Bartók's string quartets / János Kárpáti ; [translated by Fred Macnicol].

Author/creator Kárpáti, János
Format Book
Publication Info[Budapest] : Corvina Press, 1975.
Description279 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Subjects

Uniform titleBartók vonósnégyesei. English
Contents Introduction: The place of chamber music in the life-work -- Part one: Musical idiom and style. The legacy of Beethoven ; Forerunners and contemporaries ; The folk music influence ; Monothematicism and variation ; 'Polymodal chromaticism' ; Tonality. The phenomenon of mistuning ; Polytonality -- Part two: Analyses. The first string quartet ; The second string quartet ; The third string quartet ; The fourth string quartet ; The fifth string quartet ; The sixth string quartet -- Appendix.
Abstract Béla Bartók's string quartets are 'key works': in them is reflected the stylistic development not only of his own art but of the music of a whole age, the twentieth century, and also of the string quartet genre itself. Each of the six string quartets represents a milestone in Bartók's creative path. They offer a faithful and comprehensive picture of the various periods in the composer's creative development, each bears the characteristic marks of these periods, showing as they do the direction taken by Bartók's orientations, the various influences and his own individual original methods. This book on the one hand sets these works against the background of the whole history of the string quartet as a genre, thus indicating their position as the direct continuation of the late Beethoven quartets, and on the other hand it presents an exposition of the factors involved in Bartók's art, the trace of the influence of art music and folk music, of predecessors and contemporaries--placing Bartók at the head of the twentieth century masters as the distillation and summary of all that preceded him.
General noteTranslation of Bartók vonósnégyesei.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 269-272).
LCCN 77369019
ISBN9631336557
ISBN9789631336559
ISBN0214204693
ISBN9780214204692