He learnt the piano with Székely and composition with Kodaly. He was not only a renowned interpreter of Bartók’s music but also a contemporary music champion of his time. He taught his art to many a musician : well known pianists, such as Zoltan Kocsis and András Schiff, as well as numerous Hungarian composers (Ligeti and Kurtag to name only two). He was a leading figure of the Hungarian musical life (Kossuth prize in 1950) and was made honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. He composed nine symphonies, several concertos, a large amount of chamber music. Who can that man be?
His name’s Pál Kadosa (1903-1983). Almost forgotten today in Europe and abroad, this key figure of 20th century’s music deserves more attention. His importance in the contemporary repertoire should definitely be reinstated.
He was largely influenced by Bartók and by the neoclassical style in vogue at the beginning of the century. However, he fused those influences, in a most “anti-intellectual” way with the popular Hungarian moods. Kadosa thought popular music was an active engine shaping and giving force to the compositional activity. It gave birth to a form of spontaneity in the music, as can be heard in his little aphorisms for piano but also in his larger musical structures which subtly blend a hard linear counterpoint with meditative moments, sudden fits of anger or desperate gestures.
Kadosa’s music is much more a product of a crisis than a celebration of reality. The composer’s quest for a true new music with Hungarian accents led him to experiment with all the cultural trends of his time : from neoclassicism to free twelve-tones technique, from “barbarism” to late expressionism, from “educational works” for young pianists to fine large-scale compositions for highly professional musicians. Music critics have identified five periods in Kadosa’s creative life:
- 1920s – early 1930s : youth compositions, beginning of public concerts of his music in Hungary and abroad (Venice Biennale in 1934, Strasbourg and Berlin)
- early 1930s – early 1940s : composition of important works (Partita for orchestra [1943], First Symphony [1941-42], Concertino for piano [1938], 2nd violin concerto [1940]), worldwide acclaim, forced war interruption
- 1945 – 1949 : post-war recovery, important positions in the Hungarian musical life (chair of piano teacher at the Budapest Academy, vice-president of the Hungarian Arts Council)
- mid 1950s : intense participation in the Hungarian musical life (cantatas, more accessible large-scale works, Kossuth prize [1950])
- mid 1950s – death : intense didactic life (piano and composition), return to his complex compositional writing of the beginning
To some, this subdivision of Kadosa’s life can be highly questionable. However, the composer’s lifeline is undoubtedly related to the history of Hungary and the whole of Eastern Europe. A promising young pianist and composer gains an international reputation in the 1930s and is then banned by the Nazis. After the war, he comes back to his home country, recovers a new popularity with “engaged” works and ends his life transmitting his enormous knowledge to numerous pupils. Kadosa is the classic case of a composer born “between” other better known generations of composers (such as Günter Bialas in Germany or Luigi Dallapiccola in Italy, with due distinction, of course). His importance lies not only in his historical role in Hungarian musical life but also for the high level of output he produced. He was the ideal bridge from Liszt - Bartók to Ligeti – Kurtag. A role that cannot and must not be forgotten.
Selected Bibliography
Ferenc Bónis, Kadosa Pál Mai magyar zeneszerzik, Zenemükiadó Budapest 1965
János Breuer, Tizenhárom óra Kadosa Pállal [Thirteen hours with Pál Kadosa], Budapest, Editio Musica, 1978
Ilona Lucz, Pál Kadosa the Composer, the Pianist, the Teacher, DLA dissertation, Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, Doctoral School No. 28, Department of Sciences of Art and Cultural History, Budapest, 2009 [in Hungarian only].
Former Kadosa’s student, Ilona Lucz divides her thesis into three parts (see the title). The text contains analysis of some Kadosa’s works and re-discuss the segmentation into periods of his artistic activity. Some interviews with other former Kadosa’s students (J. Jandó, Z. Kocis, etc.) end the volume.
Zoltán Szabó, Kadosa Pál, Muzsika, 1983. Number 6.
Sándor Veress, Kadosa Pál (Közreadja: Breuer János) Muzsika XXVI/11 (1983. november)
András Wilheim, Kadosa Pál müveinek jegyzéke (manuscript)
Rachel Beckles Willson, Ligeti, Kurtág, and Hungarian Music during the Cold War, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2007.
This book mainly focuses on Ligeti and Kurtag. Kadosa only is a side character. However, it is interesting in its description and reconstruction of Hungarian musical life during the Cold War.