"Laudes Organi" was the last large scale work (1966) Kodaly completed. A secular rather than a religious work, it is based on an eloquent Latin text and is "a fantasy on a twelfth century sequence". The work is a summing up of the composer's many interests; the spirit of Gregorian chant, the parlando of Hungarian folk song, the almost visual effects he paints with the divided voices and the magnificent organ interludes, reminiscent of the polyphonic writing of Bach. The whole is nevertheless unmistakably Kodaly and is a wonderful affirmation of his faith in the life-giving power of music. The much-loved " Esti Dal" is based on a folksong collected in Northern Hungary by Kodaly in 1922. "Este", a youthful work - Kodaly was barely 20 when he set the poem by his university teacher Pal Gyulai. The work attained its final form in 1904 and shows remarkable maturity and control. The six-part mixed choir is used to paint a wonderfully evocative pastel of the poem's subject, the peaceful drifting into sleep. |
