Bela Bartok: Kossuth – Symphonic Poem & The Wooden Prince

The year 1848 is one of the most eventful in Hungarian history. It was the year of the Hungarian revolt – a life and death struggle of the nation for freedom. These events serve as the basis for the symphonic poem. The idea and its orchestration are Straussian, but the melody and harmony follow Liszt. Bartók wanted consciously to emphasize its Hungarian national character, and for this he found an example in Liszt’s symphonic poems, in particular those parts with a particularly Hungarian musical voice. This misled critics at the time, who heard in the Kossuth Symphony a direct continuation of Hungarian nineteenth century music. Today the Kossuth Symphony strikes us as remote and alien even when compared to such early works as for example the Bagatelles finished in 1908 or the First String Quartet. But with a modern ear we can hear moments in the humorous or funeral music which project in advance traces of the musical thinking of the mature Bartók.

The story of The Wooden Prince was published in scenario form on December 16th 1912, giving a detailed description of the staging and the content of eight dances. Its author was the writer, poet and film critic Béla Balázs (1884–1949) who was also the librettist of Bartók’s opera Bluebeard’s Castle finished in 1911, and who – as he said himself – wrote the ballet specially for Bartók.