The Eighth Hungarian Tribe, 1985 (12. évfolyam, 1-11. szám)
1985-11-01 / 11. szám
The Significance of Zoltán Kodály To The Hungarian Nation by Dr. Louis Munkachy When I first encountered Zoltán Kodály in 1947 at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, I had no idea that I had met the most significant 20th century figure in the cultural life of our country. At that time he was already greatly revered, and wherever he appeared, he created an indescribable aura of greatness around him. The slight, sixtyish figure, with his characteristic goatee, evoked respect and awe which I had never experienced before. He was universally recognized as one of our greatest composers, and I was duly impressed that as a freshman I was accepted into his class. Indeed, I was aware of his greatness as a composer then, but the true significance of his achievements, find his total impact on our lives did not dawn on me until my mature years. I know now that when he died in 1967 at the age of 84, Hungary lost more than just a great composer. We lost a man who, more than anyone else in our lifetime, shaped a whole nation’s culture, and its political, and human consciousness. His contribution to our character as a nation, and his influence on political and cultural decisions is probably still unmeasurable. Kodály was born in 1882, and became interested in music at a young age. In his early years at Galanta and Nagyszombat, he studied piano, violin, and cello, but quite early in his teens he also began to compose. In spite of his overwhelming musical talent, however, his interests were not limited to music. In 1900, when he moved to Budapest, he pursued the study of two major fields simultaneously. While studying music at the Liszt Academy, he was also a full time student at the Liberal Arts Department of the University of Budapest. In 1905 he received a dipoma as a high school teacher majoring in Hungarian and German, then continued his studies to acquire a Ph.D. In 1906, his dissertation, “The Strophic Structure in Hungarian Folksong”, attracted wide attention and started him on his way as a foremost collector and explorer of the Hungarian folklore. Kodály appeared on the scene when there was a great need for someone of his convictions and talents. His deep desire to reach back to authentic Hungarian national roots was the result of a peculiar November, 1985 cultural situation at that time. At the turn of the century, the country was still under sweeping German cultural influences which, as many Hungarian intellectuals already realized, stifled progress along the lines on national tradition. In addition, the Romantic musical idiom was rapidly tiring out, and composers everywhere looked for new sources of inspiration. Kodály’s efforts, therefore, were directed towards a twofold goal: he wished to create and promote music that was Hungarian and modern at the same time. Kodály’s ideas eventually prevailed because his goals reflected basic and timely needs of the nation. Those needs, however, were not clearly formulated in people’s minds, and Kodaly’s task was not easy. When he tried to anchor himself into Hungarian musical traditions, the music which then passed for genuinely Hungarian, was of no use. The urban population of the era was practically flooded by a type of Hungarian popular music called Magyar Nota, (“Hungarian Song”) and that was believed to be the only and true Hungarian folk idiom by most Hungarians as well as foreigners (Hubay, Sarasate, Brahms, Liszt, etc.). In reality, this music was composed mainly by amateur musicians, and was only partly Hungarian (Verbunkos, and slight folksong influences). In addition to not being truly and purely Hungarian, most of this music is of little musical value. A typical Magyar Nota is overly sentimental, even trite, and is full of repetitious cliches. Yet, these songs became enormously popular because they provided good escapist fun, required little musical sophistication, and were brilliantly presented by Gipsy musicians who were perhaps the best in the world. Clearly, this pseudo-folk style did not represent sufficiently high musical standards, and Kokaly soon recognized that he had to look elsewhere for valuable national musical tradition. At the beginning of the 20th century, Kodály found what he was looking for, and this drastically altered the course of music history in Hungary. Kodály discovered, or rather rediscovered for the nation a hidden treasure, the folkmusic of the Hungarian peasants. Although most people did not even realize such music existed, it turned out to be the purest and noblest Hungarian folklore tradition. The most valuable segment of this music, labeled “the old style”, survived many centuries, and was found in the most remote areas, mainly in the Erdély region. These oldest folksongs (Elindultam szép hazamból, Felszállóit a pava, etc.) are masterpieces, equal in their beauty to the highest standards of any musical criteria. Kodály was the first to realize that this treasure of folklore, being practically untouched by the influence of 20th century art music could inspire composers to renew their musical language, and it could be the source for an artistic rebirth, creating a truly Hungarian style. The pioneering historical folksong collecting journeys began in 1905, with Bela Bartók joining Kodály in the work. It was undertaken in what most Hungarians consider the "nick of time”, just before the corrupting effects of radio and other communications media. Compositions by Kodály and Bartók soon absorbed the spirit of this music which was free of anything banal, cheap, sentimental, or superfluous, and which expressed deeply felt emotions with noble persuasion. The influence manifested itself in the use of melody, rhythm, and expressive-emotional content. But, perhaps even more importantly, a new, modern harmonic approach had to be employed. The “old style” resisted conventional harmonies; the traditional “functional” harmony did not fit this material. As a consequence, the worn out Romantic idiom was replaced by one which grew out of the tone spirit of the old folksong style. Kodály, Bartók, and a whole new generation of composers that followed, utilized the results of Mussorgsky and Debussy who also rebelled against the German domination, one in Russia, the other in France, but they also reached for forgotten techniques as far back as the Renaissance. After initial experimentations, the mature Hungarian school achieved world wide recognition. By the 1920-ies it produced masterpieces. Kodaly’s own two greatest works, the opera Hary Janos, and the cantata« Psalmus Hungaricus were composed in that period. These milestones in the Hungarian music history (along with Bartok’s works), however, were not Page 7
