major for two violins and viola in February 1899.(b Kecskemét, 16 Dec 1882; dBudapest, 6 March 1967). Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist and educationist. With Bartók, he was one of the creators of a new Hungarian art music based on folk sources, and he laid the foundation for the development of a broadbased and musically literate culture.
LÁSZLÓ EŐSZE/MÍCHEÁL HOULAHAN, PHILIP TACKA
His
father, Frigyes (or Frederic, 1853–1926), worked for the Hungarian state
railways as station master at Szob (1883–4), Galánta (now Galanta, Slovakia,
1885–92) and Nagyszombat (now Trnava, Slovakia, 1892–1910). Thus Kodály spent
his first 18 years in the Hungarian countryside. At home he became acquainted
with various musical instruments and with some Classical masterpieces – his
father played the violin and his mother sang and played the piano – and while
at the elementary school in Galánta he came into contact with the unspoilt
folktunes sung by his classmates. He attended the Archiepiscopal Grammar School
in Nagyszombat, a historic town of rich cultural traditions, where he passed
all his examinations with distinction, showing a particular proficiency in
literature and languages. Concurrently he learnt to play the piano, violin,
viola and cello with very little tuition and to such a standard that he was
able to take part in chamber music at home and in the performances of the
school orchestra. He also sang in the church choir, and he began to compose.
Some of his early pieces were performed: the Overture in D minor for full
orchestra in February 1898; the Trio in E major for two violins and viola in February 1899.
Kodály took the school-leaving examination in June 1900 and left Nagyszombat to read Hungarian and German at Budapest University. There, and at Eötvös College, an institution noted for its rigorous instruction, he received a broad education, and at the same time he began studies at the Academy of Music. Taking composition with Koessler, he received diplomas in composition (1904) and teaching (1905), and in April 1906 he was awarded the PhD for his thesis A Magyar népdal strófaszerkezete (‘The stanzaic structure of Hungarian folksong’). He had found material for this in the existing collections and in Vikár’s recordings, but also in the fruits of his own collecting tours, which began in August 1905 and continued for many decades; the thesis reflects his interest and scholarship in the interdisciplinary aspects of music and language. It was in this field that there first developed a close contact between Kodály and Bartók. Their cooperation was by no means restricted to coordinating methods for collecting folksongs: it became a lasting friendship. Bartók was to write of Kodály in his autobiographical notes (1918): ‘by his clear insight and sound critical sense he has been able to give, in every department of music, both invaluable advice and helpful warnings’. And in his radio talk ‘Bartók emlékezete’ (‘Bartók remembered’) (3 November 1955), Kodály recalled the basis and beginning of their collaboration: ‘The vision of an educated Hungary, reborn from the people, rose before us. We decided to devote our lives to its realization’. Their first joint project was the publication of Magyar népdalok (‘Hungarian folksongs’) (1906), whose preface, formulated by Kodály alone, set out their programme.
In the same year, on 22 October, Kodály’s Nyári este (‘Summer Evening’) was performed at the Academy of Music diploma concert and, as a result, he received a modest scholarship for foreign study. He left in December for Berlin, moving from there to Paris the next April. The most memorable experience of his six months away – one that was to remain with him throughout his life – was the encounter with the music of Debussy. After his return to Hungary and another folksong collecting tour, Kodály was appointed professor at the Academy of Music. He lectured first on music theory and then, in 1908, took over the first-year composition students from Koessler. Other teaching responsibilities included harmony, counterpoint, form, orchestration and score-reading; however, vocal polyphony and musical literacy emerged as the composer’s primary focus. Many of his students became internationally recognized, among them Dorati, Lang, Ormandy, Seiber, Lajos Bárdos and Jenő Ádám.
In spring 1910 Kodály received his first public performances. A concert was devoted to his music in Budapest on 17 March, when Bartók and the Waldbauer-Kerpely Quartet played his opp.2, 3 and 4. Some of his piano pieces were played in Paris to an enthusiastic audience, and in Zürich the Willem de Boer Quartet gave the First Quartet on 29 May. On 3 August of the same year Kodály married Emma Sándor (or Schlesinger), herself a talented composer, pianist, poet and translator.
The next year Kodály, Bartók and others formed the New Hungarian Music Society to ensure the careful performance of contemporary works. But within a few years the organization had ceased activities, faced with public indifference and official resistance. The publication of a collection of Hungarian folksongs foundered for the same reasons. In 1913 Kodály set out ‘Az új egyetemes népdalgyűjtemény tervezete’ (‘A project for a new universal collection of folksongs’), which he and Bartók submitted to the Kisfaludy Society. The plan was turned down, but the two continued work until World War I put an end to collecting tours. Kodály then carried on his work in composition and in the scientific classification of folk material, and between November 1917 and April 1919 he worked as a music critic, publishing nearly 50 reviews in the literary magazine Nyugat and later in the liberal daily paper Pesti napló. Of particular interest are his writings on the importance of folk music and his analyses of Bartók’s music; the latter became the basis of aesthetics in Bartók’s music.
In 1919, after the bourgeois revolution, the Academy of Music was raised to university status, with Dohnányi as director and Kodály as his deputy. Kodály kept that post for the 133 days of the Hungarian Republic of Councils and even participated, with Bartók and Dohnányi, in the work of the music directory under Reinitz. After the fall of the republic Kodály was faced with disciplinary action which was whipped up into a campaign against him and his work, with the result that he was relieved of his post as deputy director and could not resume teaching until two years later. In addition, the war had put a stop to a promising international career. His isolation abroad and at home was broken by a contract with Universal Edition, which began to publish his scores in 1921, and by the resounding success of his Psalmus hungaricus. This was a setting of the translation of Psalm lv by the 16th-century preacher-poet Mihály Kecskeméti Vég, composed as a large-scale oratorio for tenor, chorus and orchestra within the space of two months. The premičre was conducted by Dohnányi on 19 November 1923 to mark the 50th anniversary of the union of Pest, Buda and Óbuda into Budapest, and the first performance outside Hungary took place under Andreae in Zürich on 18 June 1926. It marked a turning-point in the international recognition of Kodály’s art.
With the success of the Psalmus hungaricus Kodály had made a fresh start, and his career gained further momentum with the premičres of the Singspiel Háry János (Budapest, 16 October 1926) and of the six-movement suite drawn from it (Barcelona, 24 March 1927). These works consolidated Kodály’s stature the world over: Toscanini and Mengelberg, Ansermet and Furtwängler were among the first to include them in their programmes. The composer himself also appeared as the conductor of his own music after his début at Amsterdam in April 1927. Later that year he conducted the Psalmus in Cambridge (30 November) and London (4 December). However, Kodály’s distinctive revision of Hungarian art music was not well received by all; his artistic vision and the compositional integrity of his students were denounced, for example, in the German periodical Neues Pester Journal (28 May 1925) by Béla Diósy. Denied publication by the Neues Pester Journal, Kodály’s response, ‘Tizenhárom fiatal zeneszerző’ (Thirteen young Hungarian composers), appeared in the Budapesti Hirlap (14 June 1925); in the article he challenged musical conservatism and defended his characteristic juxtaposition of the traditional with the experimental. Three years later, in ‘The Folk Songs of Hungary’ (Zenei szemle, xii/3–4, pp.55–8, 1928), Bartók honoured Kodály’s artistic vision:
If I were to name the composer whose works are the most perfect embodiment of the Hungarian spirit, I would answer, Kodály. His work proves his faith in the Hungarian spirit. The obvious explanation is that all Kodály’s composing activity is rooted only in Hungarian soil, but the deep inner reason is his unshakable faith and trust in the constructive power and future of his people.
Increasingly frequent appearances abroad did not divert Kodály’s attention from work to be done in Hungary. He extended his educational activities, giving particular attention after 1925 to the musical training of young people. For this purpose he produced singing and reading exercises and composed choruses, such as Villő (‘The Straw Guy’) and Túrót eszik a cigány (‘See the Gypsies Munching Cheese’), which resuscitated the Hungarian choral movement. He gave lectures, wrote articles, conducted concerts all over the country and waged a veritable battle against musical illiteracy and semi-education. His ex-pupils were involved in the struggle, helping him as conductors, teachers or publishers. As early as the beginning of the 1930s he was able, without any official support and in the teeth of renewed press attacks, to start the Singing Youth movement on a national scale. And within ten years the time had come for a radical change in elementary-school music education.
