Romanian folk dances by Bela Bartok within the context of nationalism in music

ABSTRACT This research is focused on Béla Bartók's – one of the leading representatives of the 20th century music, a pianist, composer and an ethnomusicologist – "Romanian Folk Dances", which is one of his prominent works, within the scope of nationalism as an important concept of his century. The aim of the study is to show the importance of the richness hidden in the depths of folk music and to understand the importance of folk music in understanding international polyphonic music through Bartók, primarily for music students, young artist candidates and musicians who are oriented towards ethnomusicological research. It is also aimed to help the composer, who made great contributions to the Turkish music culture with his concerts, conferences, reviews and compilations upon his visit to our country in 1936, to be known by the people of this country. Finally, it is aimed to introduce the famous work "Romanian Folk Dances" of the composer Béla Bartók, which aims to create a universal expression with local timbres in the context of nationalism that intent nations to convey their distinctive features, by showing the details of the composer's unique composing style. In the first part of this study, which consists of four parts, the life story of Béla Bartók is told. In the second part, after explaining the concept of nationalism with its general definitions, developments in the fields of industry, science and technical in the world are mentioned. In addition, the effects of revolution and reforms that occurred in the process of age of enlightenment and affecting the whole world on societies, art and music are also examined. In the third section, the concept of folk music reflecting all the characteristics of the nations is defined, and Béla Bartók's contributions to the Hungarian folk music is discussed in detail with his works. In the fourth section, Bartók's music style and his famous work "Romanian Folk Dances" consisting of six dances are examined with the presentation of the original score samples. The details of the review include information such as the subject of the dances, its meaning, composing style, the articulation marks used, modes, cadences, and the formation of musical phrases.