Performance and Reception of Bartók’s Violin Music during His First Concert Tour of the United States (1927–1928)

During his first concert tour of the United States (1927–1928) Bartók played primarily his own music in lecture-recitals, orchestra performances, and chamber music concerts in fifteen American cities. Over the course of the tour, he collaborated with violinists Jelly d’Arányi and Joseph Szigeti to present a few of his works for violin and piano to members of musical clubs in New York City and Philadelphia, and before dignitaries at the Hungarian Embassy in Washington, D.C. – namely his Sonata for Violin and Piano no. 2 (1922), Hungarian Folk Tunes, for violin and piano (arranged by Joseph Szigeti, 1926), and Romanian Folk Dances for Violin and Piano (arranged by Zoltán Székely, 1925). In Boston and New York, Bartók played on recitals that also included performances of his String Quartets nos. 1 and 2. In this article I document the American reception of Bartók’s violin music during his U.S. recitals of early 1928. Music criticism in American newspapers and music journals, as well as detailed program notes from the string quartet performances, have been taken into account to reveal the assessment of Bartók’s violin music and string quartets and the characterization of the composer in the American press and concert halls. The reviews have also been considered in comparison to later recordings of the violin and piano works made by Bartók and Szigeti.

Bartók and the Violin Music of Maramureș

The Second Rhapsody, one of Bartók’s technically most demanding concert pieces for violin, arranges archaic-improvisatory bagpipe imitations for concert performance. The arrangement itself shows a well-designed, coherent structure: the succession of dances, tonally and motivically related between each other, outline a kind of evolutionary progression from free motive-structure to strophic form. Bagpipe-music had a long-term influence on Bartók’s violin music, figuring as episodes in original works like the two Violin Sonatas or the Violin Concerto; but none exploits the genre to such an extent as the Second Rhapsody. The violin pieces with motive-structure of fascinatingly wild and virtuoso character were among Bartók’s major discoveries of the collecting trips to the Maramureş region. For the Rhapsody Bartók chose melodies from the one-time Ugocsa county, whose music, closely related to that of Maramureş county, was considered by him “the most interesting in our country [i.e., Hungary of the time], due exactly to its primitive character.” In Maramureş these melodies are less eccentric; instead, the violinists have a broader and more varied repertoire of dance music. In my article I discuss the different types of violin music of this region, focusing on structural, melodic, or interpretational elements that were of special interest for the composer. For this investigation I have made use of the primary sources of the respective collections: phonogram recordings, field notations, later transcriptions.

The Influences of Performers and Composers on Selected Violin Works of Johannes Brahms

<p>Joseph Joachim was the most influential violinist in Brahms’s life. Not only did the pair have a close personal friendship, but they also admired and respected each other on a professional level. Their high esteem and appreciation for each other led to performance and compositional collaborations. One of the most beloved and well-known works of Brahms’s violin music, the Violin Concerto, was dedicated to Joachim. Indubitably, Joachim influenced the Violin Concerto. Regardless, there are many debates on how much of an input Joachim had on the concerto. In order to examine the influences of performers and composers on selected violin works of Johannes Brahms, the three sections in this paper will investigate Joachim and Brahms, then discuss the importance of a performer-composer’s relationship in the 19th century and, finally, assess the amount of Joachim’s influence on the Brahms Violin Concerto. Each category will have an introduction and information presented in a biographical form, a historical form and musical analysis. Some of the following analysis may be hypothetical, yet, a possibility. Further part of my research will conclude with a recital programme consisting of the Beethoven Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, I. Allegro Ma Non Troppo, Brahms Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108, Sonatensatz/Scherzo movement of the F-A-E Sonata, and Hungarian Dances No. 1, 5 and 7. This will take place on June 18, 2011 in the Adam Concert Room at New Zealand School of Music at 10:30 A.M.</p>

The Influences of Performers and Composers on Selected Violin Works of Johannes Brahms

<p>Joseph Joachim was the most influential violinist in Brahms’s life. Not only did the pair have a close personal friendship, but they also admired and respected each other on a professional level. Their high esteem and appreciation for each other led to performance and compositional collaborations. One of the most beloved and well-known works of Brahms’s violin music, the Violin Concerto, was dedicated to Joachim. Indubitably, Joachim influenced the Violin Concerto. Regardless, there are many debates on how much of an input Joachim had on the concerto. In order to examine the influences of performers and composers on selected violin works of Johannes Brahms, the three sections in this paper will investigate Joachim and Brahms, then discuss the importance of a performer-composer’s relationship in the 19th century and, finally, assess the amount of Joachim’s influence on the Brahms Violin Concerto. Each category will have an introduction and information presented in a biographical form, a historical form and musical analysis. Some of the following analysis may be hypothetical, yet, a possibility. Further part of my research will conclude with a recital programme consisting of the Beethoven Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, I. Allegro Ma Non Troppo, Brahms Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108, Sonatensatz/Scherzo movement of the F-A-E Sonata, and Hungarian Dances No. 1, 5 and 7. This will take place on June 18, 2011 in the Adam Concert Room at New Zealand School of Music at 10:30 A.M.</p>

