III. Non troppo lento

Transcription

1 III. Non troppo lento The third movement of Bartókʼs Fourth String Quartet is its spiritual heart, as well as its physical center. Surrounded by two quicker movements (the very fleet and scurrying second movement, and a more sedate all-pizzicato fourth movement), it is one of his early night music pieces, evocative of perfumed nights in exotic locales. The movement (Non troppo lento) opens with an organ-like chord that begins senza vibrato, then all at once begins to shimmer, mirage-like, sempre vibrato. The cello enters, and sings its lonely and impassioned song, with the other strings accompanying in a blanket of softly glimmering sound.

2 After the cello sings its song, the violin enters with skittering insect, or night music. Bartók was an avid collector of insects (there is a case of his specimens at his home in Budapest) as well as of folk music, and he features this flitting, somewhat creepy music in many of his compositions through out his life. It is one of the most sublime and beautiful movements composed in the 20th century, and the heart of the Fourth Quartet.

3 II. Prestissimo, con sordino IV. Allegretto pizzicato The second movement, marked Prestissimo, con sordino, is for the most part a very quiet movement, but extremely fast. In 6/8 time, it races from beginning to end, not giving either the performers or the audience a chance to catch their breath until it dissolves into the ether at its close. Pizzicato dexterity is given a difficult test in this movement, calling for measured strumming in order to get the notes to speak in the tempo required. One of the most striking effects is the use of staggered glissandi amongst the four instruments, resulting in an otherworldly sonority. The fourth movement, marked Allegretto pizzicato, seems to have little relation to the second movement, but it is in fact a diatonic rendering of the previous movementʼs chromatic melody:

4 It is also notable for being the first composition in which Bartók calls for the so-called Bartók pizzicato where the string is plucked upwards and released so that it rebounds from the fingerboard with a snapping sound. Playful moods predominate this movement. I. Allegro V. Allegro molto Bookends are usually two fairly massive objects which hold a row of lesser books upright. This would be an apt description of the two outer movements of Bartókʼs Fourth Quartet. They are large in scope (at least in comparison to the rest of the movements), at more than 5 minutes in length each, and very dense in their construction. Now that weʼre talking about these movements, itʼs appropriate to look at the overall form of the quartet. As noted before, there is a central movement which serves as the emotional heart of the piece, the third movement, Non troppo lento. This movement is encased by the Prestissimo, con sordino second movement and the Allegretto pizzicato fourth movement, which are variations of each other. Finally, these three inner movements are enclosed by the Allegro first movement and Allegro molto fifth movement. Here is a diagram to better show what weʼre getting at here:

5 So we have a prime example of arch form - which Bartók would revisit in his Fifth Quartet as well. In addition, the whole arch is anchored by these bookends (or piers, to stay with the bridge/arch analogy), which in turn are anchored to each other by the same thematic basis (see below). Moving inward, the second and fourth movements are linked by melodic contour, the second movement being chromatic and the fourth movement diatonic, as noted in the previous post. The first movement is a brilliant example of continuous thematic development. The entire movement (and for that matter, much of the rest of the entire quartet) is all based upon the interval relationships heard in the opening of the quartet, scattered amongst the instruments: These intervals become explicit when voice in a single instrument, first in the cello:

6 and then in the first major cadence of the movement, by all four instruments: There are some excellent resources on the web which delve more deeply into the musicological aspects of this piece, concerning pitch cells, rhythmic cells, etc., and I wonʼt go into those here, mostly because that stuff just mystifies the hell out of me! There is a bit of conflicting information on whether Bartók consciously used the Golden Section as a means of musical organization, but the site cited above has a bit of information about that as well as the Wikipedia entry on the Golden Section and music. All of this aside, the Bartók Fourth Quartet is one of the reigning achievements of 20th century music, and I hope that it becomes one of your favorites as well! 2009 Charles Noble