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Behind Musical Stages:
The Role of Concert Bureaus in the Musical Life of Kristiania in the First Decades of the 20th Century
At the beginning of the twentieth century the capital city of Norway, Kristiania, 1 had quite a vivid musical life. The city had at that time two orchestras – of the Musikforeningen (Music Society) and National
’s musical life was provided mainly by the performances of the travelling Italian and German opera troupes. Even though the Philharmonic Society commenced its musical performances on fresh foundations, it did, as did its forerunner, the Academia
of his writings published at that time deal with this topic. Eventually, he returned to Budapest in 1981, but his declining health meant that he was no longer able to participate in musical life with the same intensity as before. 2 Dénes Bartha, the
1 This article is mostly based on my book Ideologija i glazbeni život: Pula od 1945. do 1966. god. [Ideology and musical life: Pula from 1945 to 1966] (Zagreb: Hrvatsko muzikološko društvo, 2011) and
Abstract
Béla Bartók's sympathies towards Russian culture are well-known, as is the veneration of the Hungarian master by Russian musicians. During the course of three quarters of a century the image of Bartók the composer and folklore researcher has gradually infolded itself to Russian musical circles as well as the broad strata of music lowers. This thesis presents an integral overview of the reception of Bartók in Russia: the perception of his musical legacy by composers, musicological research about him, performances and publications of his works in Russia, comments from the press, and of music critics, etc. At the same time a particular evolution could be traced: an active interest towards Bartók the composer and pianist in the 1920s, then a nearly twenty-five years “pause;” in the 1950's a perception of him primarily as a folklor researcher as well as a progressive musical public figure at that an aversion from the official policy makers of his musical style as an “avant-garde” style during the dominance of the doctrine of “socialist realism;” the discovery of Bartók's innovative style, his influence on the young Soviet composers (E. Denisov, A. Schnittke, S. Gubaidulina) during the 1960's and 1970's; an overall comprehensive study of his musical legacy and the recognition of his significance (1960's–1980's), a decline of interest towards Bartók (as a classic) as a result of the stream of information, gushing from the West, having to do with the “new music” of the avant-garde of the “second wave” and the “post-avantgarde” trends (during the 1990's); a resurgence of interest at the turn of the century and an acquiescence of Bartók's artistic path as being perspective for musical art.
main carriers of musical life in Belgrade and Serbia before World War I were numerous choral societies, formed mostly from musical amateurs. 4 Their repertoire was varied, and always included the national Serbian compositions (secular and church music
segments of contemporary musical life: Bartha (1908–1993) was a musicologist, Nádor (1882–1944) a successful operetta composer, while Dohnányi (1877–1960) was a “serious” composer, pianist and conductor – an outstanding figure of twentieth-century Beethoven
’ needs, musical life was gradually shaped under the Western musical canon. It implied the formation of a musical public, con struction of concert venues, establishment of the concert as a public musical event, beginnings of musical journalism and
musicians such as Mozart, Beethoven, and “finally in our times Liszt.” 24 In fact, the performance in 1866 was the first symphonic concert in Rome and, aside from sporadic initiatives by Sgambati (see below), it kept its unique status in Roman musical life
While Béla Bartók's Selbstbiographie of 1921 provides some insight into his musical training in Pozsony, music historians looking for a broader understanding of the rich musical life that helped shape Bartók must also consider autobiographical statements made by his contemporaries. Fortunately, excellent opportunities present themselves in the writings of the two musicians who preceded Bartók as the organist for the Pozsony Gymnasium's Sunday Mass: Franz Schmidt's Autobiographische Skizze, which he completed around 1915, and Ernő Dohnányi's Memoirs, which he read over Hungarian Radio on January 30, 1944. This article examines the three autobiographical statements to provide a more accurate representation of the richness of Pozsony's musical life at the end of the nineteenth century, and a more complete portrayal of the musical and cultural influences under which Bartók thrived in Pozsony.
