Three hundred years of war and intermittent peace, as reflected in the lives of everyday people. While the conflicts and battles of Rákóczi’s War of Independence, the 1848–49 Revolution and War and the first World War all had different significance for the nation, they brought similar experience to people’s lives. Traditional tunes preserve the collective imprint of boisterous recruitment and roll calls, the bravery and desperate moments of soldiers, and the melancholy of returning home after the battles. The first World War closed an era not only in the global political arena, but also by seeing the final flourishing of folk culture, as the songs and melodies of this program bear witness.