These were the words of conductor Ivan Fischer, when he was interviewed by Népszabadság, in which he also mentioned that the unrealistic and spiteful rage of the Hungarian public life disturbs him the most. It is the expansion of paranoid nationalism that teaches children to feel scared and have a tendency for conflicts, that makes them feel like the nation is threatened by both external and internal enemies. Fischer claims that a hundred out of a hundred foreigners observe in horror what is happening in Hungary. (mixonline.hu)
"Opera of the Tiszaeszlar lawsuit" was the title of Népszabadság’s interview with Ivan Fischer, the world famous conductor, who not only talked about why he has written a one-act opera called "The Red Heifer" on the story of Eszter Solymosi who was murdered in Tiszaeszlar, the Blood Libel known across Europe. – Back then, in 1883, just like today, we began fighting against the whole world – said Ivan Fischer. – In my opera, the county football fans scream like they do in the stadium, blowing their vuvuzelas and chanting. When the vilified, innocent Jews were released from prison after one year on remand following the end of the trial in Nyiregyhaza, riots started throughout the country, and there was a state of siege in Budapest. This eerily resembles the emotions that have surfaced since 2006.
Furthermore, he added, it is completely unacceptable for spectators to shout "the train to Auschwitz is leaving".
He mentions that whenever he comes home, he is faced with rabid and vague thoughts and views that no one understands abroad. This is what his opera is written about. To the question of the interviewer, Katalin Szemere, whether he is afraid that this opera will classify him as one of the "enemies of the state", Ivan Fischer said that he has been pigeonholed as one for a long time, just like Kossuth, Ady, Bartók, or Mihály Károlyi, who are considered enemies by the snarling mob in the courtroom or football hooligans in stadiums – It is an honour to be classified as one – noted Ivan Fischer.
