a conversation with bartók: 1929

A Conversation with Bartók: 1929Author(s): Malcolm Gillies and Béla BartókSource: The Musical Times, Vol. 128, No. 1736 (Oct., 1987), pp. 555-559Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/965387 .

Accessed: 22/11/2013 19:58

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Musical Times Publications Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to TheMusical Times.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 128.122.149.145 on Fri, 22 Nov 2013 19:58:04 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=mtpl

http://www.jstor.org/stable/965387?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


kingship, 'This is the Will of the Father'. Most striking of all is the coloratura aria 'Behold the Sun', sung by the crazed boy Christian in Act 1, a vision of God generating a frenzy of ecstasy in the Anabaptists.

Chorus, recitative, aria: the structures of Behold the Sun are also those of oratorio, suggesting a cross-fertilization, a special link between opera house and concert hall which presents a real challenge to producers. Nevertheless, the opera is a genuine dramma per musica, a dynamic, dramatic form articulated by a process in music. It serves, for example, to differentiate the prophets. Matthys has caused anarchy in the city, yet when he makes the fatal decision to attack the besieging army in Act 2, it is clear from the accompaniment that he does so nobly and without corruption; in contrast, the corruption of Bokelson's kingship as proclaimed by the Limping Prophet is symbolized in the motif that they share; with savage irony, it is heard accom- panying the final refrain of 'Behold, We go up to Jerusalem', played on the bass trumpet in imitation of the Old Testament shofar. With equal savagery, 'In Gott

kingship, 'This is the Will of the Father'. Most striking of all is the coloratura aria 'Behold the Sun', sung by the crazed boy Christian in Act 1, a vision of God generating a frenzy of ecstasy in the Anabaptists.

Chorus, recitative, aria: the structures of Behold the Sun are also those of oratorio, suggesting a cross-fertilization, a special link between opera house and concert hall which presents a real challenge to producers. Nevertheless, the opera is a genuine dramma per musica, a dynamic, dramatic form articulated by a process in music. It serves, for example, to differentiate the prophets. Matthys has caused anarchy in the city, yet when he makes the fatal decision to attack the besieging army in Act 2, it is clear from the accompaniment that he does so nobly and without corruption; in contrast, the corruption of Bokelson's kingship as proclaimed by the Limping Prophet is symbolized in the motif that they share; with savage irony, it is heard accom- panying the final refrain of 'Behold, We go up to Jerusalem', played on the bass trumpet in imitation of the Old Testament shofar. With equal savagery, 'In Gott

Allein' is used as background to the massacre of the Anabaptists, and to the prince-bishop's celebration of Mass in Act 2: 'A fine and bloody pillage ... We'll bring peace and quiet' he claims as the boys' choir intones the Dona nobispacem. Later on, Bokelson announces the false journey to the Promised Land in the florid, hieratic chant of a high priest.

Above all, it is in the 'play within a play' of Act 3 that music has a crucial role. Having danced a sarabande, the court of King John watches the story of Dives and Lazarus enacted to the accompaniment of a stage band. The music develops by a series of increasingly wild 'doubles', then breaks out into a frenzied Totentanz. At the climax of the play, Bokelson rips off the mask of Lazarus and commands the execution of Dives. Anabaptist and audience alike know that in this madness fiction has become reality. Once again the desire for the New Jerusalem is utterly betrayed.

A studio recording of Goehr's 'Behold the Sun' will be broadcast on Radio 3 on 3 October.

Allein' is used as background to the massacre of the Anabaptists, and to the prince-bishop's celebration of Mass in Act 2: 'A fine and bloody pillage ... We'll bring peace and quiet' he claims as the boys' choir intones the Dona nobispacem. Later on, Bokelson announces the false journey to the Promised Land in the florid, hieratic chant of a high priest.

Above all, it is in the 'play within a play' of Act 3 that music has a crucial role. Having danced a sarabande, the court of King John watches the story of Dives and Lazarus enacted to the accompaniment of a stage band. The music develops by a series of increasingly wild 'doubles', then breaks out into a frenzied Totentanz. At the climax of the play, Bokelson rips off the mask of Lazarus and commands the execution of Dives. Anabaptist and audience alike know that in this madness fiction has become reality. Once again the desire for the New Jerusalem is utterly betrayed.

