Zoltán Kodály, a Hungrian Master of Neoclassicism

Zoltán Kodály, a Hungarian Master of NeoclassicismAuthor(s): Ferenc BónisSource: Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, T. 25, Fasc. 1/4 (1983), pp. 73-91Published by: Akadémiai KiadóStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/901962 .

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Zoltin Kodily, a Hungarian Master of Neoclassicism

Ferenc B6Ns

Budapest

Neoclassical musical trends, appearing in different centres all over Europe at the same time in about 1920, have two common characteristic features. They revive the means of musical expression of the period before 1800 or 1750, in certain cases with the declared intention of showing the "Day-before Yester- day", as an aspect of "Today", for the public of the Present. A further common feature is an unmistakable attitude of Anti-Romanticism: an instinctive or conscious confrontation with the music of "Yesterday".

An analysis of these trends is to be found in one of the shorter writings of Bdla Bart6k, not known in the English Bart6k-literature. In about 1927/28, presumably before his first voyage to the United States, Bart6k considered it necessary to give the American public not conversant with his music written information. His short note is quoted here in my English translation, which preserves the sketchiness of the Hungarian original.' As far as we know, it was not published in the composer's life-time.

Apart from the works of Schanberg and his followers, present progressive compositions have two characteristics in common: the rejection of yesterday's music (romanticism) and reliance upon the music of the more remote past. This latter course is pursued in different ways: either by the composer's reliance upon ancient folk music or peasant music, as e.g. in Stravinsky's first, so-called Russian period, in de Falla's works or in those of Hungarians; or else as the adherents of so-called Neoclassicism do (among others also Strav. in his latest works), by being inspired by art music of the 18th, 17th centuries or even earlier times. That is to say, a movement like the Renaissance can be observed practically all over the world. In my opinion this movement is only justified - as, indeed, is borne out by the compositions of its chief standard-bearers - if the revival of old musical elements, forms and ways of expression is realized in such a way that novel music, different from any earlier musical style is created. [ . . . ]

1 First publication of the Hungarian original version by Laszl6 Somfai, Bart6k Bdla nyilatkozata a ,,progressziv zenei alkotdsokrdl" (1927-1928 ?) [Bdla Bartdk on ,,progressive musical works" (1927-1928 7), Magyar Zene XVI, 1975/2, p. 115.

Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 25, 1983



74 F. B6nis: Koddly, Master of Neoclassicism

In general, two opposite modes of realization become crystallized: one (e.g. Stravinsky's), on the one hand, is revolutionary, that is to say it shaws a sudden break with yesterday's music, yet on the other hand it imbues today's music with a mass of spectacular novelties and initiatives. The other way seems rather to be a summerizing process, being a grand summary of all the elements still usable; it is not a revolutionary break with yesterday,on the contrary it preserves everything in Romanticism that is not superfluous or does not seem to be too bombastic -in short, everything that possesses vigorous qualities. The most characteristic represen- tative of this latter trend is the Hungarian Koddly. [ . .. .]

Bart6k's note, a kind of ars poetica, at the same time giving his views on Koddly and Stravinsky, has far-reaching consequences for us. Namely, his opinion that Folklorism and Neoclassicism are not antagonists, but taken together, represent two different forms of the same trend of a modern Renaissance. This statement makes it easier for research to realize the organic quality of Bart6k's development, as well as to allocate the position of his oeuvre - and that of Kod6ly - in the general history of music in the 20th century.

From 1926 an increase in neoclassical stylistic features can be observed in the compositions of Bart6k. He composes fugues, canons and inventions, he writes following the rules of linear polyphony, he uses ostinatos, inversions, rhythms as well as the confrontation of soli and tutti of Baroque concertos. It was not an accident that I said an increase instead of an appearance of neoclassical features in Bart6k's music. His neoclassical works did not appear withouth any preliminaries in his oeuvre, and did not mean the negation of his earlier creative periods. Studying the contemporaries and predecessors of J. S. Bach, his research in folklore made Bart6k realize the conserving function of some type of Hungarian folk music. He discovered in them some preserved rhythmical patterns of Mediaevel and Baroque music as well as the realization of structural principles "Dux-Comes" of Baroque fugues.

