Notated melodies in the folks memory
Studying the relationship between the tunes in historical sources and the 20-21st century folk-and traditional music soundrecordings and notations on site in the folk musical collection is one of the most important branches of ethnomusicological research in Hungary since Zoltán Kodály’s (1882–1967) initiations. Materials in different historical periods, mainly the handwritten songbooks at the turn of 18th–19th century, further handwritten or published song – and instrumental musical collections in the 19th century, have many interesting elements in connection to this comparison. The study shows folksongs and instrumental music from the living folklore comparing them with their historical musical (and textual) notation. Some examples are from Hungarian life as a national minority in Slovakia, while others are from the Hungarian minority in today’s Romania (Transylvania) or other territories.
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