The story of Bluebear has been the center of many theatrical and musical works. From its mystery-shrouded origin, the legend and its principal characters have experienced numerous transformations. Charles Perrault’s tale, the first known published version of the story, served as a basis for all succeeding treatments of the theme, which have handled the various characters differently -- at times stressing Bluebeard, and at other times, the heroine. The theme of the Bluebeard legend has appeared in literature in delightful fairytales and in several dramas, both tragic and comic. Musically, the legend has been employed in numerous operas and as a ballet-burlesque. The treatments of the characters, the keys, and the doors have been as varied as their many settings, culminating in the intense symbolistic drama, Bluebeard’s Castle, by Bela Balazs. His one-act drama was suggested by the three-act tragedy, Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, by the great Belgian symbolist, Maurice Maeterlinck. The symbolism in Balazs’ version is the salient force of the drama. It is this feature that Bartok exploits in his musical treatment for the text. To better understand Bartok’s works, it must be realized that it was his purpose to revitalize the already exhausted, over-refined music of Europe with a transfusion of new blood from the peasant music of Hungary. Characteristic traits of Hungarian folk music are present in his music -- ornamental arabesques, rapid passage work, trills, ostinatos, leaps into strange intervals, unsymmetrical construction, irregular bar formations, frequent changes in meter, and sudden juxtaposing of quick and slow motion. Bluebeard's Castle, a work of high importance in the development of Bartok's musical style, in the opinion of the present author, does reveal the accomplishment of that synthesis.

In the field of twentieth-century musicology, studies have emphasized the music of Bela Bartok from a strictly hannonic standpoint. While these studies have provided insight into harmonic manipulation and tonal language there has been little emphasis placed on the role of rhythm and how it relates to the development of Bartok’s music. This study provides an analysis and discussion of rhythmic manipulation, structure and contour of rhythmic motives in String Quartets Nos. I and 4. This analysis was influenced by the methods and philosophies created and discussed by Edward Cone, Emo Lendvai, and John Roeder, among others. I adapted Lendvai's harmonic diagrams to illustrate the rhythmic conflict in Bartok's music. In addition to expanding established analytical models and concepts, I have created original analytical concepts such as rhythmic environments, rhythmic· oppression, and confrontation to identify and discuss important musical events. This is a novel rhythmic rather than harmonic study which provides an original method of analysis that is inspired by the rhythmic life of Bartok's String Quartets and may be used to interpret other music of the twentieth century.

During Fritz Reiner’s forty-year conducting career in the United States, he championed Béla Bartók’s orchestral music, programming Bartók’s orchestral works on over sixty concerts with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and with other major American orchestras. These included performances in which the composer himself appeared as a soloist. Moreover, Reiner continued to conduct Bartók’s music following the composer’s death, and his efforts to promote Bartók’s works contributed to their significance to the American orchestral repertoire. The thesis explores connections between performance markings in Reiner’s personal copies of Bartók scores and the recordings he made of them, the ways in which Reiner’s live performances and recordings of Bartók’s music affected the American reception of Bartók’s works, and how Reiner’s collaboration with Bartók related to the revision of Bartók’s orchestral works in their published forms through case studies of Bartók’s Piano Concerto no. 1, Concerto for Orchestra, and The Miraculous Mandarin. The first case study considers Bartók’s performances of his Piano Concerto no. 1 with Reiner during his first U.S. concert tour of 1927-1928. Following an overview of Bartók’s activities in America during that time, three first-edition scores of Piano Concerto no. 1 are analyzed in order to show the significance of handwritten additions, corrections, and conducting markings made by Fritz Reiner, a Universal Edition staff member, and Serge Koussevitzky in preparation for performances with Bartók in 1928. It not only provides a window into early performances of the work with the composer at the piano in the absence of a recording, but also offers insight into Bartók’s preferences for performance of the work, some of which are reflected in the first or second editions of the work, and some of which are only preserved in Reiner’s scores. The second case study examines a new source for Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra held at Northwestern University that bears extensive corrections by Bartók, as well as Reiner’s conducting markings. It discusses the circumstances surrounding Reiner’s acquisition of the score and its role in Reiner’s performances and recordings of Concerto for Orchestra with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The third and final case study details Reiner’s preparation and performance of two concert versions (“Scenes” and “Suite”) of Bartók’s pantomime The Miraculous Mandarin using Reiner’s annotations to four versions of the score held at Northwestern, Bartók’s correspondence with his publisher, and program notes from Reiner’s 1927 world premiere of the “Scenes” to provide a better understanding of Reiner’s preparation and performances of both the “Scenes” and “Suite.” It further analyzes press coverage of his performances of the “Suite” to demonstrate that the press reaction to objectionable elements of the plot mellowed over time, and that critics consistently praised Reiner’s expert preparation and interpretation of the work. The thesis considers the publication and performance history of Bartók’s Piano Concerto no. 1, Concerto for Orchestra, and the concert versions of The Miraculous Mandarin in terms of Reiner’s collaboration with Bartók, his role in the promotion of Bartók’s music in the U.S., and his reputation as an authoritative interpreter of it.

The submission focuses on the performance of violin works that incorporate elements of folk music. It investigates some of the ways in which traditional folk melodies are utilised in violin repertoire and considers the implications for performance. It recognises that when performing music inspired by folk idioms the classical violinist often needs to adopt a different set of technical and musical objectives relevant to the cultural origin of the work. The submission takes the form of two CD recordings with a supporting exegesis. The exegesis discusses those aspects of the performances that stem from the cultural traditions to which the repertoire is related. Due to the broad nature of this topic my investigation was confined to selected works that stemmed from English and Hungarian traditional music. The exegesis examines the relevance of the research and the application of these discoveries in performance. The main focus is the incorporation of traditional Hungarian characteristics in the performance of Bartók’s Rhapsody No 2 for Violin and Piano, and Kodály’s Duo for Violin and Violoncello, Op 7. Discussion then moves to Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending and the differences required to recreate the sound of the traditional English fiddler. / Thesis (M.Mus.) -- University of Adelaide, Elder Conservatorium of Music, 2007

This thesis includes information about Béla Bartók's Concerto for Viola and Orchestra and composer's curriculum vitae.