on the frontiers as artillery officer and cavalry scout. It is quite telling that Lajtha in his correspondance in the late 1940's and in the 1950's still cited many times his memories as a soldier - or even referred to himself as a soldier. As he put it in 1948: 'I was neither a mercenary, nor a renaissance condittore [sic!] just a poor Hungarian lad.' It is not surprising either, that in his works Lajtha reflects often the military topos, nevertheless many types of marches can be indentified by their musical marks. There can be found funeral marches (In memoriam, op. 35, presumably 1941), dancelike marches (Quatre hommages - 3rd movement, op. 42, 1946), a lighthearted march that suddenly turns into a machinelike character (Sonate en Concerts for flute and piano and violin and piano, op. 64 and op. 68, 1958 and 1962), and some parts that sound like a military band playing. In my article I investigate the marches composed by Lajtha between 1945 and 1963. I analyse these works in the context of the generic tradition and the current ideological viewpoints of Hungarian musical circles, and at the same time I try to reveal Lajtha's compositorical models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]