Dear Dr. Lovasz:

I write as an honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, as a frequent visitor to the Musicological Institute in Budapest where I have participated in numerous international conferences, as a member of the editorial board of the edition of Béla Bartók's works of which the institute is co-sponsor with Henle Editions, as a fellow laureate of the Kyoto Prize, and as one who has had the pleasure of meeting you at Institute functions in the past, to declare my fervent solidarity with my fellow scholars and with the Academy as you strive to maintain your independence and resist encroachments on your freedom of inquiry by shortsighted politicians.

Hungary has a high international profile in the musicological community thanks to the efforts of an enlightened and very productive group of scholars who know the value of maintaining contacts and free exchange of information and ideas. The prominence of Hungarian scholars in my own discipline is quite disproportionate to the size of the country and its scholarly cohort.  This is the result of activities and cooperative endeavors that are now under threat. I write to assure you that the wider world of scholarship is watching events in Hungary with great concern, and hope that this declaration of solidarity will be of some help in your current effort to demonstrate the value of our shared enterprises.  

Sincerely yours,

Richard F. Taruskin

Professor of Music emeritus

University of California at Berkeley