Bela Bartok - Romanian Folk Dances

Welcome back to Score Club! Over the next few weeks, we will be diving into one of Bela Bartok’s small yet important gems, his Romanian Folk Dances.

Bela Bartok (1881-1945) was one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century. He stretched the boundaries of classical music in every direction, paving the way for the next generation of experimental music, while maintaining a certain kind of humanity and romanticism in his music.

One of his most important contributions was his work in collecting, analyzing and using folk music of his native Hungary and neighboring Romania. He, along with a few others, essentially founded the field of ethnomusicology, which is the study of music from the cultural and societal aspect of the communities that create it.

While Bartok wrote many pieces that were heavily influenced by the folk music that he collected, Romanian Folk Dances remains one of the most striking.

The piece, originally for piano and later arranged for many different combinations of instruments (the videos here represent a small orchestra arrangement, and a string orchestra arrangement with the original piano part) is very short, ranging from about 5:30 to 6:30 minutes. Even so, Bartok separates the piece into seven different movements, the longest being about 1:30, and the shortest about 15 seconds!

Each one of these movements is based on, and “quotes” verbatim, a folk tune that he collected from the countryside. Each has its own character, color and purpose.

This week, as usual, is all about listening! Listen to the two videos to the right (and search for even more arrangements if you would like!), see if you can pick out the seven different folk tunes, and think about the “flavor” of each one.

Welcome to week two with Romanian Folk Dances! This week we are going to look into some of the original folk tunes and dances that Bartok used as inspiration for this piece.

Romania and the surrounding region has a remarkably rich history of folk music. Traditionally played with violins, accordions and various woodwind instruments that resemble those in a western orchestra, all of these tunes had a place in their respective communities. Some were used for specific occasions, others for dances, and others for general celebrations.

The video here is of a traditional dance song with violin, voice, and accordion as accompaniment. The violin especially has great similarities to some of the movements in Romanian Folk Dances.

We are incredibly fortunate that the original recordings that Bartok collected have been preserved and can be heard in this video. While the sound quality of this 100+ year-old recording is not the best, you can still hear that Bartok used the melodies he heard verbatim in his music.

One of the things that makes this piece so interesting is how Bartok was able to take these folk melodies and turn them into something completely new, exposing them to the masses. Compare the original field recordings and the completed piece to see how Bartok used his own musical language to enhance these wonderful melodies!

For the sake of clarity, take a listen to the video here, which is the original piano version of Romanian Folk Dances.

Welcome Back to week 3! This week we are going to talk a bit about ethnomusicology, and how it relates to Romanian Folk Dances.

Bartok was on the frontline of ethnomusicology, the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. Still a new field during the turn of the 20th Century, music scholars from around the world were starting to recognize the importance of seeing music as a communal act, specifically when it came to folk and indigenous music. While not an enthnomusicologist himself, the Work Bartok and a few of his contemporaries did in gathering field recordings of folk music paved the way for later scholars, and provided lasting examples of folk music from their associated communities.

As the title suggests, all seven of the original folk music Bartok Collected had an associated dance, which Bartok broke down into seven short movements, listed below:

1. Bot tánc / Jocul cu bâta (Stick Dance)

2. Brâul (Sash Dance)

3. Topogó / Pe loc (In One Spot)

4. Bucsumí tánc / Buciumeana (Dance from Bucsum)

5. Román polka / Poarga Româneasca (Romanian Polka)

6. Aprózó / Maruntel (Fast Dance)

7. Maruntel (second Fast Dance)

This video is a great resource to see what some of these dances look like, as well as some other dances. It also describes where exactly in Romania the particular dances come from. Examining the sometimes subtle and some times very large differences in the music and dance between regions can be incredibly interesting!

Bartok’s use of this music is not only important in its dissemination of this wonderful and unique music, but also in its further implications. Bartok’s decision not only to collect these folk tunes but also to use them in this piece and others implies that he was very much concerned with the idea of how music connects to the people. By studying music that was created with no “ulterior motive,” he was able to key into what engages and affects the people of Romania the most.

Welcome to the fourth and final week with Romanian Folk Dances!

Something that is remarkable about music that was created by specific communities, is how it can equally affect other communities from around the world. Bartok took these melodies from very specific towns in Romania such as Igris and Beius, with small populations that created these unique tunes for their own tight-knit communities, and yet it engages peoples from all over the world. Even people who have never been to nor have any connection to Romania or its cultures are engaged in a similar way as the people who created this music. This idea speaks to the similarities of human beings across the globe, and to the unique ability of music to bridge the physical and psychological gaps between us all.

Listen to the two excerpts to the right, and this time, instead of thinking of the origins of the music, think about how it affects you specifically, and your community at large.

As we mentioned before, Bartok was a pioneer in the world on enthnomusicology, but wasn’t the only one doing similar work at the time. Three of Bartok’s contemporaries in particular were equally inspired by the folk music of Romania and Hungary; George Enescu, Zoltan Kodaly and Franz Liszt. Kodaly in particular was enraptured by these folk tunes and, like Bartok, traveled to remote villages in order to collect recordings of it.

The videos here show how these three composers used this music to create their own masterpieces. It can be so interesting to listen to these pieces and hear how each composer set this music. It gives the listener a window into the mind of each composer, and what musical backgrounds and ideals they came from.

Since Bartok’s time, folk music still infatuates composers. Roy Harris for example, wrote his Folksong Symphony in 1940 and used clear American folk tunes as his inspiration. All over the world, from Russia to the United States to Brazil, Bartok and his contemporaries created a movement that seems to have no end!

That’s it for Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances! Stay tuned for more amazing music next week!