Meanwhile, Kodály’s work as a composer and scholar was developing. In 1927 he had supplemented Háry János with a few new numbers, of which the Szinházi nyitány (‘Theatre Overture’), supplied with a concert ending, makes an independent piece. Székely fonó (‘The Transylvanian Spinning-Room’) was completed by the expansion of a scene written in 1924. This folk ballad of operatic dimensions was introduced in Budapest on 24 April 1932 and scored a considerable success at La Scala on 14 January 1933. Between 1924 and 1932 Kodály published arrangements for voice and piano of 57 folksongs and ballads in 11 books under the title Magyar népzene (‘Hungarian folk music’); and in 1929 he orchestrated the Marosszéki táncok (‘Dances of Marosszék’), composed for piano, during 1923–7, and, encouraged by Toscanini, reworked the early Summer Evening. Several large-scale compositions were written to commission: the Galántai táncok (‘Dances of Galanta’) for the 80th anniversary of the Budapest Philharmonic Society (1933), the Budavári Te Deum for the 250th anniversary of the recapture of Buda from the Turks (1936), the orchestral variations on Felszállott a páva (‘The Peacock’) for the 50th anniversary of the Concertgebouw (1939) and the Concerto for Orchestra for that of the Chicago SO (1940). The last two were published by Boosey & Hawkes, since Kodály did not wish to retain his contacts with Austria after the Anschluss. Indeed, he was opposed to the shift to the right within Hungary and, with Bartók, he was among the first to protest against the draft bill of 1938 instituting racial discrimination.
In 1927 Kodály launched the series of publications Magyar zenei dolgozatok (‘Hungarian Musical Essays’) to provide a forum for the emergent Hungarian musicology. He lectured for a few years from 1930 on folk music at the University of Budapest and later at the Free University. His comprehensive summary A magyar népzene (‘Hungarian Folk Music’) was published in 1937, having been preceded by numerous preparatory studies, and from 1934 he was engaged in the task of editing the collection of folk music, work which he had to continue alone after Bartók’s emigration. At Kodály’s request the ministry delegated him to work under the auspices of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, beginning in autumn 1940. From then on he retained only a course in Hungarian folk music at the Academy of Music, continuing to teach this even after his retirement in 1942. That year, Kodály’s 60th, was declared ‘Kodály Year’ by the Society of Hungarian Choruses; the Hungarian Ethnological Society published an album in his honour, and music journals made special issues. These expressions of respect and appreciation forced the authorities to give some tokens of recognition: the government awarded him the cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit, and the Academy of Sciences elected him to corresponding membership in 1943.
Kodály continued to compose during the war, notably to patriotic-revolutionary verses of Petőfi in Csatadal (‘Battle Song’), Rabhazának fia (‘The Son of an Enslaved Country’) and Isten csodája (‘God’s Mercy’). He helped save people from persecution until he and his wife had to seek refuge in the cellar of a Budapest convent, where he completed the Missa brevis, a version for solo voices, chorus and orchestra of an earlier organ mass. He saw out the Battle of Budapest in the shelter of the opera house; the Missa brevis received its first performance in a cloakroom there. Then, with the establishment of peace, a series of institutions invited him to take part in their work: he was elected a deputy in the national assembly and chairman of the board of directors of the Academy of Music; he was made president of the Hungarian Art Council and of the Free Organization of Musicians; and he was elected to full membership and then honorary membership of the Academy of Sciences, of which he served as president from 1946 to 1949.
After a lapse of nearly a decade Kodály made a concert tour (September 1946 to June 1947) which took him to the UK, the USA and the USSR, everywhere conducting his own works, and he again conducted in western Europe in 1948 and 1949. On 15 March 1948 the Budapest State Opera House introduced Czinka Panna, to a text by Balázs, and in 1951 the National Folk Ensemble gave the first performance of the Kállai kettős (‘Kálló Double Dance’) for chorus and orchestra. Kodály received high government decorations (1947, 1952, 1962) and three Kossuth Prizes (1948, 1952, 1957), and the Academy of Sciences issued commemorative volumes for his 70th, 75th and 80th birthdays. He was accorded honorary doctorates by the universities of Budapest (1957), Oxford (1960), East Berlin (1964) and Toronto (1966), and honorary membership of the Belgian Academy of Sciences (1957), the Moscow Conservatory (1963) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1963). In addition, he was made president of the International Folk Music Council (1961) and honorary president of the International Society of Music Education (1964). The Herder Prize was awarded to him in 1965 in recognition of his work in furthering East–West cultural relations.
Kodály’s wife died on 22 November 1958 but he remarried on 18 December 1959 and right up to his death continued to engage in a wide variety of activities. Each year between 1960 and 1966 he travelled on long trips abroad, lecturing in English, French, German and Italian, and taking the chair at various conferences. In the Philip Maunce Deneke Lecture given at Oxford on 3 May 1960, for example, he discussed the distinctive structures of melody and rhythm common to Hungarian folksongs along with a broader notion of how art music evolved from folk music. As in other lectures, he also championed ethnomusicological investigation as the source of artistic inspiration. In Hungary, thanks to the support of the cultural authorities, he lived to see the realization of his ambitious plans for ethnomusicology and education. The first five volumes of A magyar népzene tára/Corpus musicae popularis hungaricae appeared between 1950 and 1967, and daily music education according to his principles was introduced in 120 elementary schools during the same period. His last major compositions – which include Zrinyi szózata (‘Hymn of Zrinyi’) for baritone and chorus (1954), the Symphony (1961), Mohács for chorus (1965) and the Laudes organi for chorus and organ (1966) – show his creative powers undiminished.
Kodály’s compositional career spans seven decades, from his first surviving manuscripts (1897) to his last finished work (1966), and even beyond these limits: by his own account, he began to improvise songs at the age of four; and fragments in his estate indicate that he kept on composing until his last days. This exceptionally long period of creativity is entirely devoid of spectacular turns: his individual style was already formed by 1905–7. Earlier pieces were youthful attempts conceived in the spirit of Viennese Classicism (up to 1900) or of the German Romantics, particularly Brahms (1900–04). They include some surprisingly mature compositions, such as Este (‘Evening’) for chorus (1904) and the Adagio for violin and piano (1905).
Kodály’s subsequent development was profoundly influenced by his folksong experiences and by his acquaintance with the works of Debussy. His music emphasized both a Classical and folk heritage with melody serving as the foundation of his style. In addition, he employed a broad spectrum of rhythms ranging from the animated beat of Hungarian verbunkos to the expressive senza misura of the Baroque. The influence of Mozart and Haydn is revealed in the character of a number of melodies. Beyond this, his artistic personality was enriched by the absorption of Gregorian chant, Palestrina and Bach keyboard works. But he possessed sufficient creative powers to bring about a synthesis of these various influences, and the prominent part played by Hungarian folk intonation throughout his career also guarded him against any heterogeneity of style. It says much that Kodály has been by turns described both as a traditionalist, despite his awareness of early 20th-century trends, and as a modernist, though his music has its roots in peasant culture. The man who knew his music best, Bartók, was to write (1921):
Kodály’s compositions are characterized in the main by rich melodic invention, a perfect sense of form, a certain predilection for melancholy and uncertainty. He does not seek Dionysian intoxication – he strives for inner contemplation … His music is not of the kind described nowadays as modern. It has nothing to do with the new atonal, bitonal and polytonal music – everything in it is based on the principle of tonal balance. His idiom is nevertheless new; he says things that have never been uttered before and demonstrates thereby that the tonal principle has not lost its raison d’ętre as yet.
Later (1927) Bartók added: ‘Kodály … is a great master of form and possesses a striking individuality; he works in a concentrated fashion and despises any sensation, false brilliance, any extraneous effect’.
The creative activity that lasted throughout Kodály’s long life was only once interrupted: in 1921–2 he did not write anything. The reasons were both external and internal. Previously he had composed almost exclusively in the genres of song and chamber music; thereafter he contributed least in these spheres. His mature output may be divided into two major periods, with the first dominated by lyrical elements and the second dramatic ones, while his epic leanings were manifested time and again in both. By contrast with Bartók, Kodály was a vocally orientated composer for whom melody was always of primary importance. This he admitted in symbolic manner at the beginning and end of his career: he marked the song cycle Énekszó: dalok népi versekre (‘16 Songs on Hungarian Popular Words’) as his op.1, and in one of his last writings (1966) he declared: ‘Our age of mechanization leads along a road ending with man himself as a machine; only the spirit of singing can save us from this fate’. Music and text are of a piece in Kodály’s work: they breathe together. His choruses and songs – the 11 books of folksong arrangements as well as the original compositions – are difficult to translate because of their Hungarian versification. Besides this, he chose texts from those poets, such as Dániel Berzsenyi and Zsigmond Móricz, most Hungarian in character; the seven songs of the Megkésett melódiák (‘Belated melodies’) op.6, the Két ének (‘Two Songs’) op.5 and the Három ének (‘Three Songs’) op.14 sing the music of the Hungarian language, to poems both old and new. Molnár, Kodály’s first biographer, justly described him as the creator of ‘the genuine Hungarian art song’.
