ADVENT CALENDAR – DAY 17

Poor Zoltán Kodály.

Born the same date as Beethoven. Doomed to suffer the same fate as Édouard Lalo (who was born the same date as Mozart) and Modest Mussorgsky (born the same date as Bach). Everyone goes to the other guy’s party.

Kodály may have been no Beethoven. Nonetheless he was a very important musical figure, both in his native Hungary and abroad.

Here’s some of his music for the season. This is called “The Shepherds and the Angels.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7yMvYqcRrQ&spfreload=1

You’ll note the children’s choir. Kodály, of course, was as interested in music education as he was composition. To this end, he introduced a new curriculum for use in public schools and devised new teaching methods for the musical development of the young.

Here’s an old short demonstrating the Kodály Method in action:

And here it is in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBrYXG_TVlA

More about the Kodály Method here:

And an interview with Kodály, in English!

Happy Birthday, Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967).