Zoltán Kodály
Dances of Marosszék
Short instrumentation: 2 2 2 2 - 4 2 0 0 - timp, perc, str
Duration: 12'
Instrumentation details:
1st flute
2nd flute (+picc)
1st clarinet in A (+cl(Bb))
2nd clarinet in A (+cl(Bb))
1st oboe
2nd oboe
bassoon
contrabassoon
1st horn in F
2nd horn in F
3rd horn in F
4th horn in F
1st trumpet
2nd trumpet
timpani
percussion
violin I
violin II
viola
violoncello
contrabass
Kodály - Marosszéker Tänze for orchestra
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Zoltán Kodály
Kodály: Dances of Marosszek for orchestraOrchestration: for orchestra
Type: Dirigierpartitur
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Audio preview
Work introduction
“My nurse, a Hungarian from Marosszék, was a good singer, a good Heyduc dancer“, writes John Kemeny, prince of Transylvania (1607-1662) in his autobiography.
It is perhaps no accident that most of the old folk-dance music has been preserved unto our days in the district of Marosszék and that some pieces are called “Marosszéki” even in other regions.
It is probable that these pieces, known to us as instrumental, were originally sung. Of some of them the worded vocal has even been found. Until the war, one could hear such pieces in every village, played either on the violin or on a shepherd’s flute; old people used to sing them. The famous Hungarian dances, world-famous through Brahms are the expression of the spirit of the Hungarian city about 1860, being mostly composed by native musicians of this epoch. The Marosszék dances are of a former period, suggestive of the image of Transylvania, once called “Fairyland”.
Zoltan Kodály.