Page 267 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2026 Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes.../Composers’ Societies Past and Present...

To be or not to be a civil association?
What should the role of the Composers’ Union be in this situation? We
have young colleagues every year applying for membership, and this is good
news. But when we try to invite someone to join, the usual question is: “How
can this help my activities?” In response we only have rather poor answers
concerning up-to-date information on competitions, sending their works to
the ISCM World New Music Days, and so on. Two years ago we printed a
book titled Hungarian Composers, the contents of which we placed on the
website of the Composers’ Union, and we shall continue with widening the
circle of composers included and updating the database. It should be not-
ed here that inclusion in this database is not limited to members of the Un-
ion, although in the field of serious music almost everyone is a member. In
1993 there was an argument between two four-member groups of our com-
poser members, one that had a political basis, and as a result six of the eight
5
left the society, and today only four of them are still alive. But since then we
have not had any similar struggles within the Union. The importance of this
can be illustrated as follows. When I stepped down as president of the Union
in 2021, my successor emphasized at the general assembly that the Hungar-
ian Composers’ Union was the only artists’ society which had not split dur-
ing the previous three decades of a post-communist Hungary. Those years
had seen serious conflicts among writers, film-makers, theatre people and
others, but we composers had remained together in spite of all our differenc-
es. This is probably why I was re-elected every three years, which was not my
first preference! I had six years of work trying to find a willing successor. I
tried to find someone young, but they all said that while they would join the
board with pleasure, they did not wish to work as much as I did! When es-
tablishing the Union in 1990, we decided that a president would hold the po-
sition for three years and could be re-elected once. Then when I reached this
six-year limit the Union changed the rules, but even then I did not imagine I
would stay in the post for 25 years! And do not think that I take pride in this,
not at all! It actually makes me sad. My successor had the position for three
years and decided not to stay on, and his successor is now in his first year as
6
president. When I retired, I was elected as the honorary president, which
means that I am present at board meetings, and not much more than that.
Although the fact is that I am still involved in the everyday life of the Union,
much as I was when I was chairman. The only reason I am speaking so long

5 On the government side there was Sándor Balassa, Attila Bozay, Zsolt Durkó and
Sándor Szokolay, on the criticizing side Miklós Csemiczky, György Orbán, György
Selmeczi and János Vajda. Csemiczky has since died, passing away in October 2025.
6 My successor was Máté Balogh, the present president is Bence Kutrik.

267