Béla Bartók, Georg von Albrecht, and Musical Folklore: A Comparative Approach

Melodies collected by Bartók were used by Georg von Albrecht in his op. 19 (which is published and studied here for the first time, together with Albrecht's notes in his copy of Bartók's collection). His choice, combination and arrangement of Hungarian melodies is closely linked with his s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of musicology 2000-01, Vol.9, p.101-118
Main Author: von Albrecht, Michael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Composers
Ethnomusicology
Folk music
Folklore
Folksongs
Melody
Music composition
Musicology
Serial music
Violins
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Summary:Melodies collected by Bartók were used by Georg von Albrecht in his op. 19 (which is published and studied here for the first time, together with Albrecht's notes in his copy of Bartók's collection). His choice, combination and arrangement of Hungarian melodies is closely linked with his specific compositional interests in the early thirties (polarity of overtones and undertones, of 'major' and 'minor', polytonality). There are striking parallels in the two composers' approach to folk music and in their biographies, but there are also differences of cultural background, of fields of research, and of empirical or theoretical interest: Albrecht's approach was conditioned by his studies of Eastern European folklore and Ancient Greek music, his contrapuntal training with Taneiev, and his study of Scriabin's use of overtones. Last, and very important, both composers studied folklore not on a national but on an international scale, and folklore was for them a stepping stone on their way towards a new musical language.
ISSN:0941-9535