1
‫מהטה‬-‫ ביה"ס למוזיקה ע"ש בוכמן‬,‫הפקולטה לאמנויות ע"ש יולנדה כץ‬
Faculty of the Arts, the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music
Course: Music, theater, ritual: Béla Bartók’s “The Miraculous Mandarin,”
(pantomime, Op. 19, 1919/1924)
1st semester, 2012- 2013
Seminar, 4 semester hours
Prof. Judit Frigyesi
Tel: 054-7595107
Email: [email protected] The course will be held in English
Reception time
By appointment only
Brief description
The course will treat the meeting point between theater, ritual and music. It will explore the
question such as: what makes a text a theatrical text, what is ritual, what are the ritualistic aspects
of theater and music, etc. The main work discussed will be Béla Bartók’s pantomime “The
Miraculous Mandarin” – a work in which aspects of ritual, dance/pantomime, symbolic,
grotesque, and expressionist drama and music are merged in a unique manner. The central unit of
the course will be an in-depth analysis of this work’s musical structure, dramaturgy, including
issues of its mythic and ritualistic content. The discussion will use hitherto unpublished research
concerning Bartók’s creative process. Related topics will be discussed in other units: Western
theater, Sufi ritual, Romantic opera, and modern concert as ritual. These units will be presented
in an integral manner in their connection with one another and with the course’s main work.
Requirements
- preparation for the classes:
NOTE: all students are required to have their own copy of the orchestral and the piano
score of Bartók’s Miraculous Mandarin and have to come to the class with the section of
the piece prepared according to the schedule give below
- participation in class discussion
- independent oral exam = midterm
- independent research discussed during independent meetings with instructor
-on the basis of independent research:
written project = final work
1 2
Grading
-preparation and active participation for classes = 40%
-independent research, and independent exam, written work = 60 %
Overview of course
I.
Strategies of theater – Shakespeare (Classes 1-2)
II.
The Miraculous Mandarin: in-depth analysis of the musical structure and theatrical
design in connection with the issue of style, meaning and message (Classes 3-7)
III.
Music and ritual of the Mevlevi (Sufi) dervishes (Classes 8-9)
IV.
Guest lecturer: Ritual and 19th century opera (Class 10)
V.
The concert as ritual (Classes11-12)
II.
The Miraculous Mandarin: creative process, choreography and message (Classes 13-14)
Tentative syllabus
I. Strategies of theater – Shakespeare (Classes 1-2)
October 24:
1. Introduction
2. William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice – Scene 1
October 31:
1. Shakespeare, Othello – Scenes 1 and 3
2. Theater and ritual – a theoretical introduction
II. The Miraculous Mandarin: in-depth analysis of the musical structure, theatrical design, style,
meaning and message (Classes 3-7)
November 7:
1. Menyhért Lengyel’s work “The miraculous mandarin, pantomime grotesque”
2. Bartók’s setting of Lengyel’s work – overview of the work’s musical structure
November 14
1. Analysis-1: From the opening scene to the scene with the young student
2. Analysis-2: The third decoy game and the Mandarin’s entry
2 3
November 21
1. Analysis -3: The waltz and the chase
2. Analysis-4: The murders
November 28: Independent meetings, exam and discussion
December 5
1. Analysis -5: The choral/viola lament and conclusion
2. Discussion
III. The music and ritual of the Mevlevi (Sufi) dervishes (Classes 8-9)
December 12
1. Introduction of Sufism, sufi ritual and the Mevlevi order
2. The musical form of the Bayati Mevlevi ayin
December 19
1. Musical analysis of selected sections from Bayati ayin
2. Film of the ceremony and discussion
IV. Guest lecturer: Ritual in 19th century opera (Class 10)
December 26 Olga Khavkin, Musorgsky’s Khovakschina as ritual/carnival/folk laughter
V. The concert as ritual (Classes11-12)
January 2
1. The concert as ritual: historical and cultural considerations
2. The framing of the concert: advertisement, introduction, words and music, space, etc.
January 9
1. Analysis of sample creative concert programs
2. Discussion and workshop
VI. The Miraculous Mandarin: the compositional process, choreography, and final message
(Classes 13-14)
January 16
1. The deleted scene from the Mandarin – discussion of Bartók’s creative process on the
basis of the 1919 draft manuscript
2. The Miraculous Mandarin as myth and ritual – a new conceptualization
3 4
January 23
1. Choreographies
2. Discussion and conclusion
REQUIRED STUDY AND READING MATERIAL
I. Strategies of theater – Shakespeare (Classes 1-2)
Readings:
1. William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice (cca. 1603), in any of these
editions:
- The New Folger Library Shakespeare. New York: Washington Square Press, 1993 or
later.
- Norton Critical Edition, Edward Pechter , ed. New York, W. W. Norton, 2003.
