-----Article in progress-----

Okay, anyone with points, dump them in here. What headings can you suggest?

I'm dumping my point. Spelling of Bartok's name, with accent marks: (we probably should use this) Béla Bartók

ok, here are a couple of working headers (how we'll group the info for the time being, instead of letting free electrons roam about the article). feel free to modify them. and add more.

(i don't see why working notes have to be grammatically correct etc etc as long as ppl can understand them - hence these really bad notes)

(Introduction)

• 1881-1945
• Béla Viktor János Bartók

His family background

• mother paula from slovakia

His childhood

• born on 25th march in Nagyszentmiklós (Great St Nicholas) - it later became Sînnicolau Mare, Romania
• grew up in Greater Hungary of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (partitioned by Treaty of Trianon after World War I)
• father died in 1888
• mother then took family to live in Nagyazöllös, then later Vinogradov, Ukraine, and then to Pozsony (Bratislava) in 1894
• attended the gymnasium with dohnanyi

His musical background

• was kept in isolation until he was 5 because of persistent rash from smallpox inoculation
• therefore spent most of his time listening to mother playing the piano
• began composing dances at nine
• taught himself composition by reading scores
• studied the piano with Laszlo Erkel and Anton Hyrtl
• offered place at vienna conservatory in 1898, but rejected; studied at the Academy of Music at Budapest with Dohnanyi (1899-1903)
• studied piano there with Istvan Thoman (Liszt's pupil); composition with Janos Koessler

His early career

• began career as concert pianist after graduating from the academy
• 1905 - began collaborating with zoltan kodaly to arr hungarian folk songs
• performed a total 630 concerts in 22 countries in his lifetime
• in 1907 became piano instructor at the academy (succeeding thoman) - maintained this post for >25 years (despite the fact that he did not like teaching)
• contributions to pedagogy: teaching editions he made of the works of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven and the pieces he composed for children

His music

• not really accepted as a composer in the 20's and 30's, until suddenly he was comissioned to write whatever he liked
• in general: themes, modes, and rhythmic patterns of Hungarian/other folk music traditions he studied, coupled with influences from his contemporaries
• Quite a few composers around this time (Schostakivich to name another) used music to say things that would have been suicidal if put into words
• during teenage years, was influenced by erno dohnanyi, and wrote chamber music in the style of brahms
• early compositions had late 19th century romantic influences
• then while at academy, went for performance of R Strauss' also Sprach Zarathustra. it showed him "there was a way of composing which seemed to hold the seeds of a new life"
• 1903 - composed his first major work: a symphonic poem 'Kossuth' which combined his new enthusiasm for Strauss and his youthful Hungarian nationalism - the work honoured Lajos Kossuth, hero of the 1948 Hungarian revolution
• music increasingly influenced by Debussy and Hungarian music - new, modal kinds of harmony and irregular metre
• some pieces were based directly on music he had collected (Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs-1920), but mostly he composed in a style that showed his absorption of melodic and rythmic aspects of folk music he had studied
• wrote a piece for two orchestras, with a percussion section in between them. This allowed him to fuse folk music with western musical ideas: Counterpoint doesnt really appear in folk music, but by playing the two orchestras against each other, Bartok could create counterpoint in his music
• also used the strings, which are traditionally used to imitate song, instead to imitate the speed and percussion of speech. The soul of this piece is its fierceness, not its prettiness

How his vision got him into trouble

• fascination for folk music began when he first heard lidi dósa (székely hungarian woman from transylvania) sing the song piros alma (red apple) in 1904
• decided he wanted to preserve hungarian music, so started incorporating it into his works
• was influenced by Zoltán Kodály to start collecting recordings of hugarian folk music in békés county in 1906
• became interested in other folk traditions and music (Romanians, Slovakians, Serbs, Croatians, Bulgarians, Turks, and North Africans)
• while visiting algeria in 1906, envisioned himself ordering scattered folk tunes of the world. main task in life became - collect, analyze, and catalogue major portions of the world's folk music
• this ended desire on his part for the kind of career others had projected for him, as "the future master of the most charming salon music."
• after World War I, Slovakians and Romanians were no longer part of Hungary - this created probs: (1) no longer free to explore and research certain areas, (2) was accused of being unpatriotic because of his interest in the peoples of nations hostile to Hungary
• was nostalgic for the ethnic diversity of pre-war austro-hungarian empire, dreamed of the "brotherhood of people, brotherhood in spite of all wars and conflicts"
• however, 1934 left piano teaching and studied folk music at Hungarian Academy of Sciences

