Section A

The following answer to Question 1 from the Dances of Galánta practice questions was written under timed conditions. Even though the candidate has used continuous prose on this occasion, remember that you can write your answer in whatever format you prefer, as long as your content successfully answers the question. Some annotated examiner comments have also been included to give you an idea of what they are looking for when assessing a candidate's work.

Béla Bartók once wrote: “If I were to name the composer whose works are the most perfect embodiment of the Hungarian spirit, I would answer, Kodály.” Discuss this statement with clear reference to at least three passages in Dances of Galánta.

Answer:

Although it was written for a symphony orchestra, Kodály's Dances of Galánta embodies the Hungarian spirit in a number of significant musical ways.

Probably the most important musical aspect was his use of the Gypsy ‘verbunkos’ dance style, which was used to recruit young men into the Hungarian army in the 18th and 19th centuries. The music was divided into two main sections, slow and fast. The dignified slow dance starting at b50 is played as a clarinet solo, a reminder of the similar single reed instrument found in Gypsy bands. The melody is 16 bars long with regular phrasing, and is borrowed from an original Gypsy dance, although Kodály has changed the original quaver and semiquaver rhythms into something more suitable for the slow verbunkos, with dotted rhythms in every bar, many ending in flamboyant turn- like triplet figures. Another Hungarian feature is that the melody is built from a 2- bar phrase (bb50- 51) which is then repeated in a descending sequence. Like many of the Gypsy tunes used in this piece this theme starts in one key and ends in another; in this example E minor, ending in A minor on a tierce de Picardie (b65).

The second section in a verbunkos dance was always quicker and wilder as can be seen in the Allegro melody (bb236- 241).