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Béla Bartók’s controversy with Géza Molnár in 1911: As a member of the “Transitional generation”

Okamoto, Yoshiko (2017) Béla Bartók’s controversy with Géza Molnár in 1911: As a member of the “Transitional generation”. Studia Musicologica, 58 (2). pp. 129-146. ISSN 1788-6244

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Abstract

Béla Bartók’s “On Hungarian Music,” one of his controversial articles published in 1911, is known for criticizing Géza Molnár’s book, Theory of Hungarian Music (1904). However, it has not been mentioned that Molnár himself replied to Bartók’s article in the next volume of Aurora [Dawn] magazine, using exactly the same title as Bartók’s. While Bartók asserted that true Hungarian music had never existed before, Molnár, a musicologist in Budapest, bitterly criticized Bartók’s assertions from an academic perspective. This controversy over Hungarian music published in Aurora seemed quite crucial for understanding and relativizing Bartók’s position at that time. The historian Mary Gluck explained that several intellectuals, including György Lukács and Béla Balázs, had to depend on the older generation, both financially and philosophically, during that period. Using Gluck’s framework, this paper examines the genesis of Bartók’s article and the connection between him and the intellectuals in 1911, as well as to interpret this controversy. In conclusion, the controversy with Molnár, and plausible “defeat” in the field of musicology could be added to his list of challenges and setbacks before 1912, the year that saw Bartók’s temporal exit from public musical life.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: MTA KFB támogatási szerződés alapján archiválva
Subjects: M Music and Books on Music / zene, szövegkönyvek, kották > M1 Music / zene
M Music and Books on Music / zene, szövegkönyvek, kották > M1 Music / zene > M10 Theory and philosophy of music / zeneelmélet, muzikológia
Depositing User: Violetta Baliga
Date Deposited: 06 Feb 2019 14:55
Last Modified: 30 Jun 2019 23:17
URI: http://real.mtak.hu/id/eprint/91123

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