László Paulik, violinist, was born in 1966 in Zalaegerszeg. He was eight years old when he first picked up a violin. Though there were no professional musicians in his family, there were music-loving doctors who started him on his career. He considers himself lucky, coming from a family where music was always important. Both his parents were skilled instrument players: his father played the violin and his mother the piano. At that time – when they were young in the early sixties – there were still university orchestras. His father was the concertmaster of the orchestra of the University of Pécs. As he was originally from Sopron, he often played in the local town orchestra with famous soloists such as Annie Fischer and Ede Zatureczky. He was not a professional artist, but to this day he has a musical knowledge that is admired by his son László.
László Paulik had a very happy childhood. He grew up in a small city, Zalaegerszeg. Unfortunately, this period was very short: he moved to Budapest at the age of 14. He was considered talented and it was thought at the time that if you had talent you should continue your education in Budapest. This also caused a minor break-up for him, as life in the capital city was very difficult at first because he was not an independent person. He was not admitted to a college, so he found a flat with the widow of a family he knew. This woman was a great inspiration for his further studies. She was a pianist herself, having studied with Dohnányi and Leo Weiner, and was very familiar with the music of the 1930s. She had listened to Bartók, Kodály and Attila József. The months passed in an inspiring atmosphere, but of course there was no substitute for family. He heard things here that he could not hear elsewhere. Surprising stories. For example, Aunt Vera (that was her name) loved Dohnányi more than Bartók. These were miraculous, because for László it was a great thing just to think that someone had heard these greats live.
After graduating from the Bartók Béla Zeneművészeti Szakközépiskola (Béla Bartók Music Secondary School), he continued his musical studies at the Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Főiskola (Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music) in Budapest, where he graduated in 1989 as a student under András Kiss.
After the Academy of Music, he moved to Vienna because he wanted to see the world through different eyes. At that time, Hungary was still very closed. It had just started to open up and he thought about going to study in Vienna. On the one hand, the Austrian capital was not that far away, and on the other hand, he had many relatives in Vienna. The opportunity presented itself. He didn’t end up staying with relatives, but it was interesting to find out that they had musicians in the family. A distant relative was Anton Paulik, a conductor at the Volksoper in the first half of the 20th century and an operetta conductor who is still remembered today. In Vienna, he met József Sívó, a violinist of Hungarian origin and concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. He did not obtain a diploma because he joined the Volksoper in 1992 as first violinist. László Paulik is a baroque violinist, and this is no coincidence, as his interest in historical music-making had already turned during his music academy years. The early music movement is often thought to have begun sometime in the middle of the 20th century, when people had become a little tired of the “great classical” repertoire. Since contemporary music was no longer as popular as it had been in previous eras, interest turned more and more to the discovery and performance of old, forgotten and never performed music. This generation of performers was then faced with the problem that if they wanted to perform them, it was not enough to have what they knew, what had been left to them by the artists of the previous generation, but artists had to invent a lot more themselves, such as how to perform the works and on what instruments. The Baroque music movement has always existed in a certain sense, because even after Handel’s death his works were regularly performed in London, or, for example, harpsichord concerts were given in England during the 19th century. In other words, there has always been an interest in the music of the past, but it has always been overshadowed by the art of the present. This trend was reversed in the middle of the 20th century. It turned out that artists were only seeing the tip of the iceberg. There were many works of genius that were not known, and so they were given more and more attention. There was a period when a lot of people started to do this and a movement started. The early music movement required not only theoretical knowledge but also the re-acquisition of a lot of practical knowledge. Thanks to Nicolaus Harnoncurt, for example, many instruments that had been forgotten were rediscovered and enthusiastic people learned to play them. The history of the violin is uninterrupted. Though it has been played ever since it existed, the instrument itself has constantly changed. What László Paulik and his colleagues are doing now is a return to the violins that were used in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. And these are very different from the violins of today. To begin with, they used to use gut strings — today’s violins have metal strings. They can also have gut strings at the base, but they are coated with metal. Baroque violins use completely raw gut strings. Jascha Heifetz still used gut strings in the 1950s. The point is that gut strings represent a completely different tonal ideal than metal strings, as the tension of the strings is completely different and the beams in the instrument are different, thinner and the angle of the violin neck is different to that of modern violins. The result is a smaller instrument in decibels, but richer in overtones. The sound of the gut-stringed violin is better in authentic spaces, churches, castle halls, which have a beautiful echo, but the modern violin is also ideal for today's halls with thousands of people. In addition to the baroque violin, László Paulik also plays the “normal” violin, though rarely. In his first job, at the Volksoper, he often played the modern violin. After that, he played regularly in large orchestras, but his interest turned more and more to the Baroque violin.
