This volume is made up of studies and articles by Zoltan Kodaly, one of the greatest Hungarian composers and musicologists of the century: the instructor of a whole nation. In selecting the articles and studies the publishers have attempted to give as complete a picture as possible of Kodaly's many-sided activities, at the same time including pieces which are not merely of local interest in Hungary but which possess general validity. They also offer in one and the same volume a portrait of the well loved composer, the epoch-making musicologist and the influential music educationist. The writings have been grouped together with these four elements in mind. The first section contains pieces which concern folk music - Hungarian folk music naturally receiving the greatest attention. In the second there are essays showing the other side of Kodaly's musicological activities in which he writes about predecessors and contemporary composers. This includes a special group of studies concerning his great companion in arms, Bela Bartok. The third section of works in which he put his ideas on music education to paper: ideas which formed the basis for his fight for the reformation of music education in Hungary. The volume is rounded off by a few pieces where he speaks about himself and his own works.