MUHL 588: Three East-European Composers: Bartok, Bacewicz, Lutoslawski
Students' Internet Projects

An Evaluation of Bela Bartok's and Grazyna Bacewicz's
Use of Articulations in String Quartets No. 4 and No. 7.

By: Jacqueline Lewis

1.

Among composers who contributed significantly to the genre of string quartet in the 20th century there are two important East-European artists: a Hungarian, Bela Bartok (1881-1945), and a Pole, Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969). Bartok's six quartets are usually listed among the classic works of the 20th century; Bacewicz's seven quartets are less known, but deserve our attention. In this project I will focus on one work by each of the two composers: Bartok's String Quartet No. 4 and Bacewicz's String Quartet No. 7. Thirty-seven years lie between the creation of these works, composed in 1928 and 1965 respectively, but, despite the time lapse, there are significant similarities (and differences) between the two quartets that make them worthy of comparison. I have chosen Bartok's String Quartet No. 4 because this work "shows the very essence of Bartok's style and nature" (Walsh, pg. 57). Bacewicz's last essay in this genre was selected for another reason: an interesting example of her late, "sonoristic" style, it contains a vast assortment of different articulations.

It is the use of the articulation by the two composers that this project is centered upon. I will examine the the articulations of Bartok's String Quartet No. 4 and Bacewicz's String Quartet No. 7 with the aid of relevant literature, musical scores, recordings, and audio wave graphs. The general differences between Bartok and Bacewicz will first be addressed; this introduction will be followed with a more detailed discussion of their use of articulations.

2.
Two composers coming from two different backgrounds, one woman, one man... Obviously, there are many differences between Bartok and Bacewicz, especially in their attitudes to folksong material, and to socio-aesthetic issues arising from its use. The differences include the fact that Bartok was an ethnomusicologist and that he worked for his government while gathering folksong in Hungary and while procuring folk material in several surrounding regions and territories. Folk music had a great relevance for Bartok's own compositions. He said in 1937, "the melodic world of my string quartets does not differ essentially from that of folksongs" (Karpati, pg. 81).

Bacewicz's attitude to folklore was different. In Poland, after World War II artistic endeavors were restrained with political regulation. "It is remarkable that she emerged from that restriction with her creative imagination intact" (Shafer, pg. 45). Nonetheless, in a complete contrast with Bartok, Bacewicz and other Polish composers were obliged to incorporate folk song material into their compositions. She was not a music ethnographer, nor an ethnomusicologist. Unlike Bartok, she did not go out into the countryside living amongst the peasants collecting folk song material from her own country as well as various regions like Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia. Instead, Bacewicz focused on the folk music of her own country's and used its recordings and transcriptions as her models.

With the exception of String Quartet No. 4, the Polish composer did not claim that her quartets included material derived from Polish folk music. However, the influence of folklore on her art may be more pervasive than commonly thought. Elisabeth Wood (1983), for instance, insists that most writers have underestimated the assimilation of Polish folk traditions in Bacewicz's work. Another scholar writes: "The compositions of her last years demonstrate that Grazyna Bacewicz was able to adapt and synthesize new elements without losing her individuality." (Cohen, pg. 24).

Another general difference between Bartok and Bacewicz pertains to the fact that Bartok was a pianist, while Bacewicz was both a pianist and violinist. Thus, their areas of ability were equal in a pianistic sense, but unequal in the area of string expertise. Wood maintains that "her technical virtuosity as a concert violinist and accomplished pianist is evident throughout her work." (Wood, pg. 119). Thus Bacewicz's writings for the strings could be much more idiomatic to the instrument than Bartok's: she knew all the technical possibilities of her instrument.

3.

Articulation refers to the way in which consecutive notes are connected to one another by a player. In reality, articulation entails innumerable sound features of the instrument in conjunction with the performer, that determine the type of sonorities created while playing.

String Quartet No. 7 by Grazyna Bacewicz, poses more challenge and requires more performing expertise in the actual execution of each articulation mark than does Bartok's String Quartet No. 4. The performers must be very skillful and know how to execute specialized left and right hand techniques such as the saltando, and glissando flaggelot--two articulation types which only expert performers can engage in. In contrast, Walsh (1983) suggests that Bartok's use of different articulations brings to mind the "harsh sound of peasant fiddling." (pg. 56). This "peasant fiddling" is evoked especially in the fifth, third, and fourth movements of Quartet No. 4. Here, the folk-like sound quality is apparent with (1) the 'mistuned' multiple-stops, for instance in the opening eleven measures of movement five, (2) the non-vibrato and vibrato chords in bars one through five of movement three, and (3) the characteristic snapped pizzacato, beginning in the fourth movement at bar thirty-seven in the viola, and later appearing in the first violin bar at forty-nine, and also at bar fifty-one in the first and second violin parts (Walsh, pg. 56).

Thus, Bartok drew on the concept of violin-playing which was based on the 16th century societal recognition of the violin as barely respectable, since it was used for dancing. However, he turned this view around, by using the folk techniques in the context of twentieth-cenury modernism, and by linking these techniques and concepts with his idea of getting back to ones' roots (an idea connected to the nationalistic movement). In contrast to Bartok's use of peasant fiddling, Bacewicz treats the violin as a virtuostic "high-art" instrument by utilizing more specialized articulations.

