The Folk Element in the Piano Music of Béla
Bartók,
Doctoral Document I
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the School of
Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for
the degree Doctor of Music
Indiana University
[1965] 1967
Available at the Music Library, The Don Wright Faculty
of Music, The University of Western Ontario, London,
ON, Canada.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
PREFACE
PART ONE - HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
- HUNGARIAN FOLK MUSIC
- BARTÓK AND
ETHNOMUSICOLOGY
- LISZT AND BARTÓK.
PART TWO - CHARACTER AND STYLE OF HUNGARIAN FOLK MUSIC
AND
THEIR APPLICATION IN THE PERFORMANCE OF BARTÓK'S WORKS
- VOCAL CHARACTER AND
STYLE
- INSTRUMENTAL CHARACTER AND STYLE
- FOLK MUSIC STYLE IN BARTÓK'S NOTATION
- ELEMENTS OF FOLK MUSIC IN INDIVIDUAL PIANO COMPOSITIONS BY
BARTÓK
A) TRANSCRIPTIONS
B) IMAGINARY FOLKLORE
C) SUBLIMATION OF FOLKLORE
PART THREE - BARTÓK AND FOLK MUSIC, AN EVALUATION
LIST OF WORKS CITED
RECOMMENDED RECORDINGS
"
very interesting
and of great value, a work informing the readers not
only about Hungarian folk music researches summing up
their results, but gaining also just in the summary
part on Bartók some new and valuable conclusions.
May I congratulate you for the carefulness, conception
and execution of the work most sincerely.
"
Prof. B.[Bence] Szabolcsi [1967]
Director, Bartók Archivum
Magyar Tudományos Akadémia
"Miss Damjana Bratuz
has produced a work of great value. It contains vital
information, data, and analyses for the musicologist,
instrumentalist, and provides absorbing reading for
anyone who is concerned with or interested in the subject.
I must extend my highest compliment
to Miss Bratuz for a significant contribution toward
the understanding of Béla Bartók's music."
Janos Starker, Indiana University
"To play Bartók
well does not require one to be Hungarian. But in order
to interpret any composer we must be acquainted with
the environment in which his work has been conceived.
In my pedagogical experiences with students from other
European nations and, more recently, with young people
in America, I have found that the background from which
Bartók's music was born, that is history, folk
traditions, customs, and national atmosphere, is mostly
unknown or misunderstood. The interpretations of Bartok's
works thus become an abstraction, spiritually and idiomatically
uprooted.
In my opinion the work by Damjana Bratuz, modestly
entitled THE FOLK ELEMENT IN THE PIANO MUSIC OF BÉLA
BARTÓK, contains in effect more than its title
promises. By its approach to the question and by knowledge
of the people to whom it is addressed, this book is
at this moment a unique pedagogical help in the field.
It makes accessible the musical material and it makes
alive, as far as a book can, the musical 'humus' from
which has germinated the work of Bartók. By analyzing
the conections between folk music and the music of Bartók
and by demonstrating at the same time some practical
consequences in the performance, this essay is of great
service to all interested."
György Sebök, Indiana University
"The work of Miss Damjana
Bratuz on Bartók which grew out of a casual suggestion
I made is, in my opinion, a contribution of fundamental
importance to the study and understanding of this composer's
music. I have derived the greatest benefit from the
study of this essay and have assigned sections of it
as required reading to graduate students in my courses
(Piano Literature and Doctoral Seminar). I have no doubt
that the publication of this work in print will be favorably
received by the learned profession and put to use in
teaching situations in American Colleges and Universities."
Walter Robert, Indiana Univesity |