A studio recording of Goehr's 'Behold the Sun' will be broadcast on Radio 3 on 3 October.

A Conversation with Bart6k: 1929 Malcolm Gillies A Conversation with Bart6k: 1929 Malcolm Gillies

Newspaper interviews are a questionable form of evidence. We must assess how accurately the interviewee's words were recorded, how much the selection and presentation of opinions owes to the interviewer, and how much cultural or language differences have led to misinterpretations or factual errors. During the last 25 years of his life Bart6k was frequently interviewed by the press,' but the resultant articles are rarely satisfactory from an evidentiary view- point. While the portrayals of his external appearance and statements of his recent activities are generally reliable,2 few interviewers were able to break down his natural reticence and enter that complex web of composition, musicology, pedagogy and performance at the heart of the real Bart6k.

During the 1920s two excellent interviews of Bart6k appeared in the British press, both conducted by friends of the composer. The earlier, 'A Visit to Bela Bart6k', which appeared in MT in March 1926,3 described a long con-

1See the collection of Hungarian interviews in Karoly Krist6f: Beszelgetesek Bar- tdk Beldval [Conversations with Bela Bart6k] (Budapest, 1957), and the collection of Romanian interviews by Andras Benk6 in Ferenc Laszl6, ed.: Bartok-dolgozatok 1981 [Bart6k papers 1981] (Bucharest, 1982), 272-361. A comprehensive collection of Bart6k's interviews is currently being assembled by Andras Wilheim of the Budapest Bart6k Archive.

2see, for instance, Lajos Komives: 'Latogatasom Bart6k Belanal' [My visit to Bela Bart6k], Keleti Ujsag (Kolozsvar), 31 Oct 1922, repr. in Laszl6: op cit, pp.293- 7

31xvii, 220-23

Newspaper interviews are a questionable form of evidence. We must assess how accurately the interviewee's words were recorded, how much the selection and presentation of opinions owes to the interviewer, and how much cultural or language differences have led to misinterpretations or factual errors. During the last 25 years of his life Bart6k was frequently interviewed by the press,' but the resultant articles are rarely satisfactory from an evidentiary view- point. While the portrayals of his external appearance and statements of his recent activities are generally reliable,2 few interviewers were able to break down his natural reticence and enter that complex web of composition, musicology, pedagogy and performance at the heart of the real Bart6k.

During the 1920s two excellent interviews of Bart6k appeared in the British press, both conducted by friends of the composer. The earlier, 'A Visit to Bela Bart6k', which appeared in MT in March 1926,3 described a long con-

1See the collection of Hungarian interviews in Karoly Krist6f: Beszelgetesek Bar- tdk Beldval [Conversations with Bela Bart6k] (Budapest, 1957), and the collection of Romanian interviews by Andras Benk6 in Ferenc Laszl6, ed.: Bartok-dolgozatok 1981 [Bart6k papers 1981] (Bucharest, 1982), 272-361. A comprehensive collection of Bart6k's interviews is currently being assembled by Andras Wilheim of the Budapest Bart6k Archive.

2see, for instance, Lajos Komives: 'Latogatasom Bart6k Belanal' [My visit to Bela Bart6k], Keleti Ujsag (Kolozsvar), 31 Oct 1922, repr. in Laszl6: op cit, pp.293- 7

31xvii, 220-23

versation between the journalist Frank Whitaker and Bar- t6k at the composer's flat in Budapest. It was commended for its veracity by Bart6k himself as well as various members of the Hungarian press.4 Since 1926 this interview has been much used by scholars because of its fine portrayal of the antithesis in Bart6k's character - the relentlessness of the public composer and performer, the gentleness and courtesy of the private man - as well as its comprehensive report of Bart6k's thoughts about cur- rent trends in music. So impressed was Bart6k that he agreed to collaborate with Whitaker in the production of the first full-length book about his music. In August 1926 Whitaker accordingly signed a contract with Oxford University Press for a book to be produced in English, with following translations into German and Hungarian.5 In spite of considerable work on the project, this book was not completed.6 The English-reading world would have to wait until Halsey Stevens's volume of 1953 for a book of similar scope.

