Culture · 50 of the best in Budapest
Bartók, Kodály and the songs of the villages
The back story
About Bartók, Kodály and the songs of the villages
In the first years of the 20th century, Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály set off into the villages of Hungary and its neighbours with phonographs and notebooks, recording thousands of folk songs. What they found transformed their own music, and Kodály’s ideas still shape how children around the world learn to sing.
Two composers, one quest
From about 1905, Bartók (1881–1945) and Kodály (1882–1967), both students and later teachers at the Liszt Academy, travelled to villages to record peasant songs on wax cylinders. They discovered an ancient layer of Hungarian music, built on pentatonic scales, very different from the popular “gypsy-style” songs of city cafés.
Bartók
Bartók wove the rhythms and modes of folk music into a fiercely original modern style, in works such as the Allegro barbaro, the opera Bluebeard’s Castle and the Concerto for Orchestra. He left Hungary for the United States in 1940 and died in New York in 1945.
Bartók carried a phonograph into villages to record songs no one had written down.
Kodály and his method
Kodály composed the Psalmus Hungaricus and the Háry János suite, but he is best known worldwide for his approach to music education, based on singing, folk songs and reading music from an early age. The Kodály concept is recognised by UNESCO as a good practice for safeguarding intangible heritage.
Where to follow them in Budapest
The Béla Bartók Memorial House, in the Buda Hills, was his last home in Hungary, and is a museum and intimate concert venue. The Kodály Memorial Museum, in his apartment on Andrássy Avenue, keeps his study and collections as he left them.
Our advice: book a chamber concert at the Bartók Memorial House, visit the Kodály Memorial Museum, and hear their orchestral music at Müpa or the Liszt Academy; check our What’s on listings for dates.
Why it's on our list
- Two composers, one quest
- Bartók
- Kodály and his method
- Where to follow them in Budapest
Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Bartók, Kodály and the songs of the villages before you go.