His beliefs - or lack of it

• had been brought up as roman catholic; the ethical legalism drove him to become an atheist by the time he was 22
• claimed to be a follower of nietzsche
• was skeptical of religion - "It is odd that the Bible says, 'God created man,' whereas it is the other way round: man has created God. It is odd that the Bible says, 'The body is mortal, the soul is immortal,' whereas even here the contrary is true: the body (its matter) is eternal; the soul (the form of the body) is transitory" (1905)
• made first trip to transylvania in 1907 to study székely people (who developed in isolation from hungarians and might have preserved some older traditions)
• there, became acquainted with the unitarian church
• two years later, wrote two letters to violinist stefi geyer concerning his thoughts on religions beliefs. opined that hypothetical creator was not required for existence of universe - "Why don't we simply say: I can't explain the origin of its existence and leave it at that?"
• "If I ever crossed myself, it would signify 'In the name of Nature, Art, and Science"
• believed that life was for giving people minor pleasures and keen interest in the living universe
• converted to unitarianism in 7/25/1916; joined Mission House Congregation of the Unitarian Church in Budapest in 1917
• son later said this was "primarily because he held it to be the freest, most humanistic faith"

His life outside of music

• 1909 - married marta ziegler
• 1910 - bela jr born
• became unitarian for the sake of his son - formal church affiliation enhanced employment prospects; enabled son to avoid otherwise mandatory catholic religious instruction
• was briefly in music committee; failed - too conservative, thought that no instrument other than the organ should be played in church
• liked natural science: collected plants, minerals and insect specimens
• 1923 - divorced marta
• married Ditta Pásztory, had son peter in 1924

His works

his hungarian music

• (on incorporating hungarian folk music into his own:) sounded as though he'd invented something new, not just recycled something old

philosophical influence

• personal philosophy (stoic, pessimistic, stood aloof from common crowd) made him lonely
• this manifest in his music: bluebeard's castle, the wooden prince (ballet, 1917), the miraculous mandarin (ballet-pantomime) - profound spiritual isolation
• Bluebeard's castle: old ledgend to create a self portrait-Bluebeard's wife finds locked rooms in the castle that represent areas of Bluebeard's mind that are locked away. She wants to open them, and to Bartok, that is unthinkable, as he didn't share emotions and feelings with people. One of the lines in the opera is 'My last door must stay shut forever.'
• the miraculous mandarin - modern tale of prostitution, robbery, and murder, premiered in 1926; did not go too well with public, was subsequently banned!

commissions

• 5th string quartet - commissioned for Elisabeth Sprague Coolidge
• for swiss conductor Paul Sacher: Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta (1936), the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (1937), Divertimento (1939)
• for clarinettist benny goodman: Contrasts, for clarinet, violin, and piano (1938)
• for Serge Koussevitzky: concerto for orchestra (1943)
• note: 3rd) movement - violas play a distorted version of a folk tune, appearning so fragmented that you would hardly know it was there - may have been a reflection on his exile; no longer in Hungary, he couldn't use pure folk songs, but wanted to leave a reference to them somehow. At the end of this movement, he brings back the sobbing orchestral tones of Bluebeard's Castle
• for yehudi menuhin: sonata for solo violin (1944)

Others

• piano rhapsody (1904)
• two suites (1905, 1907)
• two violin sonatas (1921, 1922)
• Dance Suite, written in 1923 for the fiftieth anniversary of the unification of the city of Budapest
• major works for piano: 1st piano concerto (1926)
• string quartets: 3rd n 4th (1927-8) in his most abstract and concentrated style - among those most cited as masterpieces; last one written 1939
• mikrokosmos (6 vol collection of graded pieces) - written for peter's music lessons
• last two major works, a third piano concerto (which includes bird calls and sounds of nature) and a viola concerto - unfinished at his death; completed by hungarian colleague, tibor serly
• two pictures (1910)
• four pieces (1912; orchestrated 1921)
• divertimento for string orchestra (1939)
• piano concertos: two piano concerto (1940) arr.of sonata for 2 pianos and percussion
• 2 rhapsodies for violin and piano (1928) - also arr for violin n orchestra
• for piano: 14 Bagatelles (1908), Allegro barbaro (1911), Romanian Christmas Carols (1915), a suite (1916), 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs (1918), a piano sonata (1926), and Out of Doors (1926)
• voice and orchestra - Cantata profana (1930) - based upon one of the epic Romanian Christmas songs (colinde) Bartók had studied.
• art songs, arr numerous folk songs