The second interview, 'A Conversation with Bart6k', appeared in the Daily Telegraph on 9 March 1929. Its author

4according to an unpublished letter from Dezso Racz to Frank Whitaker, 30 March 1926, BL Add.51023 B/131

5copy of agreement, Humphrey Milford (Oxford UP) with Frank Whitaker, 16 Aug 1926, BL Add.51023 B/118-20 6see BL Add.51023 A and B

555

versation between the journalist Frank Whitaker and Bar- t6k at the composer's flat in Budapest. It was commended for its veracity by Bart6k himself as well as various members of the Hungarian press.4 Since 1926 this interview has been much used by scholars because of its fine portrayal of the antithesis in Bart6k's character - the relentlessness of the public composer and performer, the gentleness and courtesy of the private man - as well as its comprehensive report of Bart6k's thoughts about cur- rent trends in music. So impressed was Bart6k that he agreed to collaborate with Whitaker in the production of the first full-length book about his music. In August 1926 Whitaker accordingly signed a contract with Oxford University Press for a book to be produced in English, with following translations into German and Hungarian.5 In spite of considerable work on the project, this book was not completed.6 The English-reading world would have to wait until Halsey Stevens's volume of 1953 for a book of similar scope.

The second interview, 'A Conversation with Bart6k', appeared in the Daily Telegraph on 9 March 1929. Its author

4according to an unpublished letter from Dezso Racz to Frank Whitaker, 30 March 1926, BL Add.51023 B/131

5copy of agreement, Humphrey Milford (Oxford UP) with Frank Whitaker, 16 Aug 1926, BL Add.51023 B/118-20 6see BL Add.51023 A and B

555



was M.-D. Calvocoressi, one of the finest freelance music commentators in London, best known for his promotion of Russian music. Calvocoressi had first heard Bart6k perform in 1905 at the Rubinstein Competition in Paris and had considered that the decision not to award him a prize had been unjust.7 Before World War I, while still resident in Paris, he had included Bartok's music in his articles, lectures and recitals and had met the composer there shortly before the outbreak of war.8 Soon after, he moved to Lon- don, re-established contact with Bart6k in 1921 and remained his most loyal supporter in Britain for the next two decades, producing nearly 50 articles and reviews.9 Knowledge of many of these writings, including this 1929 interview, had been lost to the scholarly world because of Calvocoressi's death and the destruction of almost all his possessions during the wartime bombing of London. The interview was conducted over lunch on 5 March, while Bar- tok was in London for two engagements with the BBC and negotiations with Oxford University Press about his folk- music collections.10 In the presence of an old friend and trusted supporter, Bart6k clearly felt encouraged to relax and speak frankly. Calvocoressi, because of his vast knowledge of Bartok's music, knew just the right questions to ask, and because of his fluency in languages he could put the composer further at ease. Given the hesitant nature of Bart6k's English, the two probably spoke in German or French.11 The result of their exchange is a candid interview that gets to the root of several important musical as well as personal questions. It is a beautiful summary of Bart6k's thinking about music and the musical world towards the end of the decade that had accorded him an international reputation.

The commentary provided below the text is intended to show how authentic are the statements Calvocoressi at- tributes to Bart6k, and to fill out the background behind many of them. From a stylistic point of view paragraphs 5-8 are most significant. However, the concluding sec- tion, concerning Liszt and music in America, raises issues insufficiently considered in the Bartok literature. Given the strength of his praise in the final paragraph it is hardly surprising that Bart6k turned to America as his refuge during World War II.12

7see M.-D. Calvocoressi: 'Bela Bart6k', Musical News and Herald (11 March 1922), 306 8see M.-D. Calvocoressi: Musicians Gallery (London, 1933), 269; letters from Bar- t6k to Calvocoressi, 27 May and 15 June 1914, in Adrienne Gombocz and Laszl6 Somfai: 'Bart6ks Briefe an Calvocoressi (1914-1930)', Studia musicologica, xxiv (1982), 199-202. 9See letter from Bart6k to Calvocoressi, 31 July 1921, ibid, 202 - 5; numerous articles by Calvocoressi appeared in such publications as the Monthly Musical Record, Musical News and Herald, The Listener, the Radio Times and the Glasgow Herald. lOletter from Bart6k to Calvocoressi, 25 Feb 1929, in Gombocz and Somfai: op cit, 224-6 11Of the three extant letters from Bart6k to Calvocoressi from 1929, two long ones are in German and one short one is in English; Calvocoressi's one letter to Bart6k surviving from this year is in French. 12Bart6k had thought of settling in America since the early 1920s; see unpublished letter from Bart6k to Philip Heseltine, 8 Jan 1921.

