Collection of Hungarian Folk Music Established by Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly. 10th Types of Folksongs

1998 ◽  
Vol 39 (2/4) ◽  
pp. 443
Author(s):  
Lujza Tari ◽  
Bela Bartok ◽  
Zoltan Kodaly ◽  
Katalin Paksa
Tempo ◽  
1972 ◽  
pp. 10-16
Author(s):  
Benjamin Suchoff

Bartok's literary efforts range from books and monographs to shorter essays. According to recent findings, there were no less than 119 extant works. Some of them were written in collaboration with Zoltán Kodály or Sandor Reschofsky; others were originally drafted as lectures which were for the most part given on the radio or at educational institutions.Bartók's first essay apparently appeared in print in Budapest in 1904. It is interesting to note that except in 1907 and 1915, at least one of his writings was published each year of his life, in a considerable number of languages, and frequently in widely-known journals. His essays may be divided, according to their topics, into eight basic categories (although there is some overlapping): I. The Investigation of Musical Folklore; II, National Folk Music; III, Comparative Musical Folklore; IV, Book Reviews and Polemics; V, Musical Instruments; VI, The Relation Between Folk Music and Art Music; VII, The Life and Music of Béla Bartók; and VIII, Bartok On Music and Musicians.


2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 55-60
Author(s):  
István Almási

Zoltán Kodály became seriously interested in Transylvanian folk music when he had learnt about the results of Béla Bartók's collecting fieldworks in Székelyföld. The wealth of old-style tunes and classical ballads, and – above all – the recognition of the importance of pentatony inspired Kodály to take part personally in the exploration of Székely folk music. Székely musical folklore obviously intrigued him both as an ethnographer and as a composer. He collected nearly 600 tunes in 15 Székely localities in the Gyergyó Basin, the valley of the Kászon stream, and Bukovina. He arranged 66 of these melodies within such compositions as e.g. the Dances of Marosszék, the musical play The Spinning Room, Hungarian Folk Music (57 ballads and folk songs for voice and piano), Székely Lament for mixed voices, Bicinia Hungarica, Kádár Kata and Molnár Anna (both with chamber orchestra accompaniment), and Pentatonic Music. Apart from his own collection, he also used those of some of his contemporaries. The paper discusses the specificities of Kodály's techniques of arrangement. His inspiring advice for younger folklorists had an essential role in triggering the in-depth investigation of Central Transylvanian folk music.


2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 265-279
Author(s):  
Pál Richter

When Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály began systematically collecting folk songs, they almost exclusively encountered monophony, which subsequently featured as their compositional inspiration. As a musical phenomenon, monophony differed sharply from the harmonically based, often overharmonized, polyphonic universe of Western music. However, they also encountered coordinated folk polyphony, in the context of instrumental folk harmonizations. Taking into account the instrumental folk music both Kodály and Bartók collected, this study compares the two main types of folk harmonizations with folk song harmonizations in the works of Kodály, whose related theoretical statements are also considered. This study offers an in-depth analysis of six fragments from Kodály’s major folk-song arrangements to highlight the features of Kodály’s folk song harmonizations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 323-344
Author(s):  
Viktória Ozsvárt

Abstract The gains from the folk music collection movement initiated by Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály in the first decade of the twentieth century set a path for Hungarian music theory that continued to influence the approach to composition in later decades. Placing folklore material in composed, classical works is complicated by tonal and formal problems and by political overtones. For quotations or thematic material from folk music may introduce complex implications and associations. So the way a composer imbues folk music calls for more than mere technical skill – it embodies an artistic statement. This article analyzes two works by the Hungarian composer and ethnomusicologist László Lajtha (1892–1963): his string quartets nos. 7 and 10 completed in the early 1950s. Through these two quartets I attempt to fathom the aesthetic, ideological and personal motives behind Lajtha's use of folk material in classical composition. Analysis of the composing process involved and the reception the two works received reveal the manifold scope that folk music brings as a source of inspiration.


Tempo ◽  
1983 ◽  
pp. 15-20
Author(s):  
János Breuer

After the success of the Psalmus Hungaricus, His Master's Voice accepted M. D. Calvocoressi's suggestion that it should make recordings in Budapest of the finest pieces of the Hungarian Folk Music cycle, with Béla Bartók as pianist and the best Hungarian Kodály singers. Thus the first recordings of Kodály works were inspired by an English source.


2008 ◽  
Vol 49 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 459-469
Author(s):  
Eva Hois

A special chapter of research into the history of folk music in the time of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy was the Musikhistorische Zentrale (Music History Department) at the imperial royal Ministry of War. It was established during World War I, modelled on the Austrian Volksliedunternehmen (today Volksliedwerk). The Musikhistorische Zentrale wanted to collect all the soldiers’ songs, fanfares, military music, soldiers’ sayings, customs, jokes, letters and their expressions which are of historical and cultural significance. Bernhard Paumgartner (1887–1971), a musician and lawyer, had the idea of collecting this material. After the war, he became well known as the director of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, as conductor, music researcher and member of the Salzburger Festspiele. Under Paumgartner’s direction, notable individuals were involved in the compilation of Musikhistorische Zentrale. One of these men was the student of composition and musicology Felix Petyrek (1892–1951), who was dedicated to folk music all over his life as composer as well as researcher and music teacher. Other important collaborators for the Hungarian part on the collection were Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók.


2007 ◽  
Vol 48 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 215-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emőke Tari Solymosi

Abstract Bartók's influence on his outstanding Hungarian contemporary, László Lajtha (1892–1963) remains as yet largely unresearched. Lajtha studied with Bartók at the Royal Hungarian Academy of Music and went on to become a composer, folk music researcher, versatile teacher, international cultural ambassador, and member of the French Academy. The two men's friendship and mutual respect lasted throughout Bartók's life. Among the leading musicians of the time, it was Bartók who first expressed his high opinion of the younger composer's talent. Bartók's influence can be observed in almost every field of Lajtha's work. For example, it was Bartók who recommended that Lajtha choose Paris as the place to complete his studies, which fostered in turn Lajtha's orientation toward Latin culture. Following in Bartók's footsteps, Lajtha became one of the greatest folk music collectors and researchers in Hungary, and this music also exerted a significant effect on his compositional style. Bartók recommended that the director Georg Hoellering commission Lajtha to write film music, which became an important new genre for the latter. A large number of documents — especially the unpublished letters from László Lajtha to John S. Weissmann, one of his former students — offer proof that Bartók's inspiration and practical assistance were of paramount importance to the development of Lajtha's career, oeuvre, and aesthetics.


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