However, choruses make up the bulk of Kodály’s output. Few 20th-century composers, including Britten, show a greater knowledge of the genre or a greater devotion to it. The energy contained in his choral works is generated from the text, the folk idiom and the composer’s vivid melodic invention. These unaccompanied works, often folksong arrangements, are marked by natural and logical construction that develops through variation technique and a free contrapuntal style. Kodály’s choral settings for male, female and mixed choruses include the outstanding Öregek (‘The Aged’) (1933), Akik mindig elkésnek (‘Too Late’) (1934) and Norvég leányok (‘Norwegian Girls’) (1940). The central position, though, is taken by his more than 50 pieces for trebles, unique in the repertory of the 20th century: Villő (‘The Straw Guy’) (1925), Lengyel László (‘King Ladislaus’s Men or Magyars and Germans’) (1927) and Pünkösdölő (‘Whitsuntide’) (1929) are among the finest. The culmination of Kodály’s a cappella art is the large-scale motet Jézus és a kufárok (‘Jesus and the Traders’) (1934), in which the biblical text is transformed into a poignant dramatic scene. The use of Baroque-like word symbolism, the alternation of homophonic and polyphonic sections, and the union of linear and vertical writing are all indicative of Kodály’s rich technique, placed at the service of the expressive message (see fig.2).
Kodály’s instrumental style was first developed in solo and chamber compositions, with string chamber works comprising the bulk of his non-vocal compositions until 1920. The two string quartets, opp.2 and 10, represent his early style; in both, melodic material and instrumental treatment reveal folk inspiration. At the same time, the construction of op.10 is highly accomplished, its complex form pointing forward to the quite individual structure of the Budavári Te Deum. The cello sonatas opp.4 (with piano accompaniment) and 8 (solo), the Duo op.7 for violin and cello, and the Serenade op.12 for two violins and viola all bear witness to Kodály’s rich melodic invention and excellent sense of balance and proportion, as well as to his ability to achieve strikingly new virtuosity through simple means.
Most of Kodály’s orchestral compositions were written after 1920; the first version of Summer Evening was a forerunner of this period and the Symphony a harmonious postscript. The most popular has been the Dances of Galánta, a symphonic poem distinguished by brilliant orchestration and cast in rondo form, taking its material from 18th-century verbunkos music. The Dances of Marosszék, also in rondo form, contains three interludes and a coda which make use of melodies drawn from Kodály’s collection of Transylvanian folksongs, while the Concerto for Orchestra exhibits a stylistic association with the Baroque. But the Variations on a Hungarian Folksong ‘Felszállott a páva’ (‘The Peacock’) are the most revealing of the composer. The theme is drawn from the most ancient body of Hungarian folk music, that of oriental origin, and the large-scale tripartite composition is a true apotheosis of folksong.
The same can be said of the stage works Háry János and The Transylvanian Spinning-Room. It was Kodály’s aim to secure a place in the opera house for Hungarian folk music in its original form, but neither work is an opera as such: Háry János is a Singspiel whose main protagonist is a fictional Transdanubian character who takes part in the Napoleonic wars; The Transylvanian Spinning-Room, a scene from village life, is an operatic ballad, marred by textual incontinuity as well as by excessive surrealism. Both are built primarily on the vocal passages, though the popularity of Háry János was created by the orchestral suite assembled from it. The three odd-numbered movements of the suite are exalted in tone and of folk inspiration; the three even-numbered sections have a mocking, parodistic quality. These last are also a rare expression of Kodály’s full-blooded humour.
Kodály’s output reached its two culminating points in the oratorios: the Psalmus hungaricus and the Budavári Te Deum. They contain no folk quotations but both, particularly the latter, incorporate a wealth of stylistic elements: Gregorian melodic inflections, Renaissance-like plagal harmony, choral writing in the spirit of Palestrina, Baroque polyphony, the use of the whole-tone mode, and that of the Lydian mode with a raised 5th, which might be described as a median between whole-tone and pentatonic scales (it has been termed ‘heptatonia secunda’ by Bárdos, who discovered this feature in Kodály’s work). With regard to form, the Psalmus hungaricus is a classical rondo and the Te Deum a complex palindrome. And yet both works, from first note to last, exude the spirit of Hungarian folk music. Indeed, everything Kodály composed after Bartók’s statements of the 1920s fully confirms them: he was no revolutionary innovator, but a summarizer. Nevertheless, the style he created from the folk monody of ancient, oriental extraction and from the new rich harmony of Western art music is homogeneous, individual and new.
‘Theories become antiquated but faultlessly published material never does’, wrote Kodály in the preface to the second volume of the Corpus musicae popularis hungaricae (1953). That principle guided his entire work. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, numerous composers turned to their respective native folk musics as an inspiration for composition. For Kodály the music of rural Hungary was always this, but also an object of study in itself. He began with simple folksong publications, ‘Mátyusföldi gyújtes’ (‘Collection from Mátyusföldi’) (1905) and ‘Balladák’ (‘Ballads’) (1907), in the magazine Ethnographia. As a result of systematic annual collecting tours he amassed thousands of folksongs, whose analysis and classification led him to write in 1917 his first preparatory study, Ötfokú hangsor a magyar népzenében (‘The Pentatonic Scale in Hungarian Folk Music’), a work of fundamental significance. Continued research produced two further studies, Kelemen Kőmies balladája (‘The Ballad of Kelemen the Mason’) (1918) and Árgirus nótája (‘The song of Argirus’) (1920). Kodály explains his method of collecting and provides a detailed transcription of the former 35 stanzas of the ballad, thereby throwing light on how variants of folksongs originate through peasant oral tradition. In the second, Kodály examines the connections between the histories of melody and verse. His next two publications were dedicated to saving old relics from extinction: Erdélyi magyarság: népdalok (‘The Hungarians of Transylvania: Folksongs’) (1923), published jointly with Bartók, records the valuable melodic style of Székely, detailing 150 songs; and Nagyszalontai gyüjtés (‘Nagyszalonta Collection’) (1924) reports on the rubato performance tradition of that region. Another study of basic importance followed in Sajátságos dallamszerkezet a cseremisz népzenében (‘The Distinctive Melodic Structure of Cheremiss Folk Music’) (1934), which presents the similarities between Hungarian and Cheremiss folk music and, through the examination of melodies built on shifting 5ths, sets out the ‘dual system’ principle (i.e. the unchanged reiteration of the melody in another key a 5th lower).
The achievements of 32 years of research are summarized in A magyar népzene (1937); the 1982 English edition includes new musical examples and numerous addenda selected and drafted by Kodály. Beginning with a general explanation of oral and written folk traditions, the study addresses the significance and classification of folksongs and examines the origins and performance of both traditional and 19th-century Hungarian folksong. Kodály then distinguishes old and new styles, the old associated with isolated peasant communities, the new with cross-cultural communication and distinctive tonal and modal systems. The elements of art music originating in church (Gregorian chant, hymns) and folk settings are discussed, followed by chapters on children’s songs and laments, folk instruments and performance practice, and the relations between folk and art music in terms of poetic texts employed. After a number of publications on the history of folklore, the culmination of Kodály’s scientific work came with the first issue of the A magyar nepzene tara/Corpus musicae popularis hungaricae in 1951: the ten-volume project had first been drafted by Kodály and Bartók in 1913. A testament to Kodály’s scholarly achievement, the work is unprecedented in its attempt to cover an entire musical tradition. The individual volumes contain substantial bibliographies, lists of collectors, notators, localities, syllabic numbers, cadences and rhythmic patterns as well as illustrations and maps. The classification and editing of a body of folksongs that, by the 1950s, had reached a total of 100,000 was guided until his death by Kodály as head of the folk music research group at the Academy of Sciences.
Folk music research constituted the bulk of Kodály’s scholarly activity – indeed, of his whole work. However, he also did important work in ethnology, music history, music aesthetics, music criticism, the history of literature, linguistics and language education. In size, his critical and language-educational writings stand out, but all are virtually equal in significance. Besides writing for Hungarian periodicals he published reviews between 1917 and 1925 in the Musikblätter des Anbruch, Revue musicale, the Musical Courier and Il pianoforte. One of his central topics was the music of Bartók, though he also wrote with unerring judgment on composers and performers past and present. From 1937 he made good use of the linguistic studies he had undertaken at university: he initiated pronunciation competitions at Budapest University (1939) in his fight against deteriorating habits of speech, and he was active in the committee for language education (from 1943) under the auspices of the Academy of Sciences.
Of pioneering value also are such works as Néprajz és zenetörténet (‘Ethnology and Music History’) (1933), Mi a magyar a zenében (‘The Hungarian Character in Music’) (1939), Népzene és műzene (‘Folk Music and Art Music’) (1941) and Arany János népdalgyüjteménye (‘The Folksong Collection of János Arany’) (1952), with Ágost Gyulai. Kodály was convinced that folksong was important not just as a monument of the past but also as a foundation for the future. This view fired him in organizing and popularizing activities aimed at gaining a general recognition for folk music and at creating a homogeneous musical culture. Popularization, he said, could not be ‘left for amateurs and self-styled scholars to do. The best are just sufficiently good for the job’. As a scholar Kodály established up-to-date musicology in Hungary and raised it to a level comparable with that achieved in other countries; at the same time he gave a new impetus to ethnomusicology internationally.
