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Night music is a musical style of the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók which he used mostly in slow movements of multi-movement ensemble or orchestra compositions in his mature period. It is characterized by "eerie dissonances providing a backdrop to sounds of nature and lonely melodies."〔Schneider, p.84〕 == Characteristics == As with many musical styles, it is not possible to make a satisfying let alone indisputable definition of Night music. Bartók did not say or explain much about this style, but he approved of the term and used it himself. Most of the works in Night music style do not carry a title. From an audience point of view "'Night Music' consists of those works or passages which convey to the listener the sounds of nature at night".〔Danchenka, p.16〕 This is quite subjective and self-referential. Mostly, subjective and far-fetched descriptions are available: "quiet, blurred cluster-chords and imitations of the twittering of birds and croaking of nocturnal creatures",〔Brown pp. 258-59〕 "In an atmosphere of hushed expectancy, a tapestry is woven of the tiny sounds of nocturnal animals and insects."〔(Bela Bartok )〕 More concrete is "Eerie dissonances providing a backdrop to sounds of nature and lonely melodies".〔 Instead of an attempt at defining, a list of characteristics of 'Night music' is more useful. # Sound portrayal as opposed to traditional melody and harmony. An example of Bartók's focus on sound quality are the minute directions on how the percussion instruments in the Sonata for two pianos and percussion have to be played. This sound portrayal includes: ## The direct imitations of natural sounds, mostly of nocturnal animals. Also the term ''nature music'' is sometimes used. Milan Kundera, in commenting on Bartók's expansion of art music with natural sounds, writes "sounds of nature inspire Bartók to melodic motives of a rare strangeness".〔Kundera, p. 71〕 ## Evocations of the mood of night and spaciousness. ## Melodies are ''portrayed'' in the music, rather than being a direct means of (self-)expression. For instance, a pastoral flute and its melody are portrayed in ''The Night's Music'' from ''Out of Doors''. The effect on the listener is not primarily the esthetic effect of the melody. The melody's effect is rather indirect: the evocation of being out of doors at night in the plain and hearing the shepherd play his melody.〔One could make a comparion to Beethoven portrayal of pastoral scenes in his Pastoral Symphony.〕 In the words of Milan Kundera, not only the natural sounds at night, but also the lonely songs and melodies, far from being a Lied or other self-expression of the composer, find their origin in the external world.〔Kundera〕 In the words of Schneider "Bartók seems to be suggesting musically the old Romantic organicist idea that peasant (shepherds' ) music is a natural phenomenon, a view he expressed in writing on several occasions". He also points out that "the G's (bar 37 which start as the mere sound of repeated notes and turn into the shepherd's melody ) gradually emerge from the myriad of other natural sounds".〔Schneider, p. 116〕 # On a more technical musical level, a piece or movement of night music style may show any of the following characteristics. ## An ostinato sound on every beat in the slow prevailing tempo, often this sound is dissonant, and/or a cluster chord. Because of the slow and repetitive nature, these sounds come to fulfil an accompanying or background role. ## Curt motives at irregular time intervals within the meter. These motives may be the imitations of the natural sounds or more abstract, often primitive, motives. An example is A,A,A,C,A,A in the second movement of the Sonata for two pianos and percussion. This motive is scored as a quintuplet of sixteenths in 4/4 time on the third beat, plus a sixteenth note on the fourth beat: the last A. As the implied or latent rhythm is 3+2+1, it sounds as an accelerando which evaporates suddenly. ## Wide pitch ranges in glissandi, jumps and doublings over many octaves. This contrasts heavily with cluster chords of adjacent notes and trills and may well add to the evocation of spaciousness or loneliness.〔Schneider p. 82〕 ## Overlap and insertions of widely different materials, e.g. a bird call in a melodic line. Different materials sound irrespective of one another leading to novel sound effects, and, more subjectively, multiple layers and perhaps the feeling of spaciousness. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Night music (Bartók)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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