556

A CONVERSATION WITH BARTOK 'THE MANDARIN' RIOT

M.-D. Calvocoressi [1] Bela Bartok's works always come to us out of the blue,

unheralded by any kind of announcement or by preliminary discussions such as mark the appearance of practically every work of Stravinsky or Sch6nberg. Not so long ago his two violin sonatas came as a surprise; so did, more recently, his concerto and piano sonata. Just now, it is two string quartets, two violin rhapsodies, and various piano pieces that are suddenly revealed to us.

[2] But one work of his has had, of late, a good deal of publicity, the Pantomime Ballet, 'The Miraculous Man- darin', whose production at Cologne was accompanied by riotous demonstrations. I was eager to have his own ver- sion of what had happened.

[3] 'There were', he said, 'various reasons for the demonstrations. Before the performance people had read the plot of the "Mandarin", and made up their minds that it was objectionable. On the stage the action is carried out at a very brisk pace. From beginning to end the speed is almost breathless, and the effect, accordingly, is quite dif- ferent from what had been imagined, apparently, by those who had been leisurely speculating upon the possibilities of the subject matter. The "Mandarin" is very much like an Eastern fairy tale, and contains nothing to which ex- ception can be taken.'

[4] 'But there were, also, objections against the policy followed at Cologne of producing many new foreign works. Other people were displeased by the bold colour-scheme of the setting, the sharp contrasts in the staging. Others, of course, may have been startled by my music .... Anyhow, at the end of the performance a great hubbub arose. The fight between supporters and objectors lasted a quarter of an hour. Protest meetings followed, the Burgomaster was appealed to, and no second performance took place.'

Bart6k then answered a few questions on the recent evolution of his technique.

[5] 'It is true that my present tendency is to refrain from entrusting broad, sustained melodies to the piano. I aim, rather, at using short phrases interwoven into a polyphonic texture. As a consequence, cadences become unobtrusive; they are bridged over by contrapuntal devices.'

[6] 'Of course I proceed otherwise when writing for bow instruments, which by nature lend themselves so well to sustained melody. But even then you may have noticed that the first movement of my fourth String Quartet is, in texture, very similar to the second movement of my piano sonata.'

[7] 'It is also true that in my recent works I make for clearer definition of tonality than in many of the things I wrote a few years ago. Not that I have ever indulged in "atonality" as practised by Sch6nberg and others; in the works I refer to tonality (in the broad sense of the word, of course) is not lacking, but at times is more or less veiled



Bela Bartdk, c1930 (Fritz Reiner)

either by idiosyncrasies of the harmonic texture or by tem- porary deviations in the melodic curves. I have no theoretical views on the subject of tonality or atonality. In my works it just happened thus.'

[8] 'During the last three years or so I have been study- ing with ever increasing eagerness the music of certain old Italian masters, such as Frescobaldi, Michel Angelo Rossi, Della Ciaia, Zipoli, and Marcello. I am deeply interested in them, especially from the point of view of style. The austere, virile style of Frescobaldi and Rossi attracts me greatly. I have arranged for piano a number of their organ pieces; as you know, I have just been playing some of these, which were broadcast.'

[9] 'There are a few quite interesting young composers in Hungary just now', he said, in reply to another question, 'The chief trouble is that they find no publisher for their music. Among the men under thirty I would name Kadosa and Szelenyi as especially worthy of attention.'

LISZT VINDICATED [10] 'There is not much more for me to tell you about

Hungarian music. Speaking not from the merely Hungarian but from a general point of view, a thing that astonishes me is that so many writers in England should speak

disparagingly of Liszt's compositions - of the best ones even. Not only have his masterpieces exercised a great influence on me (as they have on countless composers of all schools for the past eighty years or so), but the more I study them the more deeply I realize their loveliness and significance. Only the other day I was going through the third book of his "Ann6s de Pelerinage", and thinking what an extraordinary wealth of music it contained. There is still much to be learnt from Liszt, believe me.'

