Bartok Allegro Barbaro

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Perfect and Mistuned Structures in Bartók's Music

Author(s): János Kárpáti


Source: Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, T. 36, Fasc. 3/4,
Proceedings of the International Bartók Colloquium, Szombathely, July 3-5, 1995, Part I
(1995), pp. 365-380
Published by: Akadémiai Kiadó
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Perfect and Mistuned Structures in Bartok's Music

Janos KARPATI
Budapest

I would like to give you an account about the progress of an idea


raised by me 24 years ago at a similar international Bartok conference
organized in occasion of the 90th anniversary of the birth in Budapest.l
This was the first formulation of the phenomenon of mistuning I proposed
to explain a series of Bartok's particular procedure in musical expression.
Later on I extended and incorporated this explanation in my book written
about the string quartets.
The term was introduced into the Bartok literature by Prof. Bence
Szabolcsi when he characterized the music belonging to the figure of the
Mandarine with the expression "mistuned pentatony", well understanding
that one of the key elements of Bartok's compositional method has been
the acceptation and transformation of the traditional structures.2 The term
and the use of mistuning was attested by Bart6k himself who prescribes
scordatura in the closing movement of the Contrasts indicating to accord
the strings of the violin to G# D-A-ES, and draws the melodies such a
way that they perfectly fit into this mistuned framework, as it has been
referred also by Jozsef Ujfalussy.3
When I raised my ideas regarding the extension and developing the
mistuning phenomenon, I wanted to propose an explanation which, al-

1 "Le desaccordage dans la technique de composition de Bart6k", Interncltil)ncll Musicl)ll)giecll Cl)n-


ference in Cl)mmemc)rcltil)n l)f Belc Bclrti)k 1971, ed. Jozsef Ujfalussy and Janos Breuer (Budapest: Editio
Musica, 1972) 41-51.
2 Szabolcsi Bence: "A csodalatos mandarin", Zenetudl)mcinyi tclnulmcinyl)k Liszt Ferene es Bclrti)k Belc
e)nlekere, ed. Szabolcsi Bence es Bartha Denes (Budapest: Akademiai Kiad6, 1955), 526.
3 Ujfalussy J6zsef, "Bart6k Bela: Kontrasztok - hegedure, klarinetra es zongorara (1938)", Mclgyur
Zene IX (1968).

StXblia Mu.vicologica Aczlemiae ScientiarlJm Hlxngtiricae 3t5/3w. /995 pp. 3t55-38()


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366 J. Karpati: Perfect and Mistuned Structures

though it started a discussion with Erno Lendvai's golden section- and


axis-theory,4 never was intended as the only one and valid answer for
everything. But the idea since then has matured and developed, and has
been incorporated in a revised form into the recent American publication
of my Bartok's Chamber Music and into the chapters I wrote for The
Bartok Companion.5 And finally I managed to formulate a version (I am
af1aid to say: a definitive one) which might be more complex and shaded
than the previous ones. That is what I am going to sketch now in a
compact form. I apologize if you find some points known, but it is neces-
sary to build up a logical continuity.
One idea of my new approach is hidden, as a matter of fact, into
the title. Previously I examined the phenomenon of mistuning almost
exclusively in melodic and chordal dimensions, but later on I had to dis-
cover that it can also be observed in contrapuntal procedures, in relation-
ships of tonal levels and even in rhythmics. By thinking of these different
relations I found it would be more relevant to use the word "structure"
as a generic term. Another new element in the present paper-and similar-
ly hidden into the title-manifests itself in the method that not only the
mistuned structures should be examined but also those which remain
"tuned", i.e. perfect. As a matter of fact, this is an immanent logical
requi1ement because tuning is the condition of mistuning. It is naturally
another question that there are many cases of mistuning where the tuned
or perfect form does not appear but stands in an imaginary way in the
background.
It is obvious that the phenomenon of mistuning would be unrea-
sonable to raise regarding Schoenbergian structures, for its substance is
based upon a declared exclusion of perfect (non-mistuned) structures.
Bartok, discussing the question of atonality writes in 1920:

'; ... since we do not have to deal here with two, totally opposite principles, it seems to
me that a deliberate (not too frequent) use of chords of older tonal phrasing within
atonal music would not be in bad taste. An isolated triad of the diatonic scale, a third, a
perfect fifth or octave amidst atonal chords ... do not give an impression of tonality ...