In the field of education his work was hardly less important. He lectured on composition at the Academy of Music from 1907 to 1940, undertaking tuition in all the various subjects connected with composing – harmony, counterpoint, form, orchestration and scorereading – to ensure that his pupils developed a unified outlook. He gave particular attention in his teaching to vocal polyphony, and in every field he required an extensive knowledge of the literature. His pupils were taught to be responsible, respectful of their craft and of their public; many of his students have become internationally known composers, conductors, teachers and musicologists.
Kodály first took an interest in the education of the young in 1925, recognizing its importance for the presentation of his nation’s artistic traditions in the face of urbanization and technological advancement. He began by writing choruses, lectures and essays, with singing, especially of folksongs – for their simplicity and beauty, their embodiment of heritage and their perfect relationship of music and language – at the heart of his work. His essay ‘Gyermekkarok’ (‘Children’s Choruses’) (Zenei szemle, xiii/2, pp.1–9, 1929, Eng. trans. in F. Bonis, ed.: The Selected Writings of Zoltán Kodaly, 1974) addressed the importance of early training in music:
If the child is not filled at least once by the life giving stream of good music during the most susceptible period – between his sixth and 16th years – it will hardly be of any use to him later on. Often a single experience will open the young soul to music for a whole lifetime. This experience cannot be left to chance; it is the duty of the school to provide it.
Starting with the Bicinia hungarica (1937–42), Kodály extended his work to include the publication of singing and reading exercises. His example inspired many others to the re-evaluation of folksongs in detailed terms of melodic interval, rhythm, metre and form to create a sound method of musical instruction. Differing from previous approaches, Kodály believed that the acquisition of musical skills should proceed logically and sequentially from the known to the unknown. He understood that students learn best through direct experience of song and movement presented in familiar frameworks, utilizing the natural faculties of voice and body. The voice is the most intimate and universal of instruments, and the ear is more easily developed through this personal medium. As Kodály’s ideas and philosophy of music education developed, Hungarian teachers began to use techniques now associated with his educational concept, including relative solmization, hand signs, rhythmic syllables, and a form of musical shorthand known as stick notation. Although some of these techniques were adopted and adapted from other successful methods, it is their use in combination with a carefully ordered presentation of folksong and art music examples that makes the ‘Kodály concept of music education’ (also known as the ‘Kodály method’ or ‘Hungarian Method of Music Education’) uniquely valuable in the teaching of music at all levels. Usually associated solely with elementary levels of music instruction, his approach has been adapted more recently for the training of professional musicians. Kodály devoted considerable attention to the composition of a series of two- and three-part singing and reading exercises, incorporating stylistic elements of folk music and art music, collectively published by Boosey & Hawkes as The Kodály Choral Method (1937–66). In 1943–4, he also edited, together with György Kerényi, the Iskolai énekgyüjtemény (‘Collected Songs for Schools’), a collection of 630 Hungarian and European folksongs and canons arranged in pedagogical sequence; a selection of materials from this volume was published in 1945 and edited with Jenő Ádám, and together they also edited Énekeskönyv az általános iskolák számára (‘Songbook for Primary Schools’) (1947–8), a comprehensive series written to develop musical literacy.
In order to ensure that music should become an organic part of the school curriculum and that adults should not be lost to great music, Kodály gave more and more attention, from the 1930s onwards, to the choral movement. He travelled up and down the country, giving encouragement, convinced that group singing, and not instrumental skill, was the only basis for a broad musical culture. Educational work assumed even greater importance for him after 1945, when effective state help made it possible for his efforts to bear fruit during his lifetime. In ‘Folksong in Pedagogy’, Music Educators Journal (1966–7), Kodály stated, ‘The final purpose of all this must be to instill in the pupils the understanding and love of the great classics … These are much nearer to the folksong than is generally recognized, for direct expression and clear form are common in [all] folksongs’.
Kodály is one of the few artists in the 20th century to have achieved work of lasting value in a variety of fields. As a composer and ethnomusicologist he produced a legacy of international worth. In the field of music education his philosophy and innovations led to vast improvements in musical instruction throughout the world, while at home he transformed the cultural awareness of his nation during his lifetime. Since his death the values for which he strove have continued to prosper: training programmes for the Kodály concept have been established in numerous universities and conservatories; Kodály institutes have been established in Tokyo, Boston, Ottawa, Sydney, Jyväskylä (Finland) and Kecskemét; international Kodály symposia have been held bienially from 1973, each one in a different country; and an International Kodály Society, based in Budapest, was founded in 1975. His former flat has been converted into the ‘Zoltán Kodály Memorial Museum and Archives’, serving as a centre for Kodály research.
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Notre Dame de Paris (incid music), 1902, Budapest, Feb 1902 |
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A nagybácsi [The Uncle] (incid music), 1902, Budapest, Eötvös College, Feb 1904 |
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Le Cid (incid music for parody), 1903, Budapest, Feb 1903 |
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Pacsirtaszó [Lark Song] (incid music, Z. Móricz), 1917, unpubd, Budapest, 14 Sept 1917 |
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Székely fonó [The Transylvanian Spinning-Room] (lyrical play, 1, trad.), 1924–32, vs 1932, cond. S. Failoni, Budapest, Royal Hungarian Opera, 24 April 1932 |
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Háry János (Singspiel, prol, 4 adventures, epilogue, B. Paulini and Z. Harsányi), op.15, 1926, rev. 1937–8, rev. 1948–52, vs 1929; cond. N. Rékai, Budapest, Royal Hungarian Opera, 16 Oct 1926 [orig. 5 adventures] |
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Czinka Panna (Singspiel, 4, B. Balázs), 1946–8, Budapest, Hungarian State Opera, 15 March 1948 |
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Overture, d, 1897, Nagyszombat, Feb 1898 |
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Nyári este [Summer Evening], 1906, Budapest, Royal Hungarian Opera, 22 Oct 1906; rev. 1929–30, New York PO, cond. A. Toscanini, New York, 3 April 1930 |
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Régi magyar katonadalok [Old Hungarian Soldiers’ Songs], chbr orch, 1917, Deutschmeister Orchestra, cond. W. Wacek, Vienna, 12 Jan 1918; arr. vc, pf as Magyar rondó [Hungarian Rondo], 1917 |
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Ballet Music, 1925, Philharmonic Society Orchestra, cond. E. von Dohnányi, Budapest, Saxon Hall, 22 Aug 1927 [Dance of the Dragoons from omitted adventure of Singspiel Háry János] |
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Háry János Suite, 1926–7, Orquesta Pablo Casals, cond. A. Fleischer, Barcelona, Gran Teatro del Liceo; brass band version, 24 March 1927, orch version, New York PO, cond. W. Mengelberg, New York, 15 Dec 1927 [from Singspiel] |