[11] Bartok concluded the interview with warm praise of American orchestras and of American generosity to art and artists. 'I envy them', he said, 'the magnificent stan- dard of the performances they are able to enjoy, and I can- not speak too highly of the services rendered to modern music by the "Pro Musica" Society, whose many provin- cial chapters contribute to the speedy diffusion of music of all contemporary schools.'

Commentary: 1. During the 1920s British listeners were able to hear

most of Bartok's new works soon after their completion. The First Violin Sonata (1921) was played by Bart6k and Jelly Aranyi in London in March 1922. His Second Violin Sonata (1922) was played by the same duo, in May and November-December 1923. In October 1927 the First Piano Concerto (1926) was performed in a BBC broadcast of the Wireless Orchestra, with Barfok as soloist. The Sonata (1926) for piano was first heard, from Bart6k, on 4 March 1929 (although Calvocoressi had probably heard it played privately during Bart6k's visit in 1927). The First and Second Violin Rhapsodies (1928) were also performed in London in March 1929 by Bart6k and Zoltan Sz6ke- ly, with such piano pieces as the Three Rondos on Folk Tunes (1916-27). The two string quartets which Calvocoressi mentions are the Third (1927), given its world premiere in London by the Hungarian (Waldbauer) Quartet on 19 February 1929, and the Fourth (1928). This latter quartet's premiere only occurred after the interview, on 20 March in Budapest, again with the Hungarian Quartet. Calvocoressi may well have heard sections of it during rehearsals in London the previous month (see reference in paragraph 6). On 20 January 1930 the Fourth Quartet was officially introduced to the London public.

2. The Miraculous Mandarin, Bart6k's op.19, was com- posed between 1917 and 1919, but subject to revisions until 1931. Bart6k stated in a letter to Calvocoressi of 31 July 1921 that he considered this work his very best.13 Its

13Gombocz and Somfai: op cit, 202-5

557



premiere, in Cologne, took place on 27 November 1926, over two years before this interview was held. Because of the lurid nature of the story the work could not be performed in Hungary during Bart6k's lifetime, though pro- ductions twice reached the stage of dress rehearsals.14

3. The text of Mandarin was by Melchior Lengyel and had inspired Bartok immediately on reading it in the January 1917 issue of the Budapest journal Nyugat. Gy6rgy Kro6 reports that the story had been written in 1912 and was originally intended for Dyagilev's ballet.'5 It was also offered to Ern6 Dohnanyi before Bart6k took it up. For the 1920s an explicit tale of pimps, a prostitute, her clients, an oriental gentleman and murder was daring.

4. The director of the Cologne performance was Hans Strobach and its conductor was Jen6 Szenkar. In a letter to his mother of 2 December 1926 Bartok described the protest in a similar way to that in this paragraph:16

In Cologne, after Mandarin, there was a noisy demonstration against the story and a counter-demonstration in my support. The riot lasted a good ten minutes, and they lowered the safety- curtain. But the people still did not leave so the fire-door was also twice opened. Well, I can tell you there was frantic ap- plause (and frantic hissing)!

The 'Burgomaster' was Konrad Adenaeur, later Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.

5. Bart6k's contrapuntal aim is explained further in a letter to Edwin von der Niill of 1928.17 In reply to Null's question concerning his scant use of counterpoint, Bartok replied that this had simply been his inclination, but then went on: 'Lately this has changed somewhat: in recent years I have been taking an interest in music before Bach, and believe that the influence of this can be detected in, for example, the [First] Piano Concerto [1926] and the Nine Little Piano Pieces [1926]'.

6. Bartok's views on the natural differences between the piano and string instruments were elaborated most succinct- ly eight years later in his essay 'Mechanical Music':18

When great artists play the piano, we frequently have the sen- sation of a continuously flowing cantilena similar to that obtained from wind and string instruments. This effect, however, is nothing more than an illusion produced by the performer with widely varied dynamic shading and rhythm, because the blending of a sequence of tones is actually impossible on the piano and plucked instruments; in fact, it is merely the dry plucking of tones in succession that is obtained.