2. Basic knowledge of the life and oeuvre of William Shakespeare from any encyclopedia article.
II. The Miraculous Mandarin: in-depth analysis of the musical structure, theatrical design, style,
meaning and message (Classes 3-7)
Musical score: Thorough knowledge of the musical score of The Miraculous Mandarin
Readings:
1. Kroó, György. “Pantomime: The Miraculous Mandarin”. In The Bartók Companion. Malcom
Gillies, ed. London: Faber and Faber, 1993, 372-384.
2. Basic knowledge of the life and oeuvre of Béla Bartók on the basis of any scholarly
encyclopedia article. See also list of bibliography at recommended readings.
III. The music and ritual of the Mevlevi (Sufi) dervishes (Classes 8-9)
Sound: Familiarity with the music of the Beyati Ayin (put on reserve in the library)
Musical score: Knowledge of the musical score (put on reserve in the library)
Reading: Selected sections from the Candidature File of the Mevlevi Sema Ceremony [known
historically as the Mevlevi Sacred Rituals of Sacred Encounter of Whirling] for UNESCO’s
proclamation of “Masterpieces of the oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” complied by
Barihuda Tanrikorur and Professor Walter Feldman.
4 5
IV. Guest lecturer: Ritual in 19th century opera (Class 10)
Reading: Chapter 2 from Olga Khavkin, “Old Russia in Musorgsky’s Khovanshchina”. P.D.
Bar Ilan, 2010
V. The concert as ritual (Classes11-12)
The classes will have workshop format, no required reading.
VI. The Miraculous Mandarin: the compositional process, choreography, and final message
(Classes 13-14)
Reading: Frigyesi Judit. “The “girl” in Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin – a case study of the
deleted scene in Bartók’s draft”, manuscript.
SUGGESTED READINGS
I. ARTICLES ABOUT THE MIRACULOUS MANDARIN
Lampert, Vera. “The Miraculous Mandarin: Melchior Lengyel, His Pantomime, and His
Connection to Béla Bartók” In Bartók and His World, Peter Laki, ed. Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1995, 149-171.
Leafstedt, Carl. "The stage works: portraits of loneliness”. In The Cambridge Companion to
Bartók, Amanda Bayley, ed Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001, 62-77.
5 6
II. BASIC READINGS ABOUT BARTÓK’S MUSIC
Bartók's and Kodály's writings:
Bartók, Béla. Béla Bartók Essays. Edited by Benjamin Suchoff. New York Bartók Archive,
Studies in Musicology 8. New York: St. Martin's Press; London: Faber and Faber, 1976.
---. Béla Bartók Letters. Edited by János Demény. Translated by Péter Balaban and István
Farkas. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1971.
---. Paul Sacher Stiftung, ed. Béla Bartóks Briefe an Stefy Geyer. 1907-1908 (Basel: Paul Sacher
Stiftung, 1979)
---. The Hungarian Folk Song, Edited by Benjamin Suchoff. Translated by M. D. Calvacoressi.
Albany: New York State University Press, 1981.
---. Rumanian Folk Music, edited Benjamin Suchoff, vol I-III
Kodály, Zoltán. The Selected Writings of Zoltán Kodály. Selected from the Hungarian original
Visszatekintés. Összegyűjtött írások, beszédek, nyilatkozatok edited by Ferenc Bónis. 2 vols.
(Budapest: Editio Musica, 1979). Translated by Lili Halapy and Fred Macnicol. London: Boosey
and Hawkes, 1974.
Recordings of Bartók’s performance of his own music:
Bartók’s recordings have been reissued in two albums: Bartók at the Piano 1920–1945 and
Bartók Recordings from Private Collections 1910–1944 (originally: LPX 12326-33 and LPX
12334-38, CD edition: HCD 12326–31, Budapest: Hungaroton, 1991 and 1995),
On Bartok’s creative process and manuscripts:
Somfai, László. Béla Bartók: Composition, Concepts and Autograph Sources (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1996)
Somfai, László. "Manuscript Versus Urtext: The Primary Sources of Bartók's Works," Studia
Musicologica (1981)
Basic books on Bartók's life and art:
Bartók, Péter. My Father. Homosassa , Florida: Bartok Records, 2002.
6 7
Frigyesi, Judit. Béla Bartók and turn-of-the-century Budapest. Berkeley: California University
Press, 1998.
Gillies, Malcolm. Bartók remembered. New York and London: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc.,
1991.
Leafstedt, Carl S. Inside Bluebeard’s Castle. Music and Drama in Béla Bartók’s opera. New
York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Somfai, László and Vera Lampert. "Béla Bartók" In The New Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians, 6th ed. Stanley Sadie, vol 2, 192-225. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980.
Stevens, Halsey. The Life and Music of Béla Bartók. New York: Oxford Univesity Press, 1964.
Tallián, Tibor. Béla Bartók. The Man and His Work. Budapest: Corvina, 1981.
Ujfalussy, József. Béla Bartók. Translation by Ruth Pataki, rev. Elizabeth West. Budapest:
Corvina; Boston: Crescendo, 1971. (Includes the Szőllőssy’s thematic catalogue)
Essay collections:
Gillies, Malcolm. ed. The Bartók Companion. London, 1993.
