In Bagatelle no.

1, polytonality is the main feature of the musical language and the piece is

notated in two key signatures, which Bartók says is a “half-serious, half-jesting procedure”

designed to make fun of the use of key signatures in contemporary music. The top stave has four

sharps implying C#-minor, and the lower stave has four flats implying F-minor. In his analysis of

this piece Bartók rejects a polytonal interpretation, which asserts the existence of two keys

operating simultaneously. He states unequivocally that the tonality is “simply a Phrygian coloured

C major.” This statement supports a polymodal rather than the polytonal interpretation. In his

Harvard lectures Bartók explains the inability of the ear to perceive two or more different keys

simultaneously. He points out that the ear selects one key as the fundamental and “will project the

tones of the other keys in relation to the one selected.” In other words, the pitches of one key will be

heard as altered tones of a second key.

Antokoletz’s analysis shows that the upper line has characteristics of C#-Aeolian

superimposed over descending C-Phrygian segments. At the most prominent cadential points the C-

Phrygian and C#-Aeolian modal lines coincide on the dyad C-E, implying C major tonality (Ex.

4.1). It is clear that Bartok intended to assert the priority of Phrygian coloured C-Major without

resorting to traditional dominant-tonic chordal functionalism. It is interesting to note that the only

pitch missing from the twelve-note spectrum is D-natural, which tends to emphasis the flattened

second Phrygian colouring.

Ex. 4.1: Bagatelle No. 1, Bars 1-12.

Bagatelle No. 1 demonstrates the use of melodic and harmonic symmetries, which equalise

the notes of the diatonic mode. Antokoletz points out that the C#-Aeolian mode is gradually

transformed in this piece into reordered, three-note segments of the cycle of fifths. The second

segment (F#-C#-G#) is presented in its symmetrical cyclic order (bar 7). This process is

intensified in the second section, where a six-note sequence of descending fourths is unfolded (E-

B-F#-C#G#-D#) (bars 13-14).

Ex. 4.1: Bagatelle No. 1, bars 13-18.

In bars 10-11, another symmetrical construction is used as the upper line is derived from a

C-pentatonic pitch collection. I have shown in the previous chapter that fourth chords, which can

also be rearranged as cycle of fifths, are related to the pentatonic scale (Ex. 3.10). In light of this

fact, I can demonstrate that the pentatonic label applies equally as well to the three-note groups in

bars 7-8 and 13-17. To a large degree the intervallic constructions of this piece are influenced by

the symmetrical pentatonic properties of folk music. In bar 12, the upper line uses another

symmetrical ordering (E-A-B-C#-F#). These symmetries weaken the tonal hierarchy, creating a

sense of tonal stasis. Bartok warns us that an attempt to apply tonal interpretations is to

“pigeonhole all music” that we do not understand. The music is better understood as a complex

interaction of scales, chords and pitch collections.