The Music of Béla Bartók and the Transformation of Tonality

FAIN: FB-52812-06

Edward Gollin
Presidents and Trustees of Williams College (Williamstown, MA 01267-2600)

I am writing for a fellowship to support research and the writing of a book titled “Béla Bartók and the Transformation of Tonality.” The project centers upon questions of how Bartók’s early-period mature works (music written ca. 1905–1920) interact with and are informed by the tonal tradition of the nineteenth century, exploring how the works--generally considered ‘post-tonal’ or ‘atonal’--represent extensions of that tonal tradition. The study will also address the larger issue of the relation between tonality, atonality and transitional music of the twentieth-century. The project will examine Bartók’s early music from analytical, historical, and cultural/ethnomusicological perspectives.