Variations on a Hungarian Folksong

Kodály’s orchestral masterpiece Peacock Variations, as it is generally named, was completed and first performed in 1939. Every Hungarian concert-goer knew that the folk song “Felszállott a Páva” (“The Peacock Roared”), with its words “Fly, peacock, fly…to bring freedom to poor prisoners”, was a much loved symbol of yearning for national liberty. Hungary’s Nazi-supporting government knew it too, and banned further performances throughout the Second World War. The song melody appears in outline at the start, as low cellos and basses launch the work’s beautiful introduction, with the theme itself then announced by a solo oboe. Sixteen brilliantly imaginative variations follow; the first 10 of these, all short and mostly quick, are a continuous sequence. Next come three slower and darker variations, the third being an ominous march led by the trombone and trumpet sections. Scintillating woodwind solos then symbolise the peacock in flight; and two more variations lead to the finale’s resplendent closing statement of the theme for full orchestra.