School of Music

The Debrecen School of Music was founded in 1861 by the Society for the School of Music as well as the members of the Choir and student orchestra who had been trained by the Reformed College. They were later joined by chamber musicians and music-lovers who hosted home concerts who then erected a “palace,” that is a two-storied building in 1894. In the first year of its operation the school had 270 students and when it celebrated the 75th anniversary of its foundation this number was 900. The founder of the school and chair of the Society for the School of Music was Ferenc Farkas, ironmonger, himself an enthusiastic musician and a member of the amateur orchestras in Debrecen. Today the building hosts the Kodály Zoltán Vocational School of Music. The eclectic building is the oldest one of its kind in Hungary, specially designed for the teaching of music. The Kodály Hall, Debrecen’s concert hall with its excellent acoustics, is the venue for several public and free concerts funded by the school from the so-called Kodály inheritance, since the institution receives 10% of the royalties deriving from the performance or publication of Kodály’s works. The school library has a significant collection of musical notes and books as well as documents and audiovisual materials supporting the teaching and learning of music.