Bartok in the 20th-century theory classroom : a structural analysis of select pieces from Mikrokosmos volumes 5 and 6

Abstract

This study presents a comprehensive overview of the context and significance of select pieces from Bartók’s Mikrokosmos volumes 5 and 6 in a 20th-century (from 1900–1940) theory and analysis course. The musical concepts addressed are tonality, symmetry, rhythm, which are topics that are often included in 20th-century analysis courses. This analysis illustrates additional features in these selected pieces that stems from tonality, symmetry, and rhythm like polymodal chromaticism, nontraditional scales, and rhythmic irregularity. These three musical concepts occurr in eight pieces from Mikrokosmos: “Boating” (no. 125), “Village Joke” (no. 130), “Syncopation” (no. 133), “Perpetuum Mobile” (no. 135), “Free Variations” (no. 140), “From the Diary of a Fly” (no. 142), “Minor Seconds and Major Sevenths” (no. 144), and “Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm IV” (no. 151).