Life reform efforts in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and their impact on Hungarian cultural and pedagogical reforms

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ABSTRACT “Life reform” is an umbrella term used for describing the movements critical of modernisation whose main features were the desire to return to nature and naturalness, to self-healing and finding lost integrity again. They also have close ties to the educational reforms of the time. These movements were particularly active in the German, Austro-Hungarian monarchy from the end of the 19th century. At the beginning the movement focused mainly on healthy eating and lifestyle but with its decades-long history it finally formed its unique image around the turn of the century, at the time focusing on alternative medicine, spiritual orientation and vegetarianism. The national character is specific to the reception of the Hungarian efforts at life reform, and in this context the role of folk art is particularly appreciated. Our study examines the development and trends of these specific forms of movement in this “golden age” of the monarchy. We also attempt to demonstrate its effects on lifestyle and cultural and educational reforms at the time. The last part of our article also deals with the life-reforming roots of Zoltán Kodály’s music pedagogy.