The aim of this research was to explore in what way the MSE of the fictional characters that I created in musical compositions, in combination with relevant biographical information of the composer and scores, influence how I understand, practice and perform Béla Bartók’s Viola Concerto (Op. posthumous, Tibor Serly Edition) and Robert Schumann’s Märchenbilder (Op. 113).
My research process consisted of reading biographies and articles about the composers, analyzing and playing the score, imagining my own fictional characters, followed by a more concrete character description using the MSE. Finally, I incorporated these fictional characters in my practice method and performance. During my research process I had a number of discoveries, including those that I previously did not expect to encounter.
Concerning the biographical information (layer 1), I noticed a difference between the composers concerning the amount of available biographical information. Regarding Schumann, much more research has been done regarding his mental state as compared to Bartók. A possible explanation for this difference is that Schumann kept up diaries, not to mention the extensive medical records kept during his stay in Endenich. Furthermore, much more is known about the specific circumstances in which Bartók wrote the Viola Concerto compared to Schumann when he wrote Märchenbilder. A possible explanation is that the Viola Concerto for Bartók was the last piece he ever wrote and therefore aroused interest in this final period of Bartók’s life. Also, the Viola Concerto was left unfinished by Bartók and therefore needed to be finished by someone else. It could be that this final period of Bartók’s life, therefore, became a subject for research in order to make an appropriate reconstruction. In addition, Bartók wrote the Viola Concerto in 1945 while Schumann wrote Märchenbilder more than 100 years before, in 1851. It is possible that for the sake of research, it was easier to find information or to approach people who knew Bartók. Last but not least, not only the music, but also the mental states of the composers are far from the same. Whereas Bartók is described as a more introverted person, Schumann seemed to be much more outgoing. These large differences regarding their personalities logically resulted in different interpretations (layer 2) and the creation of different fictional characters (layer 3).
Regarding the brief analysis of the pieces (layer 2), it was sometimes a bit of a struggle to decide where I wanted to put my focus.Even before analyzing the works and applying the MSE it was clear that my intuition, combined with the biographical information studied, had already led me to imagine fictional characters — as for example when I read the Erlkönig by Goethe. In such cases I then had to force myself to go back to the basics and look at the score again.
Concerning the creation of characters (layer 3), I noticed that it was much harder to create characters for the Viola Concerto by Bartók in comparison with Märchenbilder by Schumann. As mentioned before, this could be the result of having more information about Schumann’s mental state than Bartók’s. Another reason could be that Schumann’s characteristics were more extroverted, while the characteristics of Bartók were more introverted. The characters in Bartók, to me were much more suffering from an inner struggle that was not obvious from the outside. Therefore, it could be interesting to apply a psychodynamic interpretation of the pieces since this kind of interpretation focuses on emotions and the connection between conscious and unconscious motivation. As such, it could be that it was easier for me to visualize the Märchenbilder of Schumann - which would be a logical explanation considering the title of the piece – since the four movements are very different while in the Viola Concerto of Bartók the movements are very much connected to each other. Therefore, the characters that I created for Schumann embodied a whole movement, while in Bartók, the characters that I created concerned a specific fragment of the piece. This could also be the result of experiencing the explosive sections in the Viola Concerto as external forces instead of human characteristics or behaviors. Finally, it could be that since the Viola Concerto was partly written by Serly, it is not a pure 'handprint' of Bartók (and, by association, of his own life/mental events). Therefore, it could be interesting to find out more about Serly.
During the process of writing down my descriptions of fictional characters I became more aware of the importance of the notes, rests, rhythms and phrasings in the music. It might sound obvious or naive, but my awareness of the importance of all the components in an MSE made me even more aware about the importance of all the components in a musical piece. Also, the fact that I had to describe my fictional character so precisely, and in so many words — whereas before this research project it had always been more of a vague mental sketch — made me realize that all the notes and phrases in the piece needed just as much attention.
The incorporation of the MSE of the fictional characters in my playing (layer 4), combined with the biographical information of the composers and the rough interpretation of the piece, made me much more aware of my phrasing in both the Märchenbilder and Viola Concerto. However, the way in which I used the fictional characters was not the same for both pieces. In Bartók’s Viola Concerto, I previously had the tendency to neglect certain notes because I was simply not aware or did not really know what to do with them. The fictional characters helped me to broaden my imagination and were therefore helpful for rethinking how I wanted to play a certain section. Vice versa, I sometimes adjusted the description of the fictional character because I had another musical idea. The adjustment that I made in the character was somehow helpful in substantiating the change that I musically wanted to create. In Schumann’s Märchenbilder I was afraid that what I was doing was too much, while actually in hindsight I could do much more. Here, the fictional characters were mainly helpful in sharpening an image I already had.
I think that my performance of the piece became more convincing thanks to the clearer descriptions of my own images and therefore the consequent improvement of my phrasing. Also, I think that the imagination of fictional characters meant that I enlarged my physical movements, as if I was an actor. Of course, it should be noted that during the process of this research, I have been studying the pieces and had lessons from various teachers. A part of this ‘change’ in playing and interpretation therefore is also influenced by other people’s interpretations and (hopefully) a general improvement in my playing. Also, after the moment I had a fictional character in mind, it was hard to play without the imagination of this character. Another thing that I noticed is that using imagined fictional characters in this way can also be useful for making the differences between human characters and non-human characters (explosive) more obvious (like in Bartók).
All in all, the usage of the MSE of the fictional characters that I created in musical compositions, in combination with relevant biographical information of the composer and scores, meant that I concretized my interpretations and therefore forced me to pay attention to all the details of the piece and to have a clearer more convincing image of their phrasing. Furthermore, using and experimenting with the MSE meant that I broadened my imaginary palette.
Suggestions for further research:
In this research I explored in what way the MSE of the fictional characters that I created in musical compositions, in combination with relevant biographical information of the composer and scores, influence how I understand, practice and perform Béla Bartók’s Viola Concerto and Robert Schumann’s Märchenbilder.
It would be interesting if the MSE of fictional characters could be taken to a next step by exploring what would happen if you started to ‘act’ like them. Would it change my playing if I dressed like a barefoot gypsy woman and tried to cry like she cries? Or what would happen if I start to play things that are not written in the score, but inspired by the character I created.
The MSE and fictional characters that I created are based on biographical information and a rough interpretation of the piece. It could be interesting to find out what kind of MSE you can make without background information about the composer.
Furthermore, it would be interesting to explore the listener's experience since the findings in this research paper are based on my own (subjective) experiences.