In the Neoclassical-Neobaroque compositions of Bart6k we may observe the logical perfection of certain musical ideas. These ideas, inspired by folk as well as art music, influenced even Bart6k's earlier works to a greater or lesser degree. Thus, the new creative period of Bart6k was the logical and organic continuation to his earlier creative periods. A further characteristic of Bart6k's neoclassical period is that it limits itself to using certain early or renewed musical expressions of forms, without any regard to historicism.

Totally different was the conception of Koddly's Neoclassicism.Turning to expressions and forms of early music, he had not only musical, but also historical motivations. Bart6k considered folk music as a natural phenomenon, while Kodly as a historical phenomenon: as fragments of a once coherent great folk epic. Composing his second Singspiel The Spinning Room he aimed to unite such fragments into an entity. Thirty years after the first performance Kodly irghtly refferred to the comprehensive, "Homeric" character of his work:




F. B6nis: Kodcily, Master of Neoclassicism 75

"The Spinning Room is really a collective work in which the 'symphoneta', like Homer, is only a co-author".2

When and where did a historical tendency manifest itself in the work of Kod6ly, the composer ? To answer this question we shall attempt to separate the periods of his oeuvre.

The first period - from 1904 to 1923 - is characterized by the majority of works with music material of his own invention. The chief genres of this period are chamber music and songs. At the end of this period appears Psalmus Hungaricus as the first culmination of the oeuvre.

In the second period -- from 1924 to 1935 compositions based on folk music or early art music material dominate. In this period were composed the great cycle of Hungarian Folk Music for voice and piano, the first masterpieces of his work for children's choir, the two stage works, namely Hdry Jdnos and The Spinning Room, the two orchestral fantasies Dances of Marosszdk and Dances of Galdnta as well as the two great folksong-rhapsodies for choir Mdtra Pictures and Songs from Kardd.

The third period from 1936 to the end of Kodily's oeuvre - has the character of a synthesis. Compositions using his own invention again come into the limelight from the Te Deum, Concerto for orchestra and Missa brevis to the monumental choral work Zrinyi's Appeal and the Symphony. The synthesizing character of this period can be expressed by Bart6k's words: "Neither peasant melodies nor imitations of peasant melodies can be found in the composer's music, but it is pervaded by the atmosphere of peasant music. In this case we may say, he has completely absorbed the idiom of peasant music which has become his musical mother tongue. He masters it as completely as a poet masters his mother tongue."3

Indeed, there is no fundamental difference between the original themes of Kodily and those he has taken from the genuine folk music of the same period. His own themes, quoting Bart6k, are "pervaded by the atmosphere of peasant music". His themes, which originated in folk music, can be characterized with the statement that they completely became the composer's spiritual property by the originality of their development. In this connection it is enough to refer to Kod6ly's Peacock-variations.

At this point we should analyse the question, when and how did the trends of Classicism or Neoclassicism appear among the mentioned creative periods of Kodly ? Transcriptions of Baroque compositions - works by Bach and Vivaldi - appear from the pen of the composer from 1924 onwards. Immediate- ly after Psalmus Hungaricus he transcribed three choral preludes by Bach for

2 Zolt&in Kodaly, Erlcel is a ndpzene [Erkel and Folk Music], 1960. See his collected writings Visszatekintis [In Retrospect], vol. 2, ed. by Ferenc B6nis, Budapest 1964, p. 96.

3 B61a Bart6k, The Influence of Peasant Music on Modern Music. In: Bdla Bart6k Essays, ed. by Benjamin Suchoff, London 1976, p. 344.




