Zoltán Kodály is a leading figure of twentieth-century Hungarian music, whose works display a remarkably distinctive form of eclecticism. Among his harmonic procedures we encounter innovative ideas that merit special attention, yet many of these phenomena have been only partially explored in the music-theoretical literature that has accumulated over the past decades. The present study introduces one such progressive chord, which in Hungarian music theory bears Kodály’s own name. This is the so-called Kodály-dominant, a harmony that reaches the tonic through a dominant ninth chord built on the Neapolitan degree. Although the conceptual background of the chord can be traced to the axis system, this study also presents a previously unidentified Kodályan attribute, one that reframes the interpretation of the harmony and situates it within a new analytical context.
Selected Writings on Music
Selected Writings on Music
The author was active as a conductor, music-teacher, editor, composer and musicologist. The ingenuity of his writings on musical theory…
Music Analysis
Used by: Liszt Ferenc Zenemuveszeti Egyetem (HUNGARY)
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