Lenox — If you are familiar with Béla Bartók, then you won’t want to miss a free lecture at the Lenox Library this Sunday at 4 p.m. on “Hungarian Nationalism in Béla Bartók’s Music.” And if you are not familiar with the celebrated Hungarian composer, then Sunday’s lecture will provide you with an unusual opportunity to learn from one of the world’s leading Bartók scholars, professor Edward Gollin. Chair of the music department at Williams College, Gollin is currently working on a book that analyzes Bartók’s music in unprecedented depth, including the composer’s pioneering contributions to the field of comparative musicology (a k a ethnomusicology). Bartók collected, recorded and transcribed thousands of songs from Slovakia, Transylvania and his native Hungary.
A resident of the Berkshires and professor of music at Boston University, Jeremy Yudkin has hosted and organized the Lenox Library’s Distinguished Lecture Series since 2006. The series is designed to cover “the entire range of cultural endeavors – art, music, politics, science, history, literature – from a wide range of perspectives and experiences.”
Also at the Lenox Library, Yudkin marks his 35th summer presenting the pre-concert lectures for the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood season. These novice-friendly talks will again be sponsored by the Town of Lenox in cooperation with the Lenox Library.
Sunday’s lecture is free, but donations to the Lenox Library Association are greatly appreciated.