76 F. B6nis: Kodcily, Master of Neoclassicism

violoncello and piano. These are: Ach, was ist doch unser Leben; Vater unser im Himmelreich; Christus, der uns selig macht (BWV 743, 762, 747). In 1950 he arranged the Chromatic fantasy (BWV 903) for viola solo, 1951 Prelude and fugue in E flat minor (BWV 853) for 'cello and piano, 1960 the Prelude for lute in C flat minor (BWV 999) for violin and piano. Open or hidden references to works by Vivaldi, Bach and Handel are to be found in Kodily's pedagogical compositions, too.4 According to a foreword written by him in 1960, the music of Bach was his everyday musical diet.5

The measure of knowledge and inspiration for Kodily as a composer of choral works was the music of Palestrina. "... here we can admire what is not to be experienced elsewhere - the highest level of responsibility"6 -

he wrote about the music of Palestrina. It was also Kodily, who around the 30's stimulated Bart6k to study Palestrina's style. Accordingly, it was not by accident on Kodily's part to refer to the above-mentioned epoch-making masters, writing on the different spiritual trends that influenced Hungarian music as well as on the prospects for Hungarian music to build a bridge between East and West. "One of our hands is held by Nogaj-Tartars, Votiaks, Chere- misses, the other hand is held by Bach and Palestrina. Can we join together these far-away worlds ? Instead of being a ferryboat tossed around by a storm, could we be a bridge or possibly a mainland between Europe and Asia thus joining them together ?"7 _ he asked in 1939, immediately before the outbreak of World War II.

This aspiration for a synthesis can also be observed in his first creative period. The Sarabande-like opening subject of his Sonata for 'cello solo, 1915, evokes the spirit of Bach's music, and that of old Hungarian peasant music (ex. 1).

The motet Jesus and the traders, 1934, shows how Kodily joined the poly- phonic choral technique of the Italian and Dutch masters of the 15th and 16th centuries to a certain Hungarian idiom (ex. 2).

Also recognizable in this motet is a typical attitude of Koddly: to show the timeliness in tradition. By archaicizing he created a form for new messages.

The motet was inspired by Albrecht Diirer's wood-engraving Die Tempel- reinigung, in turn inspired by the gospel according to St. John (II, 13) and St. Luke (XIX, 45). Kodily himself wrote the text to his motet using the gospel according to all four evangelists.

Mihaly Ittzds, Music Pedagogical Works of Koddly and Their Relation With European Art Music. Bulletin of the International Koddly Society, Budapest 1977/1-2, pp. 5--12. * Zolt~n Kodaly, Letter to Pablo Casals. Foreword to the Hungarian edition of Corredor's book on Casals. The Selected Writings of Zoltdn Koddly, Budapest 1974, pp. 81-82.

s Zoltin Koddly, Bart6k the Folklorist. In: Selected Writings, p. 106. SZoltin Kodily, Magyarsig a zendben [Hungarian Features in Music] in vol. 2 of

Visszatekintds (see Note No. 2), p. 260.




F. B6nis: Kodcdly, Master of Neoclassicism 77

1. Allegro maestoso ma appassionato

j risoluto

if cresc.---------------- .

2. AnimnatoJ =120

,,. F T

Tj.,-,-. . 1-)

Es ott tat- 15 - 1,

6k - r6k, ju - hok g - Irun - bok

Es ott ta-1 - ka 6k " rok,

ga- lanl - bok

-s ott ta- i - i ok - rok, ga -

' un - bok

_s

ott

ta--i

- 1k gk

- Idk

pif mosso

A - ru-sa- it, 6s ott tcr - pcsz- kdd-tek a pdnz - vi1 - t6k,

i - ru-sit, &s

r - 'u-sit, 6 s ott ter - pesz - kd - tck a p6nz

i - ru-sit, es ott ter- pesz - ked - tek a pnz - vil -





The English text of Koddly's motet by Edward Dent - rather an applica- tion of the biblical words to the music than a real translation of the Hungarian original text - scarcely shows, how the composer developed his libretto. Nevertheless it is of interest to juxtapose the biblical version (left column) and the sung version (right column):

St. John II, 13 And the Jew's passover was at the hand, And Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves,

and the changers of money sitting: 15 And when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen;

and poured out the changers' money and overthrew the tables; 16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take this things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. St. Mark XI. 17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer ? but ye have made it

As the feast approached then Jesus went up and entered into Jerusalem, and into the Temple,

And found in the Temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and found there the changers of money sitting.

