Selected Chronology

1882 Zoltán Kodály is born in Kecskemét on 16 December.
1892-1900 Earliest compositions.
1900 Compositional studies at the Liszt Music Academy and academic studies at the Eötvös College and at the Péter Pázmány University (autumn).
1904 Trips to Bayreuth, Munich and Salzburg.
1905 Meets first wife Emma Schlesinger and Béla Bartók. First expedition to collect folk-songs.
1906 Doctoral dissertation: The Strophic Structure of Hungarian Folk-Songs. Debut of Summer Evening (22 October). In collaboration with Bartók, his Hungarian Folk-Songs appears (December).
1906-1907 Studies in Berlin and Paris.
1907 Professor of theory and composition at the Music Academy in Budapest (autumn).
1908 Trips to Switzerland and Italy.
1910 First composer's evening in Budapest (17 March). Debut of First String Quartet Op. 2, Piano music Op. 3, Sonata for violoncello and piano Op. 4, etc. (Zurich, 29 May). Marriage to Emma Schlesinger (3 August). First folksong-collecting trip to Transylvania (summer).
1914 Finishes his Duo for Violin and Cello Op. 7.
1915 Solo Sonata for Cello Op. 8.
1916 Completion of the song-cycle Seven Songs (Late Melodies) Op. 6.
1917-1919 Active as a music critic.
1918 Second composer's evening in Budapest (7 May). First performances of Duo Op. 7, Solo Sonata Op. 8, song cycle Verspätete Melodien Op. 6, 2nd String Quartet Op. 10.
1919 Assistant director of the Music Academy (February). Suspended; disciplinary hearings initiated.
1920 Successfully refutes the investigatory commission's accusations.
1921 Teaches once again at the Music Academy (September). World premiere of Two Songs Op. 5
1923 World premiere of Psalmus Hungaricus Op. 13 (19 November). Concerts marking the 50th anniversary of the union of the cities of Buda and Pest .
1925 First performance of choral works for children (2 April).
1926 First foreign performance of Psalmus Hungaricus in Zurich (18 June). First performance of Háry János at the Budapest Opera House (16 October).
1927 Premiere of the Háry Suite in Barcelona (24 March). Debut as conductor, leading Psalmus Hungaricus in Amsterdam (20 April). First trip to England (December).
1929 Children's Choirs - a study in which he first formulates his pedagogic principles.
1930 His first visit to his birthplace (March). Toscanini and the New York Philharmonic perform Summer Evening (3 April). Lecturer at Péter Pázmány University (Autumn). Fritz Busch premieres the orchestral version of Dances of Marosszék in Dresden (28 November). Finishes Mátra Pictures for mixed choir.
1932 Premiere of Spinning Room at the Budapest Opera House (24 April). Celebratory concerts marking his 50th birthday (December).
1933 Dances of Galánta first performed in Budapest (23 October).
1934 Member of National Literary and Artistic Committee. Finishes Jesus and the Traders, with biblical text.
1936 Premiere of his Te Deum in St. Matthias Church (2 September).
1937 Hungarian Folk Music appears - also published in numerous foreign languages.
1939 Mengelberg conducts the Peacock Variations in Amsterdam (23 November).
1941 The Chicago Symphony Orchestra premieres his Concerto (6 February).
1943 Elected associate member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts and Sciences (14 May).
1945 Premiere of Missa Brevis in the cloakroom of the Budapest Opera House, while the city is still under siege (11 February).
1946 Named as president of the Hungarian Artistic Committee (16 January).
1946-1947 First trip to America. Conducts numerous concerts featuring his own works. Guest trips to England, the Soviet Union.
1947 Awarded the title of honorary citizen of Kecskemét. First trip to the Soviet Union.
1947-1950 President of the Hungarian Academy of Arts and Sciences.
1950 Forms the ethnomusicological branch of the Hungarian Academy of Arts and Sciences.
1951 Debut performance of Kálló Folk-Dances with the State Folk Ensemble (April). First volume of the Archive of Hungarian Folk Music appears (November).
1954 Emma suffers a broken leg; Kodály moves into the hospital with her (23 August).
1955 Radio performance of Bartók's complete works for piano (1 January). Premiere of the Hymn of Zrínyi at the Music Academy (18 December).
1955-1956 Leader of festivals to celebrate Bartók.
1956 Leaves Budapest upon the outbreak of the Hungarian Uprising (around 20 October).
1957 Returns to Budapest (8 January). Calls for amnesty for those condemned on account of taking part in the Hungarian Uprising of 1956. In honour of his 75th birthday he receives an honorary doctorate from the University of Budapest.
1958 Member of the Belgian Academy of Sciences.
After 49 years of marriage to Kodály, Emma dies (22 November).
1959 Marries Sarolta Péczely (18 December).
1960 Visits England. Receives an honorary doctorate from Oxford (April-June). Supervises the recording of his works (summer). Taken to hospital after suffering a heart attack (1 December).
1961 Elected president of the International Folk-Music Committee in Quebec (August). At the Lucerne Festival, the Symphony is performed in his presence (16 August).
1962 Kodály's 80th birthday. Large-scale celebrations in Budapest and across the world (December).
1964 Gives speech at the dedication ceremony of the new building of the Kecskemét Music Primary School. Elected honorary president during the Budapest conference of the International Society for Musical Education (June-July). His pedagogical methods reach the world at large.
1965 Receives the Herder Prize in Vienna (April). Second trip to the United States (July-August).
1966 Premiere of his last completed work, Laudes Organi, in Atlanta (June).
1967 Dies from a heart attack (6:45 AM, 6 March).