Eric Kisch wrote, I guess in reply to me:

>More seriously, I don't think you can write off the Hungarian contribution
>to conducting so easily by assimilating it into the "Austro-Hungarian"
>Empire.

I wasn't.  I was stating an historical fact--leaving it to you and others
to comment on the sociological/cultural aspects.  Although I think the
whole question goes back even farther than the period most commentary on
this subject has concentrated upon--for example, don't Hungarians consider
Haydn to be really one of their own? But I'll confess I've never been very
good at being able to follow the ways in which European borders kept
changing over the centuries, or to fathom the death and destruction that
accompanied it.  Other than to way it was human nature.

>All the conductors mentioned, and many of the great Hungarian
>mathematicians ultimately came to the United States and enriched
>its culture and helped its scientific leadership.

And so much the better for the U.S., I think....

>This message came time stamped: 3/2/00 8:02 PM.  The Y2K bug is here
>already, a year early!

...and coming from some Y2K testing software, no less!

Bill H., all fixed now (I hope!)