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Preface and Acknowledgments PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book is the extended form of six public lectures delivered in the Ernest Bloch Lecture Series from September 18 to October 23, 1989, in the Department of Music at the University of California at Berkeley. To my regret, the presentation of this expanded version, which for the most part I had finished by the end of 1992, is somewhat overdue, but not without good reason. For an American publication I found that I could not help but produce, if I may say so, a magnum opus, a summary of three decades of Bartók studies, thereby offering grateful, if belated, thanks to the University of California and to my colleagues and students at Berkeley. It was proba- bly the happiest time of my life: I had the honor not only of presenting the music of Béla Bartók but also, at a turning point in Bartók studies, of outlining the tasks awaiting future research on his oeuvre before the most resonant, expert audience I have ever met outside of my country, Hungary—the homeland of Bartók. Coming half a century after the death of the composer, this is the first book dedicated to the study of Bartók's compositional process to be based on the com- plete existing primary source material. Therefore, a great many things need to be accomplished simultaneously: a description of the sources (chapter 3) as well as the first reliable list of manuscripts (in the appendix); an extensive discussion of Bar- tók's sketches and drafts (chapters 4 and 7); an introduction to auxiliary research fields as for instance in paper studies (chapter 6). And although this book is pri- marily aimed at musicologists, I could not disregard the possible questions of a performer about the problems posed by Bartók's metronome markings and other such issues (chapter 10). There is, however, no extensive bibliography in the present book, which is per- haps unorthodox in a study of this size. The list of abbreviations includes the litera- ture to which I repeatedly refer, and in the notes to chapter 1 there is a survey of the basic Bartókiana that has direcdy or indirecdy influenced my studies. Nonetheless, XIII we are going to work largely on the basis of original sources, notably an immense amount of unpublished material to which I have been fortunate to have access. Quotations from Bartok's correspondence with his publishers, if no printed edition has been given, are based on the originals or photocopies contained in the American and the Budapest Bartok Archives. Translations of already printed versions of Bar- tok's letters and essays have been tacitly revised, if the original meaning had been distorted considerably. Tides of Bartok's compositions will occasionally be short- ened (thus "2-piano Sonata," instead of "Sonata for two Pianos and Percussion"). Tides may also appear in an English version different from, but more authentic than, that generally used in sheet music editions (such as "Evening in Transylvania") or in a hitherto unpublished, corrected form taken from the original sources (thus BB 106 Sze'kely Folksongs, instead of'Szdkely Songs"). The appendix, a list of works and primary sources, is organized according to my new numbering of the Bartok com- positions, namely, the BB numbers of the planned thematic catalogue, and contains a great amount of unpublished data relating to chronology and other matters. One cannot compile a work of this complexity without assistance from many quarters: institutes, libraries, owners of the manuscripts, workshops of Bart6k re- search and performance, musician and musicologist friends. To begin with the occa- sion that ignited my work on this book, I should like first to acknowledge my friends at Berkeley for inviting me to be the eighteenth visiting Ernest Bloch Professor: Daniel Heartz, who put forward the proposal; Bonnie C. Wade, chair of the Depart- ment of Music at the time of the invitation; Philip Brett, the chair in the fall of 1989; Richard F. Taruskin, the host at the lectures and, together with Joseph W. Kerman and Anthony Newcomb, a keen critic during the discussions; and Madeline Duckies, whose house was our home and whose friendship assured me that I could get over my inhibitions and work together with an elite group of musicologists. To my own institute, the Bartok Archives (which I head) at the Institute for Musicology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest, I am also grateful. Past and present directors of the home institution, Bence Szabolcsi, Jozsef Ujfalussy, and Zoltan Falvy, established the conditions conducive to creative work, including freedom in planning and chances to lecture on Bartok abroad. I can still rely on the advice of my predecessor, Denijs Dille, on two former assistants, Vera Lampert (Lampert-Deak) and Tibor Tallian, on our trusted colleague Adrienne Gombocz (Gombocz-Konkoly), on the stimulation of Andras Wilheim, and on the help of young members of my present