ZENlbiT IR.TA~ l'\USIK.

VON
Children/s Choir Magnificat
Erkel Ferenc Elementary and Secondary School

KODALY ZOL'fAN.. Budapest (2 & 101

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Chorus master: Valeria Szebeledi

Children/s Choir Miraculum

Kodaly Zoltan Elementary School

Kecskemet 141

Chorus master: Laszlo Duranyik

Budapest Festival Orchestra

Ivan Fischer

Erika Sebok flute (51

Peler Lukacs viola (6)

ZONOORAKIVONAT KLAVIER AUSZOO Gabriella Pivon piccolo (7)

UNIVEItSAL EDITION Gabor Takacs-Nagy violin (91

~0681
Ivan Fischer violin (91

Titlepoge of Ivan Fischer's copy of the Hory Janos sc?re

which Zolton Kodoly dedicated to Ivan and his brother Adorn.
With kind permission by Universal Edition A.G., Wien
 Zolton Kod61y
1882-1967

Galantai tancok (Dances of Galanta) 15'48" "Hary Janos" Suite

1, Prelude: The Fairy-tale Begins 3'29"
2 Tancnota (Dancing song) 1 '48"
Traditional 12 Viennese Musical Clock l ' 55"
13 Song 5'38"
3 Maross:z:eki tancok (Dances of Marosszek) 11'34"
14 The Battle and Defeat of Napoleon 4'03"
15 Intermezzo 4'36"
4 Gergely-jaras (St Gregory Procession) 3'31 "
16 Entrance of the Emperor and his Court
Traditional 2'46"

Instrumental excerpts from the Singspiel HHary Janos: H BITSTREAM recording:

5 The Flute-playing Hussar
6 The Old Woman
7 The Jewish Family
8 Hary Riding lucifer
9 The Two Gipsies
10 Turot eszik a cigcny
Traditional
(See the gipsy eats cheese)
Italian Institute, Budapest, 1/1998
1'57"
publishers:
1 '45" Universal Edition AG., Wien (1, 3, 5-9, 11-16). The instrumental excerpts from the 5ingspiel
Hery Janos are taken From the version published in 1929, Germon version 1931.
1 '40" EdiNa Musica Budapest (2, 4, 10)
"05" photo of Ivan Fischer: Joost von Velsen
, '09" Executive producer: Costa Pilavachi
& repertoire production: Hermine Sterringa
Artist
Recording producer, balance engineer: Hein Dekker
Recording engineers: Jean-Marie Geijsen, Roger de Schot
1 '53" Tope editing: Carl Schuurbiers
Recording facilities: Polyhymnia International

