Bartók: Dance Suite

Béla Bartók (1881- 1945)

Dance Suite

1. Moderato —
2. Allegro molto —
3. Allegro vivace —
4. Molto tranquillo —
5. Comodo —
6. Finale. Allegro

There has been a settlement on the site of the Hungarian capital since the first century BC, but it was not until 1873 that the two cities built around the military fortresses of Buda and Pest, were united along with the city of Óbuda into a single city. The creation of Budapest was a result of rapid expansion of its three constituent cities following the treaty of 1867 that re-established the sovereignty of the kingdom of Hungary. The retention of a single Emperor of Austria-Hungary gave the illusion of stability, but in fact this was a major turning point in the long decline of the Austrian Empire. In the wake of the First World War the empire finally collapsed, and Hungary became a republic.

The next few years were a period of great instability. The republic disbanded the army, whereupon Hungary was invaded by Romania, Czechoslovakia and Serbia, losing nearly three-quarters of its territory in the process. The republican government was subsequently overthrown and a “Republic of Councils” established, taking its cue from the Communist revolution in nearby Russia. A counterrevolution followed in which the Communists were ousted by the Romanian army. After the Romanians left the Hungarian National Army took control and restored the kingdom, although not the Habsburg monarch who had reigned in the days of empire: instead the head of the National Army, Admiral Miklós Horthy, was declared Regent.

After the chaos of the post-war years, the 50th anniversary of the unification of Budapest was a perfect opportunity for the country to restore some of it battered pride. Bartók’s Dance Suite was commissioned in 1923 as part of the celebrations. Its six movements draw on folk styles from all the major ethnic traditions of Hungary, although all the themes are original. In an analysis published in 1931, Bartók declared that “[t]he aim of the whole work was to put together a kind of idealised folk music – you could say an invented folk music – in such a way that the individual movements of the work should introduce particular types of music. Folk music of all nationalities served as a model: Magyar, Rumanian, Slovak, and even Arabic. In fact, here and there is even a hybrid of these species.”

There is perhaps an element of nostalgia in this, reflecting the loss of so much of Hungary’s diversity along with so much of its territory: the “ritornello” that connects the first and second, second and third, and fourth and fifth dances and also returns during the finale gives voice to a wistful air. But overwhelmingly the spirit of the Dance Suite is one of celebration, of the power of folk music and its potential for renewal. For the newly divorced and remarried Bartók this sentiment may well have had a personal as well as political significance.