Alfredo Casella also welcomed him. Szamosi asked his permission to dedicate his study, which was to be published in Italian, to him. Casella gladly accepted the offer, but unfortunately the Maestro unexpectedly died, so the study was published “In memoriam Alfredo Casella”.

One of Szamosi’s students was the wife of the musicologist, Matteo Glinsky, the editor of <em>Osservatore Romano</em>, the official journal of the Vatican. Glinsky was very interested in Szamosi’s work and often audited his lessons. On the occasion of the publication of <em>La via al libero canto</em>, he wrote a long article in the <em>Osservatore Romano</em> under the title, <em>Il segreto del bel canto</em> (the secret of bel canto). The last sentence of the article was as follows: “Lodovico Szamosi's pedagogic theories — apart from their practical value — have perhaps finally illuminated for us those secrets of the Italian bel canto that many until now believed to be irretrievably lost.” Working with the Italian voices enriched Szamosi’s work with new and interesting knowledge.

In 1949, world politics took a turn and Szamosi had to decide where he wanted to live. – On the recommendation of Virgilio Mortari, a well known composer, he was invited to teach in a major musical institution. A condition, however, would have been that he declare his alienation and assume Italian citizenship. He would also have had to made a political declaration. Szamosi did not want to accept either condition. For this reason, and because he had two sons and a grandson living in Hungary, he decided to move back with his wife and daughter. They arrived in Budapest in the fall of 1949.

Shortly after their return, Zoltán Vásárhelyi, whom he had not known before, visited him and invited him to become the voice teacher of the choir of the Honvéd Ensemble. After about 9 months of intensive voice training work, the November 24, 1950 issue of <em>Szabad Nép</em> wrote this about their first concert at the Music Academy: “We can clearly say: We have never had a male choir as excellent as the Honvéd Ensemble, neither in terms of volume nor in terms of homogeneity of tone.” The critic of <em>Kis Újság</em> (Little Newspaper) reported on November 24, “resonant basses and baritones, and soaring tenors”. None of the articles mentioned the name of the voice teacher. Shortly afterwards, Szamosi was dismissed on the grounds of ‘professional inadequacy’. He lived for almost two years without an adequate job until he was hired as a voice teacher in 1952 at the Ferenc Erkel Conservatory, later named Béla Bartók Conservatory.

In response to his having been attacked by others in the profession, he wrote his study, The physiological basis of the methodology of voice training for artistic purposes, and submitted it for review to the Medical Section of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. According to the opinion of the readers, “Szamosi’s findings are adequate to serve as a new, physiological basis for the methods of teaching singing.” This rather significant statement, however, was ignored by both professional circles and the press alike.

In March 1952, Szamosi gave a presentation on the same topic for the Pedagogy Section of the Musicians’ Federation.

In March 1956, he was invited to the physicians’ club of the Science and Art Department of the Hungarian-Soviet Society to give a presentation along with other invited speakers. The talks were followed by a debate. Participants in the debate included members of the Academy Dr. Géza Bárczy, Dr. Kálmán Lissák, Dr. Pál Gegesi Kiss, as well as Oszkár Ascher, Lajos Hernádi and György Sebök, pianist. Due to the general interest, and at the request of the audience, the debate continued on May 11 after some of the participating physicians had visited Szamosi’s lessons to have a look at the practical work.

On September 15, Oszkár Ascher wrote an article with regard to the debate in Irodalmi Újság (Literary Newspaper) under the title, On the edge of an inquiry. In this article, he wrote: “What am I complaining about? That Lajos Szamosi, after all his achievements and recognition abroad, came home upon invitation, to continue his work in Hungary. When he arrived, he was not given the job he had been promised, and in the end it was the High School of Music that offered a modest home for his activities. The press that was invited did not turn up at the scientific sessions mentioned above; not a word has ever been published anywhere about the work and aspirations of Lajos Szamosi in his own homeland! And thus, for the time being, he must make do with the columns of praise and appreciation with which the press welcomed his work and aspirations in the ‘home of singing and music’, Italy.”

Then came October 23, 1956, the outbreak of the Hungarian revolution against the Communists and the Soviet rule. These days seemed even less suitable to carrying on with his work. The disregard and the attacks on his work that he had experienced since his return from Italy had deeply embittered him. He started thinking about moving to a country where his work would be acknowledged and appreciated.

His choice was Austria. He left Hungary with an immigration passport, accompanied by his wife and daughter (his sons had left Hungary earlier). They arrived in Vienna in September 1957. Szamosi was then over 63 years old.