2 3
 TRADITION AND INNOVATION
Ferenc Bonis

published in Vienna at the time of Haydn and of Marosszek on themes of his and Bela
from the Renaissance: simple canon, canon
he first work in which Kod61y used a
Beethoven as a basis for the composition. Vik6r's instrumental folk music collection in
T
children's choir was his Psa/mus hungaricus
(1923). In order to strengthen the soprano
at the octave, double and quadruple augmen
tation of the theme as cantus firmus, mirrared
The composer dedicated the work to the Buda
pest Philharmonic Society for their 80th birth
Transylvania, where the old Hungarian dance
music had been kept unadulterated in the
movement of individual voices, opposing the
and contralto voices he invited the choir of day, which was celebrated on 23 October memary of the people until the 20th century.
small chorus with a large chorus and a
the Wesselenyi Street district school in 1923 with a concert conducted by Erno von Kod61y and Vik6r recorded the Hungarian
combination of all these means of expression.
Budapest for the second performance of the Dohn6nyi. peasant musicians and gipsies playing the
piece. The composer found the youthful violin and clarinet between 1904 and 1912
The old tradition of Hungarian school
freshness of the boys, 10-14 years of age, as Kod61y added a short autobiographical on phonographic cylinders. Kod61y based
children is resurrected again in Gergely-jaras.
captivating as the unpreiudiced enthusiasm of foreword to the score: "Ga/anta is a small his work on these themes. Once again, it is
At the beginning of every school year, on
children singing his music. He discovered in Hungarian market town on the old railway a combination of a rondo and a rhapsody.
St Gregory's day, it is customary far the
them not only a new medium for his artistic line between Vienna and Budapest, where I
school children ta go into the community in
efforts but also a means of introducing a spent seven years of my childhood. At that Kod61y composed the Dances of Marosszek
droves to collect, in kind, their "course fees"
new generation to the new music. Both of time there was a famous, but since then in two versions: in 1927 for piano and in
and expenses as a gift from the people. This
the first children choruses for the boys of the forgotten, gipsy orchestra, which impressed 1930 for orchestra. The piano version was
scene accompanied with singing is brought
Wesselenyi Street were composed in 1925. me as child because it was my first experience performed for the first time on 17 March
to life anew in the first movement of the
Villa (Scarecrow) and Turot eszik a cigany of an 'orchestral sound.' The ancestors of 1927, by Louis Kentner at one of Kod6ly's
piece. This supplicatory song interspersed
(See the gipsy eats cheese), which were
with fake Latin words follows two dances
every gipsy had already been famous a composition soirees. The first performance
soon followed by Gergely-jaras (St Gregory
and after the repeat the first two movements
hundred years before. In about 1800 some of the orchestral version took place in Dresden
Procession, 1926) and Tancnota (Dancing volumes of Hungarian dances had appeared on 28 November 1930, with Fritz Busch
comes a finale (A-B-C-A-B-D) in which the
Song, 1929). These works - masterpieces in Vienna among which was one 'from several conducting the Siichsische Staatskapelle.
sound of the bagpipes is imitated.
without exception - form the basis of a gipsies in Galanta'. They were handing
contemporary children's and women's down an old folk tradition. The main motives The form af the piece is A-B-A-C-A-D-A-E,
Turot eszik a cigany is a scherza and trio in
choral literature which Kod61y was to enrich of this work are taken from each of these where A is the rondo theme, B, C and D the
which the Sscherzo part represents the
with another 80 compositions during the volumes." The Dances of Galanta combine episodes and E the extended coda which
squabbling of the gipsy. In sharp contrast
next 40 years. the form of the classical rondo with that of can also be taken as a quick movement of a
the trio is a soft love song in which the
the Hungarian Rhapsodies by Franz Liszt. rhapsody. Kod61y writes in his foreword:
disguised lovers appear as flowers.
The Tancnota is based, on an Hungarian folk "The well-known Hungarian Dances by
song and the text by Ad6m P616czi Horv6th Whereas the Dances of Galanta stem from Brahms are representative for urban Hungary
In the Dances of Galanta Kod61y used the
written in 1813. Kod61y combines here a written sources, Kod61y composed the Dances of 7860 and come mostly from indigenous
themes of some dances which had been
theme from an eastern source with techniques

