Hungary . ir pay, anda keen spirit of rivalry existed as to who shouldretain the best. * The Czigany art was thus spread throughoutthe land like a flourishing vegetation. All thepopulation was, so to say, enfolded by it; it was areal pleasure, a national taste. All—rich and poor,great and small—participated in and enjoyed it tothe same degree ; for the same artists, the sameorchestras, who now delighted Prince and Magnate,now charmed and touched the people, playing withthe same brio, the same poetry, for peasants dancingin the barns as they did where, under gilded ceilings,great ladies recline
Hungary . ir pay, anda keen spirit of rivalry existed as to who shouldretain the best. * The Czigany art was thus spread throughoutthe land like a flourishing vegetation. All thepopulation was, so to say, enfolded by it; it was areal pleasure, a national taste. All—rich and poor,great and small—participated in and enjoyed it tothe same degree ; for the same artists, the sameorchestras, who now delighted Prince and Magnate,now charmed and touched the people, playing withthe same brio, the same poetry, for peasants dancingin the barns as they did where, under gilded ceilings,great ladies reclined. * The most distinguished bands received handsomeannual payment from the Magnates, but they neverengaged themselves beyond a limited period of theyear; after which they dispersed, either separatelyor in groups, to considerable towns or the smallestvillages, to live there in the same condition as otherGipsies. Very rarely were bands or individuals sofamous as to be sent for from far away. A GIPSY HOME. HUNGARIAN GIPSIES 109 Beyond a few ballads and some warlike songs,we discovered among the Hungarian Gipsies notrace of vocal music worthy of attention. Few oftheir women have good voices. Too much exposedto atmospheric changes, too much accustomed todrink, too soon tired by wild dances and the criesexciting them, too much fatigued by the weight ofchildren, whom they carry on their backs the wholeday like the savages of America, the freshness oftheir timbre is often lost. Now, from the nomads they were, the Gipsyartists have become commercial travellers. Insteadof going with their tribe—folded tent and caldroncarried in a dusty cart—they travel by train fromone capital to another, formed into a society tofaiie les affaires, * Since they have inhaled a new musical atmo-sphere, their art has ceased to be a joy for them,but become rather a trade ; since they have learnedthis hunger for gain, this passion for lucre properto great commercial centres, infinitely more corruptand
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