Béla Bartók. Collection of 24 Hungarian folksong transcriptions, 1906-1930s

Béla Bartók

Collection of 24 Hungarian folksong transcriptions

comprising:

eight autograph master-sheet transcriptions; five carbon copies of Bartók's transcriptions, four with extensive later autograph revisions and annotations; nine master-sheet transcriptions in the hand of Bartók's first wife Márta Ziegler, extensively revised and annotated by Bartók; one transcription in the hand of Bartók's sister Elza; and one transcription in the hand of József Dóczi

the folksong melodies and text entered in ink on printed forms, along with details of recording location, date, phonograph cylinder number, tonus finalis (the pitch of the final note), collector, and, where relevant, informant or singer, the transcriptions by Márta Ziegler revised and annotated by Bartók in green ink, many of the master sheets with a profusion of later classification numbers in pencil and red and blue crayon

1) 'Azér, hogy a szeretőm elhagyott', transcription by Elza Bartók, with Bartók's stamp ("B.B."), Vésztő, Békes, [1906]

2) 'Ha felülök kis pej lovam hátára', autograph transcription, with Bartók's stamp ("B.B."), Felsőireg, 1907

3) 'Nem messzi van ide Uzora', autograph transcription, with phonograph number ("62. c)") and Bartók's stamp ("B.B."), Felsőireg, 1907

4) 'Fölszántom én az ürögi nagy utcát', autograph transcription, with Bartók's stamp ("B.B."), Felsőireg, 1907

5) 'Hol jártál, Ruzsicská, ilyen korán', autograph transcription, with Bartók's stamp ("B.B."), Felsőireg, 1907

6) 'Egy asszonynak 2 lánya', and 'De szeretnék szántani', autograph transcription with later autograph annotations, Vacsárcsi, August 1907 and later

7) 'Pincehelyen harangoznak, temetnek', autograph transcription, with Bartók's stamp ("B.B."), Felsőireg, 1907

8) 'El es mennék, itt is ülnék', autograph transcription, with Bartók's stamp ("B.B."), Csíkszenttamás, 1907

9) 'Egy özvegy asszonynak', autograph transcription, with further folksong texts on the verso, Felsőszászberek, 1917

10) 'Adj el, anyám, adj el, mer itt hagylak', in the hand of Márta Ziegler, revised and annotated by Bartók, with phonograph numbers ("M.f: 979d) F: 57d)"), Felsőireg, April 1907 (Bartók's annotations: 1930s)

11) 'Fehér habgya vagyon a Dunának', in the hand of Márta Ziegler, revised and annotated by Bartók, with phonograph numbers ("M.f: 980b) F: 58b)"), Felsőnyék, April 1907 (Bartók's annotations: 1930s)

12) 'Kéket, zöldet virágzik a temető', in the hand of Márta Ziegler, revised and annotated by Bartók, with phonograph numbers ("M.f: 981b) F: 59b)", Felsőireg, April 1907 (Bartók's annotations: 1930s)

13) 'Tisza partján mandulafa virágzik', in the hand of Márta Ziegler, revised and annotated by Bartók, with phonograph numbers ("M.f: 981d) F: 59d)", Felsőireg, April 1907 (Bartók's annotations: 1930s)

14) 'Tiszántúli kisleány', in the hand of Márta Ziegler, revised and annotated by Bartók, with phonograph numbers ("...M.f: 984b) F: 62b)", Felsőireg, April 1907 (Bartók's annotations: 1930s)

15) 'Az én gatyám lengyelvászon', in the hand of Márta Ziegler, revised and annotated by Bartók, with phonograph numbers ("...M.f: 985b)...F: 63b)", Felsőireg, April 1907 (Bartók's annotations: 1930s)

16) 'Estve van már, késő estve, ej, kilencet ütött már az óra', in the hand of Márta Ziegler, revised and annotated by Bartók, with phonograph numbers ("...M.f: 986b)...F: 64b)", Felsőireg, April 1907 (Bartók's annotations: 1930s)

