Serenade for Two Violins and Viola, Op. 12 - I. Allegramente, by Zoltán Kodály

Please CLICK THE LINK HERE to let us know what you think of the music! Thank you. https://www.sheltermusicboston.org/smb-survey.html Serenade for Two Violins and Viola, Op. 12 - I. Allegramente, by Zoltán Kodály Amy, violin Betsy, violin Rebecca, viola Performance video and audio by Josh Wareham joshwwareham.com Thank you to Susan Wilson for the use of her photography studio as a recording space. http://www.susanwilsonphoto.com/ Zoltan Kodaly (16 December 1882 – 6 March 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. Born in Kecskemét, Hungary, Kodály learned to play the violin as a child. In 1905 he visited remote villages to collect songs, recording them on phonograph cylinders. In 1906 he wrote a thesis on Hungarian folk song, "Strophic Construction in Hungarian Folksong". At around this time Kodály met fellow composer and compatriot Béla Bartók, whom he took under his wing and introduced to some of the methods involved in folk song collecting. The two became lifelong friends and champions of each other's music. Kodály’s compositional style blends classical, late-romantic, impressionist, and modernist traditions, as well as utilizing his expansive knowledge of Hungarian folk tradition. However, he did not receive much public acclaim until 1923. This was the year when one of his best-known pieces, Psalmus Hungaricus, was given its first performance at a concert to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the union of Buda and Pest. Throughout his adult life, Kodály was very interested in the problems of many types of music education, and he wrote a large amount of material on teaching methods as well as composing plenty of music intended for children's use. Beginning in 1935, along with his colleague Jenö Ádám (14 years his junior), he embarked on a long-term project to reform music teaching in Hungary's lower and middle schools. His work resulted in the publication of several highly influential books, as well as the eventual development of the “Kodály method”. This concert was recorded live and is not a studio production. We hope the music brings joy, comfort, and well being to all who listen and watch.

Added 5 Aug 2026