{"id":4865,"date":"2018-04-09T08:00:52","date_gmt":"2018-04-09T06:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.henle.de\/blog\/en\/?p=4865"},"modified":"2018-04-09T07:38:16","modified_gmt":"2018-04-09T05:38:16","slug":"what-is-it-already-christmas-now-new-bartok-titles-at-henle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.henle.de\/en\/2018\/04\/09\/what-is-it-already-christmas-now-new-bartok-titles-at-henle\/","title":{"rendered":"What?! Is it already Christmas now? New Bart\u00f3k titles at Henle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Of course not, Christmas is out of the question only one week after Easter. But, the rich boon of meanwhile twelve Bart\u00f3k Urtext editions already makes us think of a table loaded with gifts \u2013 especially with even amongst them, the most recently released Romanian Christmas Songs<\/em><\/a>, is a veritable Christmas title. So, let\u2019s just take a closer look\u2026.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Two years ago we started Bart\u00f3k off with the famous Allegro barbaro<\/em><\/a>. Other popular individual works followed with Sonatina<\/a> and Suite op. 14<\/a>, together with collections of folk music ranging from the Romanian Folk Dances<\/em><\/a> and Hungarian Peasant Songs<\/em><\/a> to the avant-garde Improvisations<\/em> op. 20<\/a>. Bart\u00f3k\u2019s two great pedagogical collections are by now also available: that on Hungarian and Slovakian lieder for beginners For Children<\/em><\/a> and \u2013 last but not least \u2013 Mikrokosmos<\/em><\/a>, with its 153 numbers covering everything that can be learned on the black-and-white keys, from the first \u201cSix Unison Melodies\u201d to the \u201cSix Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Somfai, L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Vik\u00e1rius, Yusuke Nakahara<\/p><\/div>\n

So, at Henle in the past two years we\u2019ve issued not only another component of 20th<\/sup>-century piano music, but have also learned a great deal about Bart\u00f3k\u2019s music and editing it. For our practical editions do indeed arise within the context of the B\u00e9la Bart\u00f3k Complete Critical Edition<\/a> in close collaboration with the Bart\u00f3k Archives in Budapest<\/a>, where these questions have been pursued for decades. For the piano works we are even working with three generations of Bart\u00f3k researchers:<\/p>\n

The most famous of these is, of course, L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Somfai<\/a>, who also initiated the Complete Edition. In preparing his complete-edition volume Piano Works 1914\u20131920<\/em><\/a> planned for this year, he is editing numerous individual works in Urtext. His successor as editor-in-chief of the Complete Edition, L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Vik\u00e1rius<\/a>, already contributed together with Vera Lampert the first volume For Children<\/em><\/a> in 2016, and has also supervised subsequent resulting Urtext volumes. Finally, Yusuke Nakahara, as archives research associate, edited our three-volume Mikrokosmos<\/em> Urtext edition in advance of the complete-edition volume.<\/p>\n

The extensive collection in the Budapest Bart\u00f3k Archives and the excellent networking with international Bart\u00f3k scholars is enabling the editors to research Bart\u00f3k\u2019s oeuvre und work intensively, which, apart from the compositional sources, also involves even Bart\u00f3k\u2019s ethnographical collections, correspondence and personal memoranda, as well as his numerous publications of and about music. For as a child of his time, Bart\u00f3k expressed himself most diversely in word and sound: whether in essays or lectures, in broadcast recordings, concerts or so-called instructive editions of other composers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Green markings: Bart\u00f3k's additions in his instructive edition of Mozart's Sonata K 545 <\/p><\/div>\n

These editions of the piano works of a Bach or Mozart, intended and elucidated for performance, include as many as some 2000 printed pages in Bart\u00f3k\u2019s estate \u2013 and give an idea of exactly how he interpreted the music notation. No wonder that then for his own works he confronted the publishers with pages-long explanations on the position and width of crescendo hairpins and set the highest standards for music notation \u2013 a challenge that we gladly accept!<\/p>\n

The music text itself of our blue editions is the same as the complete-edition volumes, but everything surrounding it is modified for practical use. So, the questions on \u201cNotation and performance\u201d that are discussed in detail in the complete-edition volume are in essence summarised in the Urtext edition for the performer. As \u201cEditorial notes for the performer\u201d they explain, for example, Bart\u00f3k\u2019s pedal markings or his distinctive use of phrase markings in compositions based on folk music: Whereas here the simple double-stroke marks only the end of the strophe (without retarding the musical course), a simple stroke or a comma above the notes indicates a short pause.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Concert version of No. I\/5 of the Romanian Christmas Songs<\/p><\/div>\n

