The wall of the building at Dózsa György Street 4 displays the memorial plaque of violinist Ignác Ruzitska, erected by the city of Veszprém in 2017 on the 240th anniversary of the artist’s birth.
Together with János Lavotta and his close personal friends János Bihary and Antal Csermák, Ignác Ruzitska was a key figure of 19th century traditional Hungarian “Verbunkos” dance music. He was born in 1777 in Pezinok, near Bratislava, and studied the violin in Bratislava. In 1800, he successfully applied for the position of concertmaster and solo violinist of the Veszprém Chapel Orchestra, becoming the orchestra leader and concertmaster of St. Michael’s Cathedral at the tender age of 23.
This period, from the late 18th to the early 19th century, marked the heyday of the city’s music scene. In office from 1777 until his death in 1802, the European-educated Bishop József Bajzáth revitalized the music scene in the city of Veszprém: he employed highly qualified professional musicians to play in the cathedral and teach music to the citizens of the town. This is also how Ruzitska came to Veszprém. He settled down and started a family in Veszprém around 1800 and continued making timeless contributions to the musical education of the city’s citizens until his death in 1833.
His contemporary, bohemian travelling musician Antal Csermák, spent the last four years of his life in Veszprém, between 1818 and 1822. Living in poverty and illness, the violinist and composer was befriended and supported by Ruzitska and his compositions were recorded by Ruzitska himself. It is therefore thanks in no small part to Ruzitska that Antal Csermák’s work entitled Verbunkos has been preserved for posterity and can be heard today every hour from the Fire Lookout Tower. Ruzitska also recorded some of the dances composed by Csermák, which he later published in his series “Magyar nóták Veszprém vármegyéből” (Hungarian Songs from Veszprém County).
