The name is absent

144         Lecture on Music

is generally regarded as purely Germanic and yet, as we
have already remarked, a great deal of his thematic mate-
rial was derived from the highly imaginative Franz Liszt,
a Hungarian whose own works often and indubitably ex-
hibit a rich flavor of Hungarian folk-lore. It is quite cer-
tain that Wagner’s remarkable achievement depended upon
his success in formulating his own style of manifestation,
yet one may doubt that he would ever have written as he
did if the abundant wealth of material accumulated by Liszt
had not been more or less at his disposal. For example, to
the completion of such a work as Tristan und Isolde,
Wagner’s extraordinary skill in construction, Liszt’s un-
usual thematic genius, and folk-lore as well—all made con-
tribution. Folk-lore and individual consciousness are alike
necessary; and, in nations that are still young from a musi-
cal point of view, persistent fidelity of search in these two
directions seems to be the greatest lack on the part of
composers. With respect to individual consciousness let us
not deceive ourselves: its discovery and development is
more often than not a lifelong process. Nor should indi-
viduality ever be confused with eccentricity. Now, as to col-
lecting the popular songs of which the national folk-lore is
made up, I could do no better than cite the remarkable
record of two distinguished Hungarian musicians, Bela
Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly, in personality altogether unlike,
but mutually interested in folk-lore. These gentlemen, from
1905 to 1918, collected more than twelve thousand such
songs of Hungary and adjacent countries. Of this number
at least six thousand are Hungarian, and Bartok says that
he could easily collect an additional thousand every year.
Moreover, while assembling in tangible form this incom-
parable national heritage of Hungarian musicians, Messrs.
Bartok and Kodaly have with equally painstaking care

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