Ádám Pálóczi Horváth

Ádám Pálóczi Horváth was born in Kömlőd on 11 May 1760 and died in Nagybajom on 28 January 1820. He was a Hungarian poet whose name is linked to the collection of folk songs and to the history of his country's music. He lived at a time when Hungary's Protestant colleges cultivated national traditions in contrast to the imperial court in Vienna.

The son of a clergyman, he studied at the Reformed College of Debrecen between 1773 and 1780. After a brief spell as a civil servant, he turned to farming. He maintained close ties with the leading Hungarian poets and with the language reformers of his day, and he produced an intense and varied literary output: lyric and epic works, a comedy, and essays on history, linguistics, philosophy and science.

His historical sense found expression in the collection of folk, historical and sacred songs. His manuscript Ó es Új, completed in 1813, contains 357 melodies, among them 45 of his own compositions. His notation was rudimentary: it had no clef, key signature or tempo, although the intervals are reliably recorded. Because it was compiled from the oral tradition, the codex faithfully reflects the popular musical culture of upper-middle-class Hungary around 1800.