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Szinházi nyitány [Theatre Overture], 1927, rev. 1929–32, cond. R. Heger, Vienna, 1928 |
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Marosszéki táncok [Dances of Marosszék], 1929, cond. F. Busch, Dresden Opera, 28 Nov 1930 [arr. of pf work, 1923–7, arr. for ballet] |
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Galántai táncok [Dances of Galánta], 1933, Philharmonic Society Orchestra, cond. E. von Dohnányi, Budapest, 23 Oct 1933 |
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Symphony C, 1930s–61, Swiss Festival Orchestra, cond. F. Fricsay, Lucerne, 16 Aug 1961 |
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Variations on a Hungarian Folksong ‘Felszállott a páva [The Peacock], 1937–9, Concertgebouw Orchestra, cond. Mengelberg, Amsterdam, 23 Nov 1939 |
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Concerto for Orchestra, 1939–40, Chicago SO, cond. F. Stock, Chicago, 6 Feb 1941 |
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Honvéd Parad March, brass band, 1948 [from Háry János] |
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Minuetto serio, 1948–53 [version of movt. from Singspiel Czinka Panna] |
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Arr.: J. Haydn: Violin Sonata no.5: Rondo, str orch, c1960 |
texts are trad. unless otherwise stated
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Offertorium (Assumpta est Maria), Bar, chorus, orch, 1901 |
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Psalmus hungaricus (orat, M. Kecskeméti Vég, after Ps lv), op.13, T, chorus, opt. children’s chorus, orch, org, 1923, Palestrina Choir, Budapest Philharmonic Society Orchestra, cond. E. von Dohnányi, Budapest, 19 Nov 1923 |
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Budavári Te Deum, S, opt. A, T, opt. B, chorus, orch, opt. org, 1936, cond. V. Sugár, Budapest, Buda Castle, Matthias Church, 2 Sept 1936 |
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Vértanúk sírjánál [At the Graves of the Martyrs], chorus, orch, 1945 |
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Missa brevis, S, Mez, A, T, B, chorus, orch, 1948, London PO, cond. Kodály, Worcester Cathedral, Three Choirs Festival, 9 Sept 1948 [version of work for chorus, org] |
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Kállai kettős [Kálló Double Dance], SATB, 2 cl, cimb, str, 1950 [arr. of song, 1937] |
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The Music Makers, an Ode (A.W.E. O’Shaughnessy), chorus, orch, 1964, Oxford, Merton College, 31 May 1964 |
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Mass, chorus, org, before 1897, inc., lost; Ave Maria, high vv, org, 1898; 5 Tantum ergo, children’s chorus, org, 1928; Pange lingua, vv/children’s chorus, org, 1929; Katonadal [Soldier’s Song], TTB, tpt, side drum, 1934; Karácsonyi pásztortánc [Shepherds’ Christmas Dance], children’s chorus, pic, 1935; Ének Szent István királyhoz [Hymn to St Stephen], unison treble chorus, org, 1938, version for male chorus, treble chorus, boy’s chorus, small chorus, large chorus; Organ Mass, 1942; Missa brevis, S, Mez, A, T, B, SATB, org, 1942–4 |
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Vejnemöjnen muzsikál [Wainamoinen Makes Music] (B. Vikár), SSAA, hp/pf, 1944; Jézus és a gyermekek [Jesus and the Children] (D. Szedő), children’s chorus, org, 1947; A 114. genfi zsoltár [Geneva Ps cxiv], chorus, org, 1952; Intermezzo, SATB, pf, 1956 [from Háry János]; Laudes organi, SATB, org, 1966; Magyar mise [Hungarian Mass], unison vv, org, 1966; Organoedia ad missam lectam (Csendes mise), 1966 |
texts are trad. unless otherwise stated
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Miserere (Ps li), double chorus, 1903; Este [Evening] (P. Gyulai), S, SSATBB, 1904; Mátrai képek [Mátra Pictures], 1931; Öregek [The Aged] (S. Weöres), 1933; Akik mindig elkésnek [Too Late] (E. Ady), 1934; Jézus és a kufárok [Jesus and the Traders] (Bible), 1934; Liszt Ferenchez (Ode to Liszt) (M. Vörösmarty), 1936; A magyarokhoz [Song of Faith] (D. Berzsenyi), 4-pt canon, 1936; Molnár Anna, 1936 |
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Ének Szent István királyhoz, chorus/small chorus, 1938; Norvég leányok [Norwegian Girls] (Weöres), 1940; Gömöri dal [Gömör Song], 1940 or 1941; Balassi Bálint elfelejtett éneke [The Forgotten Song of Balassi] (E. Gazdag), 1942; Első áldozás [Communion Anthem] (D. Szedő), 1942; Adventi ének (Veni, veni Emmanuel) [Advent Song] (18th-century Fr. missal, trans. Szedő), 1943; A székelyekhez [To the Transylvanians] (S. Petőfi), 1943; A 121. genfi zsoltár [Geneva Ps cxxi], 1943; Csatadal [Battle Song] (Petőfi), double chorus, 1943; Szép könyörgés [Beseeching] (B. Balassi), 1943 |
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A magyar nemzet [The Hungarian Nation] (Petőfi), 1947; Sirató ének [Dirge] (P. Bodrogh), 1947; Az 50. genfi zsoltár [Geneva Ps l], 1948; Jelige [Epigraph] (Jankovich), chorus/small chorus, 1948 [versions for female chorus, male chorus]; Naphimnusz [Adoration] (Szedő, after F. d’Assisi: Concerto del sol), 1948; A szabadság himnusza [La marseillaise] (trans. F. Jankovich), 2-/3-pt chorus, 1948 [versions for treble chorus, male chorus]; Békesség óhajtás: 1801 esztendő [Wish for Peace: 1801] (B. Virág), 1953; Zrinyi szózata [Hymn of Zrinyi] (M. Zrinyi), Bar, SATBarB, 1954 |
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Magyarország cimere [The Arms of Hungary] (Vörösmarty), 1956; Arany szabadság [Golden Liberty], 1957 [also version for high vv]; I Will Go Look for Death (J. Masefield), 1959; Media vita in morte sumus, 1960, Sik Sándor Te Deuma, 1961; Jövel, Szentlélek Uristen [Come, Holy Ghost] (A. Batizi), c1961; An Ode for Music (K. Vargha, after W. Collins: The Passions, misattrib. W. Shakespeare), 1963; Mohács (K. Kisfaludy), 1965 |
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Folksong arrs.: Nagyszalontai köszöntő [A Birthday Greeting], 1931 [also version for treble chorus]; Székely keserves [Transylvanian Lament], 1934; Felszállott a páva [The Peacock] (Ady), 1937; Esti dal [Evening Song], 1938 [versions for treble chorus, male chorus]; Túrót eszik a cigány [See the Gypsies Munching Cheese], 1950 [version for female chorus] |
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Other arrs: A. Pálóczi Horváth: Horatii Carmen II.10 (Rectus vives), 1934 [new Hung. title A szép énekszó múzsájához ‘To the Muse of Beautiful Singing’] |
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2 zoborvidéki népdal [2 Folksongs from Zobor], 3 S, 3 A, vv, 1908; Hegyi éjszakák I [Mountain Nights I] (textless), 1923; Gergelyjárás [St Gregory’s Day], 1926; Lengyel László [King László’s Men or Magyars and Germans], 1927; A juhász [The Shepherd], 1928; A süket sógor [The Deaf Boatman], 1928; Isten kovácsa [God’s Blacksmith], 1928; Gólya-nóta [The Swallow’s Wooing], 1929; Pünkösdölő [Whitsuntide], 1929 |
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Uj esztendőt köszöntő [A Christmas Carol], 1929; 4 madrigali (4 olasz madrigál) [4 Italian Madrigals] (M. di Dino Frescobaldi, M.M. Boiardo, Gherardello da Firenze, anon. 14th-century), 1932–3; Vizkereszt [Epiphany] (S. Sik), 1933; Ave Maria, 1935; Harmatozzatok [Dewdrops], 1935; A 150. genfi zsoltár [Geneva Ps cl] (T. de Béze), 1936; Hét könnyü gyermekkar és hat tréfás kánon [7 Easy Children’s Choruses and 6 Humorous Canons], 1936; Hajnövesztő [Grow, Tresses], 1937 |
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Egyetem, begyetem [Hippity, Hoppity], 1938; Ének Szent István királyhoz, female vv, 1938; Csalfa sugár [False Spring] (J. Arany), 1938; Cú föl, lovam [Arise, my Horse], 1938; Semmit ne bánkodjál [Cease your Bitter Weeping] (A. Szkhárosi Horvát), 1939; Szent Ágnes ünnepére [The Feast of St Agnes] (Sik), 1945; Jelige (Jankovich), 1948; A szabadság himnusza [La marseillaise] (trans. Jankovich), 1948; Békedal [Song of Peace] (Weöres), 1952; Ürgeöntés [The Gopher] (E. Gazdag, after children’s song), 1954; Hegyi éjszakák II–IV [Mountain Nights II–IV] (textless), 1955–6 |
