Lajos Bárdos (October 1, 1899 – November 18, 1986) was a composer, conductor, and professor of music at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. Together with Zoltán Kodály, he laid the foundations of 20th-century Hungarian choral music. From 1928 to 1967 he was a professor at the Academy, where he reformed the syllabus, emphasizing the training of choral conductors, the teaching of church music history, and instruction in music theory and prosody. In 1931 he co-founded the publishing company Magyar Korus, and served as editor of the musical periodical of that name from then until 1950, when it was banned. From 1934 he organized the "singing youth" movement, encouraging young people across Hungary to join choral groups and learn the basics of music.
Through his work as a conductor Bárdos raised the standards of Hungarian choral singing to an international level within decades. He directed several choirs and encouraged the development of choral activity in remote areas of the country. His repertory was pioneering: he included choral music from before Palestrina, especially those of Josquin, and promoted new music (he introduced, for example, Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms into Hungary). His own compositions also draw on Renaissance polyphony and Hungarian folk music, following in the tradition of Bartók and Kodály.
Bárdos' work as a musicologist included major studies of Gregorian melody, modal and Romantic harmony, and the analysis of works by Liszt, Bartók and Kodály. His lectures at the Academy were attended by a wide range of students, including György Ligeti, who took the unusual step of regularly attending Bárdos' lectures while they were both teaching at the Academy. Ligeti later credited Bárdos' lectures with having an influence on his own compositions.
Together with other students of Kodály, Bárdos also helped to develop what later came to be known as the Kodály Method of musical training.
"Lajos Bárdos Music Week" has been an annual festival in Hungary since 1977.
Dalolva szép az élet (1950), directed by Márton Keleti.