Béla Bartók: The Jekyll and Hyde of Australian Society for Music Education Incorporated - Abstract and Introduction

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Franzy

Qualitative study exploring why Béla Bartók’s piano music is overlooked by Australian piano teachers and how to teach it effectively. Drawing on Bartók’s contrasting artistic persona and teaching repertoire, the research frames his variable, complex musical language and pedagogical works, while comparing ideal/grotesque extremes in his style. The paper positions Bartók’s modernism and controversial subjects against milder lyric tendencies.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Background

Development of Bartók’s piano writing

Béla Bartók: The Jekyll and Hyde of a u s t r a l i a n a s o c i e t y s f o r m u s i c m e d u c a t i o n e i n c o r p o r a t e d Hungarian music Helen Kasztelan Chapman Charles Darwin University Abstract It is almost as if there are two Bartóks – the amiable collector of Hungarian folk music and the ‘infernal’ barbarian intent on destroying the music of the past (Gillies, 2010). These two sides of Bartók’s character may be seen in such disparate works as The Miraculous Mandarin (1919) and his Suite No. 2, Op. 4 (1904-07). The confronting modernism and controversial subject matter of the former provide a stark contrast to the mild astringency and post-Romantic lyricism of the latter. The aim of this qualitative study is twofold: firstly, to gain a deeper understanding of why Bartók’s music tends to be overlooked by Australian piano teachers and, secondly, to examine the technical aspects of teaching this music. Bartók’s music has been described as elitist and difficult to understand (Alsop, 2007; Milne, 2010; Nissman, 2002; Oestreich, 1990; Suchoff, 2004) and the literature suggests that this may not be an exclusively Australian problem. Introduction As a pianist and teacher with more than 25 years’ experience in examining and adjudicating piano students, I have found that most people don’t relate to the piano music of the post-tonal Hungarian composer Béla Bartók (1881-1945). Even though Bartók’s music is highly regarded and his ‘small-scale’ piano works have been recognized globally as pedagogically significant they tend tobe overlooked by music studio teachers. The paper is part of a PhD study to investigate why Bartók’s music has been marginalized in an Australian context. Background Bartók’s musical language is variable and complex (Antokoletz, 1988; Gillies, 2010). The early works, composed prior to 1904-5, show the influence of nineteenth-century Romantic composers such as Johannes Brahms (1883-1897), Franz Liszt (1811- 1886), and Richard Strauss (1864-1949). However, Bartók’s musical language began to change after his discovery of authentic Hungarian folk music in 1904 and his encounter with the music of Claude Debussy (1862-1918) in 1907. Over the course of the next decade, Bartók’s language evolved to symbolize a synthesis of East and West, and this synthesis is especially evident in the works composed from 1926 onwards (Antokoletz, 1984; Suchoff, 1993). These influences first coalesced in his Fourteen Bagatelles Op. 6 (1908), which were hailed by the composer Ferruccio Busoni (1866- 1924) as “at last, something truly new”(Antokoletz, 1993). Nonetheless, despite the influence of progressive trends in Western art music, the distinguished Bartók scholar Halsey Stevens observed that while Bartók’s experimentation with twentieth century devices such as nontriadic harmony, dissonance and bitonality was, in many ways ahead of his contemporaries, these considerations were insignificant when compared with the influence of folk music (Stevens, 1964, rev. 1993). Bartók composed a significant body of pedagogical works for piano. While the Mikrokosmos are the most well-known of his pedagogical works for piano, between 1908 and 1913 Bartók also wrote Ten Easy Pieces (1908), two volumes For Children (1908-1909), and First Term at the Piano (1913), which includes 18 pieces selected by him from the joint Bartók-Reschoffsky 4 52(2) Piano Method (1913). We can distinguish two key periods in the development of Bartók’s writing for the piano. The first occurred between 1908 and 1920 and the second was in 1926 and continued until his death in 1945. During the intervening years, apart from the two sonatas for Violin and Piano (1921-1922), Dance Suite for Orchestra (1923)(which he also arranged for solo piano in 1925) and Village Scenes (based on Slovak songs for female voice and piano, 1924), there was a hiatus in compositions for piano which was broken in 1926, with the piano Sonata, Ou

FAQs

What is the study’s main purpose regarding Bartók’s music?

To understand why Bartók’s music is overlooked by Australian piano teachers and to examine the technical aspects of teaching it.

Why does the paper describe Bartók as having “two sides”?

It contrasts works and character traits—such as a folk-collecting amiable side and a more aggressive “infernal” intent—highlighted through stylistic extremes in his compositions.

Which key periods does the paper identify in Bartók’s piano writing?

An early period from about 1908–1920, and a later period beginning in 1926 and continuing until his death in 1945.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Franzy