Bartók: Mikrokosmos

[Jelly]

From the Diary of a Fly, for piano

From All Music Guide: As one might conclude from the headnote for this piece. Bartók attempts here to depict the actions of a fly caught in a cobweb, from the fly's perspective -- i.e., as related from his diary. The composer revealed there are buzzing sounds depicted that signify the fly's desperation to escape. In the end, he does.

Has anyone else heard this piece?

[MaestroDJS]

This link at AllMusic has a concise summary of Mikrokosmos by Béla Bartók, a list of its 153 pieces, plus links to various recorded performances.

AllMusic: Mikrokosmos, progressive pieces (153) for piano in 6 volumes, Sz. 107, BB 105
http://wc07.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=a ... 2:20599~T1

Composition Description by Alexander Carpenter

Mikrokosmos was originally designed as a collection of pieces for the beginning pianist, but over time it took on grander proportions, comprising 153 individual pieces that spanned the range of technical difficulty. Dividing into six volumes, it begins with pieces for beginners and progresses to those that challenge even the most accomplished pianist. That Mikrokosmos has become a viable progressive method is demonstrated by its ubiquity in the repertories of modern piano students, but its reputation rests on more than its technical and pedagogical applications; Bartók's work represents a varied and finely crafted catalog of twentieth century musical idioms. In Bartók's own words, it "appears as a synthesis of all the musical and technical problems which were treated and in some case only partially solved in the previous piano works." Perhaps chief among these musical problems was Bartók's attempted synthesis of Eastern and Western European musical traditions, particularly Eastern folk music with the Germanic tradition (as represented by Bach and Beethoven) and with the progressive harmonies of Claude Debussy.

The first 66 pieces in Mikrokosmos (Vols. 1 and 2) are dedicated to Bartók's son, Peter, for whose use they were originally intended. Many of these pieces are technical exercises, useful for developing finger and hand independence, as well as hand span; however, they are also of interest for their musical language. Hungarian folk tunes, pentatonic, whole-tone and modal harmonies, as well as more adventurous octatonic chromatic scales all form the basis for these short pieces.

Volumes 3 and 4 make up numbers 67 through 121. These pieces display increased harmonic complexity and technical demands. Bartók employs more polymodes (the use of different modes, or keys, simultaneously), along with octatonic and diatonic scale fragments to construct these pieces. The compositions in the third and fourth volumes are also important because they betray the influence of Franz Liszt, particularly in terms of tone color; Bartók wrote of his desire, in these pieces, to "poetically color the piano tone."

The final volumes (5 and 6) of the Mikrokosmos were intended as concert pieces for professional pianists. They differ from the preceding pieces in many respects: their contrapuntal texture is more dense (four parts), the melodic and harmonic material is more characteristic of Bartók's non-pedagogical works, and rhythmic structures are much more complicated and include vigorous syncopations and Bulgarian dance rhythms.

While Bartók's intention to synthesize Bach, Beethoven, and Debussy was perhaps not fully realized, Mikrokosmos nonetheless compares well with some of Bach and Debussy's ostensibly pedagogical keyboard works. Like Bach's Inventions or Debussy's Études, for example, Mikrokosmos is not merely a work of practical value, but also a work of art with much purely musical substance.

Bartók himself recorded about 1/3 of the pieces in Mikrokosmos for Columbia Records in 1940, which I have in an old Hungaroton LP set which was released for the Bartók centennial in 1981. Interesting music, with quite a cumulative effect.

Vol. VI, No. 142, "From the Diary of a Fly" was one of many pieces Bartók composed throughout his life in which he liked to have some fun with his music, but this fun also sparked his imagination. Other examples of his musical fun are "Bear Dance" and "A Bit Tipsy" from his Hungarian Pictures, and especially the "Intermezzo interrotto" from his Concerto for Orchestra which famously satirizes the repetitious march from Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 in C Major "Leningrad".

