The "Béla Bartók Thematic Catalog" in Progress

• Published in: Studia musicologica Vol. 53; no. 1/3; pp. 21 - 40
• Main Author: Somfai, László
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Akadémiai Kiadó 01-09-2012
• Subjects: Art songs; Cataloging; Folksongs; Music composition; Music criticism; Peasant class; Pianos; Primary literature; Printing; Source Study
• ISSN: 1788-6244; 1789-2422
• DOI: 10.1556/SMus.53.2012.1-3.3

At the Bartók International Congress 2000 in Austin, Texas, I discussed basic questions related to the forthcoming Bartók thematic catalog with the temporary text of the entry BB 50 Fourteen Bagatelles as a sample. Thank to the interest of G. Henle Verlag, in addition to the continuation of the research on new items, basic re-editing of the already written work entries have been carried out. The visual concept and typography of the forthcoming Bartók catalog, planned to be one large volume in English, is similar to Henle's new Reger Werkverzeichnis. With the item BB 83 Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs op. 20 for piano as a sample, here I investigate problems of a catalog caused by the quickly growing number of reprints, new sheet music editions following the end of copyright protection of the composition in the USA, Japanese revised editions, and editions revised or first published by Peter Bartók.