Bulgarian Rhythm and its Disembodiment in The Sayings of Péter Bornemisza, op. 7

Beckles Willson, Rachel (2002) Bulgarian Rhythm and its Disembodiment in The Sayings of Péter Bornemisza, op. 7. Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 43 (3-4). pp. 269-280. ISSN 0039-3266

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Abstract

The starting point is the concept of Bartók's 'So-Called-Bulgarian Rhythm' as it appears in György Kurtág's The sayings of Péter Bornemisza. This rhythmic type has been identified in Kurtág's The sayings by two commentators and also by Kurtág himself while sketching for the work. It appears here as a unifying structural element within movements as well as across the cycle as a whole. It is juxtaposed with descriptions of fear, death and pastoral reawakening in the text, in transformations of varying musical significance (once in combination with an allusion to Penderecki's Threnody). The type's interaction with the body in the text of The sayings invites a reading drawing on the bodily engagement with music that Bartók advocated after his contact with peasant music in general, but with particular reference to 'So-Called-Bulgarian Rhythm'.

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