The Speed’s the Thing: Fast

and Furious Choral Music from

Hungary
Philip Copeland

conductor and teacher

Choral conductors spend a large amount of time searching for

the perfect piece to fit their choir. For many, the most
challenging part of selecting repertoire is finding up-tempo
choral literature. Slow works abound in our profession but
fast-moving contrapuntal lines are hard to locate. Many
composers seem to prefer delegating the burden of rhythmic
drive and momentum to the piano or other accompanying
instrument. Outstanding unaccompanied works with a fast tempo
are particularly difficult to find.

In the rehearsal room, we find that faster music is harder to

master and it requires more repetitions to achieve excellence.
Chorus members tend to learn faster music more slowly; they
seem to understand harmonic language more quickly than
counterpoint. For the conductor, the process of committing to
a faster work is a bit of a risk and the payoff must be worth
the effort required. We must make sure that the music we
select is outstanding in quality and accessible to our choirs
in the amount of time we have to learn it.

In an effort to assist the discovery of exceptional music of a

faster tempo, this article presents five outstanding works
drawn from the choral music of Hungary. The composers
represent several generations and all are craftsmen of the
highest quality.
Jozsef Karai

Jozsef Karai was born in 1927 and

studied in Budapest and Pécs
between 1935 and 1946. In the
years between 1947 and 1954 he
studied composition with János
Viski and Ferenc Farkas and
conducting with János Ferencsik,
András Kórodi and László Somogyi
at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of
Music. A popular choral
conductor, he directed several
choruses in Budapest and has
composed a large body of choral music since 1969.[1]

Karai’s Alleluja (EMC 198163) is one of the composer’s best

known choral works. It looks to be a work that the composer
struggled with for a time because it bears this note on the
th
music: “On the 13 of May, 1981, after the unsuccessful
attempt . . . . Revised in 1989.” The Karai Alleluia is an
exciting piece of choral music and an excellent opening work
or transition out of a slower piece of music. It begins with
a chanted line (Figure 1) from a tenor soloist and then moves
into a spirited entrance from each voice part.

Figure 1. Karai, “Allelua”, m. 1

(Click on the image to download the full score)

 “Used by permission of Porfiri & Horváth Publishers”

The opening chant is an important part of structure of the

work; it is the basis for all of his counterpoint as he weaves
the line throughout each voice. (See Figure 2 for a variation
of the chant used in the opening part of the piece)

Figure 2. Karai, “Allelua”, m. 3-5

(Click on the image to download the full score)

“Used by permission of Porfiri & Horváth Publishers”

Although primarily in C Major, the piece temporarily passes

through other key relationships that are easy to understand
and sing. He arrives at each cadence logically and easily.
The different cadences are similar to each other and they give
unity to the work. In Figure 3, note how the composer uses a
variation of the chant line in the soprano/alto part to arrive
at a significant cadence in m. 49.

Figure 3. Karai, “Allelua”, m. 47-49

(Click on the image to download the full score)

“Used by permission of Porfiri & Horváth Publishers”

Karai’s Alleluia is a masterpiece of economy and excitement.

Other works to explore by the composer include the fast moving
Hodie Christus, natus est for SSAA (Akkord Music, AKKOR00004)
and De profundis for mixed choir (EMB 2452).

Sándor Szokolay
Sándor Szokolay is a Hungarian
composer born in 1931. A
student of Ferenc Szabo and
Ferenc Farkas, Szokolay is an
award-winning composer of
instrumental, vocal, and choral
music. [2] One of his best known
choral works is Duo motetti, op.
22 (EMB Z 8374). This work
premiered in the 1962
International Choral Competition
in Arezzo and features two
movements drawn from biblical sources: i. Domine non secundum
and ii. Cantate Domino.

The second movement, Cantate Domino, can be effectively used

as an opening work for the conductor interested in a fast and
dramatic beginning to a concert. It starts with dual-
glissando like entrances in the women’s and men’s voices.
(Figure 4)

Figure 4. Szokolay, “Cantate Domino,” m. 1-3

(Click on the image to

download the full score)

Copyright 1977 by Editio Musica Budapest

Szokolay’s music is very theatrical and filled with accented
entrances, rhythmic drive and glorious dissonance. The
composer’s skillful use of repetition keeps the musical
material organized and cohesive; the opening flourish that
captures the listener in the opening moments of the work
appears soon after the beginning and both parts are sung again
in a Da Capo.

