Zoltán Kodály (1882–1967) was a Hungarian composer, collector of folk songs, and music educator. With ethnomusicologist Béla Bartók, Kodály collected and systematized Hungarian folk music, which was the principal influence on his work. He also developed a method for teaching children to read music via folk material.
Born in Kecskemét, Austria-Hungary, now in Hungary, Kodály was motivated by the music of Claude Debussy and the impressionists while studying in Paris (1910,) but his primary source of inspiration was his native land. Kodály studied at the Budapest Conservatory, where he became a professor.
Kodály created a distinctive style, romantic in flavor and less percussive than that of Bartók, that was developed from Hungarian folk music, contemporary French music, and the religious music of the Italian Renaissance. Among his best-known works are his Háry János suite (1925–27,) Marossek Dances (1930,) Dances of Galánta (1933,) and his many choral compositions, especially his Psalmus Hungaricus (1923, ‘Hungarian Psalm’) and Te Deum (1936.) Psalmus Hungaricus, composed in celebration of the union of Buda and Pest, has become part of the international repertoire.
Kodály toured Hungary in his first quest for folksong sources for his thesis on the structure of Hungarian folk song at Budapest University. In 1913, he and Bartók outlined a plan for a Hungarian folk-music collection, which formed the basis of Corpus Musicae Popularis Hungariae (1951.)
Kodály was predominantly interested in originating methods for teaching children to participate in music-making; much of the music in the four volumes of his Bicinia Hungarica, a collection of folksongs and original compositions for two voices (1937–42,) was written for this purpose.
Kodály’s scholarly writings include Die ungarische Volksmusik (1956; Folk Music of Hungary,) as well as numerous articles for ethnographic and musical journals.
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Singing connected with movements and action is a much more ancient, and, at the same time, more complex phenomenon than is a simple song.
—Zoltan Kodaly
The laws of morals and the laws of music are the same.
—Zoltan Kodaly
Topics: One liners, Law
We should read music in the same way that an educated adult will read a book: in silence, but imagining the sound.
—Zoltan Kodaly
Real art is one of the most powerful forces in the rise of mankind, and he who renders it accessible to as many people as possible is a benefactor of humanity.
—Zoltan Kodaly
Let us take our children seriously! Everything else follows from this… only the best is good enough for a child.
—Zoltan Kodaly
To teach a child an instrument without first giving him preparatory training and without developing singing, reading and dictating to the highest level along with the playing is to build upon sand.
—Zoltan Kodaly
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