Metamorphosis Transylvaniae

Baron Peter Apor lamented the passing of traditional Transylvanian practices and the Metamorphosis, written in 1783, is not a memoir in the usual sense so much a record of a vanishing way of that the life author had enjoyed in his youth, and had been told of by his elders. Apor focuses on the world he knew: upper-class society, the company of Princes and Counts. He gives detailed accounts of Transylvanian dress, feasts, rituals, ceremonials, travelling, weddings, funerals and other social functions that are unrivalled for gusto, humour and color. Here, for example, are young Lords whose horses had harnesses set with gems; Counts with forty castles; hospitality of a truly prodigious nature beginning with vermouth at breakfast drunk from silver goblets; fine banquets taken to the sound of pipes and violins, finishing with rousing dances such as the Mouse Dance.