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==Music== {{Further|List of compositions by Béla Bartók}} Bartók's music reflects two trends that dramatically changed the sound of music in the 20th century: the breakdown of the [[diatonic]] system of harmony that had served composers for the previous two hundred years;{{sfn|Griffiths|1978|p=7}} and the revival of nationalism as a source for musical inspiration, a trend that began with [[Mikhail Glinka]] and [[Antonín Dvořák]] in the last half of the 19th century.{{sfn|Einstein|1947|p=332}} In his search for new forms of tonality, Bartók turned to Hungarian folk music, as well as to other folk music of the [[Carpathian Basin]] and even of Algeria and Turkey; in so doing he became influential in that stream of modernism which used indigenous music and techniques.{{sfn|Botstein|[n.d.]|loc=§6}} One characteristic style of music is his [[Night music (Bartók)|Night music]], which he used mostly in slow movements of multi-movement ensemble or orchestral compositions in his mature period. It is characterised by "eerie [[Consonance and dissonance|dissonances]] providing a backdrop to sounds of nature and lonely melodies".{{sfn|Schneider|2006|p=84}} An example is the third movement (Adagio) of his ''Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta''. His music can be grouped roughly in accordance with the different periods in his life. ===Early years (1890–1902)=== [[File:Bartók_Béla_1903.jpg|thumb|Bartók in 1903]] The works of Bartók's youth were written in a classical and early romantic style touched with influences of popular and [[Romani people|romani]] music.{{sfn|Citron|1963}}{{Page needed|date=September 2018}} Between 1890 and 1894 (9 to 13 years of age) he wrote 31 piano pieces.{{sfn|Gillies|2001}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=László |first=Somfai |date=1992 |title=Problems of the Chronological Organization of the Béla Bartók Thematic Index in Preparation |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/902287 |journal=Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae |volume=T. 34 |issue=Fasc. 3/4 |pages=345–366 |doi=10.2307/902287 |jstor=902287 |via=JSTORE}}</ref> Although most of these were simple dance pieces, in these early works Bartók began to tackle some more advanced forms, as in his ten-part programmatic ''A Duna folyása'' ("The Course of the Danube", 1890–1894), which he played in his first public recital in 1892.{{sfn|Cooper|2015|p=11}} In Catholic grammar school Bartók took to studying the scores of composers "from [[Bach]] to [[Wagner]]",{{sfn|Moreux|1974|p=18}} his compositions then advancing in style and taking on similarities to [[Schumann]] and [[Brahms]].{{sfn|Cooper|2015|p=14}} Following his matriculation into the Budapest Academy in 1890 he composed very little, though he began to work on exercises in orchestration and familiarized himself thoroughly with the operas of Wagner.{{sfn|Stevens|1993|p=12}} In 1902 his creative energies were revitalized by the discovery of the music of Richard Strauss, whose tone poem ''Also sprach Zarathustra'', according to Bartók, "stimulated the greatest enthusiasm in me; at last I saw the way that lay before me". Bartók also owned the score to [[Ein Heldenleben|''A Hero's Life'']], which he transcribed for the piano and committed to memory.{{sfn|Stevens|1993|pp=15–16}} ===New influences (1903–1911)=== Under the influence of Strauss, Bartók composed in 1903 [[Kossuth (Bartók)|''Kossuth'']], a symphonic poem in ten tableaux on the subject of the 1848 Hungarian war of independence, reflecting the composers growing interest in musical nationalism.{{sfn|Stevens|1993|p=17}} A year later he renewed his opus numbers with the [[Rhapsody, Op. 1 (Bartók)|''Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra'']] serving as Opus 1. Driven by nationalistic fervor and a desire to transcend the influence of prior composers, Bartók began a lifelong devotion to folk music, which was sparked by his overhearing nanny Lidi Dósa's singing of Transylvanian folk songs at a Hungarian resort in 1904.{{sfn|Stevens|1993|p=22}} Bartók began to collect Magyar peasant melodies, later extending to the folk music of other peoples of the Carpathian Basin, Slovaks, Romanians, Rusyns, Serbs and Croatians.{{sfn|Moreux|1974|p=60}} He used fewer and fewer romantic elements, in favour of an idiom that embodied folk music as intrinsic and essential to its style. Later in life he commented on the incorporation of folk and art music:{{sfn|Fisk|1997|p=271}} <blockquote> The question is, what are the ways in which peasant music is taken over and becomes transmuted into modern music? We may, for instance, take over a peasant melody unchanged or only slightly varied, write an accompaniment to it and possibly some opening and concluding phrases. This kind of work would show a certain analogy with Bach's treatment of chorales. ... Another method ... is the following: the composer does not make use of a real peasant melody but invents his own imitation of such melodies. There is no true difference between this method and the one described above. ... There is yet a third way ... Neither peasant melodies nor imitations of peasant melodies can be found in his music, but it is pervaded by the atmosphere of peasant music. In this case we may say, he has completely absorbed the idiom of peasant music which has become his musical mother tongue. </blockquote> Bartók became first acquainted with Debussy's music in 1907 and regarded his music highly. In an interview in 1939 Bartók said:{{sfn|Moreux|1953|p=92}} <blockquote> Debussy's great service to music was to reawaken among all musicians an awareness of harmony and its possibilities. In that, he was just as important as Beethoven, who revealed to us the possibilities of progressive form, or as Bach, who showed us the transcendent significance of counterpoint. Now, what I am always asking myself is this: is it possible to make a synthesis of these three great masters, a living synthesis that will be valid for our time? </blockquote> Debussy's influence is present in the Fourteen Bagatelles (1908). These made [[Ferruccio Busoni]] exclaim: "At last something truly new!"