Balint Vazsonyi

In 1995–2003, he moved to Washington, D.C. as senior fellow of the McLean, Virginia think tank, Potomac Foundation. He then co-founded and became Director of the Center for the American Founding. Vazsonyi stated: "We advocate and practice discussion of national issues as they relate to America's founding principles. For continued success, we believe this nation needs to return to the Rule of Law, Individual Rights, the Security of Property, and the same American Identity for all its citizens... As time progressed, the creation of commissar positions in America acquired the dimensions of a growth industry. The avalanche began with affirmative action officers, equal opportunity officers, judicial inquiry officers, and civil rights divisions. These positions exist for the sole purpose of enforcing a political agenda - an occupation at odds with the very nature of America. Certain college and university departments - departments of education, of communications, of journalism, social studies, and urban planning - became the reliable producers of commissars. Law schools, too, began to churn out graduates trained to serve a specific political agenda, rather than jurisprudence... Soon, entire government departments were created to function as Commissariats, such as the Department of Education, Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Commerce. Several other federal agencies, such as the National Endowment for the Arts, and its sister outfit, for the Humanities, fall into the same category. All these agencies offer services people find useful and employ many capable professionals along with commissars. But they are of the same cloth, for they provide a platform for commissars, lack constitutional legitimacy, and are virtually immune to citizen complaints. Eventually, commissar types found their way into legislatures, the Supreme Court, and the White House. The recent acquisition of the Department of justice as a commissariat, and the growing multitude of commissar judges on federal benches, complete this massive force whose effectiveness - unlike the armies and submarines of the Third Reich or the ICBMs of the Soviet Union - has proved a match for America's awesome industrial, financial, and spiritual strength." He published and lectured extensively on cultural and political subjects, appeared in The Wall Street Journal and National Review. He wrote a bi-weekly column for The Washington Times, and wrote a weekly, nationally syndicated column for Scripps Howard. His proposals for the application of America's founding principles to the national debates have been printed in the Congressional Record, The Heritage Foundation, and Representative American Speeches. Vazsonyi's book, America's 30 Years War: Who is Winning?, defining the source of alien ideas subverting America's culture and society, was published by Regnery in 1998. He was a frequent guest on national talk radio and appeared on television shows such as NBC Today, Booknotes on C-SPAN with Brian Lamb, Washington Journal, MSNBC, and Insights with Robert Novak. In 2000, he toured the nation's capitals to promote a national conversation he called Re-Elect America!. The one-hour television documentary about the tour has been aired on WETA-TV, Washington's PBS station.

• "Schumann's Piano Cycles" in "Schumann: The Man and his Music", Barrie & Jenkins. London, 1972 • "Bartok and Dohnányi" Editio Musica. Budapest, 1972 • "The 32 Piano Sonatas of Beethoven" Analytical notes for performance of the complete cycle. London, 1977 • "Dohnányi, Erno" in "The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians", Macmillan. London 1981/99 • "Bartok and the 21st Century" in "Bartok and Kodaly revisted", Corvina. Budapest, 1985 • "Guidance Notes for Teachers" for Telemusic's VHSs of "Mozart", "Beethoven", "Schubert", "Brahms", Stylus. London,1990 • "Dohnányi, Erno" in "The New Grove Dictionary of Opera", Macmillan. London, 1993 • "The Battle for America's Soul" in "The Potomac Papers, 1995 and in "Common Sense" American Enterprise Institute. 1996 • "America on my Mind" - Selected essays, The Potomac Foundation. Washington, 1996 • "Four Points of the Compass: Restoring America's Sense of Direction" in "Representative American Speeches 1996–1997" H.W.Wilson Company. New York, 1997 ISSN 0197-6923 • "America's 30 Years War: Who is Winning?" Regnery. 1998 • "The pity of self-pity: The sentimentalism of music" in "Faking It - the sentimentalism of modern society" The Social Affairs Unit. London • "America on my Mind" - New selected essays, The Potomac Foundation. Washington, 2004

From 1978 to 1984, Vazsonyi was invited to be Professor of Music at Indiana University, Bloomington School of Music where, as well as having a private piano studio, he conducted all doctoral seminars in Piano Literature. In 1982, while still teaching at Indiana University, Bloomington, Balint Vazsonyi earned a Ph.D in History from the University of Budapest, based in part on his seminal monograph of Ernő Dohnányi, which resulted in a street next to the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest being named for his mentor as well as an official absolving (2002) of false Nazi-sympathizer charges against Ernő Dohnányi made after World War II. While a professor at Indiana University School of Music, Vazsonyi held a master class in piano performance. In this weekly seminar, performances were offered critical comments from students and from Professor Vazsonyi. No stranger to the political arena, he exposed his piano students to the realities of the international political climate.

• Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies (Vox STPL 512.340/1966) • "Reverie": Small gems by Great Masters (ALLEGRO AR 88038/1966) • Schumann: Scenes from Childhood; Arabeske; Symphonic Etudes (PYE Virtuoso, TPLS 13026/1968) • Brahms: Phantasien, Op.116; Klavierstuecke Op.119; Variations on an original Theme Op.21, No.1 (PYE Virtuoso TPLS 13016/1968) • Beethoven: Sonata in F Minor, Op.57 ("Appassionata") (PYE Virtuoso TPLS 13042/1969) • Liszt: Sonata in B Minor (PYE Virtuoso TPLS 13042/1969) • Brahms: Two Rhapsodies, Op.79; Intermezzi Op.117; Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op.24 (PYE Virtuoso GSGC 2048/1969) • Dohnányi: (First Recording) Piano Concerto No.1 in E Minor, Op.5, New Pharmonia Orchestra/Pritchard (PYE Virtuoso TPLS 13052/1972) • Jolivet: Concerto for Trumpet and Piano, Maurice Andre/EDO (DGG 1972) • Chopin: Fantasie F Minor, Op.49; Barcarolle in F Sharp Major, Op.60; Sonata B flat Minor, Op.35 (PYE Virtuoso TPLS 13053/1973) • Schubert: Moments musicaux; Sonata in G Major, D.894 (PYE Virtuoso - not pressed/1973) • "Gala Concert": 12 renowned pianists perform at London's Royal Festival Hall (DESMAR DSM 1005/1975) • "The Hungarians": Dohnányi—Bartok—Kodaly (PANTHEON PFN 1981/1984)