SCORES OF A FOLKSONG: FROM COLLECTION TO MUSIC TEXTBOOKS

Abstract

In my study, I follow the notational journey of the folk song Ablakomba, ablakomba besütött a holdvilág, collected by Béla Bartók. While attending music lessons I experienced that several versions of this folksong were being taught in the lessons. The most striking difference appears in the melody of the third line of the folk song, which may have several reasons. In addition to presumed problems with musical memory and intonation, there are also errors in notation. This paper aims to explore these failures and their causes, with a view to using the research findings to benefit public education. For this reason, I considered it necessary to investigate the circumstances of folk song collection in terms of folk music recordings, sheet music and text published by the Institute of Musicology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Starting from the collection, the arrangement by Bartók is studied first. Then the scores found in music textbooks are interpreted in chronological order, from the version published in the book entitled Iskolai énekgyűjtemény[1] to the textbook version found in Ének-zene 12.[2] I will also try to explain the melodic and metrical differences in the textbooks, as well as the second and further verses.

[1]   Kodály, Zoltán & Kerényi, György. Iskolai énekgyűjtemény II. 11-14 éves tanulóknak (School song collection II. for 11-14 year old pupils), Országos Közoktatási Tanács, Budapest, 1944.

[2]   Tapodi, Attila. Ének-zene 12 (Music 12th), Oktatási Hivatal, Budapest, 2020.