Kossuth (Bartók)

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The symphonic poem Kossuth , premiered in 1904 and addressing Lajos Kossuth , one of the leaders of the Hungarian independence uprising against Austria , made the young composer Béla Bartók (1881–1945) known to a wider audience for the first time.

Origin and premiere

After beginning his studies in Budapest in 1899, Béla Bartók was captured by the emerging Hungarian patriotic-nationalist movement, which was expressed in various letters and the fact that he appeared in public or on the concert podium in national costume. Musically impressed at that time by Richard Strauss , whose Also sprach Zarathustra was heard in Budapest in 1902 and whose Ein Heldenleben he performed himself in a piano arrangement in 1903, Bartók decided to write a work to glorify the Hungarian freedom fighter and national hero Lajos Kossuth (1802-1894) . The composition by Kossuth began on April 2, 1903 and finished on August 18, 1903 in Gmunden .

In 1903 Bartók became acquainted with the Hungarian conductor Hans Richter , who was interested in Kossuth and put the unfinished work on the program for the following season of the Hallé orchestra he directed. István Kerner , conductor of the Budapest Philharmonic , heard about it and requested an earlier premiere by his own orchestra. The Hungarian press reported in advance about the Budapest premiere scheduled for January 13, 1904, which received all the more attention because it became known that the first trumpeter, an Austrian, initially refused to play the caricatured hymn God got to play, and parts of the orchestra threatened to strike. The rehearsals could continue, but five musicians with medical certificates were missing from the premiere.

Nevertheless, the premiere in front of the patriotic-themed audience was a great success, and the 23-year-old Bartók, dressed in a national costume, had to appear several times in front of the cheering audience. The contemporary reviews, marked by national pride, underlined the success of the work, although the sounds, which were bold for ears at the time, were sometimes perceived as exaggerated and dissonant. The press reacted more cautiously to the second performance directed by Hans Richter on February 18, 1904 in Manchester - at the same time the first decisive performance of a work by Bartók abroad - and while acknowledging the composer's ability, it criticized too strong orientation towards Richard Strauss and Jagd nach Effects.

Cast and characterization

The score calls for a large orchestra:

Piccolo , 3 flutes (1st also piccolo), 3 oboes , English horn , 2 clarinets , E-flat clarinet , bass clarinet , 3 bassoons , contrabassoon , 8 horns , 2 trumpets , 4 trombones , bass trombone , 2 tenor tubas , tuba , 3 timpani , percussion ( Cymbals , triangle , snare drum , bass drum , tam-tam ), 2 harps and strings (16 first violins, 16 second violins, 12 violas, 10 cellos, 8 double basses). The performance lasts about 21 minutes.

The ten successive attacca movements of the symphonic poem have the following headings:

  1. Kossuth
  2. What sorrow burdens your soul, my dear husband?
  3. The fatherland is in danger!
  4. Once we had better times ...
  5. Then our lot took a worse turn ...
  6. Let's fight!
  7. Come, come, beautiful Hungarian heroes, beautiful Hungarian knights!
  8. ...
  9. Everything is gone!
  10. Everything is quiet, quiet ...

The symphonic poem Kossuth partially reveals a sonata movement form in the appendix , whereby the exposition comprises parts 1 to 4, the development parts 5 to 8. Stylistically, it is based on Richard Strauss - who is already reminiscent of the main theme voiced by the horns - and Franz Liszt.

After the predominantly calm opening section, which represents the dialogue between Kossuth and his wife, the rapid development follows, in which the melody appearing in the 7th part, derived from the 2nd theme and initially sounding in unison, has the character of a Hungarian dance has a formative effect. In the eighth section, meaningfully titled "...", the enemy troops appear, made clear by a fugue including an alienated quote from the Austrian national anthem. The following fight scene is traced by aggressively sharpened chords, the Hungarian defeat by whole-tone chords and the melody of "Gott get" distorted by parallel major thirds . The finale (parts 9 and 10) is a funeral march, which also fulfills the function of a recapitulation by resuming thematic material from the exposition.

The concluding funeral march also exists in a separate piano version by Bartók, which was the only part published by Kossuth during the composer's lifetime (1905).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Study score, Edition Schott 5024, Ed. D. Dille

literature

Web links