Bartók Perspectives. Man, Composer, and Ethnomusicologist

This compilation of essays spans a wide range of individual perspectives within the varied disciplines related to Bartók's life and work. The nineteen chapters together constitute a broad yet integrated picture of the Hungarian composer's contributions to twentieth-century music and scholarship. While self-contained, each chapter contributes to a larger scheme of interrelated subjects that provide a coherent view of the Bartók field. The book also contains integrative theoretic-analytical approaches to Bartók's musical language that demonstrate relations between the modalities and rhythms of folk music and his more abstract musical principles. Some chapters examine Bartók's folk-music materials in connection with his fieldwork, transcription techniques, classification methodology, and compositional influences. Other chapters explore Bartók's system of composition from its early stages to maturity by way of his abstract works and his folk-music transcriptions. The book also addresses the relevance of Bartók's work to broader historical, philosophical, and folkloristic, compositional, performance, and reception issues.

CONTENIDO:

1. Perspectives in Bartók Research (Elliott Antokoletz)

Part I. Career and Work as Folklorist
2. Bartók's Odyssey in Slovak Folk Music (Benjamin Suchoff)
3. Bartók on Southslavic Epic Songs (Stephen Erdely)

Part II. Analytical and Theoretical Studies
4. Analyzing Bartók's Works of 1918-1922: Motives,Tone Patches,and Tonal Mosaics (Malcolm Gillies)
5. Modal Transformation and Musical Symbolism in Bartók's Cantata Profana (Elliott Antokoletz)
6. Organic Expression and Classical Structure in Bartók's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (Elliott Antokoletz)
7. The Benefits of "Relaxation": The Role of the "Pihenö" Movement in Béla Bartók's Contrasts (John K. Novak)

Part III. Sytle and Aesthetics
8. The Genesis of Bartók's Musical Language (Benjamin Suchoff)
9. Love and Anguish: Bartók's Expressionism (Dorothy Lamb Crawford)
10. The Verbunkos and Bartók's Modern Style: The Case of Duke Bluebeard's Castle (Judit Frigyesi)
11. Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra (1943) and Janácek's Sinfonietta (1926): Conceptual and Motivic Parallels (James Porter)

Part IV. Folk Music Influences
12. Bartók in North Africa: A Unique Fieldwork and Its Impact on His Music (János Kárpáti)
13. Background and Analysis of Bartók's Romanian Christmas Carols for Piano (1915) (David Yeomans)
14. Béla Bartók and Bulgarian Rhythm (Timothy Rice)

Part V. Compositional Process
15. Bartók's Notations in Composition and Transcription (László Somfai)
16. Pelléas Revealed: The Original Ending of Bartók's Opera(Duke Bluebeard's Castle (Carl S. Leafstedt)
17. Correcting Printed Editions of Béla Bartók's Viola Concerto and Other Compositions (Peter Bartók)
18. Deciphering Béla Bartók's Viola Concerto Sketch (Nelson Dellamaggiore)

Part VI. Orientation Toward Pedagogy
19. Bartók's Fourteen Bagatelles op. 6, for Piano: Toward Performance Authenticity (Victoria Fischer)

Part VII. Reception History
20. The Canonization of Béla Bartók (Malcolm Gillies)

Chronological List of Cited Bartók Compositions