I: 4
5
composers living at that time. The Dances of
Marosszek go back much further in time;
they coniure up for us a picture of the 'fairy
tale country' called Transylvania."
Kod6ly published two compositions with the
title Hary Janos, which are among his major
works. The first, a Singspiel, had its premiere
on 16 October 1926 in Budapest, the other,
an orchestral suite, received its first perForm
ance in Barcelona on 24 October 1927.
H6ry J6nos was a real person who in about
1800 served for nine years in the imperial
Austrian army. He was never a captain of
the Hungarian Hussars but a simple private.
Back in civilian life the old campaigner went
into the potter's trade in the Tolna district of
western Hungary. His deeds of heroism, told
by himself, stem from his imagination - how
he captured Napoleon, or gave up the hand
of the emperor's daughter. They were put into
verse by J6nos Goray and published as a
humoristic epic poem in 1843. Bela Poulini
ond Zsolt Hars6nyi used this epic poem as
the basis for the libretto. But Kod6ly did not
see ony of Baron Munchhausen in H6ry's
character: "He does not lie," he said, "he
simply tells fairy tales. He is a poet. No one
has seen anything he tells of but nevertheless
he has experienced it as though it were real,
even more real than reality itself."
The first part of the suite, Prelude: The Fairy
tale Begins, is introduced with an expression
6
of ironical unbelief: a "giant sneeze" played
by the whole orchestra. This is follawed by
a deeply felt meditation in which the fairy
tale is extolled as consolation for the
greyness of everyday life, as a substitute for
the absence of great deeds. In the next part,
Viennese Musical Clock Kod6ly wanted to
create an impression of the Viennese Hofburg
by way of a certain authentic melody. When
he realised that there were no bells in the
castle he created, with his own special sort
of humour, a quiet "imperial rondo" from the
horn signals of a Hungarian swineherd. The
third movement, Song, is a purely instrumental
version of the duet between H6ry and his
beloved from the Singspiel: a love song with
longing for the homeland faraway. The
refined orchestration with the Hungarian
cymbalom gives the scene a soft pastoral
atmosphere. This is followed by a humoristic
portrayal of a battle, The Battle and Defeat
of Napoleon, a "march and war of the tin
soldiers" with hilarious effects in the per
cussion and woodwind ending with the
funeral march for the defeated Napoleon
introduced by the saxophone. The fifth
movement, Intermezzo, is an extended dance
scene derived from the verbunkos: the
apotheosis of the proud Hungarian sense of
awareness in the Romantic era. Both themes
in this movement are printed documents of
the time. The finole, Entrance of the Emperor
and his Court, is a cheerful and dazzling
end to the work: a festive march in which
H6ry is personified by an imitation of a
simple folk song. The scene reaches its climax
with fanfares announcing the arrival of the
imperial family and with an impressive coda.
The Singspiel Hary Janos, one of the favourite
pieces in the Hungarian opera repertoire, has
received until 1999 more than 400 perForm
ances in Budapest alone. During Kod6ly's
lifetime Hary Janos had five new productions
in the Hungarian capital (1928, 1940, 1952,
1958 and 1962), which gave him the oppor
tunity to add new movements or withdraw
others. This recording contains five character
istic instrumental movements which are not
part of the "H6ry J6nos" suite.
The Flute-playing Hussar (1): This movement
reveals the main ideas behind the work: the
longing for the homeland faraway "on this
side of the Theiss, on the other of the
Danube." Accompanied by the cymbalon,
the flute improvises the folk melody, which
as a duet in the Singspiel and as a song in
the orchestral suite is the lyrical highlight of
both works, illustrating the return to the
fatherland in the finale of the theatre piece.
The Old Woman (2): A scene in mime from
H6ry's first adventure, with a staccato
walking motif. A fragile old peasant woman
wants to cross the border to Russia but is not
allowed through by the Russian border
guards. The reason for refusing her entry,
"the official seal is too small" has become in
Hungarian a familiar saying for unrelenting
bureaucracy.
Some parts of the Singspiel point to the
folkloristic diversity of the border area
between Austria and Russia: The Jewish
Family (3), the choir of the Ruthenian girls
and also the Two Gipsies (5). The whining
theme with augmented seconds of the
Jewish Family comes from Bukovina. The
dance music by the gipsy musicians in the
third adventure is created from the same
sources of Hungarian tradition as the Inter
mezzo of the suite or the Dances of Galanta,
which are those of the verbunkos. Hary
Riding Lucifer (4): To tame Lucifer, the wild
stallion of the imperial stables is one of
H6ry's dreamt-up heroic deeds. This scene
from the second adventure which Kod6ly
composed for the new production in 1952
allowed him ~o revive the Viennese tradition
of the horselnen's ballet from Beethoven's
time in the form of a fairy tole.
Translation: Ian Borthwick
7
 II AN INSTRUMENT IS ONLY A TOOL, YOU MUST SING"
Ivan Fischer
It is impossible to understand Kodaly the
composer without understanding Kodaly
the missionary teacher. Kodaly believed that
there is no such a thing as a tone-deaf child,
that everyone can (and shouldllearn to sing
and read music well. As a young boy I was
very fortunate to have met this extraordinary
man on a few occasions. I remember well his
disapproval when my father proudly told him
that I - being five years old - had just started
learning to play the piano. "An instrument is
only a toal, " Kodaly said, "you must sing."
So I did. I was brought up, like all Hungarian
children, by the Kodaly method which was
taught in all Hungarian schools. The choral
singing twice a week was a wonderfully
enjoyable experience. It is a great pleasure
for me, now, 30 years later, to introduce two
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excellent school choruses of the present
generation on this CD. These are boys and
girls between 10 and 15 years old, not
specialised young professionals, but ordinary
school children brought up by Kodaly's
visionary educational system.
Furthermore, we have recorded a few
charming miniatures of Hary Janos. These
small instrumental movements accompany
stage action as part of the opera (or
Singspiel). We arranged them as a separate
group in order to preserve the integrity of
Kodaly's famous "Hary Janos" suite. These
short pieces were never intended to be
performed without a stage, but I hope they
will help to show another aspect of Zoltan
Kodaly: his great sense of humour.
 Tancnota Dancing Song

