Travis Herd

Analytical Review #2
Octatonicism and Pitch Centricity in Bla Bartks Diminished Fifth
Bla Bartks Mikrokosmos consists of six volumes of piano repertoire, ranging from
easy pieces geared towards beginners to difficult works intended for concert performance.
Many of these pieces deal with pitch materials other than what many pedagogues would
deem entry level. The fourth volumes Diminished Fifth serves as one such example,
based almost entirely on octatonic pitch collections.
Though technically tameeach hand is only ever playing a single note at any time
the drive of this piece is formal in nature, and Bartk structures the form using motivic
content and pitch centricity. An analysis of the pitch classes presented in the first five
measures of the piece reveals that Bartk has utilized OCT (2,3) B as the pitch source for
the opening measures. He uses this collection for the first two phrases, which are clearly
demarcated by eighth note rests in each hand. Beginning in measure 12, Bartk presents a
fresh idea, new in both motivic gesture and in pitch center. This section, much more
angular in motion than the scalar movement of the A section, is made up of pitches from
OCT (0,1) B. The call and response of the two hands is a defining feature of the B section. At
measure 20, Bartk returns to the OCT (2,3) B collection of the A section. While the pitch
material is the same, the rising and falling gestures of the A section are substituted for a
continuously downward line, differentiating this section from the A section. After the C
section, the motivic material of the B section returns at measure 26; however, the pitch
collection used here is not OCT (0,1) B, but rather OCT (1,2) A. This discrepancy lasts only
briefly, and Bartk returns to OCT (0,1) B in measure 30. After closing out B, a return of the
A section material occurs at measure 35, and Bartk again utilizes the octatonic collection
OCT (2,3) B in a presentation of A.
Based on the use of repeated motivic ideas and the reoccurrence of certain pitch
collections, Bartks formal structure in Diminished Fifth appears to be ABCBA, an
example of the arch form that the composer made use of in many of his other works,
including his String Quartet No. 4 and Concerto for Orchestra.
One especially interesting aspect of the arch form seen here is the mirroring of the
beginning and end, particularly in pitches. The first two pitches sounded in the piece are E-
flat in the left hand and A in the right. The same notes are also the last two pitches of the
piece. The E-flat and A together form the titular diminished fifth and provide the pitch
center for sections A, C, and A. Looking at section B, one can see a clear emphasis on the
pitches G (in the bass) and D-flat (in the treble), and it is obvious that Bartk has once again
stressed the interval of a tritone. An important reason to note the composers emphasis on
the diminished fifth is that the interval is the point of symmetry in an octatonic scale.
Bartks use of the highly symmetrical octatonic scale join with his emphasis on the
scales axis at the diminished fifth and the form of the piece (ABCBA) to create a work
centered on symmetry and mirroring in both motivic presentation and pitch content.