Born on March 25, 1881, in Sânnicolau Mare, Romania; Died on September 26, 1945, in New York, New York.
Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin, Op. 19
Composed: 1918-19; orchestrated 1924
Estimated length: 21 minutes
Like Rimsky-Korsakov, Béla Bartók drew deeply on folk traditions as a source of renewal. Through his pioneering research into Hungarian and other Eastern European folk music, he helped reshape the language of modern composition. Yet the “pantomime-ballet” The Miraculous Mandarin reveals another side of his imagination: it plunges into a stark urban drama of violence and obsessive desire, matched by music of ferocious intensity and startling orchestral color.
When the work premiered in Cologne in 1926, it provoked such scandal that the mayor banned further performances. In 1927, Bartók fashioned a suite that omits the final scene of the pantomime and concludes with a specially composed ending, allowing the music to stand independently in the concert hall.
The Expressionist scenario was written by fellow Hungarian author Menyhért Lengyel, who would later become a Hollywood screenwriter; indeed, the ballet moves with almost cinematic intensity. Set in a seedy urban neighborhood, the ballet unfolds as a kind of Freudian allegory of desire. It follows three thugs who force a young woman to lure strangers into their apartment so they can be beaten and robbed.
Her first two victims—a shabby old man and a shy young student—are easily dispatched. The third is a mysterious Mandarin, a wealthy Chinese man. Despite the work’s avant-garde qualities, Lengyel relied on an ugly stereotype of Asians. After the thugs attempt to murder him by suffocation, stabbing, and hanging, the Mandarin remains freakishly unharmed. Only when the young woman finally embraces him does he begin to bleed and die.
Even without staging, Bartók’s music is so extraordinarily graphic that the listener can envision the action. He achieves this through his highly imaginative exploitation of all his orchestral resources, including “special effects” such as flutter-tonguing, unusual tunings, and even quarter-tones.
WHAT TO LISTEN FOR
The opening erupts in a vivid rush of sound, immediately establishing a decadent urban scene. In the brass, Bartók evokes the rude chaos of traffic. Sinuous clarinet solos accompany each of the young woman’s seductive “decoy” dances. Sliding trombones signal the appearance of a penniless old man, while a young student lured into the apartment is characterized by a timid oboe and English horn.
The Mandarin’s arrival is announced by a simple folk-like theme in the brass, its stark outline intensified by harsh, dissonant harmonies. An atmosphere of tense, ironic sensuality—listen for the distorted waltz—builds as the young woman dances for him. Furious chase music in the strings spirals outward to draw in the full orchestra.
Scored for 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (3rd doubling English horn), 3 clarinets and bass clarinet, 3 bassoons and contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, celesta, harp, piano, organ, and strings.
− Thomas May is the Nashville Symphony's program annotator.
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