The Hungarian composer

Zoltán Kodály Zoltán Kodály (; hu, Kodály Zoltán, ; 16 December 1882 – 6 March 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály method of music ed ...

wrote his Sonata for Solo Cello in

B minor B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major. The B natural minor scale is: : Changes neede ...

, Op. 8, in 1915. It was first performed in 1918 and published in 1921. It is among the most significant works for solo cello written since

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

Cello Suites The six Cello Suites, BWV 1007–1012, are suites for unaccompanied cello by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). They are some of the most frequently performed solo compositions ever written for cello. Bach most likely composed them during the p ...

. It contains influences of

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

and Bartók, as well as the inflections and nuances of Hungarian folk music.

Structure

The solo sonata is in three

movement Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

Premiere

The

sonata Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...

was written in 1915 but its premiere was delayed due to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

."Zoltán Kodály: Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8"
Classical Archives It was premiered by (1885–1954; sometimes seen as Eugène de Kerpely) in Budapest on 7 May 1918. Kerpely was the cellist of the Waldbauer-Kerpely Quartet, which had premiered the first four string quartets by Bartók. It was published by

Universal Edition Universal Edition (UE) is a classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, they originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market (which had until then been dominated by Leipzig-base ...

in Vienna in 1921.

Recognition

Kodály himself predicted that "in 25 years no cellist will be accepted who has not played it". Indeed, less than 40 years later, in 1956, the sonata was a set piece for the

Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), usually known in English by his Castilian Spanish name Pablo Casals,

Competition in Mexico City."Genre: Classic & Romantic Solo Cello"
6moons.com, December 2009 The performance of the sonata by

George Neikrug George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

(1919–2019) in his debut at the New York Town Hall in 1947 was the first American performance of the work for many years.http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/neikrug4cdbaby

Recordings

János Starker János Starker (; ; July 5, 1924 – April 28, 2013) was a Hungarian-American cellist. From 1958 until his death, he taught at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he held the title of Distinguished Professor. Starker is consider ...

first played the sonata for Kodály at the age of 15, in 1939, then again in 1967 shortly before the composer's death. Kodály told Starker: "If you correct the ritard in the third movement, it will be the Bible performance." Starker recorded it four times (1948, 1950, 1956 and 1970), the 1948 78-rpm recording winning a

Grand Prix du Disque Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and commu ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sonata for Solo Cello (Kodaly) Kodaly Solo cello pieces 1915 compositions Compositions by Zoltán Kodály Compositions in B minor