4 Erno Lendvai, Belcl Bclrtok. An Al1cl1ysis I)f His Musie (London: Kahn & Averill, 1971).
5 Bclrtl)k's Chclmber Mlesic. Stuyvesant: Pendragon Press, 1994; The Bclrti)k Cl)mpclnil)n, ed. Malcolm
Gillies (London: Faber & Faber, 1993).

Stlditl M/}X;(O/{JS;CA Acdeluliae Scientiarill71 Blingtiricae 36/3W 1995

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J. Karpati: Pettect and Mistuned Structures 367

An urlconditional elimination of these old sonorities would imply the disclaiming of


a not even inconsiderable part of the means of our art."('

The phenomenon of mistuning may roughly be defined as small scale


augmentation or diminution of perfect structures, or in a more definite
form one semitone augmentation or disninution of the structures based
on a pesfect octave or fifth. Measured in semitones it gives 13 or 11
instead of 12, 8 or 6 instead of 7, and-since the major third has been
codified by Rameau as perfect in his basic triad chord called "harmonie
parfaite" 5 or 3 instead of 4.

Perfect intervals Mistuned intervals


Semitones Semitones
+ or - 1

augmented 1 3

octave 12 C
diminished 11

augmented 8
fifth 7

diminished 6

fourt 5
major third 4
minor third 3

Since in my earlier publications the mistuning of melodic and har-


monic structures has been abundantly treated, so I can limit myself ex-
clusively for the sake of a logical continuity to some reminders.
Speaking about melodic structures, the basic type is in which both
the perfect and the mistuned structures appear next to each other. In the
1st movement of the String Quartet no. 6, the augmented fourth and the
augmented octave look like a development of the theme (Ex. la). In the
closing movement of the String Quartet no. 5 in turn, it is the mistuned

(5 "Das Problem der neuen Musik", Mell)s 1920, 1. English translation in: Bclrtok E.v.sclys, ed. Benjamin
Suchoff (London: Faber & Faber, 1976), 457458.

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368 J. Karpati: Perfect and Mistuned Structures

version that appears first (Ex. lb), and it turns out only la
famous "barrel organ episode" (Ex. lc) that the theme has a p
at the same time banal version, which is soon rejected by the
as ridiculous and unusable.
a

40 - -
_

ifiy ,.1Ff 1 r ¢ ' t<


f < -- P.

.) T; ) f r J hJ

_ 13HJ 6f 8b 5 S $ -
& , v ' >5 e 1,@ *, bFp $

i, : h 8 v b-
c

Ex. la: String Quartet no. 6, I,


b<: String Quartet no. 5, V, m

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J. Karpati: Perfect and Mistuned Structures 369

A second more frequent type is the one when only the mistuned
melody occurs, and the perfect form might only be guessed behind it, so
it is only imaginary. A characteristic example is given by the first subject
of the first movement of String Quartet no. 5. Bartok could have formu-
lated it in a strict pentatonic system (la = B; pentatony). But this perfect
fifth-octave structure would obviously have been flat and uninteresting
for him, so he actually shaped the melody so that the upper layer slides
down a semitone:

a . .

> t ffi SJJJU } [r I:


b ;

m 7-@J!J I J 4;s 1:
Ex. 2: String Quartet no. 5, I, first subject (b),
mistuned from an imaginary pentatonic form (a)

The last movement of the fifth quartet also furnishes good examples
of the way Bartok transformes mistunes the tetrachord structures of
the diatonic modes. Here, without laying a finger on the inner structure
of the tetrachords, replaces the whole tone which separates them with a
semitone-that is, he tunes either the upper tetrachord lower or the lower
tetrachord higher (Ex. 3). In the same movement of the quartet major
and Phrigian tetrachords appear also within a diminished octave
framework.
In mistuning of chordal structures there are two basic types. In one
of them, the perfect and the mistuned structures are not only juxtaposed
but closely built into each other. In this case the notes of the perfect form
are surrounded by chromatic or mistuned variants which could also
be considered as adjacent notes of colouring function, as e.g. in the String
Quartet no. I (Ex. 4).
The other basic type could be characterised by substitution, meaning
that the notes of the perfect chord are substituted by chromatic or mis-
tuned variants. An early but very clear example of this procedure is

