The STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABEŞ-BOLYAI issue article summary

The summary of the selected article appears at the bottom of the page. In order to get back to the contents of the issue this article belongs to you have to access the link from the title. In order to see all the articles of the archive which have as author/co-author one of the authors mentioned below, you have to access the link from the author's name.

 
       
         
    STUDIA MUSICA - Issue no. 1 / 2023  
         
  Article:   THE ROLE OF ZOLTÁN KODÁLY’S MALE CHORUSES IN THE GENRE’S HISTORY, POSSIBILITIES OF THEIR APPLICATION IN THE REPERTOIRE OF AMATEUR ENSEMBLES.

Authors:  MÓNIKA VÉGH.
 
       
         
  Abstract:  
DOI: 10.2419310.24193/10.24193/subbmusica.2023.1.12

Published Online: 2023-06-30
Published Print: 2023-06-30
pp. 203-219

VIEW PDF

FULL PDF

Abstract: Zoltán Kodály’s publication titled Férfikarok (Male Choruses) is a truly diverse collection: in addition to the composer’s works in the genre, one can find folk song arrangements, religious pieces, compositions inspired by historical events and even transcriptions, of various lengths and levels of difficulty. It is common knowledge that Kodály was not fond of exclusively male ensembles, being rather uninterested by male voice choirs and indeed his opinion was that these choral societies should be converted into mixed choirs. However, after travelling extensively in the country – thus gaining insight into the operation of these groups – he began to contribute to the genre’s repertoire. The composer began to view the case differently, as he thought that amateur male choirs – of which there were still many in the 1930s – should rather sing compositions of a higher value, as opposed to pieces of the Liedertafel-style. At the same time, the Férfikarok collection contains many pieces that are not suitable for amateur ensembles due to their challenging nature in terms of intonation and tone production. In this paper – in addition to presenting the volume – I intend to introduce a certain way of categorization based on the compositions’ level of difficulty, through an analytical approach, which may be of help to those who work with such ensembles that are rare, but worthy of appreciation.

Key words: Zoltán Kodály, male voice choir, Liedertafel-movement, choral societies, Hungarian poetry of the 19th century.
 
         
     
         
         
      Back to previous page