# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/zoltan-kodaly
# Generated: 2026-09-07T19:08:18.697Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/zoltan-kodaly"
name: "Zoltán Kodály"
slug: "zoltan-kodaly"
description: "He built a system that taught millions of children to sing before they could read music — not through rote drill but by unlocking the ear first. The method spread from Hungarian village schools to concert halls worldwide, and his name became shorthand for a philosophy: that music literacy belongs to everyone, not just the conservatory-bound."
tagline: "Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue (1882–1967)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Zolt%C3%A1n_Kod%C3%A1ly_(1928%2C_P%C3%A1l_M._Vajda).jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Musicians"
  slug: "musicians"
profileType:
  name: "Singer / Musician"
  slug: "singer"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q177220"
birthDate: "1882-12-16"
deathDate: "1967-03-06"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           54.34
  momentum:             0
  historical:           23.824028
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     70
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Musicians"
    slug: "musicians"
  - name: "Writer / Author"
    slug: "writer-author"
  - name: "Classical"
    slug: "classical"
  - name: "Politics"
    slug: "politics"
  - name: "20th Century"
    slug: "20th-century"
platforms:
  - platform:  "IMDB"
    url:       "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0462697/"
    handle:    "nm0462697"
  - platform:  "SPOTIFY"
    url:       "https://open.spotify.com/artist/7MjAFDEchgyC28I0asclTE"
    handle:    "7MjAFDEchgyC28I0asclTE"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q153008"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolt%C3%A1n_Kod%C3%A1ly"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Zolt%C3%A1n%20Kod%C3%A1ly"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B2%D9%88%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86_%D9%83%D9%88%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%89"
    title: "زولتان كوداى"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoltan_Koday"
    title: "Zoltan Koday"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%97%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD_%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%B9"
    title: "Золтан Кодай"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%97%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD_%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%B9"
    title: "Золтан Кодай"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://br.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolt%C3%A1n_Kod%C3%A1ly"
    title: "Zoltán Kodály"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolt%C3%A1n_Kod%C3%A1ly"
    title: "Zoltán Kodály"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolt%C3%A1n_Kod%C3%A1ly"
    title: "Zoltán Kodály"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolt%C3%A1n_Kod%C3%A1ly"
    title: "Zoltán Kodály"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolt%C3%A1n_Kod%C3%A1ly"
    title: "Zoltán Kodály"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%96%CF%8C%CE%BB%CF%84%CE%B1%CE%BD_%CE%9A%CF%8C%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B1%CF%8A"
    title: "Ζόλταν Κόνταϊ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolt%C3%A1n_Kod%C3%A1ly"
    title: "Zoltán Kodály"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolt%C3%A1n_Kod%C3%A1ly"
    title: "Zoltán Kodály"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolt%C3%A1n_Kod%C3%A1ly"
    title: "Zoltán Kodály"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B2%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86_%DA%A9%D8%AF%D8%A7%DB%8C"
    title: "زلتان کدای"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolt%C3%A1n_Kod%C3%A1ly"
    title: "Zoltán Kodály"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolt%C3%A1n_Kod%C3%A1ly"
    title: "Zoltán Kodály"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hak.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kod%C3%A1ly_Zolt%C3%A1n"
    title: "Kodály Zoltán"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%96%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%98%D7%90%D7%9F_%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%93%D7%90%D7%99"
    title: "זולטאן קודאי"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kod%C3%A1ly_Zolt%C3%A1n"
    title: "Kodály Zoltán"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D4%B6%D5%B8%D5%AC%D5%BF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D4%BF%D5%B8%D5%A4%D5%A1%D5%B5"
    title: "Զոլտան Կոդայ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolt%C3%A1n_Kod%C3%A1ly"
    title: "Zoltán Kodály"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zolt%C3%A1n_Kod%C3%A1ly"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://musicbrainz.org/artist/f0b9f872-502d-4ff4-825e-5b97aee4f0c0"
    title: "MusicBrainz"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://www.discogs.com/artist/833181"
    title: "Discogs"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolt%C3%A1n_Kod%C3%A1ly"
    title: "Zoltán Kodály"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolt%C3%A1n_Kod%C3%A1ly"
    title: "Zoltán Kodály"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B2%D9%88%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86_%D9%83%D9%88%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%8A"
    title: "زولتان كوداي"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Born in December 1882, Kodály grew up in a Hungary where folk song still lived in daily use, not yet archived or romanticized. He collected those songs directly from villages, traveling with recording equipment and notebooks, work that fed both his compositions and his conviction that a nation's music should spring from its own soil. By mid-century he'd become as known for pedagogy as for concert works, designing a sequence that started with the voice, moved through folk melody, and built literate musicians from the ground up. The method took root in Hungarian schools, then jumped borders. He continued refining it until his death in March 1967, by which point "Kodály" meant both a man and a way of learning to hear.