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J. Karpati: Perfect and Mistuned Structu

Prestissim
,

PeS pRS J .
J =Pc $ '; --f

Ex. 3: String Quartet no. 5, V, mm. 761 ff

§-'s6(

I (f =:
l ' y Ww : # :

Ex. 4: String Quartet no. 1, I, m. 51

Ex. 5: Bagatelle no. 14

given by the Bagatell no. 14 (Ma mie qui dan


formed into a waltz rhythm, is accompanied
function chord alternation of waltzes but in

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*o
J. Ka'rpa'ti: Perfect and Mistuned Structures 371

get an "out of tune" chord: the most important components of the


dominant are substituted: instead of A, BS, instead of G, F# and G# (Ex. 5).
A more representative example for the mistuning of traditional chord
alternation is given by the first movement of Suite op. 14. Instead of the
traditional alternation of tonic and dominant we have alternating BS major
and E major chords.

Allegretto. (J ={20)
_ _

IY6;is vt

Piano- | P; Ff Wf CF semp p
b;; bwb; W;; b; w b;
. * . . * * . . .

_ | I , ,- t _ L 1

1*9 8Sg ;#Y Yig jy: ti;- s1&+

(S 8Wz Y0j-Si-2;J-84 St, S;J8J YlX

Ex. 6: Suite op. 14, I

A similar phenomenon was shown by J6zsef Ujfalussy in his study


written about the Allegro barbaro. The right-hand melody in F# minor is
clashed in the left-hand with C major accompaniment instead of standard
C# dominant:7

^ -

^ §4t -+ #f StAt#f "t"fts a

i 3t 1[ i 31 i; ttJ 0 I ; 31
Ex. 7: A llegro barbaro

7 Ujfalussy Jozsef: "Az Allegro barbaro harmoniai alapgondolata es Bartok hangsorai", Mugyur
Zenetdirteneti Tunulmcznyok Sz(lbolssi Bence 70. szuletesn(lpj(ir(l, ed. Bonis Ferenc (Budapest: Zenemukiado,
1969), 330.

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372 J. Karpati: Perfect and Mistuned Structures

The chord of major-minor third, very frequent in Bartok's music,


can also be considered a kind of mistuning. As early as 1930 the pioneer
analyst of Bartok's compositional technique, Edwin von der Null, pointed
out the simultaneous use of the major and minor thirds, but he explained
it as a "tonal neutrality" (Geschlechtslosigkeit).8 In my interpretation this
chord could appear in both basic types of chordal mistuning mentioned
before, namely in juxtaposition and substitution. The equidistant structure
consisting of minor thirds and semitones (called by Lendvai 1:3 model)
is not else than the juxtaposed major and minor triads having in the same
time major and mistuned (minor) thirds, perfect and mistuned (aug-
mented) fifths and perfect and mistuned (diminished) octaves.
This interpretation is also supported in a clearly chordal position. In
the closing chord of the Suite op. 14 (Ex. 8d), taking the whole work
into account, the tonality of BS can scarcely be doubted. Upon the basic
BS major chord, C# is a colouring adjacent note of the major third, A has
the same function beside BS, while GS substitutes the perfect fifth, i.e. F.
F;; and CS are further colouring adjacent tones.
This example proves, by the way, that an alpha-chord (Lendvai's
terminology) is not unconditionally a sixth-chord (first inversion), but
could be a mistuned chord in root position. In my interpretation this is
the substituting type of mistuned major triads because the major third is
substituted by a minor one, the perfect fifth by an augmented one, and
the octave by a diminished one (see Ex. 8c).

a b c

<i) " 11 ; o ;- ;@ t' 11 ;7S

PP |

d l 1

d')g idAnt. Ho. I


PPP Sg t

Ex. 8: Chordal mistuning (a<) and its example in Suite op. 14, IV (d)

x Edwin v. d. Null, Bel(l Buwtok. Ein Beitw(lg zuw- Mow?hologie der neuen Musik (Halle [Saale], 1930).