For an excruciatingly detailed analysis of "From the Diary of a Fly":

Pattern Manipulation and Different Levels of Process
in Béla Bartók's "From the Diary of a Fly,"
Mikrokosmos, vol. 6, no. 142
by John A. Maurer IV, composer alum of:
Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA)
Stanford University
http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~blackrse/fly.html

It's much too long to quote in its entirety, but here are the first 2 paragraphs:

Of all the twentieth-century classical music I have studied thus far, I have liked the music of Béla Bartók the best--his rhythmic complexity, assymetrical patterns, and interesting formal structures are all extremely fascinating to me and have had a profound influence on my ways of thinking about music. After listening to his Mikrokosmos, furthermore, a collection of 153 pieces for piano, I was especially drawn to the piece entitled, "From the Diary of a Fly," not only for its musical ideas but for its humor as well. Note right away the marking, "Ouch! a cobweb!," at m.49, and the absence of bass cleff throughout the composition, lending the piece a very insect-like sonority.

After having listened to the piece with the score in front of me several times, then, I began to ask myself more specifically what contributed to my liking of the piece and to my liking of Bartók's style in general: what about the music itself--from the very smallest detail, all the way up to the movement of the piece as a whole--contributes to my interest in "From the Diary of a Fly" and in Bartók as a composer? Why do I like this stuff? What is Bartók doing that captures my attention so much? I came to several general observations.

[Wallingford]

Has anyone else heard this piece?

I worked on it my freshman year in college. It's due largely to this set that I place Bartok head & shoulders above all other 20th century keyboard writers.

And David's correct: "Fly" is simply another example of Bartok's peculiar brand of musical humor.

[Corlyss_D]

I heard it many many years ago. I think I own an LP recording of it.

[Wallingford]

Actually, Mikrokosmos' importance as a piano work has too long been denied: concert artists would do well to program a small selection of them as a nice piece de resistance at their recitals. They're greatly entertaining little pieces, and of course are a fascinating textbook of Bartok's influences and techniques.....particularly the studies on certain intervals and those "Dances In Bulgarian Rhythm."

[hautbois]

Jeno Jando recorded the complete Mikrokosmos on Naxos if one is interested.

Howard

[MaestroDJS]

Today I've been listening to selections from Mikrokosmos by Béla Bartók, in the recordings which the composer himself made in April and May 1940. Mikrokosmos is a set of 153 short piano pieces in 6 books which become progressively more difficult, from simple scales to truly virtuoso pieces. In his recordings, Bartók selected only pieces from the 2nd half and arranged them in groups of 1 to 4 pieces per 78-RPM disc for best effect. These recordings were included in the 8-LP set "Bartók at the Piano" which I bought in 1981 as part of the Bartók centennial. I believe these have also been reissued on CDs.

Another set, "Bartók Record Archives" includes an interview which Bartók gave for radio station WNYC in New York on 2 July 1944. He speaks English, and he included a few comments about this music: "The Mikrokosmos is a cycle of 150 and 3 pieces for piano written with didactical purposes. That is to give pieces, piano pieces which can be used from the very beginning and then going on, it is graded according to difficulties. And the word 'Kosmos' may be interpreted, 'Mikrokosmos' may be interpreted as a world, a musical world for the little ones, for the children."

Of the hundred zillion languages I *don't* speak, Hungarian is the most beguiling. The words and letters look so intriguing and exotic, and when I learn their meanings they show relations and similarities which can be quite delightful. For example in Mikrokosmos, No. 139: "Paprikajancsi [Merry Andrew]" is a merry and spicy little piece, with just the right amount of paprika. No. 109: "Báli szigetén [From the Island of Bali]" looks similar to the name of violinist Joseph Szigeti (is the violinist named Joe Island, perhaps?). Some of the English translations make me wonder what I'm missing, because No. 94: "Hol volt, hol nem volt" surely means more than simply "Tale". So many languages, so little time.

Béla Bartók (1881-1945): Mikrokozmosz [Mikrokosmos] (1926-39) Sz. 107
Béla Bartók, piano. Columbia recordings, April and May 1940.