There are at the same time references to Bart\u00f3k\u2019s own playing practice, going back in turn to the expertise of the Bart\u00f3k scholars in Budapest: Whether it be evaluating the printed programmes, showing us how Bart\u00f3k put together individual suites for concerts from gigantic works such as <\/em>For Childr<\/em>en<\/em> or Mikrokosmos<\/em> \u2013 thus significantly inspiring today\u2019s musicians for the next performance evening. Or, whether it be meticulously comparing the tempi that Bart\u00f3k selected in his editions or for performance.<\/p>\n

<\/em>L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Somfai on his edition of the Sonatina:<\/em>
\n\u201cIn the Editorial notes for the Perfomer [\u2026]<\/em> we compare the different tempos of the first and revised editions with the composer\u2019s recorded performance to show how Bart\u00f3k changed his mind after long years of concert practice.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Perhaps the most exciting are the transcriptions of \u201cconcert versions\u201d from Bart\u00f3k\u2019s recordings, first carried out for the complete edition \u2013 inviting you in our Urtext editions to try them out as the composer\u2019s own fascinating variants. Of course, these are shown as clearly separate in the edited Urtext: sometimes by \u201calternative\u201d rendering in grey print as in the Allegro barbaro<\/em>, sometimes in small-print ossias<\/em> as in the second of the Romanian Folk Dances<\/em>, sometimes in an appendix of its own as with\u00a0 <\/em> <\/em>For Childr<\/em>en<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Grey print in the Allegro barbaro<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Small-print ossias in the Romanian Folk Dances<\/p><\/div>\n

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<\/em>L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Vik\u00e1rius about his edition of <\/em>F\u00fcr Kinder:<\/em>
\n\u201cIt was a great pleasure to study and publish Bart\u00f3k\u2019s very imaginative children\u2019s pieces in the two versions (Hungary in 1908\u20131911, USA in 1943). Although the complete presentation was reserved for the Complete Edition, we could also still present crucial variants of the early version in the appendix to the Urtext edition. It was a special challenge to make a transcription of two pieces from Bart\u00f3k\u2019s incredibly free recordings.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Another advantage of creating our Urtext editions from the complete edition can literally be grasped with the hands in the case of the Mikroskosmos<\/em>: Here we can offer the six-volume work by Bart\u00f3k lavishly provided with explanations and exercises in three extremely handy double volumes. For this we have minimised the source description (leaving detailed explanation for the complete edition) and adopted the information about Bart\u00f3k\u2019s way of performing, crucial for the musician, etc., as directly as possible in the music text itself.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

No. 113 from Mikrokosmos III-IV<\/p><\/div>\n

(Noted only parenthetically here should be that interlinking the main text\u2019s footnotes with exercises, comments and variants as well as other \u201cEditorial notes for the performer\u201d in the printed edition already involves a bit of the penchant for leafing through music pages\u2026. Which is, of course, completely different with the Henle Library App<\/a>, for here every additional piece of information is only a finger tap away \u2013 it\u2019s not hard to imagine that Bart\u00f3k would have enjoyed that!)<\/p>\n

Yusuke Nakahara about his edition of <\/em>Mikrokosmos:
\n<\/em>\u201cI would also especially mention the beautiful frontispiece in vols. V-VI, reproducing a page from the engraver\u2019s copy. It clearly shows earlier numberings (for example, 102\u2014106) and titles (for example, Five Dances!) for the \u2018Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm\u2019, documenting how Bart\u00f3k enlarged his collection of pedagogical pieces, step-by-step.\u201d
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

In the numerous works based on folk music, we particularly benefit from the diligence of our colleagues in Budapest. For these models are critically edited there from the sources for the complete edition and the lied texts are translated. So, in an appendix our Urtext editions provide an \u201cIndex of the melodies and their words\u201d including translation. Here you will find not only substantive information, such as whether complaints are about unhappy love (No. 1) or about just a torn pair of trousers (No. 8), but also references to structural aspects such as refrains, and so, where possible, resulting in further stimulus for the musical interpretation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

No. 1 from the Hungarian Peasant Songs<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

No. 8 from the Hungarian Peasant Songs<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

No. I\/1 from the Romanian Christmas Songs<\/p><\/div>\n

Doesn\u2019t this make you curious about our very special Bart\u00f3k editions? Then please look forward to the continuation of this blog with comments on fingering and further performance indications <\/strong>in the piano editions. Until then, we hope you\u2019ll enjoy browsing our rich Bart\u00f3k selection!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of course not, Christmas is out of the question only … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[528,3,6],"tags":[579,37],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.henle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4865"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.henle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.henle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.henle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.henle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.henle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4865\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.henle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.henle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.henle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}