Meg azl mandjak:

Fancy, Ihey say: dancing
Megloglam egy szunyagot,
I caughl a midget

nem i1lik a lanc a magyarnakl

is nat proper lor a Hungarian!
nagyobb volt a /6n61,
bigger Ihan a horse,

Nem, ha nHi cipellot,

Nat if he wears tighl shoes
Kisutotem a zsirj6t,
I rendered its fat,

bo nadragal varrnak.
and baggy Irausers.
tobb lett egy ak6n6!.
gal over ci bushel of it.

De sarkantyus csizmanak,
But it suits spurred baals
Yorrd meg varga a csizm6m, Cobbler sew my boots,

Kacsagtallas lonek,
and hats Irimmed with egret feathers,
megadom az 6r61, I'll pay you for Ihem,

Illik gyongyos parlanak,

il suils a pearly head-dress
Ha nem adam, odadom If I don't pay,

Magyar fokolonek.
and a Hungarian bannel.
(J szunyogom h6j6t. I'll give you my midget's fat.

Az en ingem lengyel gyalcs,

My shirl is made 01 Palish linen
Mcgadom az 6r6t, megadom az ar6t. I'll pay you the price.

Csakhagy raitia nincsen,

bUI il has no fringes,
No hogyjatok, hej, ne hagyj6lak, hei! D on'l stop, hey!,don't slop, hal

Az en csizm6m kormazsin, my boots ore crimson,

Slallts6tok, csak j6ri6tak, Hej, haj! Don't leave it aut! Hey! Hi!

Csakhagy lalpa nlncsen. but Ihey have no sales.

/\ csizm6mnak se sarka, se talpa, My bools have neither heels nor sales,

Azert vorrtak a csizm6t, Boats are made

Ilioid jon varga megvarrja, megvarrja. the cobbler will come and sew Ihem.

hagy tancaljunk benne,

for us to dance in,
Va" d mog, varga, varrd meg, Ie varga! Sew them, cobbler!

Ha rangyas is, ha folIos is,

ragged, patched though Ihey may be,
IICI 110111 Vl1l IOd, hej! szejjelszakad l If you don't sew them, they will fall to bils!

illik a 16nc benne.

dancing is proper in them.

161iols1okad mindj6rt! They'll come 10 bits rig hI awayl

Meg azt mandja a retek,

Fancy Ihe radish says,
16i lolsclkad milr! They'll come 10 bits!

Meg azl mandja a hagyma, happ!

lancy the anion says, hap!
6ijol,clkad a rosszcsizma hej! Hold on fight and dance, dance!

hagy nem illik a 16nc a magyarnak,

that dancing is nal proper for a Hungarian,
S,orit,cltok, csak iarj6tok, i6rj6lak! Hej! Those old boots will come to bits, hey!

hej, pedig kinek illik, ha neki nem?

heigh, but for wham would it be proper,

Hej! Happ!
il nat lor him? Hey, hah!

J6rj6tak!
Dance!

Szarits6tak, csak j6rjalak,

Go lor iI, dance,

1 a java, ne hagyj6tak!
this is Ihe best part, don'l stop!

Hej! Hoi!
Hey, hi!

20
21
 GergiHy-jaras St Gregory Procession

Szenl Gergely doklornak,

On the day of 51 Gregory, Elment a tyuk bucsul j6rni, The hen has gone on a pilgrimage,
hires lanit6nknak az 0 napj6n,
our famed leacher, Nem kell azlal visszav6rni. you need not wait for her return,
Regi szok6s szerinl, menjunk
let us, according to ancient custom, Majd visszajon sulve, fove, she will come back fried and cooked,
Isten szerint iskol6ba.
go 10 school in Ihe nome of God.
Nem ul tobbel az ulore. and no longer sit on the roost.

