Zoltán Kodály (1882–1967) was a Hungarian composer, scholar, and educator who, together with his friend Béla Bartók, laid the foundations of the Hungarian national composing school by collecting and studying thousands of authentic folk songs.
Among his best-known works are the opera “Háry János,” the “Psalmus Hungaricus,” and pieces for choir and orchestra imbued with the melos of Hungarian folklore. Yet worldwide fame came to Kodály not only through music but through pedagogy: the “Kodály method” of children's music education that he developed, built on singing, relative solmisation, and folk song, is used in schools around the world. Kodály's example, uniting folklore collection, composition, and education, is a model of service to a national musical culture.