No. 113: Bolgár ritmus (1.) [Bulgarian Rhythm (1)]
No. 129: Váltakozó tercek [Alternating Thirds]
No. 131: Kvartok [Fourths]
No. 128: Dobbantós tánc [Peasant Dance]

No. 120: Kvintakkordok [Fifth Chords]
No. 109: Báli szigetén [From the Island of Bali]
No. 138: Dudamuzsika [Bagpipe]

No. 100: Népdalféle [In the Style of a Folksong]
No. 142: Mese a kis légyröl [From the Diary of a Fly]
No. 140: Szabad változatok [Free Variations]

No. 133: Szinkópák [Syncopation]
No. 149: Hat tánc bolgár ritmusban (2.) [Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm (2)]
No. 148: Hat tánc bolgár ritmusban (1.) [Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm (1)]

No. 108: Birkózás [Wrestling]
No. 150: Hat tánc bolgár ritmusban (3.) [Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm (3)]
No. 151: Hat tánc bolgár ritmusban (4.) [Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm (4)]

No. 94: Hol volt, hol nem volt [Tale]
No. 152: Hat tánc bolgár ritmusban (5.) [Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm (5)]
No. 153: Hat tánc bolgár ritmusban (6.) [Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm (6)]

No. 126: Változó ütem [Change of Time]
No. 116: Nóta [Melody]
No. 130: Falusi tréfa [Village Joke]
No. 139: Paprikajancsi [Merry Andrew]

No. 143: Tört hangzatok váltakozva [Divided Arpeggios]
No. 147: Induló [March]

No. 144: Kis másod- és nagy hetedhangközök [Minor Seconds, Major Sevenths]

No. 97: Notturno
No. 118: Triolák 9/8-ban [Triplets in 9/8 Time]
No. 141: Tükrözödés [Subject and Reflexion]

No. 136: Hangsorok egészhangokbál [Whole-Tone Scale]
No. 125: Csónakázás [Boating]
No. 114: Téma és forditása [Theme and Inversion]

[hangos]

[quote="MaestroDJS"]

Of the hundred zillion languages I *don't* speak, Hungarian is the most beguiling. The words and letters look so intriguing and exotic, and when I learn their meanings they show relations and similarities which can be quite delightful. Some of the English translations make me wonder what I'm missing, because No. 94: "Hol volt, hol nem volt" surely means more than simply "Tale". So many languages, so little time.

quote]

I couldn't agree more,Dave! The language so intrigued me that I've been learning it sporadically for the past couple of years.
The Hungarian word "sziget" does mean "island", so the famous violinist's name adds the "i" in much the same way as New York gives us New Yorker ; Ligeti's name comes from the word "liget" meaning, apparently,
"forest" (could explain the very dense soundworld of his 1960s masterpieces!)

"Hol volt, hol nem volt" means,I think, "Where it was, where it wasn't" ,by the way.

Is Zoltan Kocsis your favourite interpreter of Bartok apart from the composer himself? Do you know of a link to that July 1944 radio recording of Bartok speaking English? I'd love to hear it!

Boldog Szilvester! (Happy New Year in Hungarian)

Martin

[Wallingford]

Lest we forget: GYORGY SANDOR, a personal friend of the composer, recorded the entire piano music for Vox, which is available in a CD set.

[piston]

Bartok is rightfully praised for the very gradual "learning curb" he created with the six volumes of Mikrokosmos. There are three other educational values that also come to mind: 1. a very friendly way of making young pianists more familiar with modern classical music "by throwing in, here and there, an acid dissonant chord or an irregular rhythm, while retaining the jovial and extrovert mood typical of the chosen material"; 2. the technical means for realizing a "musical synthesis" between East and West; 3. at least four different "manners" for the treatment of folklore in music composition. Excluding the earlier, Lisztian manner, these four manners have been summarized as follows:

a. "providing an accompaniment to the folk-tune without, or hardly, altering it -- eventually framing it with a prelude or postlude, this method recalling Bach's work on Chorale tunes." (as illustrated in For Children)

b. "transferring folk-material into non-original forms or sonorities" (illustrated in his Six Roumanian Folk Dances, the Fifteen Hungarian Peasant Songs, the Little Suite, etc.)

c. Fourth manner: "Here the peasant song plays but the part of a motto, the essentials being what one puts about and beneath. It is important that the musical garment with which we clothe the melody should always be deducted from its mood and from its musical peculariaties, apparent or hidden; the melody and everything we had to it have to give an impression of unseparable unity." (Bartok)

d. "Imaginary" folklore, "where the composer invents themes akin in form and spirit to the language of peasant songs, but wholly his own creation. He uses specific melodic and rhythmic turns and a quite involved musical alchemy produces results of amazing authenticity." (anticipated in his Allegro barbaro and illustrated in Out of Doors, fourteen bagatelles, Suite op. 14, etc).