It has been suggested that Bartok was influenced by Berg's Lyric Suite before composing his String Quartet No. 4. In a similar fashion, Bacewicz's music cannot be considered in a vacuum. We do see Bartokian elements in her compositions, such as full double stopped dissonant chords, changing meters, and the percussive qualities associated with the articulations. Whether or not this influence was strictly Bartok's influence, or influence of another sort, like the effects of string quartet literature in general, is debatable.

Bacewicz's String Quartet No. 7 contains some traces of assimilation of folk music material. It is the Grave movement of this Quartet that bears the most resemblance to Bartok's style. Wood (1983) suggests that Bela Bartok's influence is apparent in many of Bacewicz's slow movements. This influence could be described in a two-fold fashion: firstly, as a similar way of approaching folk song material (assimilation of traits), secondly, as a borrowing of typically "Bartokian" sound images and gestures. In the Grave of String Quartet No. 7, for instance, Bacewicz employs "a pedal drone on the cello that resembles the dudy (bagpipe) of Polish folk dance" (Wood, pg. 123). Besides this folk music assimilation, she also uses certain textural gestures that resemble Bartok's.

One such gesture is the use of staggered points of entry in a polyphonic texture, with one instrument added after another one, to gradually increase the intensity of the music. Bartok uses this technique right in the opening movement of String Quartet No. 4, beginning in measure four and five where the cello enters, followed by the viola, second violin, and then the first violin at the end. Later, in measures seven and eight, the points of entry are retrograde to the initial order: the first violin enters at the outset of this texture, followed by the second violin, viola, and cello. Bacewicz uses the same gesture, but in her own unique way, by employing specialized articulations such as ord. saltando beginning in measure nineteen of the first movement of String Quartet No. 7, where the instruments enter from the highest to the lowest in pitch, so that the first violin is followed by the second violin, viola, and cello.

Although there are similar elements in works by both composers, Bacewicz goes beyond borrowing and quotation, as she fuses some features found in Bartok's string quartets and creatively transforms them into her own unique designs. It will be shown below how Bacewicz moves into the unexplored territory of the avant-garde through her conscious control of articulations and the use of serialisim. By serializing the articulations the Polish composer transcends the ideas of her Hungarian predecessor and turns in a direction, taken for instance, by the French composer of integral serialism, Pierre Boulez.

4.

Both Bacewicz and Bartok were able to create, through the use of articulation, a distinctive sound world. These realms share some common features. The quartets by both composers, for instance, explore the percussive qualities of string instruments. However, in general Bartok's String Quartet No. 4 has more intensity associated with it, by the employment of more multiple double-stopped dissonant chords in each part, especially in the opening and closing movements. This excessive use of multiple-stopped chords contrasts with Bacewicz's String Quartet No. 7, which has a more clear and elegant character due to its more transparent texture. This character is also maintained through formal design as well as the use of special types of articulations.

After hearing Bartok's characteristic snap pizzacato as in the Allegretto pizzacato of String Quartet No. 4, or the spiralling down slurred chromatics in Bacewicz's opening movement of String Quartet No. 7 at bar sixteen and seventeen, we can easily identify to which composer's work we are listening. "Control of articulation is also an important means by which performers achieve precise qualities of textures" (Grove, pg. 643).

It is the control of articulations that differentiates Bacewicz from Bartok. "By her last prolific decade, Bacewicz's imprint is fully formed. It is antiromantic, precise, clearly defined, logically organized, and, above all, controlled." (Wood, pg. 125). Bacewicz controls articulations by explicitly conveying to the performer which articulations to use and when. This contrasts with Bartok's assignment of articulations which are overtly conveyed through the names of each individual movement, for instance, Prestissimo, con sordino, and Allegretto pizzicato. Thus, the articulations are more entrenched in the overall formal design, in addition to being specified in detail in the score.

In the first movement of String Quartet No. 7, Bacewicz achieves a high-level of control over the articulation through serializing various performance techniques. While I do not, at present, have Bacewicz's sketch material at my disposal to confirm this thesis, I believe that the music itself contains ample material supporting my claim. This becomes more apparent when looking at the musical examples of the first movement of String Quartet No. 7 (see appendix and chart). It is generally well-known that Bacewicz used serialization of pitch material in her String Quartet no. 6 and it is highly probable that she turned to serializing articulation in her subsequent essay in that genre. According to one biographer, Bacewicz stated in an intereivew that "she was drawn to the serial technique principally because she expected to learn from it a new rigor of form, a new discipline which would be far more attractive than the conventionalized discipline of the tonal world." (Marek, pg. 6).

Through controlling articulations, the opening movement of Bacewicz's String Quartet No. 7, is the only movement of the quartet that employs twelve-tone serial techniques. In the exposition (see appendix and chart), the viola begins with arco saltando, followed by the first violin tremolo trills from G flat down to F natural. The cello plays the third articulation, the gettato come percussion, while the second violin plays the pizzacato, the fourth articulation. In the third measure, the viola grace note B is the fifth articulation followed by the glissando from high G to B in the first violin. The seventh articulation is the harmonic in the sixth measure played by the viola, after which come accented notes in the viola.

