Bartók, the ethnomusicologist
“…when recording a phonograph recording, you can set the rotation speed to slow […] with this trick you can record very difficult or barely audible fuzzinesses and rhythmic differences with a precision that you can never achieve by listening to natural singing even a few times. And finally: the phonograph is one of the best aids to the ideal goal of eliminating as far as possible the subjective element in the course of our work of collecting and studying folk songs. […] as long as human labour is involved in the process, there will be more or less subjective elements in notation, classification, etc.“ – Why and how to collect folk music, Writings of Bartók 3.
In May 1904, Béla Bartók travelled to Gerlicepuszta (in present-day Slovakia), where he first heard a Hungarian folk song from a servant girl originating from Kibéd (TN: present-day Chibed, Romania), Lidi Dósa. This date marks the beginning of Bartók’s career in ethnomusicology. He chose the location of his activity in ethnomusicology for financial reasons, initially through his relatives and acquaintances, and in the summer of 1906, he began to collect folk songs on a regular and systematic basis, based on scientific research. By this time, he had already taken Zoltán Kodály’s instructions into account and was using the phonograph, a technical innovation of the time. During the year, he collected more than a thousand Hungarian folk songs from the Southern Great Plain, Transdanubia and Pest County, and also recorded three hundred Slovak folk songs. In 1907, he continued his work in the Transdanubian region and then travelled to Transylvania (Kalotaszeg, Brassó, Csíkszék and Gyergyószék), where he collected seven hundred melodies. During his stay in Transylvania, he noticed the presence of pentatonic melodies in old Hungarian melodies, which was one of the greatest discoveries in the history of folk music of the time. He started collecting Romanian folk songs in 1909, for the first time in Belényes (TN: present-day Beiuș, Romania) and its surroundings (Bihor county).
His concert tours meant that his work varied in intensity, but he collected large amounts of Hungarian, Slovak and Romanian material every year until 1914, and he also conducted research in Algeria in 1913 and in Turkey in 1936. He was constantly engaged in comparative analyses of the folklore of different peoples, and was also the first to distinguish dialectal areas within the Hungarian folk music.
His work varied in intensity due to concert tours, but he collected large amounts of Hungarian, Slovak and Romanian material every year until 1914, and in 1913 he conducted research in Algeria and in 1936 in Turkey. His comparative analysis of the folklore of different peoples has led to a number of significant scientific results: he has helped to define the relationship between the music of Hungary and that of the peoples living with it and of related peoples, he has explored the stylistic layers within Hungarian folk music, and he has tried to provide answers to the origins and spread of the various styles. At the same time, Bartók is credited with the first distinction of dialectal areas within Hungarian folk music.
Informant confesses about Béla Bartók :
His folk song collecting trips were finally brought to an end by the First World War and the new geopolitical situation.
„The happiest days of my life were those spent in villages, among peasants… I am convinced that all of our true folk melodies, in the narrower sense, are true examples of the highest artistic perfection. I regard it as a masterpiece in the small world as I regard a Bach fugue or a Mozart sonata in the larger world of forms. Such a melody is a classic example of a musical idea expressed with unparalleled concision, avoiding all superfluity. It is true that this brevity and the unusual way in which the melodies are expressed make them difficult to impress the average musician or music lover. For the average musician, the most important features of any piece of music are the clichéd contributions that he already knows well. He can only delight in these familiar templates and cannot grasp the basic essence. But in the peasant music that we are discussing here, all the incidental elements are missing – here everything is fundamentally essential. It is not surprising, therefore, that no more intimate relationship could be established between the average musician and such music.” – Béla Bartók: Hungarian Folk Music and New Hungarian Music, 1928) – István Pávai: Béla Bartók, the Ethnomusicologist (folkMAGazin 2007/6)
A képek forrása ELKH, Bölcsészettudományi Kutatóközpont, Zenetudományi Intézet, Bartók Archívum, Budapest; Országos Színháztörténeti Múzeum és Intézet, Budapest; Liszt Ferenc Emlékmúzeum és Kutatóközpont, Budapest.
The project team for the Bartók Folk Days : Debreczeni Cintia, Erdei Ildikó, Makai Mercedes, Orosz Sándor and Virginás Emese. Romanian and english translations by Laslavic Tímea and Molnár Tímea. The QUIZ english translation by Vajna Gabriella.
Proiect finanțat prin Programul cultural național Timișoara – Capitală Europeană a Culturii în anul 2023