St,,Ji,, Mllxic(*l(J^tica AcJe/lli(les Scie/1tia/ll/n HIl/1S(lric(lto S6/.S4. 1995

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J. Karpati: Perfect and Mistuned Structures 373

Ujfalussy's study on the Allegro barbaro mentioned above drew my


attention to the fact that the double third does not stand separately but
appears with a double fundamental tone and a double fifth. In this case-
as he shows the A as the third is constant, and is surrounded by F major
and F# minor in semitone-bitonality. It is well known, however, that in
Bartok's case we cannot speak about a bitonality extending for the whole
composition. Allegro barbaro is after all in F# minor, therefore this is a
transitory bitonality indicating the levels of mistuning. If we look at the
quoted place from Allegro barbaro, we can consider the C major chord
either mistuned dominant of the perfect tonic (F#) or perfect dominant of
the mistuned tonic (F). Later I will return to this witty and paradigmatic
balance of perfect and mistuned structures.
After this quick survey of mistuning melodic and harmonic struc-
tures, I would like to draw your attention to three further structures less
treated in my earlier writings. Let us look first at the counterpoint. It is
well known that in Bartok's fugal technique the interval relation of dux
and comes could be either perfect or diminished fifth. The most traditional
fugue is the "Hunter-fugue" of the Cantata profana in which the head
motive of the dux consisting of a fifth is answered by the comes in a
fifth upper layer (it is another question that also the answer is very tradi-
tional, because it consists of a fourth instead of fifth). Numerous further
examples of the perfect fifth (fourth) answer can be found in the string
quartets nos 1, 3, and 4, not speaking about the most classical example:
the first movement of the Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta. All
of us know well this unique structure with polyhonic voices entering
successively in ascending and descending fifths. It is a very significant
phenomenon in this case, however, that at the end of this perfect fifth
succession there is a mistuned dominant.
It is, however, a well-known fact that in other fugue-like constructed
pieces or episodes the voices are in an interval relation of a diminished-
i.e. mistuned-fifth. Good examples can be found in the Mikrokosntos (no.
145), in the closing movement of the String Quartet no. S or in the In-
troduction of the Sonata for two pianos and percussion. This series could
be extended by examples in which the relation of the voices are mistuned
in another way, i.e. instead of a diminished fifth there is an augmented

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rJ,7Jdaw>,2t j.r
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374 J. Karpati: Perfect and Mistuned

fifth (equivalent to major third), a


tion:

zento (Js 60)

P moZZo esprcss.

p moleo espress = =
b

^ ;'Su. . , . r, ,

ii $ $ $ :,<J flJ " n>j.

Ex. 9a: String Quartet no. 1

Examining the inner s


duality can be observed
because it fits easily int
even some chromatic m
structure. Let us think
built upon an octave fra
for Two Pianos and Pe
IOb).
A significant number of
ture because their fram
this are the small fugue
fugue subject of Music
In this connection, ho
offer us the conclusion
establish a kind of balan
of the contrapuntal p

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1.2.Violel
l 8 X«a X
J. Karpati: Perffiect and Mistuned Structures 375

9 Allegro,;-oz f X

ie % t - $ S Wiv Ev L-S $ Wn

*9ts ^Lttrtrfr : : f f $ :3f f

Ex. lOa: Mikrokosmos, no. 145. b: Sonata for two Pianos and Percussion, I, m. S

b Andante tranquilloy $ ca il6-it2


v con sord.

' 4'w'| con * d _ EF) 1>"" '"

Ex. 1 la: String Quartet no. 3, Seconda parte


b: MusieforStrings, Percusscon, and Celesta, I

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376 J. Karpati: Perfect and Mistuned Structures

regularity, it can be clearly observed that in the majority of the cases if


the subject itself is mistuned, the polyphonic voices are in perfect relation-
ship, and vice versa, if the subject's framework is perfect, the polyphonic
voices move in a mistuned interval relation.