Violin Effects from the Early Nineteenth Century: the Extended Techniques of Pierre Baillot

Pierre Baillot (1771–1842), an eminent French violinist and pedagogue of the early nineteenth century, offers a surprisingly modern role model to musicians in today's fast-changing world of music. First, Baillot's career foreshadows the resilience and versatility required of entrepreneurial musicians today. Baillot lived in turbulent times through the French Revolution, the Napoleonic years, and restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. His life spanned the transition from Classical to Romantic eras of music and he combined a virtuoso performance career with that of teacher, composer, concert entrepreneur, exponent of new music and violin textbook author. Second, as in the case of contemporary creative performers, Baillot sought to extend his art by experimenting with ways to extend the range and expressiveness of the violin. This essay discusses Baillot's embrace of old and new approaches to violin music and practice. Drawing on his textbook, L'Art du Violon (1834), and research literature on music-making of the era, this essay analyses three of Baillot's innovative approaches: harmonic preluding as an improvisation method, his four-string Adagio composition using an extended bowing technique, and his empirical exploration of acoustically enhanced Tartini tones. While Baillot regarded the art of harmonic preluding, for example, as a link to improvisational traditions, he also saw it as integral to creative development and to technical mastery of harmony, the latter sometimes lacking in violinists more accustomed to playing the melodic line. Even today we find Baillot's extended violin techniques surprising.

MA SIZONG'S VIOLIN WORK IN CONTEXT ARTISTIC AND AESTHETIC TRENDS AND ARTISTIC DIRECTIONS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

The problem of synthesis of artistic and aesthetic directions of the XX century is considered in the violin music of the Chinese composer Ma Sitsong, whose creative path is outlined in the European, Chinese and American periods. Ma Sitsong was the first Chinese musician to study at the Paris Conservatory and adapt the modernist tendencies of Europe (Impressionism by C. Debussy; I. Stravinsky's search for the "Holy Spring", B. Bartok's neo-folklore). The principles of the latter resonated with Ma's intense reliance on the national Chinese firstborn. After returning to China, he admired the work of S. Prokofiev. Violin music (the first Chinese Concerto, Xinyan Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra, Suiyuan Suite, Rondo №№1-2) showed a bright national beginning combined with neo-romantic tone and impressionistic sound recording. The mystical-religious figurative conceptosphere of the Tibet Suite is full of symbolic features. After emigrating to the United States, the composer turned to the native music of Taiwanese aborigines (Amei and Gaoshan Suites). Reproducing archaic images, Ma tends to Fauvism, primitive naivety and minimalism, continuing the line of I. Stravinsky, corresponding with the search for his contemporaries: O. Messian, J. Cram, J. Cage, T. Takemitsu, M. Skoryk. In works of the American period (Concerto for 2 violins, Rondo №№3-4, Sonata №3, Sonata for 2 violins solo) neoclassical, expressionist, urban features, elements of Westernization, jazz are felt. Ma Sitsong, as one of the founders of the national violin school, organically combines the diversity of world trends with a lasting reliance on Chinese folk music.

FROM LAVAPIÉS TO STOCKHOLM: EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY VIOLIN FANDANGOS AND THE SHAPING OF MUSICAL ‘SPANISHNESS’

ABSTRACTSince the mid-eighteenth century the fandango has been regarded as the epitome of Spanish cultural identity. It became increasingly popular in instrumental chamber music, as well-known examples by Domenico Scarlatti, Antonio Soler and Luigi Boccherini show. To date, published musicological scholarship has not considered the role of solo violin music in the dissemination of the fandango or the shaping of a ‘Spanish’ musical identity. Now, eight rediscovered pieces – which can be dated to the period 1730–1775 – show that the violin was frequently used to perform fandangos, including stylized chamber-music versions. In addition to offering evidence of the violin's role in the genre, these pieces reveal the hybridization of the fandango with foreign musical traditions, such as the Italian violin sonata and French courtly dances, demonstrating hitherto overlooked negotiations between elite and popular culture in mid-eighteenth-century Spain. Analysis of these works’ musical features challenges traditional discourses on the ‘Spanishness’ of the fandango and, more broadly, on the opposition between ‘native’ and ‘foreign’ music in eighteenth-century Spain.

