Zoltan Kodály was one of the two most important figures in Hungarian music during the 20th century (the other was his friend and colleague, Béla BARTóK). Kodály was born on December 16, 1882, in the town of Kecskemét, about 50 miles south of Budapest. His father was a country Stationmaster, and so Kodály grew up in the Hungarian countryside. He also grew up in a musical household—his father was a keen amateur violinist and his mother played the piano and sang. Young Zoltán learned to play both the piano and the violin, plus the cello and viola. He was soon playing in the school orchestra, singing in the church choir, and beginning to compose.
In 1898, when Kodály was 15, his Overture in D Minor was played at a local school. In 1900, he went to Budapest to study at the university, but he also enrolled in the Academy of Music. There he studied composition with the German composer Hans Koessler, who was head of the composition department. Kodály was soon devoting all his time to music, graduating from the Academy five years later. He then joined up with his friend and contemporary, Béla Bartók, to travel around Hungary and neighbouring Romania to record and preserve the folk songs and dances, so that this rich musical heritage would not be lost.
These collecting tours were to continue for decades, and all Kodály’s music is steeped in this folk idiom. In 1907, at the age of 24, he was awarded a professorship at the Academy of Music, which gave him the time and opportunity to compose. The first work to earn him recognition at home and abroad was the Psalmus bungaricus, written to celebrate the 50th anniversary, in 1923, of the creation of Budapest as the nation’s capital. For this work he set to music a 16th-century religious and patriotic poem, relating to Hungary’s plight under Ottoman Turkish rule.
In 1926, Kodály wrote an opera, Háry János, based on the adventures of the legendary folk hero of the title. Some of the music from Háry János is best known as a very popular orchestral suite. The orchestral suite opens with a famous ‘sneeze,’ which means, according to Hungarian folklore, that the tale must be true (although, in fact, it is all complete fantasy). Kodály’s score also includes a part for the cimbalon, a traditional Hungarian type of stringed dulcimer played with small hammers. Three other orchestral pieces—the Dances of Marosszék (1930), the Dances of Galánta (1933), and the Peacock Variations (1939)—typify Kodály’s folk-inspired style.
Kodály was extremely active in other ways. His professorship entailed many teaching commitments, and he also worked tirelessly to raise the level of music awareness throughout Hungary, organising music festivals, visiting schools, and conducting choirs. He travelled widely, too, visiting the United States, among other countries. In 1946, he attended an international conference of writers and composers in Washington, D.C., and at a later date gave lessons and concerts at Dartmouth College. His own country honoured him with a seat in the National Assembly. Foreign honours included the gold medal of the London Philharmonic Society, and an honorary degree from Oxford University.
Throughout his long life (he died in 1967, age 85) Kodály continued to compose. His works are all richly melodic, and always rooted in the folk music of Hungary. In the words of Béla Bartók, they are ‘the most perfect embodiment of the Hungarian spirit.’
Alan Blackwood
SEE ALSO:
FOLK MUSIC; OPERA; ORCHESTRAL MUSIC.
FURTHER READING
Lendvai, Erno. The Workshop of Bartók and Kodály (London: Kahn & Aventi, 1983);
Young, Percy M. Zoltán Kodály: A Hungarian Musician (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1976).
SUGGESTED LISTENING
Duo for Violin and Violoncello; Dances of Galánta; Háryjános; Minuetto Serio;
Peacock Variations; Sonata for Violoncello Op. 8.