In 1927, in response to a questionnaire 'About the "Piano" Problem' (distributed by the Viennese journal Musikbldt- ter des Anbruch), Bart6k commented: '. . . it seems to me that its inherent nature becomes really expressive only by

14The details are outlined in Gustav Olah: 'Bart6k and the Theatre', in Bela Bar- t6k: a Memorial Review (New York, 1950), 58f 15A Guide to Bartok (Budapest, 1974), 98 16Bela Bart6k jnr, ed.;' Bartok Bela csalddi levelei [Bela Bart6k family letters] (Budapest, 1981), 386 [my translation]

17letter, undated [1928], in Janos Demeny, ed.: Bartok Bela levelei [Bela Bart6k letters) (Budapest, 1976), 359 [my translation]

18repr. in Benjamin Suchoff, ed.: Bela Bartok Essays (New York, 1976), 290

558

means of the present tendency to use the piano as a per- cussion instrument'.19 The differences between Bart6k's writing for piano, and that for violin, has been the subject of critical comment since the early 1920s. On hearing the First Violin Sonata H. C. Colles had written in The Times (18 March 1922):

He [Bart6k] takes his stand with peculiar frankness on the nature of the two instruments he has to deal with, piano and violin - the one an instrument limited to a selection of certain fixed sounds, but capable of an extraordinary variety of combination, the other unlimited in its range of sounds (within its compass), but strictly limited in its power of combination.

Ernest Newman, for the Sunday Times (26 March 1922), was more blunt: 'It was as if two people were improvising against one another'.

7. Only in the previous year had Bart6k explained his thinking about tonality even more clearly:20

Our peasant music, naturally, is invariably tonal, if not always in the sense that the inflexible major and minor system is tonal. (An 'atonal' folk music, in my opinion, is unthinkable.) Since we depend upon a tonal basis of this kind in our creative work, it is quite self-evident that our works are quite pronouncedly tonal in type. I must admit, however, that there was a time when I thought I was approaching a species of twelve-tone music. Yet even in works of that period the absolute tonal foun- dation is unmistakable.

Bart6k approached most closely an acceptance of atonality around 1920, both in his works (Mandarin, Improvisa- tions, two violin sonatas) and writing ('The Problem of the New Music', 1920).21 By 1923 he had returned to a more confident assertion of tonality in the Dance Suite, with ver- bal recognition that his works were solidly tonal in a letter of the following year.22

8. During 1926-8 Bart6k made his own piano ar- rangements of selected keyboard works by these composers. They were published by Fischer in 1930.23 Not only did these early works influence Bart6k's style of composition, but his style of arrangement and piano playing influenced the way his audience heard them. As in 1933, one critic found these Italian pieces 'more Bart6k than anything else. He has kept them within their own tonal limits but their atmosphere is new' (Glasgow Weekly Herald, 11 Nov 1933). Bart6k performed several of these 'pre-Bach' works in a BBC broadcast of 9 October 1927 and several more on 5 March 1929 (as mentioned in the interview).

9. Pal Kadosa (b 1903) and Istvan Szelenyi (b 1904) had both been composition students of Kodaly earlier in the decade.24

19ibid, 288 20from 'The Folk Songs of Hungary' (1928), repr. in Suchoff, ed.: op cit, 388f

2libid, 455-9 22letter from Bart6k to Ernst Latzko, 16 Dec 1924, in Demeny, ed.: op cit, 31 If 23see listing of these works in Vera Lampert and Laszl6 Somfai: 'Bela Bart6k', The New Grove: Modern Masters (London, 1984), 88 24short biographies and lists of works for these composers are in Contemporary Hungarian Composers (Budapest, 1970), 51-3, 119f



10. Bart6k had early encountered a British dislike for Liszt's works. At his first performance in the country, in Manchester on 18 February 1904 with the Halle, his pro- gramme had included Liszt's Spanish Rhapsody (in Busoni's orchestration). A critic from the Manchester Courier (19 Feb 1904) had praised Bart6k's performance but then commented: 'There is, of course, no appeal to the higher emo- tions, and the rippling of the piano, effective as it is up to a certain point, conveys the impression of soullessness, equally with the fortissimo cascades, which are avowedly only concerned with the impulse of the moment'. The Daily Dispatch (19 Feb 1904) went further, citing Liszt as one of three 'demons' who had lured Bart6k to ruin in his own composition. (Wagner and Strauss were the other two!). For a 'Ladies' Concert' two days later, in the same city, Bart6k volunteered Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor, but the offer was politely declined. This work was 'rather too long' the concert organizers explained.25 During the following year Bart6k again performed in Manchester with the Halle, and again he performed Liszt, this time the Totentanz. Again Bart6k was congratulated on his rendi- tion but the work itself was found wanting by almost all the critics. Ernest Newman was more moderate than most

