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The String Quartets of Bela Bartok

Bela Bartok (1881-1967) was a virtuoso pianist and a teacher of piano at Budapest Academy of Music. As a musicologist, he published books and articles on the folk music of Hungary, Rumania, and Yugoslavia, and his compositional style fused folk music with the modern techniques of composition.

Two main trends dominated the early years of the 20th century. One was a continuing employment of elements of national folk music (Bartok published nearly two thousand folk tunes). The another is the rise toward neo-Classicisism (combining new discoveries with the forms and techniques of the past).

Bartoks harmony is often a result of the coincidence of the contrapuntal movement, it grows out of the character of the melodies. Bartoks melodies can be based on traditional diatonic scales, modal type scales, whole tone and diminished scales, pentatonic scales, or irregular scales including those found in folk music. But the six string quartets are probably his most representative works. They form the backbone of his whole output and show a clear line of growth and development in the composer. Like Beethoven, Bartoks string quartets occupy a central position among his works, and like Beethoven, they seem to express his most essential thoughts. They are particularly concentrated and intense. His ideas are convincing and expressed with the utmost clarity and economy. The string quartets of Bartok are among the most significant works of his times.

In 1908 when Bartok was 27 years old, he wrote the first of six string quartets. In it he demonstrates a forceful personality and a boldness and freshness which makes it a most stimulating and alive composition even today, nearly a hundred years later. The work opens with a slow fugue that is clearly in the spirit of Beethovens C sharp minor quartet that ends with a syncopated rhythm that recurs throughout the work. The second movement follows attaca, with a theme group that becomes extremely important not only in this movement, but also in the last one. The third movement is preceded by an introduction of an improvisational character and the movement proper is a high spirited finale. The first theme group of this movement is related to the first theme group of the second movement, after which a new motif appears, based on a syncopated rhythm from the first movement. A new section "Meno vivo" with the character of a Trio brings new transformations to the theme group, after which a slow episode appears, and the tempo grows quicker and quicker to the end.

The second string quartet was written in 1917, and shows the composer in his full maturity. It is intense in feeling and is one of his most expressive and lyrical pieces. The first movement is in sonata form with a lyrical theme over an undulating rhythm. A transition based on first theme leads to a second group which reaches to a high climax then quiets down to a closing theme. The second movement is a Rondo and of a "wild" nature. The quartet closes with a slow movement which is unusual, yet in emotional intensity it is perhaps the weightiest movement of the work.

The third quartet was written ten years after the second, in 1927, and Bartoks style had undergone a considerable change. No longer imbued with the subjective lyricism of the second quartet, his music is more objective and uncompromising. The work consists of two movements that are played without a break. First is the slow movement with the main theme presented over a sustained chord. The second section develops altering between a contrapuntal section alternating with chordal and rhythmic interpolations. Great use is made of virtuoso techniques such as tremolos, glissandos, and double stops, and the work ends with a series of hammered chords.

Within a year of finishing the third, Bartok completed the fourth of his string quartets. In it, he consolidates his style of uncompromising linear writing, demonstrates his preference for discordant sounds built on narrow intervals, and further exploits the full potential of the instruments capabilities. The first movement is in sonata form, and begins with a group of motifs built from narrow intervals, which ends abruptly followed by a second smoother motif. In the development section a vibrating trill-like figure continues throughout the section. The movement ends with an extensive coda. The second movement is marked "Prestissimo" and is chromatic in nature. It ends in an extended recapitulation of the main section. Bartok gives the beginning section of the third movement a Hungarian flavor, while the second part is "impressionistic". The fourth is another fast movement where Bartok exploits the physical possibilities of the instruments, with all kinds of pizzicati, single and doublestops, broken and unbroken chords, and a rapid repetition of the hard sound produced by the string snapping on the fingerboard. The fifth movement is the finale. The fourth quartet as a whole is based on a symmetrical plan. There is a thematic relationship between the first and fifth, and between the second and fourth movements. The third movement stands alone.

In 1934, Bartok produced his fifth quartet, and the composers interest in constructional devices becomes apparent. Again based on a symmetrical plan, the Scherzo is surrounded by two slow movements. The first movement is rich in harmonic and melodic material and is written in sonata form. The second starts with trills and melodic fragments, and is more solid in character. In the third movement, Bartok employs "Bulgarian" rhythms with the asymmetrical organization of 9/8 into 4+2+3/8. The fourth movement is thematically related to the second, and the fifth movement is an extensive finale.

With the sixth string quartet, Bartok takes the idea of the unification between movements a step forward; he uses a "Ritornllo" preceding each movement, and then fully develops it in the last. The first movement begins with a short introduction based on the motif, then the subject enters followed by a livelier section that ends in F major. The development section elaborates the first subject, and there is a reduced version of the recapitulation. The movement ends with a coda in D major. The second movement is a March, and begins with the motto-theme in a two part setting. The third movement begins again with the motto-theme, but this time in a in a three part setting. This movement has a comic quality to it and Bartok makes effective use of quarter tones and glissandi. In the fourth movement Bartok takes the motto-theme through to fruition, with a full expressive lyric quality. The piece has a quiet peaceful character.

Bartok was a virtuoso pianist, a teacher of piano, and a musicologist, and he is one of a handful of early twentieth century composers whose music is still performed and appreciated. His six string quartets form the backbone of his whole output, and show a clear line of growth and development in the composer. Like Beethoven, Bartoks string quartets occupy a central position among his works, and seem to express his most essential thoughts. The string quartets of Bartok are among the most significant works of our times