Source: liner notes of Bartok's complete solo piano music, interpreted by G. Sandor, Vox Box.

P.S. Yes, hangos, Kocsis is currently viewed as the ultimate interpreter of Bartok's piano music. He has dethroned Sandor, a man who was much older than himself when he recorded for Vox.
EDIT: Nope! I was wrong. Sandor was 52 at the time of recording Mikrokosmos; Kocsis was 44. Not such a big age difference after all.

[Agnes Selby]

Of the hundred zillion languages I *don't* speak, Hungarian is the most beguiling. The words and letters look so intriguing and exotic, and when I learn their meanings they show relations and similarities which can be quite delightful. Some of the English translations make me wonder what I'm missing, because No. 94: "Hol volt, hol nem volt" surely means more than simply "Tale". So many languages, so little time.

quote]

I couldn't agree more,Dave! The language so intrigued me that I've been learning it sporadically for the past couple of years.
The Hungarian word "sziget" does mean "island", so the famous violinist's name adds the "i" in much the same way as New York gives us New Yorker ; Ligeti's name comes from the word "liget" meaning, apparently,
"forest" (could explain the very dense soundworld of his 1960s masterpieces!)

"Hol volt, hol nem volt" means,I think, "Where it was, where it wasn't" ,by the way.

Is Zoltan Kocsis your favourite interpreter of Bartok apart from the composer himself? Do you know of a link to that July 1944 radio recording of Bartok speaking English? I'd love to hear it!

Boldog Szilvester! (Happy New Year in Hungarian)

Martin

--------------
Boldog Szilvester to you too!!!

Did you know that "hangos" means noisy in Hungarian? I have been intrigued by your pseudonym. Hungarian was
my late Mother's tongue and I too find it interesting even if not melodious.
It stands alone totally unrelated to any of the languages or the grammar
of its neighbouring countries. I congratulate you on your learning Hungarian as I think it would be a difficult language to learn from scratch.

Agnes.
--------------

[Jelly]

I just listened to the Jando recording of Mikrokosmos. No. 142, vol. 6 From the Diary of a Fly. I must say that I don't find this piece particularly effective. It sure doesn't sound like a buzzing fly to me. It could be the recording though, because lets face it Jando isn't one of the greatest pianists around.

[hangos]

Of the hundred zillion languages I *don't* speak, Hungarian is the most beguiling. The words and letters look so intriguing and exotic, and when I learn their meanings they show relations and similarities which can be quite delightful. Some of the English translations make me wonder what I'm missing, because No. 94: "Hol volt, hol nem volt" surely means more than simply "Tale". So many languages, so little time.

quote]

I couldn't agree more,Dave! The language so intrigued me that I've been learning it sporadically for the past couple of years.
The Hungarian word "sziget" does mean "island", so the famous violinist's name adds the "i" in much the same way as New York gives us New Yorker ; Ligeti's name comes from the word "liget" meaning, apparently,
"forest" (could explain the very dense soundworld of his 1960s masterpieces!)

"Hol volt, hol nem volt" means,I think, "Where it was, where it wasn't" ,by the way.

Is Zoltan Kocsis your favourite interpreter of Bartok apart from the composer himself? Do you know of a link to that July 1944 radio recording of Bartok speaking English? I'd love to hear it!

Boldog Szilvester! (Happy New Year in Hungarian)

Martin

--------------
Boldog Szilvester to you too!!!

Did you know that "hangos" means noisy in Hungarian? I have been intrigued by your pseudonym. Hungarian was
my late Mother's tongue and I too find it interesting even if not melodious.
It stands alone totally unrelated to any of the languages or the grammar
of its neighbouring countries. I congratulate you on your learning Hungarian as I think it would be a difficult language to learn from scratch.

Agnes.
--------------

Agnes,
Thank you for your encouraging and perceptive comments! Yes,I sometimes regret my choice of pseudonym, as I'm not really all that loud or noisy.
Hungarian is a very difficult language to learn, but it gives me an insight into how my secondary school pupils have to work when I teach them German and French ; besides, it keeps my brain active.
Boldog Szilveszter!
Martin

[MaestroDJS]

"Bartók Record Archives" includes an interview which Bartók gave for radio station WNYC in New York on 2 July 1944. He speaks English, and he included a few comments about this music: "The Mikrokosmos is a cycle of 150 and 3 pieces for piano written with didactical purposes. That is to give pieces, piano pieces which can be used from the very beginning and then going on, it is graded according to difficulties. And the word 'Kosmos' may be interpreted, 'Mikrokosmos' may be interpreted as a world, a musical world for the little ones, for the children."

