Hungary has won high renown in world musical history. Though the country's history has repeatedly prevented uninterrupted development, talented Hungarian musicians in classical music and jazz alike are world famous in our days as well. The history of Hungarian music stared with folk music and it was through adaptations of folk music in compositions of Béla Bartók that it joined the vanguard of international music in the last century. The unique folkloric flavour is still present in the most recent genres as well.

The research of Hungarian music from the time of the Hungarian Conquest is intertwined with the research of folk music: ?old style" genres with their descending melodic line, Transylvanian pentatonic laments and Hungarian diatonic laments, swineherds' dances accompanied by pipe originating in the Middle Ages all survived in folk tradition.. However, the shamanistic songs of ancient times have not been reproduced.

After the adoption of Christianity and the strengthening of the church, a unique Hungarian version of the Gregorian chant evolved. In the 10th-11th centuries elementary musical education was one of the fundamental tasks of schools, and richly ornamented codices containing choral pieces were produced using a special Hungarian method of musical notation. In villages, music for entertainment accompanied by the pipe, drum and chanting was played.. As towns emerged, Gregorian chants were performed in two voices and became more colourful.

King Matthias maintained a choir and chamber orchestra of European standards, and famous artists of his age visited his court. The Turkish occupation of Hungary, however, shredded this outstanding musical culture, to be replaced by Lutenist Sebestyén Tinódi's unisonous verse chronicles commemorating sieges. Only the princes of Transylvania sponsored musical arts; famous composers, Palestrina among them, worked in their courts. Bálint Bakfark, a lutenist who achieved world fame in the 16th century, also came from Transylvania.

After the end of the Turkish occupation, church music was reborn in the baroque style of the 18th century. The collection of sheet music of the cathedral of Gyõr includes the works of Mozart and Haydn, who composed music for the bishopric. Members of the aristocracy also sponsored music. Duke Pál Eszterházy of Kismarton published Harmonia Caelestis, a collection of church cantatas, and Joseph Haydn, one of the classical composers of Vienna, conducted his orchestra for thirty years.

Still, the real rejuvenation of Hungarian music is attributable to the ?verbunkos", a late 18th century style. The men's dance, originally associated with the recruitment of soldiers, alloys traditional Hungarian dance music and western harmonies. This music was played mostly by gypsy bands, which gave rise to the misconception surviving to this day that gypsy folk music is the real Hungarian music. The verbunkos and folksy songs, however, earned gypsy band leaders, for instance MárkRózsavölgyi and János Bihari, international recognition, while certain of their motifs were incorporated in the stage music of BéniEgressy. Hungarian motifs are present in the music of the greatest composers, for instance, Beethoven, Mozart, Weber, Brahms or Berlioz. Berlioz' Rákóczi March is a popular favourite.

During the 19th century informal domestic concerts became fashionable; concerts were organised, sheet music publication and the manufacturing of musical instruments began, music schools were formed. It was in this environment that Ferenc Erkel, composer of BanBánk és a László Hunyadi, two great national operas of Hungary, managed to amalgamate verbunkos and European music. He was the one to set to music the Hungarian national anthem. Hungarian composed music was elevated to international rank by Ferenc Liszt, who started his career as a piano virtuoso and who, incidentally, barely spoke Hungarian. In the second half of the century Budapest was in the European vanguard because of its Opera House, orchestras and noted conductors (Gustav Mahler). In rural areas, in the age of migrations inherent in seasonal agricultural labour, the new style of folk songs with their arched melodic line emerged.

At the turn of the century operettas, well liked to this day, became immensely popular. The best known composers of the genre were Imre Kálmán, JenõHuszka and Ferenc Lehár. At that time the young ZoltánKodály and Béla Bartók were already touring Transylvania and the countryside.. Kodály combined late romantic tradition with the treasure-trove of Hungarian folk songs he collected and studied, but it was the ?Kodály method" revolutionising musical education that earned him international fame. Béla Bartók became one of the most outstanding figures in musical history by amalgamating folk songs and modern music and discovering of new rhythmic patterns and tonalities. His most important pieces: Bluebeard's Castle (opera), The Wooden Prince (ballet), The Miraculous Mandarin (pantomime), Cantata Profana (choir piece). His contemporaries, ErnõDohnányi and Leó Weiner also found inspiration in folk music.

The communist dictatorship after the war demanded ?folksy" music ?understandable for the masses"; as a result, several noted composers, among them György Ligeti, as well as musicians emigrated. In musical education, Kodály's principles of popular music prevailed, therefore amateur orchestras and choirs were formed and simple folk songs were adapted. Modern trends such as dodecaphony started to appear in the sixties: György Kurtág, EmilPetrovics, composer of operas and Sándor Szokolay, Attila Bozay, ZsoltDurkó follow that tradition. The New Music Studio, founded in the seventies, educated its own audience.

A number of contemporary performers of classical music have achieved world fame. Some of the names: pianist and conductor ZoltánKocsis, IvánFischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra, pianist AndrásSchiff, cellist MiklósPerényi and opera singers Éva Marton, Szilvia Sass, László Polgár, Andrea Rost, JózsefGregor. Since the 1990's the greatest challenge for Hungarian music has been the retreat of the state as sponsor and the need to find private sponsorship.

Hungarian jazz set out to conquer the world in the 1990's with the help of bassist AladárPege, pianists KárolyBinder and BélaSzakcsi Lakatos, trumpet-player Rudolf Tomsits, pianist-composer György Vukán, wind instrument player László Dés, GyörgySzabados and the Benkó Dixieland Band.

The folk music and dance house movement was revived by MártaSebestyén and the Muzsikás band, Ferenc Sebõ, the Kaláka and Kolinda bands and the Új Pátria CD-series launched by the Fonó Zeneház.

In the 1960's Hungarian rock music conveyed political protest; the bands Illés, Metró and Omega are still popular. LeventeSzörényi and JánosBródy, former members of Illés, staged successful rock operas. In the seventies the LGT barely missed international success. The alternative, underground musicians of the eighties (Sziámi, Európa Kiadó) are classics today. Since then, Hungarian popular music of varying standards has achieved international recognition: in the eighties the disco music of the Neoton Family was successful in the Far East, while most recently the electronic dance music of Yonderboi has won international acclaim.