Kodály Zoltán

16 December 1882 Kecskemét – 6 March 1967 Budapest

Zoltán Kodály - one of the most influential composer, pedagogue of music and researcher of folk music of the 20th century – was born on 16 December 1882 in Kecskemét. There has always been a special relationship and respect between Kodály and Kecskemét. Though he was a small child when his family moved from the town he was always proud of his place of birth. The first musical elementary school in Hungary (Kodály School) was established here and the world famous Kodály Institue is operating in Kecskemét too.

Kodály’s earliest pieces of music were composed in the 1890-ies and the last ones in 1966. During the years in between he wrote hundreds of compositions, his style was fundamentally influenced by Hungarian folk music and Debussy. He started to collect folk music together with Béla Bartók and later established the Research Team of Folk Music of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences that collected, noted and organized over 100 000 folk songs from Hungary and the neighbouring countries.

His principles of music teaching were formed during his work and are now the basis of Hungarian musical education and plays an important role in professional training as well.

For more information on Kodály please visit: https://kodaly.hu/