The Benefits of “Relaxation”: The Role of the “Pihenö” Movement in Bela Bartók’s Contrasts

Authors

John K. Novak, Northern Illinois UniversityFollow

Files

Description

In 1938, Benny Goodman commissioned Béla Bartók to compose a violin, clarinet and piano trio which was to be in two movements that would fit on one side of a twelve-inch 78 rpm record.  However, Bartók also surreptitiously composed a middle, slow movement to the work, which he waited until the next year to include. He called the complete work Contrasts, and the new movement Pihenö meaning “rest” or “relaxation.” The movement provides a bridge between the outer movements by developing their musical elements and processes. Among these are the trichord A-D-D#, and symmetrical tetrachords and pentachords which contract and expand on an axis. Included in these collections are the Lydian pentachord and the major-minor tetrachord, i.e, a triad with both major and minor thirds (a subset of the octatonic scale).  Tetrachordal expansion connects Pihenö to the following movement Sebes. Other features common to all three movements are the A/D# tritone and the interval of a minor second, the latter of which tends to form larger note clusters. The slow movement provide the performers with needed “rest,” while imbues the work with greater “Contrasts.”

ISBN

978-0195125627

Publication Date

10-31-2023

Department

School of Music

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Keywords

Pitch-class set symmetry, Benny Goodman, Pihenö, tetrachordal expansion, octatonicism

Comments

This chapter is the open access version of chapter appearing in the monograph entitled Bartók Perspectives: Man, Composer, and Ethnomusicologist. The citation for the version of record is: Novak, John k., 'The Benefits of “Relaxation”: The Role of the “Pihenö” Movement in Bela Bartók’s Contrasts', in Elliott Antokoletz, Victoria Fischer, and Benjamin Suchoff (eds), Bartók Perspectives: Man, Composer, and Ethnomusicologist (New York, NY, 2000; online edn, Oxford Academic, 31 Oct. 2023), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195125627.003.0007.  

Rights Statement

In copyright

Original Citation

Novak, John k., 'The Benefits of “Relaxation”: The Role of the “Pihenö” Movement in Bela Bartók’s Contrasts', in Elliott Antokoletz, Victoria Fischer, and Benjamin Suchoff (eds), Bartók Perspectives: Man, Composer, and Ethnomusicologist (New York, NY, 2000; online edn, Oxford Academic, 31 Oct. 2023), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195125627.003.0007.