Typology of genres of concert music for violin: classification criteria

The article is devoted to the systematization of the criteria of the classification of concert music for violin, in which, along with the traditional genre criteria, stylistic and textured ones are highlighted It is noted that such a comprehensive consideration allows solving a number of tasks of both research and performance profile. Based on the modern approach to the genre system, the article extrapolates it to concert violin music, which covers the range from solo miniature pieces to concerts for violin and symphony orchestra. It is emphasized that the least researched is the question of the stylistics of concert violin genres, constituted according to the same parameters as the musical texture – horizontal, vertical and depth (E. Nazaikinsky). The article proposes an original classification of the genre-stylistic complex of concert violin music, that is based on the following factors: the style of the highest levels (epoch-making, national, specific), genre (the complex of existing genres of violin music), texture in the aspect of stylistics (the main “identification mark” of the genre) and the style of concretized levels (author’s individual level and separate work). Considering the first classification criterion – the genre one, its universal nature it should be noted, covering two levels of the concert violin music system: functional – performers, the way of performance – and semantic-compositional – genre content and style (I. Tukova). The style criterion acts as a parallel to the genre criterion and means the differentiation of the genre system according to the signs of introversion (style as an introvert category, according to V. Kholopova). Here the phenomena and concepts are formed that cover all levels of the style hierarchy in its distribution to concert music for violin – from the historical to the author’s individual and even the style of a separate piece. It is emphasized that the least explored area of violin concert is its stylistics, which is closely related to its texture – the “external form” of the genre manifestation (L. Shapovalova). The stylistic aspect in violin music-making is reviewed in the article according to the same parameters as the texture aspect, since they largely coincide (E. Nazaikinsky). We are talking about the factors of horizontal (the types of texture that form the stylistic relief of the text of the work), vertical (the combination of textures in their different stylistic meanings), depth (based on the author’s handwriting of his connections with the texture and style sources – historical, national ones, characteristic of certain violin schools and directions). It is noted that this refers to both sides of the genre-stylistic system of concert music for violin (with the participation of a violin) – functional and semanticcompositional – and is realized in the following variants of textured style: solo orchestra (violin or several violins with an orchestra); solo ensemble (the same accompanied by a chamber ensemble); solo piano (violin and piano duet); solo violin (violin without accompaniment). It is proved that all these textured and stylistic varieties of concert violin music are combined on the basis of the idea of a concert style – “competition-agreement” (B. Asafiev) of the participants in the act of playing music. The measure of the correlation of performing forces in a concert dialogue ultimately determines the choice of criteria for classifying its varieties in their extrapolation to a concert violin. The article reveals the features of all four above-named options for this dialogue, taking into account their possible combination. It is noted that this combination is most fully reflected in a violin concert with an orchestra, where other forms of concert appear occasionally – solo without accompaniment (solo cadenzas), ensemble (microdialogues of the violin and other orchestral instruments). The classification criteria highlighted in the article, first of all texture-stylistic ones, together form the following system of genres of concert music for violin (with the participation of a violin), considered from the standpoint of: 1) concert dialogue in its textured manifestations (gradation in the dominance of the soloist instrument over accompaniment or, conversely, accompaniment over a solo part); 2) the principle of intimacy, bordering on concertness, but meaning the parity of the performing parts (a distinctive feature of chamber ensembles, in which it stands out as the leading violin part); 3) the self-sufficiency of the violin as a universal instrument suitable for the implementation of concert dialogue in the solo form of music-making (a wide range of genre forms of violin music – from miniatures and their cycles to suites, partitas and solo sonatas). It is noted that, in the future, the classification patterns identified in this article can be considered using the example of specific samples belonging to a particular genre group. The author of this article plans to do this on the basis of concert genres of violin music created by the composers of the Kharkiv school. Focusing on classical and modern samples, as well as the traditions of the Kharkiv stringbow performing school represented by A. Leshchinsky, A. Yuriev, S. Kocharyan, G. Averyanov, E. Shchelkanovtseva, L. Kholodenko, E. Kupriyanenko and other string players, Kharkiv authors interpret the concert-violin style in various ways, revealing in it both the general (the “image” of the violin in the system of specific instrumental styles), and the special (the styles of the national and regional schools), as well as the unique, individual (the representations of the latter are their best works).