Szokolay uses high ranges notes and stretto entrances to build

the first climax of the work. (Figure 5).

Figure 5. Szokolay, “Cantate Domino,” m. 22-25

(Click on the image to

download the full score)

Copyright 1977 by Editio Musica Budapest

From there, Szokolay continues to employ contrast as a chief

part of the composition. Women are set against men and
harmonic sections are set against rhythmic flourishes. The
rhythmic passages culminate in another dramatic climax that
finds relief in a more homophonic section.

After a repeat of the beginning section of music, the piece

ends in a dramatic clash between D flat Major and C Major
chords (Figure 6).

Figure 6. Szokolay, “Cantate Domino,” m. 95-96

(Click on the image to download the full score)

Copyright 1977 by Editio Musica Budapest

György Orbán

György Orbán, born in 1947,

teaches at the Liszt Academy of
Music in Budapest. A popular
composer, he is well known for
his Daemon irrepit callidus.
Orban’s Pange lingua is similar
in style to Daemon and deserves
to be better known. The Pange
lingua text describes the last
supper of Christ and touches on
the mystery of
transubstantiation. Orbán’s
setting of the text is joyful and exuberant, even though the
text is normally associated with Maundy Thursday and Holy
Week.

Like Daemon, the Pange lingua has a driving sixteenth-note

pattern that provides the dramatic energy of the work. In
contrast to the driving sixteenth notes, Orban provides a
soaring melody that is carried by paired male and female
voices. (see Figure 7)

Figure 7. Orban, “Pange lingua,” m. 9-12

(Click on the image to download the

full score)

© 2013 Hinshaw Music, Inc, reprinted with permission

Orban’s Pange lingua rarely deviates from the driving

sixteenth note intensity that he establishes at the beginning
of the work. When he does go away from it, he is either
bringing a brief moment of repose to the intensity or drawing
attention to the dramatic nature of the text. This can be seen
in Figure 8, when the composer has the choir sing the same
rhythm to draw attention to the dramatic tension in the text
“fitque sanguis Christi merum: et si sensus deficit.”
(Translation: And wine becomes the blood of Christ; and if
sense fails to perceive this . . . ) (see Figure 8)
 Figure 8. Orban, “Pange lingua,” m. 77-80

(Click on the image to

download the full score)

© 2013 Hinshaw Music, Inc, reprinted with permission

Following a dramatic climax, the composer ends the work by

repeating the text ‘sola fides sufficit’ in each voice for
seven measures. His goal seems to be to wind down the
dramatic energy of the text and music with a meditation on a
message of hope. To end the piece, he inserts a short
reappearance of the sixteenth-note figure whispering the words
‘pange lingua.’

György Orbán’s Pange lingua is a rhythmically challenging work

and well worth the effort. Hinshaw Publishing is making it
available in the United States in January 2013. Other notable
works include his Salve Regina (HMC1498) and Orpheus With His
Lute (Lanthur Ha Szol) (HMC1766).

Levente Gyöngyösi
Levente Gyöngyösi was born in 1975
in Cluj Napoka, Romania and moved
to Hungary in 1989 where he was a
student in the Béla Bartók
Secondary Music School. Gyöngyösi
calls himself a Romania-born
Hungarian composer. A student of
Görgy Orban, Gyöngyösi is quickly
gaining a reputation as an
outstanding choral composer. He
has served as served on the theory
music faculty of the Academy of
Music since 2002

Gyöngyösi’s Domine Deus meus is dedicated to André van der

Merwe and the Stellenbosch University Choir. It is marked
vivace furioso and it is a brilliant assault on the listener
in terms of tempo, rhythmic energy, and dissonance. It
begins with a fanfare-like b-minor chord of open fifths in the
upper range and then repeats the fanfare and extends it into
an exploration of dissonant chords. (see Figure 9)

Figure 9. Gyöngyösi, “Domine Deus meus,” m. 1-4

(Click on the image to

download the full score)
 Used by permission of Kontrapunkt Music

Similary to Orban, Gyöngyösi employs the technique of driving

rhythmic patterns as accompaniment to longer melodic lines.
He repeats the first syllable of the word ‘domine’ to add to
the rhythmic drive of the piece. The melodic lines build with
harmonic interest and dissonance. (see Figure 10)

Figure 10. Gyöngyösi, “Domine Deus meus,” m. 29-31

(Click on the image to

download the full score)

Used by permission of Kontrapunkt Music

Gyöngyösi brings relief to the dramatic tension in two ways.