Importance of his works

• piano concerto no. 1, 'out of doors': exploits piano as percussion instrument - using its resonance as well as xylophonic hardness
• string quartets: 3rd n 4th explored new sonorities and driving rhythm; no. 4 in 5-section palindromic pattern (ABCBA)
• Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta (1936) and the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (1937) - represented move from inward chromaticism to modally tinted major tonality
• piece for two orchestras, with a percussion section in between them - allowed him to fuse folk music with western musical ideas: Counterpoint doesnt really appear in folk music, but by playing the two orchestras against each other, Bartok could create counterpoint in his music

His political stand and exile

• disliked fascist regime that governed hungary during the inter-war period
• 1919 - he and kodaly were suspended from academic post for political reasons
• 1930s - refused to perform, have works broadcast in nazi germany or fascist italy; avoided performing in budapest
• 1931 - went to french embassy to accept Légion d'honneur
• that same year - awarded corvin medal but did not go for ceremony - did not want to receive it from admiral horthy (dictator of hungary)
• increasingly tempted to leave hungary as european political situation worsened
• left for america in 1940 with wife; son joined in 1942
• worked on folk music at Columbia University (New York City)
• became us citizen in 1945 - thought of it as exile
• lived in obscurity in new york

His end

• became ill with leukaemia
• American Society for Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) footed medical bills
• Fritz Reiner and violinist József Szigeti convinced conductor Serge Koussevitzky to have his foundation commission an orchestral piece from Bartók - to ease bartok's financial burden - concerto for orchestra (1943)this is one of the last pieces he wrote
• died sept 26 1945 in new york hospital
• funeral conducted by rev. laurence i. neale, minister of new york's all souls unitarian church
• buried in woodlawn cemetery, new york
• 1988 - remains transferred by bela jr (lay president of hungary unitarian church) to budapest
• statue in front of second unitarian church, budapest

References

Peter Hughes. 2002. Bela Bartok

Stanley Sadie (ed). The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music. Macmillan Press Ltd., London.

Bela Bartok. Microsoft Encarta Reference Library 2002. Copyright 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation.

gleaned from a video

I(arwen) dont really know where to put this, so thought i'd just dump it at the end, then read it, then try and sort it. we saw a vid on bartok this morning, and had some quite useful things, alot of which has prob been said, but I'll put it here anyway.

I've already sort of sorted it out and bunged it into different sections... will leave the original text here anyway, so that we can use it for the write-up - farlander.

Bartok was born in Hungary when it was under the domination of Austria. Quite a few composers around this time (Schostakivich to name another) used music to say things that would have been suicidal if put into words.
Bartok came across Hungarian folk music in the countryside, and decided he had to preserve it, so started incorporating it into his works. When he used it, it sounded as though he'd invented something new, not just recycled something old.
His opera, Bluebeard, was using an old ledgend to create a self portrait-Bluebeard's wife finds locked rooms in the castle that represent areas of Bluebeard's mind that are locked away. She wants to open them, and to Bartok, that is unthinkable, as he didn't share emotions and feelings with people. One of the lines in the opera is 'My last door must stay shut forever.'

He was not really accepted as a composer in the 20's and 30's, until suddenly he was comissioned to write whatever he liked (cant remember who commisioned him). He wrote a piece for two orchestras, with a percussion section in between them. This allowed him to fuse folk music with western musical ideas: Counterpoint doesnt really appear in folk music, but by playing the two orchestras against each other, Bartok could create counterpoint in his music.
He also used the strings, which are traditionally used to imitate song, instead to imitate the speed and percussion of speech. The soul of this piece is its fierceness, not its prettiness.

Bartok's life grew hard as facism rose in Hungary, and eventually he was exiled to New York in 1940. This was a nightmare, for someone who has grown up loving the countryside to suddenly be plunged into one of the biggest, busiest cities in the world. He was already very ill with leukemia by this time.
He was then commissioned to write a symphony for orchestra (again, i forget who by), which must have seemed like a Godsend. It meant he could move back into the countryside, and also recieve some treatment for his illness.
In the 3rd(i think) movement of this symphony, he uses the violas to play a distorted version of a folk tune, appearning so fragmented that you would hardly know it was there. This could have been a reflection on his exile; no longer in Hungary, he couldn't use pure folk songs, but wanted to leave a reference to them somehow. At the end of this movement, he brings back the sobbing orchestral tones of Bluebeard's Castle.