Bartok.

Music for Strings Percussion, and Celesta Page 1 of 3

MHL 341 Music History

Bartók, Béla: Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta, mvt. 1

l The previous listening excerpt was Ives, Charles: Concord Sonata, mvt. 3, "The
Alcotts".

l The first movement of MSPC (often pronounced Moose Pack) is a fugue. As you
can see, it has frequent changes of meter, sometimes called variable meter, and also
has irregular meters such as 5/8, 7/8, and 10/8, so that there is no apparent regular
meter. There is no key signature, but the movement is centered on pitch class A, the
pitch on which it begins and ends. The significant interval, however, is the tritone:
A - E-flat.

l Note the long-line melody which, however, begins as a brief, 5-note germ motive
that ascends a third and returns with different notes, then ascends again, growing to
a tritone and returning. The third phrase is the climax phrase, followed by a fourth
phrase before the Answer begins at m. 5. Even after the Answer, the original
subject continues its independent way developing the germ motive with which it
began. Meanwhile, you should be aware of the particular way in which the
successive Subject and Entry pitches are arranged. The procedure is similar to a
wedge in which the Subjects enter successively a fifth higher, thus A - E - B - F#
(Gb) - C#(Db) - Ab - Eb, while the Answers enter successively a fifth lower, thus A
- D - G - C - F - Bb - Eb. Thus there is a Subject or Answer on each of the 12 pitch
classes and the climax of the piece is reached when the Subject and Answer both
reach the tritone in opposite directions on Eb, m. 56. The wedge:
Eb
Ab
C#(Db)
F#(Gb)
B
E
A
D
G
C
F
Bb
Eb

l Not all the entries are the same, but find them: A m. 1, E m. 4, D m. 9, B m. 12, G
m. 16, (then several measure of working out the motive), F# m. 26, C m. 27, C# m.

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Bartok. Music for Strings Percussion, and Celesta Page 2 of 3

28, F m. 33, Ab(G#) m. 35, Bb m. 37, Eb m. 44, leading to the dynamic climax on
Eb m. 56 and reversing direction (and with some compression) returning via
inverted intervals to the original pitch of A. This wedge begins in the lower string
with an Eb entrance m. 56.

l Another interesting section begins m. 77 where the melody begins in v. l. 1 and v. l.

4 simultaneously on pitch A, but in contrary motion, joined by the ostinato in the
Celesta. Then in a kind of coda, the initial motive is played successively, m. 82, and
in contrary motion in a duet wedge m. 86, ending on a unison A.

l Bartók employs in this movement only some of the techniques he learned from his
study of real folk music: their use of irregular meter, their type of text setting or
singing style which he called parlando-rubato, and the frequent use of 4ths and 2nd
(and their inversions, fifths and 7th) in both melody and harmony that were
different from the traditional European triadic harmony. Also, he used a kind of
modal chromaticism in which the same mode or scale could include two notes of
the same pitch class, such as F-sharp and F-natural (no church mode or major or
minor scale uses two notes of the same name). Of course his music doesn't sound
simple or folksy. It is, instead, a remarkable achievement.

l At this time in his life Bartók seems to have made a special effort to organize his
music so that the constituent parts change or arrive at a climax, or have some sort of
distinctive thing happening. The Golden Proportion or Section is based on the
Fibonacci series of number, described DWMB2 p. 312. Since the measures are of
different sizes in MSPC, you will be able to find the division by counting eighth
notes and will find the Golden Proportion of the entire movement exactly at the
climactic chord. Look for it.

l This movement may initially sound somewhat grim and mysterious. It is similar to
several movements written by Bartók that are called "Night Music" pieces, in that
they are the kind of music one might imagine at night. Not the pretty night music of
Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music), but rather the kind of
frightening, nightmare music of more contemporary times. Such movements are
usually the internal slow movements of his string quartets or symphonies, and are
famous for the effects and new and unusual sounds he created. There are, by the
way, four other movements to MSPC, the second and fourth of which are often said
to be "Night Music." You should listen to the whole piece sometime.

l The next listening excerpt is Schoenberg, Arnold: Pierrot Lunaire, No. 8, "Nacht".

p. 477 #173, p. 286 4/11 513.1

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