The point of the old days was that this instrument was always changing. They were always trying to change it in relation to the music they were writing and so they were always trying to get new things out of it. You have to think of it as a constant process.
The various musical centres in Europe (such as princely and royal courts, church centres, etc.) knew about each other and there was some exchange of information between them. They were more like territories, large units. There was the Italian, French, or German style and they influenced each other, but in fact there was no completely unified Baroque musical style, nor was there a specific Baroque violin. According to Paulik, we need to examine what they were doing at this time and that time, here and there. Unfortunately, these documents have only survived in part, so there is a lot we don’t know. But the point is the same as the point of all art – this is intuition. To create something, you need a kind of creative intuition.
People today like this kind of music, especially because it’s a different repertoire from what they’re used to. The name of György Vashegyi, President of the MMA, who is one of the great researchers on this subject, should be mentioned. He has found works that are completely absent from concert programmes. And not because they are not good enough. Early music will never become a mass culture, but there is a layer of people who specifically love this music. There are many pieces of music that were popular in their time but later forgotten and rediscovered in the 20th century. One example is Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, without which today's concert repertoire would be unthinkable.
Paulik is a founding member of the Concerto Armonico chamber orchestra, founded in 1983 by Péter Szűts and Miklós Spányi. Together with Balazs Máté, they founded the Tomasini String Quartet in 2003, which also includes Erzsébet Rácz and Éva Posvanecz.
László Paulik also teaches at university and high school. The Baroque violin is an optional instrument. At the university, students have already decided that they want to study music professionally and what interests them. Teaching also requires a lot of psychology. You have to listen to your students and approach them with empathy, as they are going through a difficult period in their lives.
László Paulik had many role models when he was younger. He looked up to Bartók the most.
His favourite place to perform is Eszterháza, because everything is somehow in harmony there. The spirit of the place where Haydn lived for almost thirty years and the environment itself, especially when he lives in the castle, because then he goes back to the old centuries, which is always very attractive to him.
The fact that Paulik is a lover of old music clearly shows: he is surrounded by old objects at home. He does not like the aesthetics of the modern world and this fills him with despair. He tries to ignore it, because there is very little he can relate to that would appeal to him from today.
It is important to feel the spirit of things. The violin as an instrument is important not only because it is beautiful to play, but also because it is a beautiful object to look at or to hold.
The violinist prefers live music to recordings.
Fortunately, there is still interest in the Baroque violin, and as a teacher this is satisfying. Some people at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music consciously choose this course because they have already had some contact with this music. He is proud to have had a course in summer 2020 with twelve active students. When you look at this, you are optimistic because these young people are talented and much better prepared than Paulik and his colleagues were before. Some of them consciously want to continue their studies in this direction. The violinist encourages everyone to go abroad, saying music is an international genre. It is also important that they come back with skills and knowledge of foreign languages, helping ensure there is a vibrant old music scene in Hungary.
It is important for young people to be exposed to a different kind of environment, where they think differently and are inspired differently.
László Paulik has a relatively large number of violins, including Baroque instruments. One of them is from the 18th century, which is not a violin with a high pitch, but it is very beautiful.
The violin he prefers to play now is an Italian violin made in the 1740s by Camillo Camilli in Mantua. It is a wonderful instrument. It has helped him fulfil many invitations from abroad.
He has performed as a member and concertmaster of ensembles such as La Chabre Philharmonique under Emmanuel Krivin, the Wiener Akademie under Martin Haselböck in 1988 and the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra under Aapo Häkinnen in 2017.
He was elected a member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts in 2019. He was very surprised by the invitation and feels very honoured.
In 2019, he was awarded the Liszt Prize. He is also very proud of this. He had previously thought about it in secret, as he had been nominated for the prize before but didn’t get it then. He is happy because early music is not the genre he would focus on. He felt it was also a recognition for the early music movement.
László Paulik is a content man, doing what he loves. His wife is also a musician and is totally on his side. He has to travel a lot and he enjoys it very much. He has been working regularly in Paris for ten years, where he regularly goes to different exhibitions: he is not only interested in music, but in everything that is cultural. His work never really felt like work. As a child he wanted to be a painter, he was good at drawing. It was always natural for him to be interested in things as a whole. You can’t do anything well if you don't see the whole in context. Culture is universal and he lives in that spirit.