Robert L. Johnston
Lesson Plan on Bela Bartok
Aim:
Who was Bela Bartok and why is he one of the more important music figures of the 20th century?
Instructional Objectives:
At the conclusion of the lesson, students will...
- ...Have a biographical and nationalistic understanding of Bela Bartok.
2. ...Have an understanding of his compositional genres, periods and techniques, including the Fibonacci series.
3. ...Have an aural recognition of Bartok’s compositional signatures and periods and an introduction into the integrated sound of 20th century music written in traditional genres with use of folk material.
Motivation:
Listen to a short segment of one of the standard works, such as Concerto for Orchestra, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste or one of the three Piano Concerti.
Development/Procedures:
I. A biographical overview with historical correlations
A. 1881-1945, born in Hungary, died in America.
B. Bartok was born within a year of Igor Stravinsky. At that time, America was seeing the end of the Indian Wars, only five years removed from the battle of the Little Big Horn and less than twenty years removed from the end of the Civil War. His birth is contemporary with Southern Reconstruction.
C. Initially taught piano by his mother which led to formal studies in Budapest. Professional career as a pianist, composer, editor and collector of southeastern European folk music. Many works were for or included an important piano part.
D. Lived in Europe until the fascism of Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini forced him to come to the United States in 1940.
E. Died in 1945. Kept an apartment on the north side of W57th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues. There is a plaque commorating his residency on the building.
F. Other events seen in Bartok’s lifetime included the Industrial Revolution, the advent of the airplane, WWI and the eventual downfall of the European monarchies and social structures, the Russian Revolution, and the rise of fascism culminating with the end of WWII in the year of his death.
II.Compositional life
A. Three major periods and influences
1. Early Bartok, beginning of compositional life-1920’s
a. Diverse influences including impressionism (Debussy), German Romanticism (R. Strauss and Liszt) and folk music. Although these composers, as well as Igor Stravinsky and his utilization of folk music in his compositions, were influences, Bartok did not compose in any particular style, such as impressionism, neo-classicism or serialism (twelve-tone).
b. An example from this period would be the
String Quartet No. 1, ca. 1908. This work features traditional compositional techniques such as ternary (ABA’) and sonata-allegro form, double cannon, interval expansion, fugato, and use of ostinato.
***Listening Example String Quartet No. 1***
2. Advanced period, 1920’s-late 1930’s
a. Obscure tonal centers. This is defined as the establishment of temporary tonal centers rather than the use of traditional, functional harmony. This was accomplished through use of pentatonic and modal melodies. Many of these melodies were taken from folk music and emphasized the tritone.
b. Asymmetrical rhythms, time signatures and rhythmic groupings, i.e. - measures in 5, 7, and 9 or asymmetrical groupings such as 3+2+3 or 1+3+1+3. Many of these are again, derived from folk music, particularly folk dances.
c. More advanced compositional techniques, particularly for string players, including ponticello (arco and pizzicato), glissandi (arco and pizzicato), col legno, multiple stops and snap, or what has come to be called
Bartok pizzicato.
d. An example from this period would be the
String Quartet No. 4, 1928, which features many of the techniques described above. The five-movement work is in arch form with the middle movement being in ternary form.
***Listening Example, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste***
II. Allegro, note driving rhythm, virtuosic piano
3. Late Bartok, late 1930’s-death
a. Characterized by simpler, more tonal style with more listener friendly forms and melodies. It is this body of work that includes the Concerto for Orchestra, commissioned by the Boston Symphony and Sergei Koussevitsky, a champion of contemporary music. Bartok was near destitute and in poor health when Koussevitsky helped revive his career with this com
mission.
b. An example from this period would be the
Concerto for Orchestra, 1943. This work heavily features five note scales, the tritone and folk-influenced dance sections. There is also a parody of the Symphony No. 7, “Leningrad,” by Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovitch.
***Listening Example, Concerto for Orchestra, II. Giuoco delle coppie***
Note similarities between this and “older” music
B. Other influences and techniques
1. Folk music. Bartok began heavy study of southeastern, Hungarian and Balkan folk music in 1905 with his fellow Hungarian composer and contemporary, Zoltan Kodaly. Both composers achieved a synthesis of eastern and western styles and idioms.
2. Fibonacci series. Mathematical series Bartok used to gauge the climaxes of his works, which almost always occurred two-thirds of the way through the work. The series starts with 1 and 2, which are added together to get 3. 3 is added to 2 to get 5 and so on. Therefore the series would be utilized to determine the number of measures in the work and determine the two-thirds point. (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, etc.).
3. His own pianistic skills led him, in part to write the virtuosic solo piano parts to the three piano concerti.
C. General overview of works
1. Music for piano including the Mikrokosmos (153 graded pieces for piano), six string quartets, three piano concertos, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste, Concerto for Two Pianos and Two Percussionists, Concerto for Orchestra, The Viola Concerto and numerous suites for different ensembles, including the Roumanian Folk Dances.
Materials of Instruction:
Various compact disc recording, easily cueable to specific points in the work being studied.
Summary:
Bela Bartok, an important 20th century composer was instrumental due to his use of folk music synthesized with modern compositional techniques. He ranks as one of the most important twentieth century composers along with Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg and Duke Ellington.
Assignment:
Listen to or borrow Bartok’s String Quartet No. 4, noting the compositional techniques and folk influences as relate to melody and rhythm.
Bibliography:
Rosenstiel, Leonie (General Editor), et al., Shirmer History of Music. New York: 1982.
974 pp..
Gammond, Peter. The Harmony Illustrated Encyclopedia of Classical Music. New York: 1988. 224 pp..
Miller, Hugh M.. History of Music. New York: 1972. 247 pp..
Apel, Willi and Daniel, Ralph T.. The Harvard Brief Dictionary of Music. New York: 1960. 341 pp..
Bela Bartok, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste and Concerto for Orchestra from a 1988 London Records recording featuring Charles Dutoit and the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal.
Bela Bartok, Piano Concerto No. 3 from a 1990 Phillips Classics recording featuring Stephen Bishop Kovacevich with the London Symphony orchestra under the direction of Sir Colin Davis (orig. recorded 1975).