This
week, Clef Notes travels to Hungary, where we are looking at the use of the
region’s folk music in a classical format. Last time, we looked at Bela Bartok,
who worked alongside Zoltan Kodaly (1882–1967) to publish folk song
collections.
Kodaly
is known as a composer, teacher, and ethnomusicologist, who worked at the
Budapest Academy of Music. Like Bartok, Kodaly grew up around music, supported
by his parents. Many of his works contain Hungarian folk influences, including
his Dances of Galanta. As a child, he experienced gypsy band music while passing
through the Hungarian town Galanta. Some of these Hungarian tunes were later
published in an edition and used as inspiration for this work.
Stay
tuned next week as we head to Poland!
