Bartok, the Concerto and his Leukemia

I am reading a fascinating book by Hungarian-born Canadian author, speaker, and retired physician with a special interest in childhood development and trauma and how it impacts on physical and mental health, addictions and a wide range of illnesses such as cancer, autoimmune diseases and ADHD and many other conditions.  The title of this book I am reading by DR Gabor is When the Body Says No - Exploring the stress-disease connection.

Dr Mate is a fascinating character, like most Hungarians are. He also has an immeasurable empathy and love for those he is talking about and working with. Rare in the medical profession. Dr Mate is light years ahead of the standard medical profession in his views and his recognition of the importance and the role trauma and emotions play in developing diseases.

Although his book is not exactly a popular novel, I still hardly could put it down. Dr Mate is a very eloquent speaker-writer and his style is highly enjoyable, even when he is writing about medical terms and serious issues.

However, on page 96 he made me stop and think. Think seriously about being Hungarian. Hungarians have culture, arts and music in their blood. In their genes. This is what made me stop and think. While for almost one hundred pages he discussed cases and brought examples of people, his patients, on page 96 Dr Mate grabbed me by the heart. Suddenly he was writing about Bela Bartok, Hungary’s most outstanding composer. Even if I did not know that he was born in Hungary, here he has revealed himself. Himself, his origin and his heart. 

Bartok’s case of leukemia and his remission is fascinating.

Page 96

“ At the University of Rochester, a fifteen-year study of people who developed lymphoma or leukemia reportedly found that these maligmancies were “apt to occur in a setting of emotional loss or separation which in turn brought about feelings of anxiety, sadness, anger or hopelessness.” 

Synthetic analogues of the stress hormone cortisol are important components of the treatment of leukemia and lymphoma.  Interestingly, the amount of cortisol-like hormone needed to block the replication of leukemia cells is only a little higher than what should normally be functionally available in the body  In the case of leukemia, episodes of acute stress in which the cortisol levels temporarily rise are sometimes enough to induce a remission.  Such is thought to have happened during the illness of the composer Bela Bartok. 

We need to recall here that the temporary elevation of cortisol that occurs in episodes of. Acute stress is healthy and necessary.  Not healthy are the chronically elevated cortisol levels in chronically stressed persons. 

Bartok, in exile from his native Hungary and stricken with leukemia, was commissioned by the conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Serge Koussevitsky, to write a new piece.  The composer went into spontaneous remission, which lasted until the work was completed.  Quite likely, HPA-triggered cortisol and several other elements of the PNI system contributed to the famous remission, which made possible the creation of Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, a classic of twentieth-century music.”

The Concerto was composed by Bela Bartok in 1943, premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Serge Koussevitsky on 1st December 1944. Bela Bartok has died in New York City on 26th September 1945. 

Enjoy this performance of the Concerto by Bartok performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Seiji Ozawa https://youtu.be/KP-DAOuBsGA?si=6uwQIWUNArBkI44V

Hello in 2024

I have not blogged for six years. My last blog was in 2018 and now it is 2024. A lot happened since and still have a lot to say and a lot to share. 

I actually really enjoyed blogging and now I realise how therapeutic it is. Life is just so busy that somehow I have not written a new book, have not composed and recorded a new song lately but……in 2019 I started to draw, then paint and I am finding a lot of pleasure in it. So you will see a lot of artwork and pages of my art journal here accompanied by my thoughts of that day. 

Good or bad art, you like it or not, I really don’t care because I do this for myself. It’s not really true…Of course I care if they are good or bad. It is a nicer feeling when you finished a day’s or a couple of minutes or hours worth art making and you are happy with the outcome. However, art, music, dance, any kind of creative work not always perfect. And that is absolutely fine, once you understand this. 

And of course I do care if my friends and the viewers like my work or not. It is always nicer if they do like what you create. But I do make art in any way, even if people don’t like my art. Art is so subjective. Many times the work I like very much is not liked by others. And other works that I think is total rubbish doe snot receive the same feedback I thought it would. So that teaches you very quickly not to rely on others’ opinion! Just walk your own path and develop your own style. Your authentic self and style will attract the followers. 

Some people can’t cope with making bad art, playing badly, having a bad music practice, a meal not turning out as it should. They have not grown up doing creative art or learning music where you practise every day for the sake of making music and to get better. When you do something every day you learn that it is up and down. Like everything in life. There are good days and bad days. There are good meals and bad meals  There are good practices and bad practices. There are good football matches and bad matches. Sometimes you win, sometimes you loose. 

But the whole point is to do it every day. Not every second day or weekly, every day if you want to improve. If you are serious about it. Because when you do something every day and your mind is there you will improve. You can’t not to improve. 

However, a lot of people start learning music or make art for the wrong reason. They think, they will become the next Franz Liszt or Pablo Picasso and will sell all their art works and become rich and world famous. If that is the reason for making music or art they only will find disappointment. However, if they start making music, draw or paint to enjoy the process and learn, they might discover something special about themselves and the object of their passion. 

That playing music, drawing and painting is their “ikigai” as the Japanese would call it. That this activity, does not matter how simple and primitive it might be takes them to a special place, a Zen zone, where time matters less, the dust of every day life is lifted, the heart finds peace, the soul connects to something special and the result of this activity becomes truly precious because it is theirs. It is a piece of them. 

A true expression of who they are at that time.  A never returning and not repeating capture of that time in space. A special moment. A special art. A special YOU.