The first movement of Béla Bartók’s 4th String Quartet seems to loosely emulate the classic Sonata form. While traditionally, the Sonatas composed in the classical era adhered to more regimented harmonic and thematic “rules”; Bartók’s piece seems to be more of a 20th century loose interpretation of the form which serves to offer some sort of structure to a dissonant and not traditionally tonal piece.
The first thirteen bars of the movement could be looked at as the first theme of the exposition. The first two bar phrase seems to be answered by another two bar phrase which is then followed by a longer phrase; this sentence also introduces the rhythmic motif in the first violin part which is repeated in the following two measures. The extremely chromatic melodic motion along with the intensely contrapuntal beginning, help introduce the dark and eerie mood of the piece. This is further emphasized by the canon-like entrances of the set (013) at measure 5 each transposed a minor second above the last which is followed by a sforzando on notes that are each a major second apart at measure 7. At measure 11 one of the most important rhythmic motive of the piece (three eighth notes followed by two sixteenth notes and another eighth) is introduced, which returns later at mm. 26, 55, and many other times throughout the piece. The set class for that melodic motive is (0123); a chromatic figure that also reappears many times. While it is hard to say that this principal theme is in any specific key due to this chromaticism and clustered texture, it does seem that C serves as a tonal focus around which the opening material revolves.
Mm. 14- 29 could be considered as a sort of transitional material, although it does seem to not stray too far from the opening thematic material. The major 9th figures in the viola part (mm.14-18) insist on the jarring dissonance and reinforce the C as a predominant tone. The cello enters with a melodic motif (0237) at measure 15, which is repeated three times and the second violin repeats (0256) three times also. Each time the motive is repeated it is rhythmically displaced (the violin first comes in on the and of beat 4, the second time the motif is repeated it comes in on 2 and the third time on the and of 1); which somewhat obscures the sense of aurally perceivable meter. Although it could also be hard to aurally perceive a modulation when the tonal center is hard to identify, the transitional material seems to also focus on the pitch C and when what could maybe be called a second theme enters at measure 30 there has not been a modulation to the dominant so typical in sonata form. This melody that comes in also makes it debatable that these measures are transitional material instead of another theme, especially considering the fact that in the development section the same melody returns again but it doesn’t seem as significant of a theme as the material that follows.
While the first seems to be based on the chromatic scale with motives derived from the motivic cell (0123) the opening of the second principal theme is based on the whole tone scale (0246). In mm. 37-39 the texture changes and the chromatic chords (G, A B) and melodic fragments move into staccato secundal eighth-note figures at measure 44; this change in texture could signify a shift into the closing material of the exposition. The whole-tone motives that appear throughout this material along with the move from cluster figures and secundal harmonies to fuller chords builds tension in the movement and leads into the development which begins at measure 49 in which the themes are elaborated and embellished.
It is in the development that Bartók starts to use glissandi and trills/32nd-note figures as rhythmic motives, which add structure, support the melodic contour, and help decorate the initial thematic ideas. At measure 92 the recapitulation begins with the return of the opening theme with a few extra glissandi. This is followed by a sort of Coda at measure 126 which dramatically brings the movement to a close.
The rhythmic texture and chromatic color of the movement characterize the tone of this movement and while the form of the piece can seem to conform to a classic sonata structure, it is definitely not a traditional Sonata. It seems just as useful to think of the piece as being structured: A, A1, A11, considering that the entirety of the melodic material seems to revolve around the central pitch of C and the three sections could be seen as variations of each other. While Bartók may have had some vague notion of a Sonata floating in his head as he composed this, his style was so innovative and far removed from the idiom of traditional Sonatas that analyzing the structure with that as a frame of reference may seem trite and irrelevant; it is however interesting to note the impact of previous classical form and how it developed and expanded throughout the 20th century.
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