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Arany szabadság [Golden Liberty] (Jankovich), 1957; Házasodik a vakond [The Mole’s Wedding] (Gazdag), 1958; Méz, méz, méz [Honey, Honey, Honey], 1958; Bordal (M. Kistétényi), 1959 [from educational work Tricinia]; Dal [Fancy] (W. Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, act III), 1959; Epigramma (Kistétényi), 1959 [from educational work Tricinia]; Harasztosi legénynek [For the Lad of Harasztos] (S. Almási), 1961; Az éneklő ifjusághoz [To the Singing Youth] (K. Vargha), 1962; Hegyi éjszakák V [Mountain Nights V] (textless), 1962 |
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Folksong arrs.: 2 zoborvidéki népdal [2 Folksongs from Zobor] (3 S, 3 A)/female chorus, 1908: Meghalok, meghalok [Woe is Me], Piros alma mosolyog [Blooming on the Hilltop]; Túrót eszik a cigány, 1925, arr. chorus, 1950; Villő [The Straw Guy], 1925; Jelenti magát Jézus [The Voice of Jesus], 1927 [also version for male chorus]; Cigánysirató [Gypsy Lament], 1928; Táncnóta [Dancing Song], 1929; Nagyszalontai köszöntő [A Birthday Greeting], 1931; Nyulacska [The Leveret], 1934; A csikó [The Filly], SSA/TBarB, 1937; Három gömöri népdal [3 Folksongs from Gömör], 1937; Katalinka [Ladybird], 1937; Esti dal, 1938; Árva vagyok [Orphan am I], 1953; Meghalok, meghalok, S, 3/4 A, SSAA, 1957 [based on 1908 arr.] |
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Stabat mater, 1898; 2 férfikar [2 Drinking Songs] (F. Kölcsey, anon. 17th-century), 1913–17; Canticum nuptiale (trad., 17th-century), 1928; Justum et tenacem (Rendületlenül) [Resolutely] (Horace), 1935; Huszt [The Ruins] (Kölcsey), 1936; Ének Szent István királyhoz, 1938; Semmit ne bánkodjál [Cease your Bitter Weeping] (A. Szkhárosi Horvát), 1939; Isten csodája [God’s Mercy] (Petőfi), 1944; Rabhazának fia [The Son of an Enslaved Country] (S. Petőfi), 1944; Élet vagy halál [Life or Death] (Petőfi), 1947 |
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Hejh Büngözsdi Bandi [Hey, Bandi Büngözsdi/The Highwayman] (Petőfi), Bar, TBarB, 1947; Jelige [Epigraph] (Jankovich), 1948; A szabadság himnusza [La marseillaise] (trans. Jankovich), 2-/3-pt chorus, 1948; Nemzeti dal [National Song] (Petőfi), 1955; Emléksorok Fáy Andrásnak [In András Fáy’s Album] (Vörösmarty), 1956; A nándori toronyőr [The Tower Watchman of Nándor] (Vörösmarty), 1956; A franciaországi változásokra [To the Changes in France] (J. Batsányi), 1963 |
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Folksong arrs.: Karádi nóták [Songs from Karád], 1934; Kit kéne elvenni [The Bachelor], 1934; Felszállott a páva (Ady), 1937; Jelenti magát Jézus [The Voice of Jesus], 1944 |
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Angyalok és pásztorok [The Angels and the Shepherds], SA, SSA, 1935; Angyalkert [Garden of Angels], 5 play songs, 1937; Harangszó [Bells], SA, SSA, 1937; Ének Szent István királyhoz, boys’ chorus, 1938; János köszöntő [Greeting to St John], boys’ chorus, 1939; Cohors generosa (Régi Magyar diákköszöntő) [Hungarian Students’ Greeting] (Vargha), boys chorus, 1943 |
texts are trad. unless otherwise stated
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Ave
Maria, E |
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Megkésett melódiák [Belated Melodies] (D. Berzsenyi, F. Kölcsey, M. Csokonai Vitéz), 7 songs, op.6, 1v, pf, 1912–16; 2 ének [2 Songs] (Berzsenyi, Ady), op.5, Bar, pf/orch, 1913–16; 5 dal [5 Songs] (Ady, Balázs), op.9, 1915–18; Fáj a szivem [My Heart is Breaking] (Móricz), 1v, small orch, 1917 [incl. as no.4 in 4 dal]; Kádár István [Stephen Kádár], 1v, pf, 1917 [incl. as no.37 in Magyar népzene]; 3 ének [3 Songs] (Balassa, anon. 17th-century), op.14, 1v, pf/orch, 1924–9; Magyar népzene i–xi [Hungarian Folk Music], 57 folksongs, 1924–32: i–iv, low v, pf, vi–vii, x, high v, pf, viii–ix, xi, low v, pf; A bereknek gyars kaszási (Himfy dal) [The Quick Reapers of the Grove (Himfy Song)], 1v, pf, 1925 |
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Kállai kettős [Double Dance of Kálló], lv, pf, 1937; Molnár Anna [Annie Miller], low v, chbr orch, 1942, rev. 1959; Kádár kata [Mother, Listen], low v, chbr orch, 1943; 8 kis duett [8 Little Duets], S, T, pf, 1953; 5 hegyi-mari népdal [5 Songs of the Mountain Cheremiss], lv, pf, 1960; Epitaphium Joannis Hunyadi (Janus Panmonius, 15th-century), 1v, pf, 1965 |
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Arr.: B. Bartók: 5 dal, op.15, 1v, orch, 1962 |
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Str:
Menuetto, str qt; 1897; Romance lyrique, vc, pf, 1898; Str Qt, 1899; Trio, E |
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Wind: Hivogató tábortűzhöz [Calling to Camp Fire], cl, 1930; Qt, c1960 |
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Pf: pieces before 1900; Valsette, 1905; Meditation sur un motif de Claude Debussy, 1907; Zongoramuzsika [Music for Piano], 9 pieces, op.3, 1909 [orig. titled 10 Pieces, incl. Valsette]; 7 Pieces, op.11, 1910–18; Marosszéki táncok [Dances of Marosszék], 1923–7, orchd 1929; Gyermektáncok [(12) Children’s Dances], 1945 |
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Org: Prelude, 1931 [orig. for choral work Pange lingua]; Csendes mise [Low Mass], 1940–42, rev. as Organoedia ad missam lectam, 1966 |
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Bach
arrs.: Chorale Preludesbwv743, 762, 747, vc, pf, 1924;
Fantasia cromatica, va, 1950; Prelude and Fugue, E |
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Bicinia hungarica, i–iv, 180 progressive 2-pt songs, 1937–42; Énekeljünk tisztán [Let us Sing Correctly], 107 intonation exercises, 1941; 15 kétszólamú énekgyakorlat [15 2-Pt Exercises], 1941; Ötfoku zene, i–iv [Pentatonic Music], 1942–7; 333 olvasógyakorlat [333 Elementary Exercises in Sight-Singing], 1943; Szó-mi, i–viii, 1943, ed. with J. Ádám; Iskolai énekgyüjtemény, i–ii [Collected Songs for Schools], 1943–4, ed. with G. Kerényi; 24 kis kánon a fekete billentyűkön [24 Little Canons on the Black Keys], 1945 |
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Énekeskönyv az általános iskolák számára [Songbook for Primary Schools], 1947–8, ed. with Ádám; Epigrammák, 9 vocalises, 1v, pf, 1954, rev. (M. Kistétnényi), SSA, 1959, versions for 2vv/2 insts, pf, version for SATB, org; 33 kétszólamú énekgyakorlat [33 2-Pt Exercises], 1954; 44 kétszólamú énekgyakorlat, 1954; 55 kétszólamú énekgyakorlat, 1954; Tricinia: 28 háromszólamú énekgyakorlat [Tricinia: 28 Progressive 3-Pt Songs], 1954; Kis emberek dalai [50 Nursery Rhymes], 1961; 66 kétszólamú énekgyakorlat, 1962; 22 kétszólamú énekgyakorlat, 1964; 77 kétszólamú énekgyakorlat, 1966 |
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Principal publishers: Boosey & Hawkes, Magyar Kórus, Universal |
4 letters to Bartók in Documenta bartókiana, iv, ed. D. Dille (Budapest, 1970)
ed. J. Demény: Béla Bartók Letters (New York, 1971)
I. Gál: ‘Bartók és Kodály ismeretlen levelei: zeneelméleti irásaik angol kiadásáról’ [Unknown letters of Bartók and Kodály: concerning the English publication of their writings on music theory], Tiszatáj, xix/10 (1975), 61–71
J. Demény: ‘Kodály Zoltán kilenc levele’ [Nine letters of Zoltán Kodály], Magyar zenetörténeti tanulmányok Kodály Zoltán emlékére, ed. F. Bónis (Budapest, 1977), 210–16
R. Klein: ‘Kodály és az Universal Edition’ [Kodály and Universal Edition], Magyar zenetörténeti tanulmányok Kodály Zoltán emlékére, ed. F. Bónis (Budapest, 1977) 136–50 [incl. Eng. summary]
ed. D. Legány: Kodály Zoltán levelei [Zoltán Kodály letters] (Budapest, 1982; ii forthcoming)
J.P. Amann: Zoltán Kodály: suivi de huit lettres ŕ Ernest Ansermet et de la Méthode Kodály (Lausanne, 1983)
ed. L. Eősze: ‘Bartók és Kodály levelezése’ [The Bartók-Kodály correspondence], Újhold-évkönyv (Budapest, 1990), 375–409
ed. L. Eősze: ‘Thirteen Unpublished Letters by Zoltán Kodály to Béla Bartók’, Bulletin of the International Kodály Society (1991), no.1, pp.3–12
ed., with B. Bartók: Erdélyi magyarság népdalok [The Hungarians of Transylvania: folksongs] (Budapest, 1923, R/1987; Fr. trans., 1925) [preface in Eng. and Fr.]