First, he occasionally drops rhythmic and harmonic motion to
sustain on a single note (Figure 11):

Figure 11. Gyöngyösi, “Domine Deus meus,” m. 40-44

 (Click on the image to
download the full score)

Used by permission of Kontrapunkt Music

Gyöngyösi also supplies a short homophonic section in the

middle of the work (see Figure 11)

Figure 11. Gyöngyösi, “Domine Deus meus,” m. 100-108

(Click on the image to

download the full score)

Used by permission of Kontrapunkt Music

Gyöngyösi is certainly a composer to watch as his works

increase. His Gloria Kajoniensis was recently awarded 1 st

Prize by the Jury of the European Award for Choral Composers.
Other notable works include his Puer natus in Bethlehem, also
dedicated to André van der Merwe and the Stellenbosch
University Choir.
Peter Tóth

Like Gyöngyösi, Peter Tóth is

one of the newest generation of
composers from Hungary. Born in
1965, he currently serves as
Associate Professor and
department head of the music
department at the University of
Szeged. He founded Café
Momusnzk in 1998, an online
magazine dedicated to the
classical music of Hungary. In
2009, he founded Kontrapunkt Music Publishing, a company with
the stated goal of fostering the publishing and performing of
Hungarian choral works.

Tóth’s Magnus, maior, maximus for women’s choir (SSAA) is a

brilliant piece of fast-moving choral music. The work opens
with a short two measure introductory portion and then
introduces a rhythmic figure that becomes a fundamental part
of the whole (see Figure 12).

Figure 12. Tóth, “Magnus, maior, maximus,” m. 3-7

(Click on the image to

download the full score)

Used by permission of Kontrapunkt Music

Tóth’s composition resembles aspects of Orban’s Pange lingua
and Gyöngyösi’s Domine Deus meus with the repeated eighth-note
rhythmic pattern that is evenually contrasted with a soaring
lyrical line. Tóth takes it a bit further, however, by
contrasting the pulsing 7/8 rhythm with the more lyrical line
appearing in a different meter (4/4). (see Figure 13)

Figure 13. Tóth, “Magnus, maior, maximus,” m. 22-25

(Click on the image to

download the full score)

Used by permission of Kontrapunkt Music

The contrast of rhythmic and melodic elements in the work is

fascinating. First, the composer takes care to firmly
establish the 7/8 rhythmic element in the first twenty-one
measures of the piece with repetition and some exploration of
the music in related keys. The lyrical melody makes it’s
first appearance in m. 22 in the lowest voice. When the
lyrical element first appears, it is in the meter of 4/4 but
is set against the 7/8 pattern; the resulting rhythmic
dissonance is reminiscent of a person holding two different
thoughts in their mind at the same time, (see Figure 13).

The composer continues to exploit this contrast for the rest

of the piece, breaking up each occurrence of the lyrical-
rhythmic juxtaposition by a few measures of other musical
material. The lyrical line is appears again in the lowest
voice (m. 29-33) and is joined by the soprano a moment later
(m. 36-40) voice. The more lyrical idea is taken up by the
other voices in an imitative setting in m. 43-45 and then
vanishes for a moment as the more rhythmical music makes a
full appearance. (see Figure 14)

Figure 14. Tóth, “Magnus, maior, maximus,” m. 44-47

(Click on the image to

download the full score)

Used by permission of Kontrapunkt Music

The juxtaposition occurs one more time in m. 57-64 and then

the lyrical element makes a full statement of its idea (m.
69-74). There is a little ending action as the rhythmic idea
makes a brief appearance and then the piece ends softly on a
unison note.

[1] http://www.dolmetsch.com/index.htm

[2]
http://info.bmc.hu/index.phpnode=artists&table=SZERZO&id=94
Edited by Graham Lack, Germany