EN
This talk introduces the world-famous composer, musicologist, folk music expert and educator Zoltán Kodály as an admirer of his mother tongue (and to some extent its researcher, too), on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of his birth and the 40th anniversary of his death. The speaker lists the factors that turned Kodály's attention towards studying the Hungarian language, with special emphasis on the role of the Eötvös College and Professor Zoltán Gombocz in that respect. Kodály's relevant public speeches and writings are then discussed, as well as which outstanding pieces of Hungarian poetry and prose he set to music and in what other ways he contributed to the musical (and in general, national) awareness of Hungarians. He was especially interested, obviously, in spoken language, in live speech. He spoke up against what he thought was the 'deterioration' of this language in 1937 (and in 1938 in a radio commentary). In fact, however, he devoted all his life to exploring Hungarian folk music and making his mother tongue a better, more flexible vehicle of communicating one's thoughts and feelings.