Adjatok szalon61,
Give us bacon!
Szent Gergely doklornak, etc. On the day of 51 Gregory, etc.
Omne dignum leverendum laude.
Omne dignum leverendum laude.

Hadd csin61junk r6ntott6t.

So we can make scrambled eggs,
Adjalok le6nyk61,
Give us a little girl,

T61usz k6pusz de mizerum f6rum Domine.

Tolus copus de miserum forum Domine. Omne dignum ..
Omne dignum ...

I !"dd soporje iskol61.

So she can sweep Ihe school,

Adjotok kolb6szl,
Give us a sausage! T6tusz k6pusz ..
Talus copus ..

Omne dignum ..
Omne dignum ..
Hadd fonjuk be pall6sl,
So we can weave it in our cloak, IIdjalok gyerecskel,
Give us a little boy,

T6tusz k6pusz ...

Talus copus ..
n1110 uignum .. Omne dignum ..

11c,c1d 101l1lijon konyvcsket, So he can learn from the little book,

Adjalok kakosl,
Give us a cockerel!
16tu" k6pUS7.... Talus copus ..

Omne dignum ...

Omne dignum ..

Hadd kaparion ket garasl,

So it can scrape together two farlhings,
lIc1j<llok monyecskel, Give us a young woman,
T6tusz k6pusz ..
Talus copus ..
mna dignurn .. Omne dignum ..

~lcldcl fozzon j6 leveskel, So she can cook us good soup,

Adjalok ludal,
Give us a goose! r61u5 k6pU5z.. Totus copus ..

Omne dignum ..
Omne dignum ..

Hodd mulosson ulal,

Let il show the way.
Jobb oz 6rpa, mint a zab, Barley is better than oals,

T6tusz k6pusz ..
Talus copus ..
ilHljlo, minI a zab, a hundred times better Ihan oals.

t1lpok6sa, mini a hob, Barley porridge is as lighl as foam.

Majd ugy fogunk 16ncolni.

We sholl dance
tyuk, k6c5a rajtakap. The hen and the duck snatch at it.

Mint a moln6r tyukjai.

like Ihe miller's hens,
Tiridom, mondom rajlakapi Tiridom, I tell you, they snatch 01 it.

Kik i611aklak buz6val,

who had Iheir fill of wheat,

az ellopott 6rp6vol es zabbo!.

of Ihe slolen barley and oals.
Buzo is jobb, mint a zab Wheat 100 is better than oals,

Do. Duli, dula, duli, dula ...

Do. Duli, dula ..
jobb sz6zszor minI a zab, a hundred times better than oals

Rippajda, rippajdom, Rippajda, rippajdom.

Elesett a Iud a jegen.

The goose has fallen on Ihe ice,
born, mondom, liridom, tirida. bam, I soy, liridom, lirida.

Maid folkel a jovo helen.

it will get up all righl next week,
Duli, dulo, duli, dula .. Duli, dula ..

Osszeuli a bok6j61,
it will click ils heels,

S6rga sarkantyus csizm6j6t.

ils bools wilh yellow spurs.

22 3
 Turat eszik a cigony See the gipsy eats cheese

Turot eszik a cigony, duba,

See the gipsy eats cheese, duba,
Veszekedik azuton, leba,
after thaI he is quarrelling, leba,
Meg azt mondia, pofon vag, duba,
he even says he will slap my face, duba,
Vogia biz a nagyapiiit, leba.
why, he should slap his grandfather, leba.
Turotl
Cheese!

Csipkefa bimboja
The buds of the roseshrub
Kihailatt az ulra,
hang over the road,
Rida, rida, bam, bam, born,
rida, rida, born, born, born,
Kihajlott az utra.
hang over the road.

Arra ment Janosko , Little Janos passed them,

szakait eggyet rola. he picked one of them,
Rida, rida, born, born, born, rida, rida, born, born, born,
Szakajl eggyet rola. he picked one of them.

Turot eszik a cigony, etc. See the gipsy, etc.

24