17) 'Az ürögi búbánatos csárdába', in the hand of Márta Ziegler, revised and annotated by Bartók, with phonograph numbers ("...M.f: 988c)...F: 66e"), Felsőireg, April 1907 (Bartók's annotations: 1930s)

18) 'Mert István napja eljött', collected by Béla Vikár, in the hand of Márta Ziegler, revised and annotated by Bartók, with phonograph number ("M.f: 399c)"), Kénos, no date (Bartók's annotations: 1930s)

19) 'Nádfedeles kis házikóm, leégett a vége', carbon copy of Bartók's master-sheet transcription, August 1918

20) 'Nádfedeles kis házikóm', transcription in an unidentified hand, copied on the basis of two published scores by József Dóczi, no date

21) 'Zöld erdőbe, zöld mezőbe sétál egy madár', collected by Béla Vikár, carbon copy of Bartók's master-sheet transcription, revised and annotated by Bartók, Ethnographic Museum phonograph cylinder number ("F: 2257b)"), no date [Bartók's annotations: 1930s]

22) 'Tessék idébb jönni', collected by Béla Vikár, carbon copy of Bartók's master-sheet transcription, revised and annotated by Bartók, Ethnographic Museum phonograph cylinder number ("F: 2260b)"), no date [1932 or later; the annotations: 1930s]

23) 'Hej Kati Kati Kati, hej Kati, a kapuba gyere ki', collected by Béla Vikár, carbon copy of Bartók's master-sheet transcription, revised and annotated by Bartók, Ethnographic Museum phonograph cylinder number ("F: 2261b)"), no date [the annotations: 1930s]

24) 'Tüskés körte hull az útra', collected by Béla Vikár, carbon copy of Bartók's master-sheet transcription, revised and annotated by Bartók, Ethnographic Museum phonograph cylinder number ("F: 2264c)"), no date [the annotations: 1930s]

25 pages, various sizes, Békés County and elsewhere, 1906-1930s, some edges frayed, paper excisions to nos. 10, 12, 14, 15

together with: an autograph fair-copy transcription of four Turkish folksongs ("1. török...Zeytün beli gürleyerek...2. török...3. török...Evlerinin önü gayaya...4. török...Yazlar geldi"), intended for (but in the end only selectively used) in Bartók's article 'Collecting Folksongs in Anatolia', Hungarian Quarterly, III/2 (1937), pp.337-346, with later annotations by Bartók in mauve and red crayon, those in red indicating the final selection, 2 pages, folio, 1936-1937, splitting along horizontal and vertical folds

and also: five pages of fair-copy master-sheet transcriptions of folksongs for Bartók's posthumously published Turkish Folk Music from Asia Minor, copied in the hand of Bartók's former pupil and assistant Jenő Deutsch, with annotations by BARTÓK, on transparent paper, no place or date [c.1936]; a Hungarian folksong text ("Jönnek jönnek moyd ell visznek [Jönnek, jönnek, majd elvisznek]...") in an unidentified amateur hand, annotated by Bartók, 1 page, no place or date; and four other manuscripts of Hungarian and Slovak folksong texts, in various hands, some with annotations by Bartók ("...zavaros [confused]..."), one also with rhythmic annotations, 16 pages in all, various sizes, the manuscript with rhythmic annotations apparently 1926 or later, some creasing, a few small tears

 AN EXTRAORDINARY COLLECTION OF MATERIAL RELATING TO BARTÓK'S EARLY AS WELL AS LATEST FOLKSONG RESEARCHES.

Although the majority of items here (a number apparently unknown to Bartók scholarship) relate to the early period of Bartók's ethnomusicological studies, one of the manuscripts, containing four Turkish folksongs, was the product of Bartók's final field excursion, to Anatolia, in 1936.

See lot 67 for the listing of many of the folksongs here in Bartók's phonograph notebook from 1906-1907.

PROVENANCE:

Formerly in the collection of the composer's son, Peter Bartók (1924-2020)