And when He had made a scourge of small cords He drove them all out the Temple, He drove out the oxen, He drove out the sheep, all who bought and sold there drove them out, And He pour'd out the changers money, and owerthrew their tables.

And to them that sold doves He said: Take these things hence, Make ye not My Father's house a house of merchandise !

And He said unto them: Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer ? What have ye made it ?




F. B6nis: Koddly, Master of Neoclassicism 79

a den of thieves. St. Matthew XXI. 13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. St. Luke XIX. 46 Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves. St. Mark. XI. 18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy Him: for they feared Him, because all the people was astonished at His doctrine. St. Luke XIX. 47 And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy Him, 48 And could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear Him.

A den of robbers !

When the scribes and chief priests heard Him, then did they seek to destroy Him, they feared Him, for that all the people were very attentive to hear Him.

Comparing the Hungarian original text of the motet with the corresponding biblical places according to Albert Szenci Molnir's Hungarian translation of 1608, it can be observed, that Kodily transformed the gospel for his composi- tional aims in the capacity of a dramaturgist and a librettist.





The task of the dramaturgist was to develop from the text an organic, closed structure with carefully balanced narrative, active and reflective elements. He also had to choose the most convenient places from the biblical variants. His task was, furthermore, to eliminate undesired elements in the text - so he changed, for example, "the Jews' passover" simply to "feast".

The librettist put the prose of the gospel into metrical (Hungarian) verses, making possible for the composer to set this poem to music with a free mixture of metrical and accented principles.

Musical symbols, originating from the Renaissance, are to be found in large numbers among the "scenes" of the motet. Kodily used the fugue in the ordinary sense of the word (fuga = escape). The fugatos express the headlong flight of the traders hounded out the Temple, the chaos of fugitive people and animals. "Jesus went up": this action is picturesquely expressed by the leap of a fifth and a fourth in the repetitive unison melody. And as the Bass reaches the level of prayer, moving step by step (= in seconds), the lights of the Temple come on suddenly in four bright chords:

3 . poco sost.

El- ko zel- ge hsis-v~t Is fe - me -ne ic - zus J6 - ru- zs7 - lem -

A.

e fel - me- ne Je - zus Je - ru-zsi I cm-

T.

El - k-zel- ge

his-veLt s fel - me- ne 16- zus Je - ru- zsi - lem -

S- ru-zs-em -

s~ ~ ~~ ~~j f,-mn -zs J u-zs8i- em -

"He overthrew their tables" is expressed by a canon of empty fifth; the increasing chaos by an expansion of the intervals ("ta-bles": second/thirdl fourth):

4.

, ffmarc.

ast - ta- la - i - kat f~1 - don - t, asz - t - la -

asz- ta- la - i- kat fCl - d6n - t-. as -

ta- la -

ri, asz - ta- la - i-kat f1 - don -

te,

fmarc.- -

.

- kat f -

d.n. ~asz - ta - la " i - kat flat - dbn - td,




F. Bdnis: Koddly, Master of Neoclassicism 81

i- kat fiL - d6n - ta. asz- ta- la - i- kat fl - dan - t6:

i- kat feLt - ddn - td, astz - ta- I,

- i - kat ftl - "din - tI:

asz - ta-la- i-kat ft- don - fL - din - t6

asz - ta- la - i -kat fitl- din - te fc - don - ta

be a tcem - plomn - ha.

be a te,-

- plom - ba.

3b

be a tem - plom - ba.

he P

hc a tern- plom - ha.

L,bc a icm - pjom - a.

bc a tern~- plom -ba.

Kodily also revived in this work the echo-technique of Renaissance music and poetry. Echo-poems, in which repeated endings develope the sense of the previous line, were very popular in the Netherlands and Italy as far as Hungary during the 16th century. The word "robbers" in the sentences "What have ye made it ? A den of robbers I" is several times repeated in the succeeding scenes, partly as a natural phenomenon, as an echo of the previous scene, partly as a reflection of the crowd, as a comment to their further actions. An artifice of Renaissance technique is converted here into an expression of sharp social criticism:

- When the scribes and chief priests heard Him, they did fear Him... - Robbers!

