Zoltán Kodály

Zoltán Kodály (December 16, 1882 – March 6, 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, educator, linguist and philosopher. A picture of Zoltan Kodaly The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with copyright terms of life of the author plus 50 years. ... A picture of Zoltan Kodaly The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with copyright terms of life of the author plus 50 years. ... December 16 is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1882 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... March 6 is the 65th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (66th in Leap years). ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... A musicologist is someone who studies musicology. ... Broadly conceived, linguistics is the study of human language, and a linguist is someone who engages in this study. ... Philosophy (from a combination of the Greek words philos meaning love and sophia meaning wisdom), as a practice, aims at some kind of understanding, knowledge, or wisdom about fundamental matters such as reality, knowledge, meaning, value, being, and truth. ...

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 Kodály learned to play the violin as a child. He also sang in a cathedral choir and wrote music, despite having little formal musical education. Kecskemét is a city in the central part of Hungary, halfway between Budapest and Szeged, 86 kilometres from both of them, almost equal distance from the two big rivers of our country, the Danube and the Tisza. ... Galanta (Hungarian: Galánta) is a small town situated in Slovakia. ... Trnava (Hungarian: Nagyszombat, German: Tyrnau) is a town in western Slovakia, 45 kilometers to the north-east of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river, and at the main Bratislava-Žilina railway and Bratislava-Žilina limited-access highway. ... The violin is a stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a perfect fifth apart. ... A cathedral is a Christian church building, specifically of a denomination with an episcopal hierarchy (such as the Roman Catholic Church or the Anglican churches), which serves as the central church of a bishopric. ... A choir is a musical ensemble. ...

In 1900, Kodály entered Budapest University to study modern languages, and began to study music at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, where Hans Koessler taught him composition. Budapest (pronounced BOO-dah-pesht, IPA ), the capital city of Hungary and the countrys principal political, industrial, commercial and transportation centre, has more than 1. ... ...

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 ethnomusicology. 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 Bartók, 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. Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and of the people. ... Ethnomusicology (from the Greek ethnos = nation and mousike = music), formerly comparative musicology, is the study of music in its cultural context, cultural musicology. ... Béla Viktor János Bartók (March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945) was a composer, pianist and collector of East European folk music. ...

After gaining his PhD in philosophy and linguistics, Kodály went to Paris where he studied with Charles Widor. There he discovered, and absorbed influences from, the music of Claude Debussy. 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. The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... Charles-Marie Jean Albert Widor (February 21, 1844 – March 12, 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher. ... Claude Debussy (Achille-) Claude Debussy (August 22, 1862 – March 25, 1918) was a composer of impressionistic classical music. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ...

Kodály had composed throughout this time, producing two string quartets, his sonatas for cello and piano and for solo cello (Op. 8, 1915), 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. The resident string quartet of the Library of Congress in 1963 A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments—usually two violins, a viola and cello—or a piece written to be performed by such a group. ... Sonata (From Latin and Italian sonare, to sound), in music, sonata literally means a piece played as opposed to cantata (Latin cantare, to sing), a piece sung. ... A cropped image to show the relative size of a cello to a human (Uncropped Version) The cello (also violoncello or cello) (pronounced Cheh-loh) is a stringed instrument and a member of the violin family. ... This article is about the modern musical instrument. ... The violin is a stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a perfect fifth apart. ... Pest (in Slovak Pešť, pron. ... Conducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. ...

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. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest in Dutch) is the best known and most respected orchestra in the Netherlands, and is generally considered to be among the worlds finest. ... For the communications operator see Chorus Communications For the computer operating system see ChorusOS In classical music a chorus is any substantial group of performers in a play, revue, musical or opera who act more or less as one. ... This article or section should be merged with Pipe organ The Casavant pipe organ at Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, Montreal The organ is a type of keyboard musical instrument, distinctive because the sound is not produced by a percussion action, as on a piano or celesta, or by... The foyer of Charles Garniers Opéra, Paris, opened 1875 Opera is an art form consisting of a dramatic stage performance set to music. ...

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. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

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

Compositions

Other than the compositions mentioned above:

• Concerto for Orchestra (1939)

External link

• The Kodály institute, which educates musicians according to Kodály's practice. (http://www.kodaly-inst.hu/)
• The Organization of American Kodály Educators. (http://www.oake.org/)