Soon after their arrival, Szamosi met Dr. Imre Vincze who was the head of the Institut for Sprach- und Stimmheilkunde of the Vienna Clinic at that time. Dr. Vincze entrusted Szamosi with treating the voices of two actors from the Vienna Burgtheater. Having seen Szamosi’s achievements with the two actors, Dr. Vincze introduced him to Dr. Hans Sittner, the president of the Vienna Music Academy. Dr. Sittner wanted to hire Szamosi immediately. The rule was, however, that candidates had to teach a demonstration lesson before being hired. Szamosi suggested – since he taught in an unusual way and a single demonstration lesson would hardly have been enough to judge his work – that they give him a couple of students to work with at no charge, and after a while they listen to them and decide about his employment. Three months later, he became a teacher of the singing faculty at the Vienna Music Academy. After reaching retirement age, he was allowed to teach two more years at the Music Academy with special permission from the Minister of Education. Before granting his permission, the Minister wanted to meet Szamosi in person and invited him to a private audience.

From as early as the 1930’s, Szamosi built his curriculum in such a way that the initial stage focused on Italian baroque and pre-classical works. He believed that this kind of music – apart from and in addition to its intrinsic values – was the most appropriate for developing and maintaining the voice and for learning how to sing. Naturally, he taught German works of the period as well. Then followed Mozart, the romantic operas of the 19^th century and finally, for advanced students, in accordance with the historical development of music, the German Lied. Obviously, this was only a guideline, not a rigid rule set in stone.

After his retirement, he had private students. Some of his students from the Academy continued to see him and new students were also coming to him. He formed a vocal ensemble called Collegium Canticorum with his advanced students and organized concerts in several smaller concert halls in Vienna (e.g. Konzerthaus Schubert Saal, Palais Palfy, Italian Cultural Institute, The Club of the International Atomic Energy Commission). These concerts – some of which were introduced by Prof. Josef Mertin – received very favorable responses in the Vienna press.

Szamosi was one of the first few people who brought Baroque sacred and secular music back to the stage again, and he was almost the only one who worked with the vocal music of the period. Their programs included the works of G. Frescobaldi, C. Monteverdi, M. da Gagliano, G. Caccini, H. Schütz, D. Buxtehude and G. F. Händel, among others.

In addition to the concerts, with the support of the Austrian Ministry of Education Szamosi also organized summer courses on the vocal chamber music of the Baroque period. (Chamber music in the sense that, even if it is church music, the vocal and instrumental parts play together as equal partners.)

Topics of the courses included among others:

• Phonation and singing style in the 16^th to 18^th centuries – on the basis of artistic traditions.
• The importance of ornamentation as a means of expression.
• Notation (Baroque notation developed from tablatures), phrasing.

They also discussed the consequences of this musical practice for singing songs and operas, as the roots of these genres go back to early music.

Besides Lajos Szamosi, teachers of the courses were Prof. Josef Mertin, the founder and leader of the Collegium Musicum of the Vienna Music Academy, and Edvin Szamosi who was the assistant of Prof. Mertin for years.

One of these courses was held in a castle in Carinthia and the Collegium Canticorum gave several concerts in Carinthian towns. The Klagenfurt radio made several recordings of these concerts, and the recordings were regularly broadcast on the Vienna radio for years.

The Dutch press also took notice of Szamosi. Several articles were published about him, and the Hilversum radio did an interview with him. An article was published about him even in Sweden.

Famous singers such as Hilde Güden, James King, Werner Krenn, Helga Dernesch, etc. started to come to him with their vocal problems, and he managed to help them overcome some of their difficulties.

Two of his students won prizes in different years in the international opera competitions jointly organized by Deutsche Gramophon Gesellschaft and the Vienna daily Express. One of the two, the Bulgarian soprano Stefka Todorova, won first prize one year, and the other, the Spanish soprano Trinidad Paniagua, won second prize in another year. Stefka Todorova became a member of the Graz opera house, and Trinidad Paniagua went back to Spain to sing, for example, Oscar with Placido Domingo and Musette with Luciano Pavarotti. – Szamosi brought these students out of a rather bad vocal condition to achieve these high standards.

In all this work, Szamosi’s son and daughter were helping as his assistants. They were his students and colleagues for decades, and they followed his phases of research and development as well as the process of improving, deepening, and refining his methods and tools. They are both teaching singing to date in Vienna. [In 2016, they are no longer teaching.]

In spite of the fact that Szamosi had to struggle a great deal, had to put up with criticism and attacks in addition to appreciation, had much disappointment, and had to rebuild his life many times over the years, his optimism and faith in people remained unbroken. His health, however, did suffer. In his last years, he was often ill, but whenever his health allowed, he was back at the piano, working again. The 40 years of loving care and unconditional support for his work that his second wife provided played a vital role in his achievements. He was always open for new things. He kept reading all the time, and he looked for large-scale connections up to the last moment. In the midst of all this work and his health problems, he did not have time for writing. Therefore, he was able to finish only the first chapter of his long-planned, comprehensive book on singing. He died in the fall of 1977, at the age of 83. He taught to the last day of his life.