Bartok Letters

Bela Bartok (1881-1945) is now recognized as the 20th century's most renowned Hungarian musician and one of the most important composers of the century. Despite this recognition his popular representation is still of an elusive, almost romantic figure who had little to say about his own art. This text presents nearly 300 letters which focus on his thoughts about music. Nearly all the selection are either previously unpublished or unavailable in English translation. Prominent issues raised in these letters include Bartok's views on his own compositions and those of his contemporaries, his informal hypotheses about folk music, and his thoughts about the music business world, the new inter-war technologies, music criticism, and aesthetics. The selection presents many letters to his publishers Universal Edition (Vienna) and Boosey & Hawkes (London and New York), which highlight the analytical cut of Bartok's musical mind.