 Rosa, Piroska and Michael Remenyi pose in the violin studio at Remenyi House of Music.
(Steven Sandor, 24 hours)
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There is an old adage that goes something like this: Hungarians are born with violins in their hands.
Sure, it's hyperbole, but there is no doubt that the weeping, bleating notes on the violin are very recognizable parts of Hungary's musical culture.
And, thanks to the Remenyi family, that tradition has moved from Budapest to Toronto. Three years after the last shots of the 1956 revolution were fired, the Remenyis were banished from Hungary, unwanted capitalists in a nation that had closed its communist fist.
"Basically, we were allowed to leave so early because someone in the AVO (secret police) wanted to take our apartment, and he wanted it right away," says Piroska Remenyi, matriarch of Remenyi House of Music on Bloor Street, right across from the Royal Ontario Museum.
Before the Second World War, the Remenyis were some of Budapest's most famous residents. Brothers Zoltan and Laszlo had continued a family tradition of violin making and instrument dealing. Included amongst their famous clintele were legendary violinist Yehudi Menuhin and cellist Pablo Casals. Their workshop in Budapest was famous throughout the music world.
But, after the Soviets took control of Hungary, the shop was taken away by the communists, and the Remenyis were blacklisted as capitalist enemies of the state. The Remenyis lived in fear.
"After they took everything from us, we were scared," recalls Piroska. "So many people were being taken by the secret police. We heard they were taken out to the country and they were never coming back."
Zoltan and Piroska were told that their son Michael, as the son of a capitalist, would never be allowed to go to university. But, because the family still had a desirable apartment in downtown Budapest, they got the chance to leave, to come to Toronto, a city that had been filled with Hungarian refugees in the wake of the '56 revolt.
But in Toronto, Zoltan found it difficult to get work. "My husband was already in his 50s, so no one would give him a job, so we were forced to go into business for ourselves," says Piroska.
The Remenyis opened a small shop on Queen Street West. Their famous name did the rest. Music companies offered the family instruments to sell on consignment, giving the Remenyis the chance to build up stock. Soon, the famous Remenyi workshop would reopen. Budapest's loss was Toronto's gain.
"We left during a time of opportunity," reflects Mihaly (Michael), whose children, Michael and Christina, now work in the family business. "And we came to Canada during a different moment of opportunity. We arrived during the rock revolution, where a generation of kids were worshipping the Beatles. And many European families demanded that they have pianos in their homes. And, for Ukrainians, Poles and Slavic people, an accordion was a must for every boy."
Toronto's love for pop music and its developing multicultural mosaic were a recipe for success.
Michael's sister, Susana, a harpist who left for Canada before the rest of her family, sponsored the Remenyis.
The family remained on Queen Street until the strip became too unsafe for families to make regular visits to the shop. Remenyi House of Music moved to Yorkville, where it's now a fixture.
"We moved just in time, as Queen Street was going downhill," says Michael, who now manages the business. "It became very seedy, and families and children didn't come to our store so much anymore. Queen Street west of Spadina has only come back in the last few years."
Zoltan Remenyi passed away in 1974, but his family continues the legacy. In the mid-'90s, the new, democratic government of Hungary invited Michael to bring the business back to Budapest. After some soul-searching, he decided to keep Remenyi House of Music a Toronto-based business.
- Steven Sandor, 24 hours