- Then did they seek to destroy Him... - Robbers!

- They feared Him... - Robbers! Robbers! Robbers! (S. ex. 5.) At this point the ars poetica-quality of Koddly's motet manifests itself.

In the thirties,it was a warning to the "scribes" a protest against the "defection of clerks". Paul Hindemith did it at the same time in his opera Mathis der

6 Studia Musicologica Academiae Bcientiarum Hungaricae 85, 1983



82 F. Bdnis: Koddly, Master of Neoclassicism

6. Largo = 60

ff

kozt. mi- v t -t u - t Rk? Rahlik! Rabkik

kizt, mi - \e tit- to - tek? Rahlhk R hblik . . ..

"-''-, - itt -

cr-' -- k.. t. m.. . ; - - ?L R ! k Rubik

ti pedig mi- e - - ti? Rabdlk aran, .i

dim. poco a

Rablkk Rablk Rakblk Rahik Rabl6k

Rakbl k Rk. _ RblRk k abl6k. Rablok'

,

R hi I ____-_____

hi li.. . . gI" '

Rabhk Irahlk' Iablkl k ablk

Rkabl6kr dim.

JRablti k barlang - ji - v\

poco .

Rab~k'. Rablk! Rabl6k Rabilok!

R nb hl k f Rablok: Rabl\k Rablb6k! . . ..kb,"

n I

Maler. "Neoclassic" had a greater significance for Koddly than the revival of a Renaissance technique; for him it was a connection between Past and Present.

From the beginning of his carreer Koddly made a thorough study of the theory of rhythm and metrics and the analysis of lines and stanzas, extending





5. (cont.) Pl mosso (Andante con

moto.)} = 108

mp -..

1. Rabl6k!-

Itfalilv:in czt a f6-papok es i - ris-tud6k, El aka- rik ht vcsz-tc-ni, mp

1 K~Rabl~k!_ PP

J"illy in czt a [6 - papok dok, El

,k,- nik Gt

vesi t-ni,

poco a poco riny >

R K bbl6k I bkab tlk

li __ _ i

_

el a- ka-rik ot vscz- o- na lI It ri-k

t ,

s Enckit me rt fel - -ni

a

rin .:

i -

R___blk' Ri abk

cl a- ka-riik it vcs-tC - ni, eC t- ka-ri k dst csz- tc- , itcrt fcl

- nick sit-la

dim. e rallent.

Za.- ,'if. -'-__

__, .

Rabl;k Rab lk Rabik RIablik Rablok'

tt-i, ci t-ck.

ti

ec' fe t~ - nick alaI; ti Rab< ab

v, v, ,., " '-

Rablok Rablok' Rtblk Rab i R blk.

tc - Ic, t

f ttl c - c nck vasa

t ,Ic

his observations to Hungarian folk music. His thesis for his doctorate: The Verse Construction of Hungarian folk song, written in 1906, shows his profound knowledge of the international literature of rhythmical and metrical research.

The influence of the forms of Hungarian folk song and of ancient Latin- Greek poetry was discovered by Koddly somewhat later, in about 1910.

6* Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 25, 1983



84 F. Bdnis: Koddly, Master of Neoclassicism

"The road was long;" - Kodily said in 1932 -- "the form and treasured quality of Hungarian folk song had to be discovered and learned; only than could we cautiously attempt to write a melody that did not conflict with the natural melodic line of the Hungarian language to a poem that was non- Hungarian in form. And at this point it was discovered that the Greek and Latin forms stand nearer to the nature of the Hungarian' language, for the groups of syllables are uneven and more varied than the iambus or trochee. Thus, however improbable this may sound, it was through the songs of simple Magyars that we learned how to put some of the masterpieces of Hungarian literature to music".8

Composing some songs after Berzsenyi, a classical poet of Hungary in about 1800, Kodily considered his task to join a modern Hungarian melodical style inspired by the folk music but invented by himself to Hungarian poems written in antique verse-forms. In his song Maginyossig (Solitude, 1912) and A tavasz (The Spring, 1913) he solved the problem of composing Hungarian music based on Sapphic stanzas. His song A kazelit6 til (The Approaching Winter, 1913) is built upon Asklepiadian stanzas. An other composition based on a poem by Berzsenyi, combining the Alcaian stanzas with canon-form A magyarokhoz (To the Hungarian), was written later, in 1936. "It was in a small village, where Berzsenyi's name had not even been heard, that it became clear to me how Berzsenyi could be expressed in songs"'9 Kodtly confessed in 1932.