The remaining four articulations that make a total of twelve include ord. saltando in the second violin, followed by the downward chromatic passage in both the first violin and viola. The eleventh articulation are the slurred double stops in the upper three voices of the thirty-fifth measure of the exposition. The final articulation is the spiccato, which the first violin begins in measure twenty-five. The subsequent twelve articulations occur in the recapitulation, and they, along with the serialized articulations of the exposition, are shown in the chart and musical examples, included in the appendix.


5.

In the String Quartet No. 4, Bartok uses less variety than Bacewicz in the employment of articulations; moreover, his articulations are less specialized than the virtuostic selections used in Grazyna Bacewicz's String Quartet No. 7. This becomes evident in looking at the musical examples. The general quality of the opening movement of Bartok's String Quartet No. 4, is more primal; this character is conveyed by the "peasant fiddling" sound quality as explained earlier. Thus, Bartok's Quartet is more limited in the types of articulations employed as an expressive means.

The difference between the two types of sound material, used by Bacewicz and Bartok respectively, might be articulated through the use of digital technology, namely the audio-wave graphs. In this project, the audio wave graphs were obtained by downloading the music of Bartok's String Quartet No. 4, and Bacewicz's String Quartet No. 7 from Compact Discs into a computer program called Gallery Software, which in turn converted the audio into the Sound Designer 2 audio file. This then was inputted into additional computer software called, Pro Tools for viewing and editing of the audio. Later, a picture was taken of the audio from Audobe Photoshop to visually represent the audio waves.

The graphs, created from sound recordings of fragments of both quartets, make it easier to visualize the dichotomies of kinetic energy and stillness shown, for instance, with senza sordino and con sordino. The thin transparency and fuller vitality in sound is created through the choice of different articulations, like sul tasto and multiple stopped dissonant chords played with marcato articulation markings in all or almost all of the parts. Certain aspects of the audio wave graphs reveal more differences between Bartok's String Quartet No. 4, and Bacewicz's String Quartet No. 7.

The audio wave graphs highlight several important aspects of the comparison between both compositions. In viewing the graphs, for example, Bartok's arch-form symmetry becomes truly apparent. As Walsh (1982, pg. 57) has noted Bartok's String Quartet No. 4 as a totality is remarkable because of its "extreme expressive opposites." This is visually represented in the audio wave graphs, and strongly contrasts with Bacewicz's compositional style, and her choice of articulations.

In the String Quartet No. 4 Bartok--for the first time--adopts "a purely symmetrical arch structure of five movements, with the movements paired so that the finale 'echoed' the first movement, the fourth movement echoed the second, and the third movement formed an independent keystone to the arch." ( Walsh, pg. 47). The audio wave graphs vividly illustrate Walsh's description of Bartok's form, especially in the relationhip between the second and the fourth movements. Here, the fourth movement contains similar shapes but it is represented as lighter in color than the second, thus visually suggesting the 'echo effect'.

The darker wave forms shown in the audio wave graphs of the last movement Bartok's String Quartet No. 4 in particular, contrast with Bacewicz's smaller, more intermittent, and lighter wave forms, thus representing visually the difference in the use of articulations. Bartok's darker wave forms--such as in movement one--are produced by sf, sff, marcato, and senza sordino articulations. His less intense wave forms, for instance in the second movement, reflect Bartok's choice of delicately executed articulations such as con sordino, and sul ponticello.

In comparison to Bartok's selection of articulations, Bacewicz's music reveals a greater textural transparency and sparity of sound. This clarity, balance, and conscious, well planned placement of articulations as shown in the audio wave graphs illustrates Bacewicz's characteristically French-oriented style.

6.

In this project I have tried to show the distiction in choice of articulations between Bela Bartok's String Quartet No. 4, and Grazyna Bacewicz's String Quartet No. 7. The distiction in articulation selection pertains as much to the individual compositional style, as well as to the overall means of expression. It is this very means of expression that can help identify a given composer.

In conclusion, it is my sincere hope that some researcher with much more expertise than I have, will use the information implied and supplied in this project, for a more detailed analyses.

APPENDIX

Chart of Bacewicz's Serialized Articulations

Exposition Exposition Recapitulation Recapitulation
Type Bar Number Type Bar Number
1. Arco Saltando 10 1. Arco Saltando 1
2. Tremolo Trills 2 5. Grace Notes 15
3. Gettato Come Percussion 13 6. Glissando 7
4. Pizzacato 3 12. Spiccato 10
5. Grace Notes 4 10. Chromatics 7
6. Glissando 6 3. Gettato Come Percussion 33
7. Harmonics 6 11. Slurred Double Stops 13
8. Accented Notes 23 2. Tremolo Trills 15
9. Ord. Saltando 19 8. Accented Notes 22
10. Chromatics 17 4. Pizzacato 24
11. Slurred Double Stops 35 7. Harmonics 25
12. Spiccato 25 9. Ord. Saltando 36

References