Work Subject Answer

String Quartet no. 1, movement I perfect mistuned

StringQuartetno. 1, movementIII mistuned perfect

String Quartet no. 3, Prima parte perfect mistuned

String Quartetno. 3, Secondaparte mistuned perfect

StringQuartetno. 4, movementII mistuned perfect

String Quartet no. 4, movement IV mistuned perfect

Cantata profana perfect perfect

String Quartet no. 5, movement V mistuned mistuned

Mikrokosmos no. 145 perfect mistuned

Music for Strings, etc., movement I mistuned perfect

Sonata for 2 Pianos, movement I perfect mistuned

Now let us make a small detour for putting some rhythmic


phenomenon in another light. At first approach the word mistuning looks
absolute inappropriate to be used for structures taking place in time. With
some kind of abstraction it is nevertheless usable, since as it was already
mentioned in final analysis, mistuning is nothing else but the modifica-
tion of a given structure by the smallest unit of its system. If the structure
takes place in the "musical space", its smalles unit is the semitone. But
if the structure takes place in the time, the smallest unit is defined by
the denominator of the metre (or even its further fraction).
The rhythmic mistuning presents itself in disguise of the "Bulgarian
rhythm". In a lecture held in 1938 with the title "The So-called Bulgarian
Rhythm", Bartok explained the 7/8 metre of a Hungarian and a Rumanian
folk song as follows:

;'In both melodies we feel that the 7/S metre originated in a 3 x 2 metre in eight-notes:
in the iirst example the fourth eighth-note has expanded into a quarter-note; in the
second example, the sixth one." With the same arguments interprets Bartok the
characteristic 2+2+3/16 metre of the Bulgarian Ruchenitza: "The superficial listener

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0ex
J. Karpati: Perffiect and Mistuned Structures 377

will evaluate this rhythm either as 3/S or as 2/4. If we derive it from 3/8, th
establish an augmentation by a sixteenth-note; if from 2/4, then a diminution by the
same note value. I favour the former explanation, and as the Bulgarians' own rhythmic
suggests, they too seem to be of this opinion."9

A similar truncation or extension can be observed in a number of


Bartok compositions. I am quoting only two characteristic examples from
the "Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm" of the Mikrokosmos. The metric
structure of the first: 3+2+3/8 gives the impression that 9/8 was truncated
by one quaver (no. 151, Ex. 12a). In the second case a metric structure
of 2+2+2+3 (i.e. 9/8) is not else but 8/8 extended with one quaver (no.
152, Ex. 12b).

a J.JJ. 60
_/_

iS*"+xi._; ; xZ1 1 ; i; "4 I

b Allegro molto, O }-s0


S t ; 1 Z; s " 23 2 " 4 * e_

1 2^ a^Zw xy C flt t C Xt t C f t
5

Ex. 12a-b: Mikrokosmos, no. 151, and no. 152

The Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion furnishes a large variety
of such rhythmic combinations without any reference to the Bulgarian
folk music. The slow introduction is based unequivocally on 9/8, but at
the end of the section the listener can follow the inner transformation of
the 9/8, and when the Allegro molto starts, with maintaining the
numerator (9), the inner structure becomes 1+2+2+2+2/8, which is con-
sidering the actual pattern of the subject as a matter of fact, 1/8+4/4.

') "The So-called Bulgarian Rhythm" (1938), English translation in: Burtok Essays 41, 47.

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378 J. Karpati: Perfect and Mistuned Structures

The 4+2+3/8 structured second subject shows another Bulgarian


metric structure, favoured very much by Bart6k, occurring, among others,
in the '4Scherzo alla bulgarese" of String Quartet no. 5. The numerator
here also remains 9, but the actual form hides a 4/4 pattern, from which
one crochet is-in various positions-stretched by one quaver.
The third subject regarding its metric structure is again in ordi-
nary 9/8. To sum up: out of the four basic thematic material the first and
the last could be considered perfect, while the two in the middle are in
different ways mistuned (Ex. 13). Let us add: a similar balance of perfect
and mistuned structutes can be observed in this movement regarding the
melodics and the counterpoint-as we touched previously.

1 4
r r

First subject
YJ J J n S
Y t t t t t t t t t t t t Y Y =

L J _J L f '

\ 4 4 1

Second subject
f r r trv f I = _ X l .!

