In 1906, Bartbk made his own field recordings of folk music in Hungarian villages. He found an incredible variety of old ecclesiastical or old Greek modes and the ancient pentatonic scale in the melodies of the Transylvanian Hungarians. And he found t...
In 1906, Bartbk made his own field recordings of folk music in Hungarian villages. He found an incredible variety of old ecclesiastical or old Greek modes and the ancient pentatonic scale in the melodies of the Transylvanian Hungarians. And he found the potential for new harmonizations in the melodies. Among the characteristics of what Bartbk refer red to as the `old Hungarian folksong style is a pentatonic scalar basis for the melodies, with occasional transformations of the latter into the Dorian, Aeolian or Phrygian mode. Among the characteristics of what he referred to as the new Hungarian folksong style` is a heptatonic modal basis for the melodies, including Dorian, Aeolian and Phrygian scales with strong pentatonic inflections, as well as an occasional prominence of Mixolydian and even major scales. Barto´k divided the stock, strophic material of Hungarian folk into three classes: A. `old`; B. `new`; C. `miscellaneous`. First came the melodies of twelve or eight syllables(Subc1ass 1 ), which possessed the most ancient stanzaic structure. Then followed the melodies of six syllables(Subc1ass 2), and finally the derived structures(with seven syllables(3), with eleven(4), with ten(5), with nine(6)). More complicated(asymmetrica1) formations were deemed Class B. Bartbk also regarded one particular rhythmic phenomenon as being Class B: the dotted rhythm - quaver+dotted crotchet; dotted crotchet+quaver - with its accommodation of Hungarian speech patterns. He believed that Class A melodies which showed such a rhythmic characteristic were transitional towards the `new` style of Class B, where the dotted rhythm is generally found. At the time, however, he did not consider it necessary to illustrate this historical line of development in the system itself, only hinting at it in his detailed descriptions. Although Bartcik did not divide the stylistically highly unified Class B into subclasses, he did so with his Class C, distinguishing seven subclasses based on a variety of criteria. In addition to the folk modes 13art6k found three kinds of prevailing rhythmic formations in Eastern European rural music: `parlando rubato`, a free, declamatory or recitative type ; `tempo giusto`, a more or less rigid type, in which change of barring may occur ; and the so-called `dotted` rhythm, where accentuated short values are followed by non-accentuated long values. Above all, however, was Barto´k`s supernal talent that enabled him to homogenize polyglot musical folklore and develop five innovative levels of complexity for its use in composition. (1) Ge78nuine folk tunes are featured, and the invented additions are of secondary importance. In other words, the folk tune is the `jewel` and the added parts function as its `mounting`, (2) the folk tune and the invented material are treated equally, (3) the folk tune is presented as a kind of musical `motto`, and the invented material is of greater significance, (4) the composition is based on themes which imitate genuine folk tunes, (5) the highest level is abstract composition in which neither folk tune nor its imitation is used, but the work is nevertheless pervaded by the `spirit` of folk music.