Document Type

Russia, Hungary, America, and More Mentorship

Abstract

Richard Taruskin was a major promoter of Eastern European music. His interest was also shaped by his personal contacts, particularly in Hungary, where he visited more frequently in his later years, presenting at conferences. He developed close relations with several representatives of Hungarian musicology, among them Katalin Komlós, László Somfai, László Vikárius, and Tibor Tallián. In addition to presenting conference keynote lectures, and later courses at the Doctoral School of the Liszt Academy of Music, Taruskin also participated in the advisory board of the Béla Bartók Complete Critical Edition, and became an honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Moreover, he encouraged his students in the USA to work on Hungarian topics and urged Hungarian musicologists to publish their findings in English. As Editor-in-Chief at the University of California Press (California Studies in 20th-Century Music) he enabled the publication of monographs on such significant figures of the Hungarian music history such as Ernst von Dohnányi and Zoltán Kodály. My highly personal reminiscence of Richard Taruskin emphasizes his consistent support for Hungarian musicology and musicologists while also illustrating some endearingly traits of his personality.