Home > Zoltán Kodály

Though born in Kecskemét, Kodály spent most of his childhood in Galánta and Nagyszombat (now Trnava, Slovakia). His father was a keen amateur musician, and Kodaly learned to play the violin as a child. He also sang in a cathedral choir and wrote music, despite having little formal musical education.

In 1900, Kodály entered BudapestSee Budapest (band) for the british melancholic post-grunge band. Danube in foreground, looking south from Margit Bridge Budapest (pronounced BOO-dah-pesht, X-SAMPA: /budapESt/), the capital city of Hungary and the country's principal political, industria University to study modern languages , and began to study musicMusic often an art/ entertainment, is a total social fact whose definitions vary according to era and culture," according to Jean Molino. 1 It is often contrasted with noise. According to musicologist Jean-Jacques Nattiez: "The border between music and no at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, where Hans Koessler taught him composition.

One of the first people to undertake the serious study of folk song, Kodály became one of the most significant early figures in the field of ethnomusicologyEthnomusicology is the study of music in its cultural context, cultural musicology. It can be considered the anthropology or ethnography of music. Jeff Todd Titon has called it the study of "people making music". It is often thought of as a study of non-W. From 1905 he visited remote villages to collect songs and in 1906 wrote his thesis on Hungarian folk song ("Strophic Construction in Hungarian Folksong"). Around this time he met fellow composer Béla BartókBela Bartok ( March 25, 1881 September 26, 1945) was a composer, pianist and collector of East European folk music. Bartok was one of the founders of the field of ethnomusicology, the study of folk music and the music of non-Western cultures. Life Bartok, to whom he introduced Hungarian folk song. The two went on to publish several collections of folk music together, and they both show the influence of folk music in their own compositions.

After gaining his PhD in philosophy and linguistics, Kodály went to ParisEiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. Paris is the capital and largest city of France. The city is built on an arc of the River Seine, and is thus divided into two parts: the Right Bank to the north and the smaller Left Bank to where he studied with Charles Widor. There he discovered, and absorbed influenced from, the music of Claude DebussyClaude Achille Debussy ( August 22, 1862 March 25, 1918), composer of impressionistic classical music. Born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Yvelines, France, Claude Debussy studied with Guiraud and others at the Paris Conservatoire ( 1872- 84) and as an 1884 Pr. In 1907 he moved back to Budapest, and gained a professorship at the Academy of Music there. He continued his folk music-collecting expeditions through World War I without interruption.

Kodály had composed throughout this time, producing two string quartets, his sonatas for cello and piano and for solo cello, and his duo for violin and cello, but had no major success until 1923 when his Psalmus Hungaricus premiered at a concert to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the union of Buda and Pest (Bartók's Dance Suite premiered on the same occasion.) Following this success, Kodály travelled throughout Europe to conduct his music.

Kodály subsequently became very interested in the problems of music education, and wrote a good deal of educational music for schools, as well as books on the subject. His work in this field had a profound effect on musical education both inside and outside his home country. Some commentators refer to his ideas as the "Kodály Method", although this seems something of a misnomer, as he did not actually work out a comprehensive method, rather laying down a set of principles to follow in music education.

He continued to compose for professional ensembles also, with the Dances of Marosszék (1930, in versions for solo piano and for full orchestra), the Dances of Galanta (1933, for orchestra), the Peacock Variations (1939, commissioned by the Concertgebouw Orchestra to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary) and the Missa Brevis (1944, for soloists, chorus, orchestra and organ) among his better known works. The suite from his opera Háry János (1926) also became well known, though few productions of the opera itself take place.

Kodály remained in Budapest through World War II, retiring from teaching in 1942. In 1945 he became the president of the Hungarian Arts Council, and in 1962 received the Order of the Hungarian People's Republic. His other posts included a presidency of the International Folk Music Council, and honorary presidency of the International Society for Music Education. He died in Budapest in 1967, one of the most respected and well known figures in the Hungarian arts.

In 1966, the year before Kodály's death, the Kodály Quartet , a string quartet named in Kodály's honour, formed.