The String Quartet No. 4 in
C major
C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and ...
by
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...
was written from July to September 1928 in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
. It is one of six
string quartets by Bartok.
The work is dedicated to the
Pro Arte Quartet but its first public performance was given by the Waldbauer-Kerpely Quartet in Budapest on 20 March 1929. It was first published in the same year by
Universal Edition
Universal Edition (UE) is a classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, they originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market (which had until then been dominated by Leipzig-base ...
.
Overview
The work is in five movements:
A study of the manuscript sources, as published by László Somfai finds that Bartók originally intended the quartet to have four movements, not five.
This work, like Bartók
String Quartet No. 5, and several other pieces by Bartók, exhibits an
arch form In music, arch form is a sectional structure for a piece of music based on repetition, in reverse order, of all or most musical sections such that the overall form is symmetric, most often around a central movement. The sections need not be repeat ...
— the first movement is thematically related to the last, and the second to the fourth, with the third movement standing alone. Also, the outer four movements feature rhythmic
sforzandos that cyclically tie them together in terms of climactic areas.
The quartet shares a similar harmonic language to that of the
String Quartet No. 3, and as with that work, it has been suggested that Bartók was influenced in his writing by
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( , ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...
's ''
Lyric Suite'' (1926) which he had heard in 1927.
The quartet employs a number of
extended instrumental techniques. For the whole of the second movement, all four instruments play with
mutes, while the entire fourth movement features
pizzicato. In the third movement, Bartók sometimes indicates held notes to be played without
vibrato, and in various places he asks for
glissandi (sliding from one note to another) and so-called ''Bartók'' or
''snap'' pizzicati, (a pizzicato where the string rebounds against the instrument's fingerboard).
Analysis
Bartók’s musical vocabulary, as demonstrated in his string quartets particularly, departs from traditional use of
major and minor keys, focusing more on the
chromatic scale and attempting to utilize each note equally. Regardless, Bartók doesn’t follow any form of
serialism
In music, serialism is a method of Musical composition, composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other elements of music, musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, thou ...
, instead dividing the chromatic scale into symmetrical units, with tonal centers being based on “axes of symmetry”. He also incorporates
whole-tone
In Western music theory, a major second (sometimes also called whole tone or a whole step) is a second spanning two semitones (). A second is a musical interval encompassing two adjacent staff positions (see Interval number for more det ...
,
pentatonic, and
octatonic
An octatonic scale is any eight-Musical note, note musical scale. However, the term most often refers to the symmetric scale composed of alternating major second, whole and semitone, half steps, as shown at right. In classical theory (in contras ...
scales — as well as diatonic and
heptatonia seconda
A heptatonic scale is a musical scale that has seven pitches, or tones, per octave. Examples include the major scale or minor scale; e.g., in C major: C D E F G A B C—and in the relative minor, A minor, natural minor: A B C D E F G A; the ...
scales — as subsets of the chromatic scale.
His use of these subset scales allowed him to incorporate a wide range of folk music in an expanded harmonic system. Indeed, his original studies and settings of many examples gleaned from his extensive explorations of the Hungarian countryside and Eastern and Central Europe served as a major influence upon his expanded musical vocabulary.
[Elliott Antokoletz, ''The Music of Béla Bartók: A Study of Tonality and Progression in Twentieth-Century Music'', University of California Press (1984), 26–50]
Bartók held a long fascination with mathematics and how it pertained to music. He experimented with incorporating the
golden section and the
Fibonacci sequence into his writing. Though these fascinations aren’t obviously present in his Fourth String Quartet, he did incorporate symmetrical structures: Movements I and V are similar, as are movements II and IV; movement III is at center, greatly contrasting with the other movements.
Movements I and V share similar
motifs; the second theme in the first movement is prominent in the fifth. Movements II and IV share similar ideas as well, but the ideas present within these two movements can be considered
variations
Variation or Variations may refer to:
Science and mathematics
* Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon
* Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individuals ...
on themes presented earlier, expanding and building on ideas presented in the first and fifth movements. Movement III differs from the other four movements in that it is textured and quiet.
The symmetry of the movements isn’t limited only to the themes; the lengths of the movements show symmetry as well. The first, third and fifth movements are approximately six minutes long, whereas the second and fourth are shorter, at about three minutes each.
I. Allegro
Movement I utilizes whole-tone elements. Though not traditionally tonal, it is centered on ‘C’. The movement gradually progresses from cluster-like elements to full chords. This, in part, helps with building tension through the movement’s six minutes.
II. Prestissimo, con sordino
The second movement moves quicker than the first, giving off a hurried feeling. The chromatic scale is widely utilized, starting off in the lower registers and being answered in higher registers. Fast scales,
trills, and
vibrato are all used to add color and texture. The pentatonic scale is present and apparent throughout. Additionally, the strings are used to produce horn-like and percussive effects.
III. Non troppo lento
The third movement includes a great example of Bartók's
night music style. It completely departs from the first two movements in that it is more consonant, widely using
diatonic
Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize Scale (music), scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, Interval (music), intervals, Chord (music), chords, Musical note, notes, musical sty ...
and many folk-like elements. Usage of the pentatonic scale is more apparent.
IV. Allegretto pizzicato
The fourth movement is similar to the second and is faster than the previous, instilling the same hurry as in the first two movements. The musicians play pizzicato throughout. Bartók also utilizes
Bartók pizzicato throughout the movement. Staying symmetrical, the music references and builds on ideas in movement II.
V. Allegro molto
The final movement mirrors the first, the second theme of the first movement seeing extensive use. The randomly accentuated quarter notes sound percussive and horn-like.
Inversions and
retrogrades of the theme are heard throughout the movement, utilized in different octaves. Overall, the fifth movement is more liberal in using variations of themes present in the first movement.
Discography
Notes
External links
*
Further reading
*
Leo Treitler, "Harmonic procedure in the Fourth Quartet of Bartók" in the ''Journal of Music Theory'' (November 1959)
{{DEFAULTSORT:String Quartet No. 4 (Bartok)
1928 compositions
Compositions that use extended techniques
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