Do you know of a link to that July 1944 radio recording of Bartok speaking English? I'd love to hear it!

Besides this interview in English, "Bartók Record Archives" also includes an interview in French for Radio Brussels, and a recording of Béla Bartók reading the Hungarian text of his Cantata Profana. Sometimes when Cantata Profana is performed in Hungary, Bartók's voice is heard reciting the text over loudspeakers, and then after a pause the live performance begins.

Unfortunately I have not found online links to any of these recordings. However I chanced upon this obituary for the man who interviewed Béla Bartók in New York in 1944, David Le Vita (1906-2006) who died 1½ years ago at age 100.

David Le Vita
Allegro, Volume CVI, No. 10, October, 2006
American Federation of Musicians, Local 802
http://www.local802afm.org/publication_ ... y=83401118

Dr. David LeVita, 100, a pianist, conductor and musicologist, and an 802 member since 1927, died on Aug. 26.

As curator of music at the Brooklyn Museum from 1942 to 1972, he presented weekly lectures on music to school children and created the museum's children's concert series, where he served as both orchestral conductor and lecturer. He presented classical music as a relevant, exciting and entertaining medium of artistic expression, often demonstrating his thoughts with humor and imagination, and this was enjoyed enthusiastically by the children and adults in his audience. He also initiated the museum's Sunday afternoon concerts and the "meet the composer" series, where, in a more traditional manner, he interviewed such notables as Bela Bartok. These programs were broadcast every week over WNYC.

Additionally, he formed the Brooklyn Museum Trio with himself as pianist, Avram Weiss as violinist, Sidney Edwards and, later, Shepard Coleman as cellist. The trio performed frequently at the museum and, on occasion, at Carnegie Recital Hall.

Dr. Le Vita was presented citations for his contributions to music education by Mayor LaGuardia and Mayor Wagner and he was cited in 2006 for his work by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and Brooklyn Museum Director Arnold Lehman.

Dr. Le Vita made his debut as a concert pianist in Aeolian Hall in 1923. He graduated from Leipzig Conservatory in 1929 and received his Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from Leipzig University in 1931. He began his career as a solo pianist, accompanist and chamber music player and later was director of the piano department at the Henry Street Settlement Music School and director of the Prospect Plaza Music Center in Brooklyn.

Survivors include his wife Gertrude; two daughters, Isabel Ganz of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. and Julie Wegener of New Paltz; three grandchildren and two great grandchildren. The family suggests that memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of Palm Beach County, Fla. (www.hpbc.com) or a charity of one's choice.

The booklet in "Bartók Record Archives" also includes an announcement for the live Sunday afternoon concerts which David Le Vita presented at the Brooklyn Museum in 1944:

ASK THE COMPOSER
Programs presenting outstanding contemporary composers and their music
SUNDAYS 4:00 PM
March 12 - Henry Cowell
April 9 - Jacques de Menasce
April 25 - Elie Siegmeister
May 7 - Béla Bartók
May 21 - Virgil Thomson
June 4 - Morton Gould
June 18 - Paul Creston

Each composer will be assisted by noted instrumentalists and vocalists
Programs under the direction of David LeVita, Musicologist of the Brooklyn Museum

BROOKLYN MUSEUM, Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn 17, New York

[hangos]

Dave,

Thank you so much for your very detailed information! Much appreciated!

Martin

[MaestroDJS]

"Hol volt, hol nem volt" means, I think, "Where it was, where it wasn't", by the way.

An Hungarian friend in Chicago just wrote to me:

Dave: Forgot to tell you that "hol volt, hol nem volt" roughly translates to "somewhere it happened, somewhere it didn't happen". This is a phrase that starts many children's stories, akin to "Once upon a time...".

He was born in Budapest, and I'll never forget the evening he told us his real "once upon a time": when he was 10 years old, his family was among the last to flee the country during the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, just before the borders were sealed.

[IcedNote]

All I know is that I had to analyze one of them for my doctoral diagnostic exams.

Not a fan of the music itself.

-G