Village Scenes
by Béla Bartók
Béla Bartók in 1927
Native nameFalun
Dedinské scény
Dorfszenen
Catalogue
  • Sz. 78 (arr. Sz. 79)
  • BB 87a (arr. BB 87b)
Composed1924 (rev. Peter Bartók 1994)
Published1927 (1927):
ScoringFemale voice and piano

Village Scenes, Sz. 78, BB 87a, also known as Falun, Dedinské scény, or its German title, Dorfszenen,[a] is a collection of Slovak folk songs for female voice and piano by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. It was completed in 1924.

Background

Bartók, a composer primarily known for collecting and arranging folk music from central and eastern Europe, wrote this set of folk songs while on a project and journey around Europe that spanned several decades, starting around the 1900s. The folk tunes were collected in and around the Zólyom County area, which is in modern-day Slovakia, around 1915–6.[1] It was finished in December 1924 in Budapest and dedicated to his second wife, Ditta. It was engraved and published under Universal Edition some years later, in 1927, along with many other song collections made in earlier years. It then faded into obscurity until Béla's son, Peter Bartók, revised and republished the piece in 1994, by examining both the published version and the manuscripts left behind by the composer together with scholars Eve Beglarian and Nelson Dellamaggiore.[2]

Structure

The set consists of five songs and has a total duration of around 12 minutes. It is scored for a female voice and piano. The entire set has been translated into English by Martin Lindsay, German by Benedikt Szabolcsi, and Hungarian by Viktor Lány.[3] The movement list is as follows:

Structure of Village Scenes, Sz. 78, BB 87a
Song No. Title (English) Title (Slovak) Title (Hungarian) Title (German) Incipit Tempo marking Bars Duration[2][b]
I Haymaking Pri hrabaní Szénagyűjtéskor Heuernte "Ej! Hrabajželen, hrabaj" Largo 26 1 min 8 s
II At the Bride's Pri neveste A menyasszonynál Bei der Braut "Letia pávy, letia" Lento 20 1 min 20 s
III Wedding Svatba Lakodalom Hochzeit "A ty Anča krásna" Vivacissimo 112 2 min 35 s
IV Lullaby Ukoliebavka Bölcsődal Wiegenlied "Beli žemi, beli" Andante 73 3 min 20 s
V Lads' Dance Tanec mládencov Legénytánc Burschentanz "Poza búčky, poza peň" Comodo 103 1 min 46 s

Arrangements

Bartók wrote an arrangement of the last three songs of the set for a small choir of four to eight female voices and orchestra in 1926. This arrangement received the catalog numbers Sz. 79, BB 87b. It was completed in May 1926.

Recordings

References

  1. ^ Carpenter, Alexander. "Falun, Village Scenes (5), for… | Details". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  2. ^ a b Bartók, Béla (2010). Dorfszenen : slowakische Volkslieder für Frauenstimme und Klavier = Falun = Village scenes ([Partitur], Neuausg. 1994 ed.). Wien: Universal-Ed. ISBN 9783702423841. ISMN 9790008013959.
  3. ^ "Universal Edition". www.universaledition.com. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  4. ^ Hicks, Michael (1996). Liner Notes of Pyramid Records 13509. Pyramid Records.

Footnotes

  1. ^ As this composition was written in the spirit of the German lied, it has only been published with the German title.
  2. ^ The approximate duration of each movement was given by Bartók himself, which was common among his folk tune arrangements.
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