4+3+2 2+3+4
8 8

y y s - I , _
Thrid subject
pr r pIr r > r 0
Ex. 13: Perfect and mistuned metric structures
in the Sonata for two Pianos and Percussion, I

Let us speak in the end about the tonal structures. It is very im-
portant to emphasize that in Bart6k's thinking tonality served mainly as
a factor in form building, and not exclusively in order to ensure the unity
of a work, but also to create an inner structure, and articulation. In this
context the dominant tonality maintained its traditional role developped
in the order of modulation of the classical era. It means that the dominant
constituted the secondary but still important tonal level which represented

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J. Karpati: Perfiect and Mistuned Structures 379

the progress, the diversity, the moving ahead in relation to the starting
position and tonality. At the same time it should be added: for Bartok it
was not exclusively the fifth higher level to represent the dominant. In
1971, Laszlo Somfai published a manuscript draft so far unknown about
the analysis of String Quartet no. 5 written in French by Bartok at the
request of the impresario of the Pro Arte String Quartet. In this analysis
the composer unequivocally declares the possibility of a "mistuned
dominant" saying: Le theme principal a deux degrees principales: SiN
(tonique) et Mi (youant le role de la dominante).l°
Having this testimony it becomes unwarrantable that the tonal levels
in polar distance (e.g. B; and E or F# and C) represent identic functions,
as it stands in Lendvai's axis theory. At the same time, it becomes a
plausible determinant of the tonal structure of numerous Bartok composi-
tions (e.g. that of Duke Bluebeards Castle). In this interpretation the
mistuned dominant as polar level rather represents a "powered", quasi
"hyper dominant," condensing the towering of six successive fifth, as it
is shown in the polyphonic process of the Music for Strings, Percussion,
and Celesta. In this context it should be added that the enharmonic polar
level represents a "hyper subdominant", and since the two coincide, the
triple function system of the previous era will be substituted by a double
one. This is a hidden conclusion in Jozsef Ujfalussy's study quoted above,
where he touches without in depth going treatment the critics of
"mechanical adaptation of the classical triple function''.ll And he1-e we
have to refer back to the duality mentioned regarding Allegro barbaro,
namely that the semitone bitonality is concomitant with the ambiguity of
the dominant.
In conclusion I would like to refer to one page of music from the
Suite op. 14 (see Ex. 7) which demonstrates as a paradigm the balance
and-I emphasize the interchangeability of perfect and mistuned struc-
tures in Bartok's compositional techniqlle. The melody, which sounds like
a Rumanian folk dance, is very particuElar by its scale and strophic struc-
ture. It is a kind of mistuning in melodic sense that above the augmented

1(} Somfai Laszlo: "Bartok 5. vonosnegyese. A zeneszerzo kiadatlan formai analizise", MWaik(l XIV:
12 (1971), 2S28. Original French text in: Bclrtok Belcl irCi.VCli 1: BClRtOk BelCl (illplClgCirO'/, mllVeir7, ClZ il;
mclgy(lr zenerb?, mbizene e.s neivene vi.vzonycirol, ed. Tallian Tibor (Budapest: ZenemGkiado, 1989), 217-219
1I See note 7.

Stll(liu Mllxicolostic(l Acuc/el71iue Scics17tiUrllltl Bl1s7Stcal icue SS/sW. 1995

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380 J. Karpati: Perfect and Mistuned Structures

fourth degree there is an augmented fifth, so the melodic line consequent-


ly avoids the perfect fifth. As regards the strophic structure in turn, it can
be considered perfect, since the first two lines are followed-according
to the model of old style Hungarian folk songs by a third line on level
terrace a fourth lower, and the fourth line ends on a level an additional
third lower.
The accompaniment is similarly worth our attention, because as
previously referred to in the traditional alternation of tonic-dominant,
the dominant is replaced by its mistuned version. That is: the perfect
structure of a mistuned melody is accompanied by mistuned chord-suc-
cession.

But if we look at the continuation, we can observe an exact inter-


change of the roles: the alternation of the accompanying chords is quite
traditional (BS major-F major), while the strophic structure becomes mis-
tuned: after the first terrace starting on D, the third line starts on a G#
level terrace. Namely, the composer exposes the same material in perfect
and nistuned versions, proving their correlative reciprocally completing
and conditioning qualities. As we saw, Bart6k's lifework furnishes in
an abundant richness the examples for using perfect and mistuned struc-
tures. This unique example could be considered, however, quasi a clas-
sical one because it comprises both structures in the most compact way.

Melodic structure: perfect mistuned

l l l l
D A D G#

BS E F# C BS F E B

I J I J l l l I
Chord mistuned perfect

StlMcl Mlfxicolouic(> Acc(lemice SGieI7Ji(JI-ItI7I fllfl7s,tcal ic(>e 36/s4. 1995

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