Laki, Peter. Bartók and his World. Princeton: University Press, 1995.
The Cambridge Companion to Bartók, ed. Amanda Bayley. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2001
Pictures:
Bónis, Ferenc, comp. Bartók Béla élete képekben és dokumentumokban [The life of Béla Bartók
in pictures and documents]. Introduction by Bence Szabolcsi. Budapest: Editio Musica, 1956.
Second and revised edition. Budapest: Editio Musica, 1980. Published in English under the title
Béla Bartók. His Life in Pictures and Documents. Budapest: Corvina, 1972.
Catalogues:
László Somfai's catalogue ("BB numbers") in Somfai's Composition, Concepts: complete
catalogue of compositions with list and location of autographs sources)
András Szőllőssy's catalogue ("Sz numbers") in Újfalussy, Bartók.
7 8
Dille, Denijs. Thematisches Verzeichnis der Jugendwerke Béla Bartóks 1890-1904 [Thematic
catalogue of Béla Bartók's youthful works 1890-1904]. Budapest: Akadémiai, 1974. ("DD
numbers")
Bibliography:
Antokoletz, Elliott. Béla Bartók: A Guide to Research. New York, London: Garland Publishing,
1988.
Introduction to analysis and source studies:
Béla Bartók. "Harvard lectures," Essays, 119-123 and Bartók's analyses of his own pieces in
Essays.
Lendvai, Ernő. Béla Bartók. An analysis of his music. London: Kahn and Averill, 1971.
Antokoletz, Elliott. The music of Béla Bartók. A study of tonality and progression in twentiethcentury music. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California press, 1984.
Kárpáti, János. Bartók's String Quartets. Translated by Fred MacNicol. Budapest: Corvina Press,
1975.
Journals and series with special emphasis on Bartók and Hungarian music:
Studia Musicologica (SM), Documenta Bartókiana, The New Hungarian Quarterly
Hungarian Music Quarterly, Hungaroton complete edition of Bartók's work (accompanying
essays)
8 9
III. SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS ABOUT RITUAL AND TRANSCENDENCE
Bateson, Gregory. “A Theory of Play and Fantasy," Steps to an Ecology of the Mind. New York:
Ballantine Books, 1972, pp. 177-193.
Bell, Catherine. Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions. New York and Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2009.
Bordieu, Pierre. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.
Burghardt, Gordon M. The Genesis of Animal Play. Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 2005.
Available as an e-book.
Caillois, Roger. Man, Play, and Games. New York: Schocken Books, 1979.
Campbell, Joseph. Myths to Live By. New York: Bantam Books, 1972.
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly Beyond Boredom and Anxiety. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1975.
Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Iraneus. "Ritual and ritualization from a biological perspective," Human
Ethology, Cranach, M. von and K. Foppa, W. Lepenies, and D. Ploog, eds. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1979, pp. 3-55.
Eliade, Mircea. Rites and Symbols of Initiation: The Mysteries of Birth and Rebirth.
New York: Harper and Brothers, 1958.
Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane. The nature of Religion. New York: Harper, 1961.
---.
Ordeal by Labirinth. Conversations with Claude-Henri Roquet. Chicago and London:
The University of Chicago Press, 1982.
Fontaine, J. S. La, Editor. The Interpretation of Ritual: Essays in Honour of A.I. Richards.
London, England: Tavistock Publications Limited, 1972.
Fried, Martha Nemes and Morton H. Fried. Transitions: Four Rituals in Eight Cultures. New
York: Norton & Company, 1980.
Gennep, Arnold van. Rites of Passage. Trans. by Monika B. Vizedom and Gabrielle L.
Caffee. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960.
Grimes, Ronald L. Beginnings in Ritual Studies. Washington, DC: University Press of
America, 1982.
9 10
Grimes, Ron. "Religion, Ritual, and Performance," Religion, Theatre, and Performance. Lance
Gharavi, ed. New York and London: Routledge, 2012. pp. 27-41.
Huizinga, Johan. Homo Ludens. Boston: Beacon Press, 1950.
Lewis, I. M. Ecstatic Religion: A Study of Shamanism and Spirit Possession. London: Routledge,
1998.
McConachie, Bruce. "An Evolutionary Perspective on Play, Performance, and Ritual." TDR 55,
4 (2012). pp. 33-50.
Montelle, Yann-Pierre. Palaeoperformance the Emergence of Theatricality as Social Practice.
London: Seagull Books, 2009.
Schechner, Richard. Between Theater and Anthropology. Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1985.
---.
Performance Theory. New York and London: Routledge, 1988.
Sutton-Smith, Brian. The Ambiguity of Play. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997.
Jonathan Z. Smith, To Take Place. Toward Theory in Ritual. Chicago and London: The
University of Chicago Press, 1987.
Turner, Victor. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Chicago: Aldine Publishing
Company, 1969.
---.
Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1974.
---.
From Ritual to Theatre: The Human Seriousness of Play. New York: PAJ Press, 1982.
Winnicott, D. W. Playing and Reality. London: Tavistock Publications, 1971.
10