Our next example shows a Sapphic stanza (Magdnyossig, Ex. 6a), an Alcaian stanza (A magyarokhoz, Ex. 6b) and an Asklepiaaian stanza (A kizelit6 til Ex. 6c) by Kod6ly:

6.a

p lllo1ftot('lto

[S - Ccli csn- dcN - st Ct I'- e - toj ho - mni - 1~ - .z--- rafleuit. fLar?~eiiiextlt.

i .m~n xc - idct o s/eiu E- .yc - dul - ? - t Iig

S~ -e - nect bc- ki~N kc-be - ld - e xi - U . Sostefrluto -~"==~

Malc -?~ gu S/A(.)d.

8 ZoltAn Kodily, Confession. In: Selected Writings, pp. 212-213. 8 1. c., p. 213.





6.b

a?(rI v i - bui ~ eQ i - C- IC o ma - gyai~l

A j I I w \ I .~I

I IIIill c- b

t5; - rec dii- ~i1i vi -n a di - 1 k~sz - i.

6.c :!mf' diml.

N ~ ~ Ir i - ot hk a kv - \ji~c- i ,ql -

\c~ 1%v kH ln e. L - pb\r.

Kodily, as a researcher of early Hungarian music and litterature, had a profound knowledge of the surviving documents of the 16-17th centuries. He also knew the most popular vocal genre of Hungarian art music of the 16th century, the so-called "historical song". It was a monodic form with many stanzas on biblical, historical and moral stories with instrumental accompaniment. Only the words and some melodies of this art have survived, and nothing of the instrumental accompaniment. In 1917 Kodily composed a piano accompaniment to a historical song originating from about 1660 and preserved in folk music. This was the history of Kdddr Istvdn, the earliest piece of the series for voice and piano Magyar Nipzene (Hungarian Folk Music) by Kodily. In this work, by composing lute-like prelude and interludes, Kodily strived not only for an artistically imagined "reconstruction" of the former praxis of interpre- tation, but undertook to revive the spirit of the former epoch, too. This is shown by our next music example, the opening section of the above-mentioned historical song Kdddr Istv6n (ex. 7).

At the same time as Kodily's historical song, 1917, a remarkable work of the neoclassical trend was composed. An orchestral work, now showing by its title a programme: the Classical Symphony of Prokofiev. The two composers,





7.

Poco rubato, parlando

SLCi' i nii.' i i kzuit Pinn - i- K - ni. mint

I '

S " - "__

atempo _I___- 2 -1 t. I

- ge'- nk nag- i- ra- dolt hlab-ja.

j i

Kodly and Prokofiev, did not know each other at that time. However, certain similarities may be found in the trends they followed. To ascertain this, we quote the recollections of Prokofiev: "It was certain", he wrote, "that if Haydn had been alive today, he would also borrow from the new styles. I, too, should have liked to compose such a symphony."'0 Accordingly, what than is the common aspiration of these two masters ? It is the evocation of historical epochs by a bold combination of specific old and new means of expression. Although, they seem to follow the same idea, there is without doubt a basic difference between them in achieving their goal. Prokofiev, wearing a historical costume, is playing a witty joke in classic style. But Kodtly makes the spirit of the imagined historical environment entirely his own, and speaks through it with a natural seriousness.

Therefore Kidddr Istv6n is a very important piece in Kodily's oeuvre, because the features of this composition heralded the immediate preliminaries to Psalmus Hungaricus. Namely, Psalmus Hungaricus is, viewed from 16th century music and literature, a monumental historical song. Its text, a free

o10 See the anthology A huszadilk szdzad zendje [Music of the 20th Century]. Ed. by Imre Fhbin, Budapest 1966, p. 262.

Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiaruam Hungaricae 25, 1983




transcription of Psalm 55 by the Protestant preacher Mihily Vdg of Kecskemit in about 1560, is a personal and subjective paraphrase of the words of the Psalm, with allusions to current events in Hungary at the period of the Turkish occu- pation. This tendency to combine of "timeless" and "current" elements, the simultaneous expression of faith in God and of trust in the nation's survival, is one of the chief characteristics of Hungarian literature of the 16th century inspired by the Bible. One example is sufficient to show this "double vision": the title of a historical song, preserved in the so-called Hoffgreff song book in the 16th century, is "As the Lord brought out the people of Israel from Egypt, thus he led the Hungarians from Scythia".

For preacher V6g the biblical and contemporary aspects formed a unity. To this parallelism Kodily added the burdens of his own age. Using the words of the ancient Psalm in the way the Hungarian preacher of the 16th century interpreted it, Koddly composed a modern "historical song" on contemporary Hungary. He was not only a passive observer of the declining conditions in his own land after two revolutions and a counter-revolution in 1920, but was himself also persecuted. He thus considered the paraphrase of Mihily V6g his own, just as Hungarian people of the 16th century had done with the biblical parallels.

Not only the poetical ideas of Psalmus Hungaricus were inspired by the Hungarian historical song of the 16th century. Even its musical substance was influenced by early Hungarian music. The main subject of Psalmus Hungaricus is an original theme by Kodily, behind which we can clearly recognize the inspiration of a historical song by Sebestydn Tin6di Egri histdridnalk summdja (Summary of the History of Eger) dating from the year 1553:

8.

Tjn6dj

Kod~ly

Nh l- ko - ron Dzi-vid Ilai? blisuI - -r blan. Bi-rA - ti Il- att ~ lh u

SLc~\Ofl val- h - sat Chlva-sar hla-da- rite Nlg\ \ ~?- gd n- a -c~r?-di-flwldc Kiirui - iacl

Panals~!ukodv?in naigy harag nc- jl - ban. I I - yecn kuinyiirg~st kez - Ic? 6j ma~~-l - ;f/

The composer of Psalmus Hungaricus has also taken over something else from Hungarian poetry of the 16th century: the acrostic. The name of Mihly Vdg of Kecskemit can be found in the initial letters of his poem in this form:





MICHAEL VIG K]TSK]METI AHS. In the first line of the Hungarian text "Mikoron D~vid" is hidden the first letter of the name Mihily, inlatin form Michael. Koddly also hid something in the accented places of each bar. If we read the marked first notes of each bar in Example 8, lower row, as a new melody, we recognize it as the first line of Psalm 55, or, at the same time, of the Gregorian sequence "Lauda Sion salvatorem" by St. Thomas Aquinas:

9.

Hall- gasd meg az 6n k - ny r g - sem!

Lau-da Si -.on Sal - va - to- rem.

This procedure is not just a revival of the "enigmatic" composing system of several Dutch masters in the Renaissance era; nor is it the "philological reference" of a scholarly composer of the 20th century. Koddly unmistakably refers here to the Hungarian sub-title of Psalm 55, translated by Albert Szenci

Moln~r: "David's prayer for liberation". At the same time Kodily also refers to one of the key-sentences of the paraphrase byMihilyV6g: "I expect liberation by Thee". Undoubtedly, Kodly used the melody of the psalm praying for liberation as well as the Gregorian melody praising the Saviour with the same intentions, as Paul Hindemith did eleven years later in the finale of his Mathis der Maler.

But Kodly "learned" not only from poetry and art music. As a developing principle for modern compositions he was the first to adopt the art of variant- development of folk music. Namely the episode-themes of the rondo-form of Psalmus Hungaricus can themselves be derived from the main subject. The intervals in the episodes contract or expand according to ebb and flow of the emotional structure of the composition. The one-time performance practice of the historical song with many stanzas may have been similar.

Psalmus Hungaricus is, after the historical song Kiddr Istvin, the first larger composition of Kodily, in which among the imagined scenery of a historical epoch, the composer invokes the spirit of bygone and present times, which is a typically Neoclassical attitude.

