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ZOLTÁN KODÁLY<br />
(1882 – 1967)<br />
COMPOSER PROFILE<br />
• Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, music<br />
educator and linguist<br />
• Played a prominent role in Hungarian public life,<br />
held several public posts and was a member or<br />
head of numerous boards and committees<br />
• Much of the music he composed was based on folksongs<br />
he collected on his travels around Hungary<br />
• He formed the ethnomusicological branch of the<br />
Hungarian Academy of Arts and Sciences<br />
THE DANCES OF GALÁNTA<br />
Inspired by his pleasant childhood experiences,<br />
Kodály returned to Galánta as an adult in 1905 and<br />
transcribed at least 150 melodies from the region.<br />
These songs, together with an album of old Hungarian<br />
folk music that was compiled in the 1800s, comprise the<br />
main source material for the Dances of Galánta. They<br />
were written as a follow-up to the successful Dances<br />
of Marosszék of a year before, which were composed<br />
initially for piano and then orchestrated.<br />
On one level, the Dances of Galánta are a medley<br />
of folk tunes, skilfully wrought into a suite lasting<br />
around 15 minutes, making it the perfect filler<br />
for a typical concert programme. On another,<br />
more symbolic level, they form a unified musical<br />
celebration of the resurgence of a Hungarian<br />
nation after years of Austrian oppression.<br />
The Dances of Galánta unfolds in five sections,<br />
typically lasting about fifteen minutes.<br />
As a device to build tension, the violins often play<br />
busy stepwise fast notes over a sustained note.<br />
As with any folk music, there is much repetition of<br />
melodic and rhythmic ideas, and the main solos are<br />
given to the violin or clarinet/tárogató.<br />
DID YOU KNOW?<br />
A typical Google search for ‘Kodály’ will yield the<br />
top results for him as an educator, not a composer.<br />
He is often referred to as the most important and<br />
influential music educationalist of the 20th century.<br />
OTHER FOLK INSPIRED MUSIC<br />
YOU MIGHT ENJOY:<br />
Aaron Copland excerpts from Rodeo (Western folk tunes)<br />
Frederic Chopin various mazurkas (Polish folk dances)<br />
Bela Bartok Three Rondos or excerpts from 15 Hungarian<br />
Peasant Songs<br />
A common misunderstanding is to attribute Kodály<br />
with the creation of the hand signs that accompany<br />
pitch and singing.<br />
These signs were actually developed by John<br />
Curwen, a British priest and music educator. Kodály<br />
made use of them along with other physicalisations<br />
of musical language to help young children<br />
understand pitch and embody rhythm.<br />
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