25unpublished letter from John Broadwood & Sons to Bart6k, 15 Feb 1904, Budapest Bart6k Archive BH 217/b

ROYAL OVER-SEAS LEAGUE MUSIC COMPETITION 1988 Chairman of Adjudicators Lady Barbirolli OBE

The Royal Over- Seas League Music Competition, founded in 1952, is one of the most comprehensive and highly regarded of major competitions held irithe U.K.

The Competition has four solo classes: Strings (including harp and guitar); Woodwind/Brass; Keyboard and Singers. In addition there is an Ensemble class and a major award for Composers.

The Competition is open to Commonwealth citizens (including the U.K. and also citizens of former Commonwealth countries).

Age Limit: Instrumentalists 28; Singers 30; Composers 30.

Over ?12,000 in prizes, including the first prize, the Champagne Pommery Award, of ?3,000.

Auditions in London, Glasgow and Manchester.

Deadline Applications 8 January 1988.

Further information and prospectus

Roderick Lakin, Director ofMusic, Royal Over-Seas League, Over-Seas House, Park Place, St. James's Street, London SWIA lLR.

Tel: 01-408 0214 ext. 219.

788

(Manchester Guardian, 24 Nov 1905): Liszt's 'Todtentanz', regarded as mere music, is often rather tiresome ... A good half of the time Liszt is palpably playing at being diabolical, telling us, as the Fat Boy told Mr. Pickwick, that he wants to make our flesh creep, but scarcely ever rais- ing a decent horripilation.

With these three negative experiences from his first three British performances, Bart6k concluded that Liszt and the British were not compatible. Never, in nearly 50 concerts over the following 35 years did he perform, or even sug- gest, a single item by Liszt. His interest in him remained undiminished, however. During the 1910s he was involv- ed in work on the Liszt critical edition (Leipzig, 1907- 36), spending considerable time on the Hungarian Rhapsodies, among other works.26 It was in his capacity as a Liszt scholar that the critic D. C. Parker, of Glasgow, approached Bartok in 1914 with several questions about these rhapsodies.27 Liszt also figured prominently in Bartok's writings, with 'Liszt's Music and Today's Public' for a Budapest journal in 1911, followed by a study of two Liszt letters in the Musical Quarterly of 1921, and 'Liszt Pro- blems' of 1936, Bart6k's inaugural lecture at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.28

11. Bart6k reiterated his respect for American orchestras the following year in a letter to his wife. Writing about a rehearsal in London under Sir Henry Wood he reported: 'The rhapsody is, of course, going well. With such a good orchestra it's little wonder (although things went even bet- ter in America)'.29 Bart6k had performed his Rhapsody op.l with the New York PO under Willem Mengelberg on 22 and 23 December 1927, and with the Philadelphia SO under Frigyes Reiner on 30 and 31 December. He also performed his First Piano Concerto (1926) with the Cin- cinnati PO and Boston SO in February 1928. His view of 'American generosity to art and artists' was without doubt influenced by the first prize of $3000 which he had been awarded by the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia. This award, for his Third String Quartet (1927), had been made only a few months before, in October 1928. In 1934 Bar- t6k's impression of American generosity would further be strengthened by the commission of Elisabeth Sprague- Coolidge for his Fifth String Quartet. Concerning Pro Musica, Bart6k had been on its advisory board for several years. During his 1927-8 tour of the USA he delivered several lecture-recitals before chapters of the society in various parts of the country.30

26see details in Lampert and Somfai: loc cit 27see unpublished postcard from Bart6k to D. C. Parker, 22 May 1914, in Depart- ment of MSS, National Library of Scotland

28Suchoff, ed.: op cit, 451-4, 481-7, 501-10

29letter, 26 Nov 1930, in Bart6k jnr, ed.: op cit, 497f [my translation] 30Bart6k's lecture is repr. in Suchoff, ed.: 331-9

559



a conversation with bartók: 1929

Documents