Book Review: The Flageolet in England 1660–1914

Abstract

example, she employs the work of other musicologists and their interpretations of the work. One of Dalos’s unique contributions to the scholarship is to bring to light the connection of the work to Hungarian poet Endre Ady’s poem “The Peacock.” Though Kodály himself didn’t reference the poem in the composition, he did quote Ady in his writings and called him a “pathbreaking symbolist poet.” The poem and the composition use the bird as an analogy that juxtaposes beauty and flightlessness. Dalos, along with other musicologists, sees that the work may be an autobiographical work, summarizing his compositions after Psalmus Hungaricus, perhaps wondering if his works will take off and “fly.” She asks whether Kodály may be asking the same about Hungary itself and whether its high ideals will be attainable. The author shows Kodály’s place in the neoclassical tradition and provides a resource for international scholarship, similar to what is already in place for Kodály’s contemporaries (e.g., Bartók). She argues that more than just an outstanding anomaly of genius, Kodály fits into the context of composers his era. This book will be of particular interest to musicologists and those interested in aspects of Kodály’s life that are not yet as celebrated internationally, but which remained a major impetus for his commitment to a better music education in Hungary.