staff. The Budapest Bart6k Archives gave me the opportunity to meet scholars from abroad and exchange views. Two further centers of my activity should be mentioned here: the Department of Musicology at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, with its broad-minded chairman, Gyorgy Kroo, where as a professor I have an opportunity to test new ideas and to train young people in Bart6k research; and the yearly International Bartok Seminar in Szom- bathely, Hungary, directed byTamas Klenjanszky, where the ideas of Bartok scholars are discussed and tested by a special group of Bartok interpreters and teachers, XIV PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS including Gyòrgy Kurtàg, Péter Eòtvòs, and Zoltan Kocsis. This contact with per- formance practice, which started with interviews of Bartók's intimate partners in music, above all Zoltan Székely, has a sobering and at the same time stimulating effect on my efforts to determine the proper role and goals of musicology. Without access to the sources this book could not have been written. I am deeply indebted to the sons of Béla Bartók, who own the overwhelming majority of the primary sources, for their interest in my work and for their permission to reproduce many facsimiles of Bartók's manuscripts from their collections. Béla Bartók Jr. (d. 1994) supported this work for many years; he even allowed me to examine sources in the collection at his home. I am also very grateful to Peter Bartók for giving me access to copies of manuscripts in his collection as well as assisting my examination of the originals in Florida. The Siemens Foundation, Munich, provided financial aid for a research trip to the United States and for travel in Europe. Many libraries and collections kindly gave me permission to survey original manuscripts or sent me copies, but I would like to express my special appreciation to Paul Sacher, founder of the Paul Sacher Foundation, Basel. For their expert help, I would also like to thank James W. Pruett at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; J. Rigbie Turner at the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; Arthur Searle at the British Library, Lon- don; and Ernst Hilmar at the Stadt- und Landesbibliothek, Vienna. Since English is not my mother tongue and the production of a major musi- cological study on Bartók involves special difficulties, the preparation of this book has entailed extraordinary work on the part of its publisher. I must therefore thank the Editorial Committee of the University of California Press for accepting the book for publication. I also extend my gratitude to the readers of the rough version, Ingrid Arauco and Reinhold Brinkmann, for their advice. I am grateful as well to my editors at the University of California Press: Doris Kretschmer, for her encourage- ment of this project; Rose Vekony, for her guidance through editing and produc- tion; and Edith Gladstone, for her considerable improvements to the English of my text. Special thanks are due to Richard F. Taruskin, who read and corrected the final copy with an expert eye and great empathy. Last, but by no means least of all, I wish to express my deepest thanks to my wife, Dorka, who has always fostered a way of life for me in which, independent of the outside world, I could pursue dedicated work. She has urged me to undertake great challenges and remain faithful to my labor-of-love topics, even in my years of frustra- tion with the Bartók situation; she has always been my first reader and, being herself a colleague and an expert musicology editor, the first critic of my writings. All music examples and the drawings in figures, if not facsimiles of Béla Bartók's autograph works, are reproduced in my handwriting. Facsimile reproductions of sketches and drafts of Bartók's compositions from the collections of Béla Bartók Jr. (Budapest) and Peter Bartók (Homosassa, Fla.) are used by permission. For per- PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv mission to reprint copyrighted material or publish pages from the original sources of copyrighted compositions in facsimile, acknowledgment is due to the publishers of Bartok's compositions: Allegro barbaro (for piano). Copyright 1918 by Universal Edition; renewed 1945. All rights in the U.S.A. owned by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. Used by permission. Bach-Bart6k, Sonata VI, transcribed for piano (1929). Copyright 1930 by Rozsavolgyi es Tsa, Budapest; copyright assigned 1950 to Editio Musica Budapest. Used by permission. Cantata Profana. Copyright 1934 by Universal Edition; renewed 1961. All rights in the U.S.A. owned by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. Used by permission. Concerto for Orchestra. Copyright 1942 by Hawkes & Son, Ltd.; renewed 1973. Used by permission. Contrasts for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano. Copyright 1942 by Hawkes & Son, Ltd.; renewed 1969. Used by permission.
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