A magyar népzene [Hungarian folk music] (Budapest, 1937, enlarged 2/1943, enlarged with exx. by L. Vargyas, 3/1952, 6/1973; Eng. trans. by R. Tempest and C. Jolly, 1960, enlarged 3/1982/R)
ed. with B. Bartók: A magyar népzene tára /Corpus musicae popularis hungaricae (Budapest, 1951–)
with A. Gyulai: Arany János népdalgyüjteménye [The folksong collection of János Arany] (Budapest, 1952) [see also B. Holl: ‘Arany János népdalának ismeretlen kézirata’ [An unknown folk song manuscript of János Arany], Irodalomtörténeti Közlemények, lxxi/2 (1967), 194–6]
ed. A. Szőllősy: A zene mindenkié [Music belongs to everybody] (Budapest, 1954, 2/1975)
‘The Tasks of Musicology in Hungary’, SMH, i (1961), 5–8
‘Folk Music and Art Music in Hungary’, Tempo, no.63 (1962–3), 28–36
ed. F. Bónis: Visszatekintés [In Retrospect] (Budapest, 1964, enlarged 2/1982; partial Eng. trans., 1974, as The Selected Writings of Zoltán Kodály)
‘Folk Song in Pedagogy’, Music Educators Journal, liii/7 (1966–7), 59–61
‘Hungarian Instrumental Teaching’, Bulletin of the International Kodály Society (1977), nos.1–2, pp.74–81
annotations to B. Bartók: The Hungarian Folk Song, ed. B. Suchoff (Albany, NY, 1981) [expanded version of B. Bartók: A magyar népdal (Budapest, 1924)]
ed. F. Bónis: Wege zur Musik: Ausgewählte Schriften und Reden (Budapest, 1983)
ed. M. Szekeres-Farkas: Voyage en Hongrie [Voyage through Hungary] (Budapest, 1983) [facs. of Kodály’s notes during collecting trips, 1906–11]
‘The Role of Authentic Folk Song in Music Education’, Bulletin of the International Kodály Society, (1985), no.1, pp.15–19
ed. R. Johnston: Zoltán Kodály in North America, Kodály and Education, iii (Willowdale, ON, 1986), 67–74. [incl. ‘The Responsibilities and Opportunities of the Musician-Educator’]
ed. F. Bónis: Visszatekintés: összegyüjtött irások, beszédek (Budapest, 1989)
ed. L. Vargyas: Közélet, vallomások, zeneélet [Public life, confessions, musical life] (Budapest, 1989)
ed. L. Vargyas: Magyar zene, magyar nyelv, magyar vers [Hungarian music, language, poetry] (Budapest, 1993)
L. Eősze: Kodály Zoltán élete képekben [Kodály’s life in pictures](Budapest, 1957)
L. Eősze: Kodály Zoltán élete képekben és dokumentumokban [Kodály’s life in pictures and documents] (Budapest, 1971, 3/1982; Eng. trans., 1971, enlarged 2/1982)
J. Breuer, ed.: Kodály-Dokumentumok, i: Németország 1910–1944 [Kodály's Documents, i: Germany, 1910–1944] (Budapest, 1976)
L. Eősze: Kodály Zoltán életének krónikája [The chronicle of the life of Kodály] (Budapest, 1977)
M. Houlahan and P. Tacka: Zoltán Kodály: a Guide to Research (New York and London, 1998)
B. Bartók: ‘Della musica moderna in Ungheria’, Il pianoforte, ii/7 ( 1921), 193–7
B. Bartók: ‘Kodály Zoltán’, Nyugat, xiv (1921), 235–6
B. Szabolcsi: ‘Kodály Zoltán’, Nyugat, xix/1 (1926), 670–72
B. Szabolcsi and D. Bartha, eds.: Emlékkönyv: Kodály Zoltán 70.ik születésnapjára [Kodály: honouring his 70th birthday], ZT, i (1953), 7–71
L. Eősze: Kodály, Zoltán élete, és művészete [Kodály: his life and work] (Budapest, 1956; Eng. trans., 1962)
B. Szabolcsi and D. Bartha, eds.: Emlékkönyv: Kodály Zoltán 75. születésnapjára [Kodály: honouring his 75th birthday], ZT, vi (1957)
B. Szabolcsi, ed.: Zoltáno Kodály Octogenario Sacrum [Kodály: honouring his 80th birthday], SMH, iii (1962) [incl. articles by F. Bónis, L. Eősze and J. Ujfalussy]
P.M. Young: Zoltán Kodály: a Hungarian Musician (London, 1964)
L. Eősze: Kodály Zoltán: a múlt magyar tudósai [Kodály: Hungarian scholars of the past], ed. G. Ortutay (Budapest, 1971)
R. Vig: ‘Cigány népdalok Bartók Béla és Kodály Zoltán gyűjtéséből’ [Gypsy folksongs collected by Bartók and Kodály], Népzene és zenetörténet, ii, ed. L. Vargyas (Budapest, 1974), 149–200 [incl. facs. of MSS of 33 folksongs coll. by Bartók and Kodály]
F. Bónis, ed.: Magyar zenetörténeti tanulmányok Kodály Zoltán emlékére [Essays in the history of Hungarian music in memory of Kodály] (Budapest, 1977) [incl. F. Bónis: ‘Neoklasszikus vonások Kodály zenéjében’ [Neo-classical features in Kodály’s music], 217–35; J. Breuer: ‘Kodály műveinek visszhangja az 1920-as évek nemzetközi sajtójában’ [Reactions of the international press in the 1920s to Kodály's works], 190–209; L. Eősze: ‘Kodály formaművészetének néhány sajátossága’ [Some formal characteristics of Kodály’s art], 123–35; I. Kecskeméti: ‘Kodály zeneszerzői műhelymunkája a Sírfelirat kimunkálásában’ [Kodály’s compositional sketching for Epitaph], 43–50; E. Lendvai: ‘Modalitás, atonalitás, funkció: utóhang egy Bartók-Kodály könyvhöz’ [Modality, atonality, function: epilogue to a book on Bartók and Kodály], 57–122; L. Vargyas: ‘A népzenekutatás eredményeinek hatása Kodály alkotásaiban’ [The influence of results in folk music research on Kodály’s works], 236–60 (summaries in Eng., Ger.)
J. Breuer, ed.: Bartók és Kodály (Budapest, 1978)
F. Bónis: İgy láttuk Kodályt: harmincöt emlékezés [This is how we saw Kodály: 35 remembrances] (Budapest, 1979, enlarged 3/1994)
L. Eősze: ‘Zoltán Kodály: die Universalität eines nationalen Meisters’, Zwischen den Grenzen (Mainz, 1979), 37–45
J. Breuer: ‘Kodály in England 1913–45: a Documentary Study’, Tempo, no.143 (1982), 2–9; no.144 (1983), 15–20
J. Breuer: Kodály-kalauz [A guide to Kodály] (Budapest, 1982; Eng. trans., 1990)
J. Breuer, ed.: Kodály-mérleg, 1982 [A Kodály balance, 1982] (Budapest, 1982)
P. Erdei, ed.: Kodály szemináriumok [Kodály seminars] (Budapest, 1982)
N. Heltai: ‘Szivébe fogadott Kecskemét’: Kodály és szülővárosa [Kodály and his native Kecskemét] (Kecskemét, 1982)
M. Ittzés, ed.: A Kodály Intézet Évkönyve [Year-book of the Kodály Institute] (Kecskemét, 1982)
T. Nádor: Kodály Zoltán és Pécs-Baranya [Zoltán Kodály and Pécs town and county] (Pécs, 1982)
L. Péter: Kodály Szegeden [Kodály at Szeged] (Szeged, 1982)
L. Vikár, ed.: Reflections on Kodály (Budapest, 1985)
L. Eősze: ‘A szazadforduló eszmei áramlatainak hatása Kodály zeneszerzői egyéniségének kibontakozására’ [The influence of turn of the century trends on the development of Kodály’s personality as a composer], Magyar zene, xxx (1989), 188–212, 275–91
F. Bónis: Hódolat Bartóknak és Kodálynak [Homage to Bartók and Kodály] (Budapest, 1992)
F. Bónis: Kodály Zoltán és Szabolcsi Bence emlékezete [In memory of Zoltán Kodály and Bence Szabolcsi] (Kecskemét, 1992)
J. Breuer: ‘Kodály and the Powers That Be’, Hungarian Quarterly, xxxiv/129 (1993), 156–61
L. Eősze: ‘Zoltán Kodály's Timeliness’, Bulletin of the International Kodály Society (1995), no.2, pp.40–47
A. Sormunen, ed.: Zoltán Kodály, Composer, Musicologist and Educationist: a Festschrift for Matti Vainio, Yearbook of the Finnish Kodály Center (Jyväskylä, 1996)
M. Vainio and R. Kinnunen, eds.: The Heritage of Zoltán Kodály in Hungary and Finland, Yearbook of the Finnish Kodály Center (Jyväskylä, 1997)
L. Eősze: Örökségünk Kodály [Kodály: our legacy] (Budapest, 1999)
B. Rajeczky: ‘Kodály vallásos és egyházi müvei’ [Kodály’s sacred music], A zene, xix (1937–8), 222–4
A. Szőllősy: ‘Kodály kórusainak zenei szimbolikája’ [The musical symbolism of Kodály’s choruses], Magyar zenei szemle, iii (1943), 35–44
A. Szőllősy: Kodály művészete [The art of Kodály] (Budapest, 1943)
A. Tóth: ‘Kodály Zoltán költői világa énekkari szerzeményeinek tükrében’ [The poetic world of Kodály as shown in his choral compositions], ZT, i (1953), 13–48
