“THE HUNGARIAN FOLK-SONG … ECHO OF THE ENTIRE HUNGARIAN SOUL” – THOUGHTS UPON A QUOTATION FROM ZOLTÁN KODÁLY

“... it is false method to start out from the diatonicism and then later turn back to the pentatony as if to an exceptional oddity.” Zoltán Kodály writes these lines in 1943, after he ascertains that pentatonic tunes constitute the Hungarians most ancient music. Thus the pentatonic scale is very im...

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Main Author: Zoltán SZALAY
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Babeș-Bolyai University 2013-12-01
Series:Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai. Musica
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Online Access:https://studia.reviste.ubbcluj.ro/index.php/subbmusica/article/view/8855
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author Zoltán SZALAY
author_facet Zoltán SZALAY
author_sort Zoltán SZALAY
collection DOAJ
description “... it is false method to start out from the diatonicism and then later turn back to the pentatony as if to an exceptional oddity.” Zoltán Kodály writes these lines in 1943, after he ascertains that pentatonic tunes constitute the Hungarians most ancient music. Thus the pentatonic scale is very important in Hungarian music in general. The pentatonic scale mirrors the Hungarian characteristic: the pentatony is that which receives into, and accepts. It is open to foreign elements (and the pien notes which are often very characteristic of the Hungarian pentatony, represent the foreign elements). It models that spirit, in which he lives his life in its entirety. However, that entirety is formed from many tiny little parts. Therefore it receives the foreign elements without changing its own pentatonic character. Nevertheless the diatonic scales are closed. In them, folk-songs only very rarely use the foreign notes in their system. They represent a spirit which takes itself out of unity, and in most cases it is unable to accept the strange difference, the mentality and the world view in which it finds itself quite foreign. The pentatonic scale is a separate system, independent of the heptatonic. There is no direct kinship between the pentatony and the diatonicism. In the same way as there is no kinship amongst the people who use these two different systems basically. The only people are the Hungarians who use both scales in an exceptional way.
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spelling doaj-art-264bd16356a24d4d98618ef5da18dc9e2025-02-11T11:01:08ZengBabeș-Bolyai UniversityStudia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai. Musica1844-43692065-96282013-12-01582“THE HUNGARIAN FOLK-SONG … ECHO OF THE ENTIRE HUNGARIAN SOUL” – THOUGHTS UPON A QUOTATION FROM ZOLTÁN KODÁLYZoltán SZALAY0https://orcid.org/0009-0000-4255-0674Department of Musical Performing and Pedagogy, Faculty of Music, Transilvania University, Brașov, Romania. Email: szalayzoltan@yahoo.com “... it is false method to start out from the diatonicism and then later turn back to the pentatony as if to an exceptional oddity.” Zoltán Kodály writes these lines in 1943, after he ascertains that pentatonic tunes constitute the Hungarians most ancient music. Thus the pentatonic scale is very important in Hungarian music in general. The pentatonic scale mirrors the Hungarian characteristic: the pentatony is that which receives into, and accepts. It is open to foreign elements (and the pien notes which are often very characteristic of the Hungarian pentatony, represent the foreign elements). It models that spirit, in which he lives his life in its entirety. However, that entirety is formed from many tiny little parts. Therefore it receives the foreign elements without changing its own pentatonic character. Nevertheless the diatonic scales are closed. In them, folk-songs only very rarely use the foreign notes in their system. They represent a spirit which takes itself out of unity, and in most cases it is unable to accept the strange difference, the mentality and the world view in which it finds itself quite foreign. The pentatonic scale is a separate system, independent of the heptatonic. There is no direct kinship between the pentatony and the diatonicism. In the same way as there is no kinship amongst the people who use these two different systems basically. The only people are the Hungarians who use both scales in an exceptional way. https://studia.reviste.ubbcluj.ro/index.php/subbmusica/article/view/8855pentatonicdiatonicfolk-songHungariannationsethnic groups
spellingShingle Zoltán SZALAY
“THE HUNGARIAN FOLK-SONG … ECHO OF THE ENTIRE HUNGARIAN SOUL” – THOUGHTS UPON A QUOTATION FROM ZOLTÁN KODÁLY
Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai. Musica
pentatonic
diatonic
folk-song
Hungarian
nations
ethnic groups
title “THE HUNGARIAN FOLK-SONG … ECHO OF THE ENTIRE HUNGARIAN SOUL” – THOUGHTS UPON A QUOTATION FROM ZOLTÁN KODÁLY
title_full “THE HUNGARIAN FOLK-SONG … ECHO OF THE ENTIRE HUNGARIAN SOUL” – THOUGHTS UPON A QUOTATION FROM ZOLTÁN KODÁLY
title_fullStr “THE HUNGARIAN FOLK-SONG … ECHO OF THE ENTIRE HUNGARIAN SOUL” – THOUGHTS UPON A QUOTATION FROM ZOLTÁN KODÁLY
title_full_unstemmed “THE HUNGARIAN FOLK-SONG … ECHO OF THE ENTIRE HUNGARIAN SOUL” – THOUGHTS UPON A QUOTATION FROM ZOLTÁN KODÁLY
title_short “THE HUNGARIAN FOLK-SONG … ECHO OF THE ENTIRE HUNGARIAN SOUL” – THOUGHTS UPON A QUOTATION FROM ZOLTÁN KODÁLY
title_sort the hungarian folk song echo of the entire hungarian soul thoughts upon a quotation from zoltan kodaly
topic pentatonic
diatonic
folk-song
Hungarian
nations
ethnic groups
url https://studia.reviste.ubbcluj.ro/index.php/subbmusica/article/view/8855
work_keys_str_mv AT zoltanszalay thehungarianfolksongechooftheentirehungariansoulthoughtsuponaquotationfromzoltankodaly