{{sfn|Bartók|1948|loc=2:83<!--It would be preferable to cite the letter from the English edition, for the benefit of readers not fluent in Hungarian.-->}} Until 1911, Bartók composed widely differing works which ranged from adherence to romantic style, to folk song arrangements and to his modernist opera ''Bluebeard's Castle''. The negative reception of his work led him to focus on folk music research after 1911 and abandon composition with the exception of folk music arrangements.{{sfn|Gillies|1993|p=404}}{{sfn|Stevens|1964|pp=47–49}} ===Inspiration and experimentation (1916–1921)=== His pessimistic attitude towards composing was lifted by the stormy and inspiring contact with Klára Gombossy in the summer of 1915.{{sfn|Gillies|1993|p=405}} This interesting episode in Bartók's life remained hidden until it was researched by Denijs Dille between 1979 and 1989.{{sfn|Dille|1990|pp=257–277}} Bartók started composing again, including the Suite for piano opus 14 (1916), and ''The Miraculous Mandarin'' (1919)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Miraculous Mandarin Suite, Béla Bartók |url=https://www.laphil.com/musicdb/pieces/4161/the-miraculous-mandarin-suite |access-date=6 September 2023 |website=LA Phil |language=en |archive-date=6 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230906232608/https://www.laphil.com/musicdb/pieces/4161/the-miraculous-mandarin-suite |url-status=live }}</ref> and he completed ''The Wooden Prince'' (1917).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Glass |first=Herbert |date= |title=The Wooden Prince |url=https://www.laphil.com/musicdb/pieces/4207/the-wooden-prince |access-date=6 September 2023 |website=laphil.com |archive-date=6 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230906231953/https://www.laphil.com/musicdb/pieces/4207/the-wooden-prince |url-status=live }}</ref> Bartók felt the result of World War I as a personal tragedy.{{sfn|Stevens|1993|p=3<!--If the page number is from the first edition of 1953, this may require correction. The ISBN cited in the bibliography was for the third edition of 1993.-->}} Many regions he loved were severed from [[Hungary]]: [[Transylvania]], the [[Banat]] (where he was born), and Bratislava (Pozsony, where his mother had lived). Additionally, the political relations between Hungary and other successor states to the [[Austro-Hungarian empire]] prohibited his folk music research outside of Hungary.{{sfn|Somfai|1996|p=18}} Bartók also wrote the noteworthy ''[[Eight Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs]]'' in 1920 and the sunny ''[[Dance Suite (Bartók)|Dance Suite]]'' in 1923, the year of his second marriage. ==="Synthesis of East and West" (1926–1945)=== In 1926, Bartók needed a significant piece for piano and orchestra with which he could tour in Europe and America. He was particularly inspired by American composer [[Henry Cowell]]'s controversial use of intense [[tone clusters]] on the piano while touring western Europe. Bartók happened to be present at one of these concerts and (to avoid causing offence) later requested Cowell's permission to use his technique, which Cowell granted. In the preparation for writing his [[Piano Concerto No. 1 (Bartók)|first Piano Concerto]], he wrote his Sonata, ''[[Out of Doors (Bartók)|Out of Doors]]'', and ''Nine Little Pieces'', all for solo piano, and all of which prominently utilize clusters.{{sfn|Gillies|1993|p=173}} He increasingly found his own voice in his maturity. The style of his last period{{snd}} named "Synthesis of East and West"{{sfn|Gillies|1993|p=189}}{{snd}} is hard to define let alone to put under one term. In his mature period, Bartók wrote relatively few works but most of them are large-scale compositions for large settings. Only his voice works have programmatic titles and his late works often adhere to classical forms. Among Bartók's most important works are the six [[List of string quartets by Béla Bartók|string quartets]] (1909, 1917, 1927, 1928, 1934, and 1939), the ''[[Cantata Profana]]'' (1930), which Bartók declared was the work he felt and professed to be his most personal "credo",{{sfn|Szabolcsi|1974|p=186}} the ''Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta'' (1936),{{sfn|Gillies|2001}} the Concerto for Orchestra (1943) and the Third Piano Concerto (1945).{{sfn|Cooper|2015}}{{Page needed|date=January 2019}} He made a lasting contribution to the literature for younger students: for his son Péter's music lessons, he composed ''[[Mikrokosmos (Bartók)|Mikrokosmos]]'', a six-volume collection of graded piano pieces.{{sfn|Gillies|2001}}
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