PROGR AM NOTES by Ken Meltzer
page 18
BÉLA BARTÓK born: March 25, 1881 in Nagyszentmiklós, Hungary died: September 26, 1945 in New York, New York
Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin Opus 19 (1926) premiere: November 27, 1926 in Cologne, Germany
approx. duration: 20 minutes
Béla Bartók’s ballet The Miraculous Mandarin is based upon the shocking story of the same name by Hungarian author Menyhért Lengyel, first published in the journal Nyugat on January 1, 1917. Bartók took a great interest in the tale, and asked his piano teacher and friend, István Thomán, to approach Lengyel about the possibility of a musical adaptation. By postcard of March 28, 1918, Thomán informed Bartók: “Menyhért Lengyel would be delighted if you set the Mandarin to music.” Bartók and Lengyel met on June 21, 1918, and the two signed a letter of agreement to proceed with The Miraculous Mandarin project. Bartók began composition of The Miraculous Mandarin in September of 1918. “I am now thinking about the Mandarin too,” he wrote. “It will be hellish music if I succeed.” Bartók completed the score in June of the following year. Lengyel was thrilled with the results, as attested by a July 5, 1919 entry in his diary: “The other day Béla Bartók played for us on the piano the music of The Miraculous Mandarin…Wonderful music! Incomparable talent!” To this day, many are taken aback by The Miraculous Mandarin’s graphic depiction of robbery, seduction, sexual longing, and murder. However, both Bartók and Lengyel found beauty and humanity in the story. As Lengyel wrote: “The true message of The Miraculous Mandarin, of course, is not the excessive eroticism but the apotheosis of pure, almost unearthly desire and love.” Lengyel’s tale moved Bartók to achieve one of his greatest orchestral creations, a brilliant score as “miraculous” as the ballet’s enigmatic title character. (continued next page)
