[+] Bónis, Ferenc. "Bartók and Wagner." New Hungarian Quarterly 10 (Summer 1969): 201-9. Reprinted in Bartók Studies, comp. and ed. Todd Crow, 84-92. Detroit: Information Coordinators, 1976. German translation in Österreichische Musikzeitschrift 36 (March 1981): 134-47.
Bartók's compositions contain numerous "hidden autobiographical elements," quotations from his own and from other composers' works. These can often be revealed only through careful analysis. In Bluebeard's Castle, Bartók quotes an ostinato motive from Bach's St. Matthew Passion and also uses the motive B-A-C-H. The Wooden Prince begins with an evocation of nature modeled upon that which begins Wagner's Das Rheingold except that in Bartók the first seven harmonics are combined (as opposed to the first five in the Wagner) to create the "Bartók chord." Other examples noted include reference to Ravel's Scarbo in Bartók's Allegro barbaro and the reformulation of the slow movement of Beethoven's String Quartet in A Minor, Op.132, in the second movement of Bartók's Third Piano Concerto.
Index Classifications: 1900s
Contributed by: David C. Birchler