From this time onwards the "dream" of the early centuries of Hungary is one of the most important subjects of Kodily's creative art. Hdry Jdnos and Dances from Galinta depict Hungary in 1800, the Dances of Marosszdk that of Transylvania in the 17th century.

By referring to a folk song more than a thousand years old, and a modern poem by Endre Ady, the orchestral variations The Peacock express the dramat- ic fate of a whole nation, a Hungarian "Tod und Verklirung", "Death and

Studia Mus~icologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 25, 1983




Transfiguration". In 1939, on the Eve of World War II, this was a very timely concept. The Concerto for orchestra by Kodily recalls the lost and imagined Hungarian Baroque. Kodily could even professed the ars poetica of Verdi: "Inventare il vero", "To invent the truth".

These "epoch-depicting" compositions appear in different forms. Both of the symphonic dances connect the rondo-form with the two-part form of the Hungarian rhapsody. The Peacock-variations combine the formal principles of variation, symphony and symphonic poem. Instead of a programme, the score of the variations begins with three strophes of the Hungarian folk song "Falszillott a piva", "The peacock took flight.. .". The first stanza expresses the desire for liberty, the second speaks of grief and mourning, the third one invokes confidence. This threefold division characterizes the symphonic work, too. The complex of the variations makes ui a monumental sonata form with the recognizable outlines of three independent movements. The theme and the variations Nos 1-10 amount to an opening movement combined with a scherzo. The variations Nos 11--14 have the function of a slow movement. The last variations (15-16) together with the finale make up a symphonic finale and the recapitulation of the two previous movements.

Similarly, the formal structure of Concerto is remarkable, too. Its first movement follows the example of the concertos of J. S. Bach. The Largo, following Baroque examples of passacaglia-art, consists of variations, while the finale recapitulates the two previous movements. Accordingly, in this composition we can observe the influence of Liszt's symphonic dramaturgy.

One of the characteristics of Kodily was to keep a lifelong contact with the spirit of his own creations. He used to reshape his earlier compositions - their material or ideas - even decades after their creation, first performance or publication. He never thought of his works as finished once and for all. In later compositions he returned to subjects which he thought had originally not been fully exploited. In this context he developed the melodic world of Verbunlkos in Hdry Jdnos to a symphonic poem in his Dances from Galdnta, and progressed from the opening statement of the Concerto to a large symphonic tableau in the first movement of the Symphony. In one of the Peacoclc-variations the ancient pentatonic theme wears a Baroque garment (ex. 10).

It was this "Baroque" variation that inspired the basic idea of his Concerto for orchestra (ex. 11).

As in his earlier "neoclassical" compositions, Kod6ly strived also in his Concerto for a synthesis of many traditions: to unite Baroque rhythm and the art of development, the ancient pentatonicism and the symphonic dramaturgy of Liszt.

Musical means of expression, learned from earlier centuries, have a threefold function inKodly's oeuvre.He paints historical frescoes with them, creates or recreates lost or imagined Hungarian traditions and produces a synthesis of





old and new, individua land collective civilizations. His oeuvre is strongly attached to the international Neoclassicism of our century. No wonder for Koddly, this national composer, was at the same time a world citizen. The scene of his development was not a mere vacuum, but Europe itself in one of the most

10.

=--116 Cor. '- Trbe

_______........______._________ Trbni

F1.

Archi f appa.

11. Allegro risoluto

Allegnrisolul

cre-sc.

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if "

exciting periods of its history. Without demonstrating the common characteristics of the composer and his contemporaries the spiritual portrait of Kod&ly would not be complete. It is by pointing out these features that we can recognize his individual characteristics. And in recognizing them, we comprehend the profound meaning of Bart6k's words: "When you ask me which works personify in the highest degree the Hungarian spirit, I shall have to answer: the works of Kodily". l

11 B61a Bart6k, The Folk Song of Hungary. In: B6la Bart6k Essays, p. 338.

Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Huangaricae 25, 1983



Zoltán Kodály, a Hungrian Master of Neoclassicism

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