J. Kovács: ‘Zoltán Kodály szimfónikus művei’ [Survey of the symphonic music of Kodály], ZT, vi (Budapest, 1957), 43–104
H. Stevens: ‘The Choral Music of Zoltán Kodály’, MQ, liv (1968), 147–67
I. Kecskeméti: ‘Kodály Zoltán egy ismeretlen alkalmi kompoziciójának kézirata’ [Manuscript of an unknown occasional composition of Kodály], Magyar Könyvszemle, nos.3–4 (1972), 251–64
M. Ittzés: ‘Music Pedagogical Works of Kodály and their Relation with European Art Music’, Bulletin of the International Kodály Society (1977), nos.1–2, pp.5–12
B. Sárosi: ‘Volksmusikalische Quellen und Parallelen zu Bartóks and Kodálys Musik’, Musikethnologische Sammelbände, ed. W. Suppan (Graz, 1977)
M. Ittzés: ‘The Musical World of Kodály's Instrumental Pieces for Children’, Bulletin of the International Kodály Society (1980), no.2, pp.13–23
E. Lendvai: Bartók and Kodály (Budapest, 1980)
Kodály Conference: Budapest 1982 [incl. J. Breuer: ‘Kodálys Korrektionen in seinen veröffentlichten Kompositionen’, 24–32; I. Kecskeméti: ‘Wiederkehrende Erscheinungen und äussere Parallelen der Musik Zoltán Kodálys’ [Reappearing phenomena and other parallels in Kodály’s work], 57–88; G. Kroó: ‘Sketches to the Closing Section of Kodály's Song The Approaching Winter’, 105–112]
J. Breuer and M. Ittzés: A Short Guide to Kodály Works (Kecskemét, 1982)
H. Szabó: ‘Kodály Zoltán széljegyzetei’ [Kodály’s marginal notes], Magyar zene, xxiii (1982), 372–413
I. Kecskeméti: ‘Kodály Zoltán: Marosszéki táncok, keletkezéstörténet, források, műhelymunka’ [Kodály: Marosszék dances, a history of its genesis, sources, and compositional process], Magyar zene, xxiv (1983), 335–75
E. Lendvai: The Workshop of Bartók and Kodály (Budapest, 1983)
O. Szalay and others: ‘Kodály és a népzene: a zeneszerzői források feltárásának tükrében’ [Kodály and folk music: in the mirroring of the composer’s sources], Ethnographia, xliv (1983), 548–72 [on Kodály’s choral compositions]
A. Wilheim: ‘New Kodály Scores’, New Hungarian Quarterly, no.91 (1983), 213–15
L. Bárdos: ‘Heptatonia Secunda’, ‘Kodály's Children's Choruses’, ‘Kodály: the 333 Reading Exercises’, ‘The Modus Loricus in the Works of Zoltan Kodály’, Selected Writings on Music (Budapest, 1984), 88–215, 288–372, 216–29, 230–87 [Eng. trans. of articles orig. pubd 1962–76]
J. Bereczky and others: Kodály népdalfeldolgozásainak dallam- és szövegforrásai [Melody and text sources of Kodály's folk song transcriptions] (Budapest, 1984)
F. László, ed.: Útunk Kodályhoz [On our way to Kodály] (Bucharest, 1984)
I. Kecskeméti: Kodály, the Composer: Brief Studies on the First Half of Kodály’s Oeuvre (Kecskemét, 1986)
F. Bónis: Kodály Zoltán Psalmus hungaricusa [Zoltán Kodály’s Psalmus hungaricus] (Budapest, 1987)
S. Erdély: ‘Folk-Music Research in Hungary Until 1950: the Legacy of Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók’, CMc, no.43 (1987), 51–61
L. Dobszay: ‘Folk Song Classification in Hungary: Some Methodological Conclusions’, SMH, xxx (1988), 235–80
I. Kecskeméti: ‘Images of Handwriting in Kodály’s Early Music Autographs’, Bulletin of the International Kodály Society (1988), no.1, pp.3–21
J. Kovács: ‘Kodály's Autographed Manuscripts for Te Deum’, Bulletin of the International Kodály Society (1990), no.2, pp.26–9
E. Lendvai: Symmetries of Music, ed. M. Szabó and M. Mohay (Kecskemét, 1993)
L. Eősze: ‘Die Motette Jesus und die Krämer von Zoltán Kodály’, Chormusik und Analyse, ii (Mainz, 1996), 203–13
J. Ádám: Módszeres énektanítás a relatív szolmizáció alapján [Systematic singing teaching based on tonic sol-fa] (Budapest, 1944; Eng. trans., 1971, as Growing in Music with Movable Do)
E. Szőnyi: A zenei irás olvasás modszertana [Musical reading and writing] (Budapest, 1953–65; Eng. trans., 1974–8)
F. Sándor, ed.: Musical Education in Hungary (Budapest, 1966, enlarged and rev. 3/1975 by F. Macnicol)
J. Ribiére-Raverlat: L’education musicale en Hongrie (Paris, 1968) [on Kodály method]
E. Szőnyi: Kodály’s Principles in Practice: an Approach to Music Education Through the Kodály Method (Budapest, 1973, 5/1990)
L. Choksy: The Kodály Method (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1974, 3/1999)
K. Forrai: Ének az ovodában [Singing in the kindergarten] (Budapest, 1975; Eng. trans., 1988)
E. Hegyi: Solfege According to the Kodály Concept (Kecskemét, 1975)
J.P. Barron: A Selected Bibliography of the Kodály Concept of Music Education, Kodály and Education, ii (Willowdale, ON, 1979)
J.P. Barron: Zoltán Kodály, Kodály and Education, i (Willowdale, ON, 1979)
L. Choksy: The Kodály Context: Creating an Environment for Music Learning (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1981)
‘Music Education Section’, Kodály Conference: Budapest 1982, 150–225
L. Vikár, ed.: Reflections on Kodály (Budapest, 1985)
L. Dobszay: Kodály után [After Kodály] (Kecskemét, 1991; Eng. trans., 1992)
A. Frizza: Il metodo Kodály (Brescia, 1991)
M. Houlahan and P. Tacka: Sound Thinking: Music For Sight-Singing and Ear Training (New York, 1991)
M.A. Hein, ed.: The Legacy of Kodály: an Oral History Perspective (Budapest, 1992)
A.L. Ringer: ‘Folk Song in Education: Problems and Promises’, Bulletin of the International Kodály Society (1992), no.1, pp.3–11
D. Bacon: Hold Fast To Dreams: Writings Inspired by Zoltán Kodály (Wellesley, MA, 1993)
A. Szögi: Kodály’s Music Educational Concept in the International Practice: a Selected Bibliography (Kecskemét, 1993)
P. Tacka and M. Houlahan: Sound Thinking: Developing Musical Literacy (New York, 1995)
K. Kokas, S. Enyedi and O. Eiben: ‘Psychological Testing in Hungarian Music Education’, Journal of Research in Music Education, xvii/1 (1969), 125–34
H. Szabó: disc notes, The Kodály Concept of Education, SBHED001–3 (1969)
G. Russell-Smith: ‘Zoltán Kodály: Composer, Musicologist and Educational Revolutionary’, Some Great Music Educators: a Collection of Essays, ed. K. Simpson (Kent, 1976), 78–88
I. Herboly-Kocsár: ‘The Kodály Concept and 20th Century Music’, Bulletin of the International Kodály Society (1981), no.1, pp.17–27
E. Lendvai: ‘Kodály Method, Kodály Conception’, New Hungarian Quarterly, no.90 (1983), 164–98
J. Sinor: ‘The Ideas of Kodály in America’, Music Educators Journal, lxxii/Feb (1985–6), 32–7; repr., lxxxiii/5 (1997), 37–41
Z. Laczó: ‘The First Measurement of the Effectiveness of the Kodály Concept in Hungary Using the Seashore Test’, Council for Research in Music Education Bulletin, no.91 (1987), 87–96
J. Sinor: ‘Music and Notation: Do We Have to Make a Choice’, Bulletin of the International Kodály Society (1987), no.2, pp.36–41
I. Herboly-Kocsár: ‘Do We Need a Method in Music Education?’, Kodály Envoy, xiv/4 (1988), 5–9
M. Houlahan and P. Tacka: ‘Sound Thinking: a Suggested Sequence for Teaching Musical Elements Based on the Philosophy of Zoltán Kodály for a College Music Theory Course’, Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, iv (1990), 85–110
M. Houlahan and P. Tacka: ‘Sequential Order for the Preparation, Presentation, Practice and Evaluation of Rhythmic and Melodic Concepts’, ibid., iv (1990), 243–68
S. Kodály: ‘Kodály: a Twenty-Year Perspective’, Kodály Envoy, xvii/3 (1991), 26–30
M. Houlahan and P. Tacka: ‘The Kodály Concept: Expanding the Research Base’, Bulletin of the International Kodály Society (1994), no.1, pp.34–43
K. Nemes: ‘The Relative Sol-Fa as Tool of Developing Musical Thinking’, Bulletin of the International Kodály Society (1995), no.2, pp.27–34