This essay is a work-in-progress.
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Since its premiere in 1917 and its first publication in 1921, Béla Bartók's second stage work The Wooden Prince has experienced an unfortunate and unresolved divergence between the composer's intentions and the various scores distributed by Universal Edition and later Bartók Records. Bartók had a Mahlerian propensity toward revising his music, but he perhaps revisited and revised The Wooden Prince more than any of his other works.
The piano reduction appeared in 1921 (UE 6635) and included orchestration indications even though the first full score did not appear until 1924 (UE 6638, 269 pages, 25cm x 32cm).
Thus, in the future, the work is only to be performed in the shortened version, since the abridgements constitute musically, but particularly as far as stage suitability is conceived, unquestionably an improvement
In 1932 Bartók compiled a list of cuts and other modifications and sent it in the form of a letter to UE (extract above), indicating that these modifications are an improvement to the work and it should only be performed with these modifications henceforth. Bartok also painstakingly marked these changes in a copy of the full score. Bartók's treatment of these cuts usually involved changes in the proximate measures of cuts to splice them, but some cuts are "rough," skipping over instrument changes, abruptly conjoining contrasting textures, or otherwise resulting in awkward passages. Bartók's own score (different from the above marked score), includes the same cuts and changes, but he revoked some of the cuts with the marking "marad" (Hungarian for "stays"). For over four decades UE did not update its published scores or performance materials until the new edition appeared in 1977.
These scores with the introduced and partially revoked cuts led to the publication of the new edition of the full score in 1977 (also bearing the plate UE 6638, but with the additional Philharmonia study score catalog No.393). It was prepared by Denijs Dille. It does not introduce a new copyright claim; it keeps the 1924 claim and only adds a 1951 renewal notice. The maze of cuts is carefully, although confusingly, catalogued in this score. The revoked cuts are listed in an Appendix. The music of the unrevoked cuts remains in the score but they are demarcated with "VI-DE" indications. Various extra pages adjacent to the cut measures show the recomposed passages which mend the resulting splices.
Indeed, Peter Bartók observes this score is "very difficult to read."
The performance material matching the 1977 edition bears the plate number UE 6639 and also has the 1924 copyright date. It similarly features the "VI-DE" cut indications, and the recomposed passages are included in ossia staves where necessary.
In 2007 Bartók Records, in a co-publication with UE, released a revised edition of the ballet (BR 600/UE 34434). Peter Bartók, as editor, permanently removed the unrevoked cuts from the musical text, only leaving the revoked cuts. Peter notes "In assembling the remaining mosaic after the cuts were made, editorial discretion was allowed so as to eliminate junctures that did not fit together, such as an abrupt change in mid-phrase of a melodic line that appeared in octaves before a cut and continued as single voice afterwards."
UE published two suites, known as the Kleine Suite and the Große Suite. Both suites conclude with the central Dance of the Princess with the Wooden Doll, and were published well after Bartók's lifetime.
Bartók extracted the Kleine Suite in 1924. It only includes Dances 2, 3, and 4, as well as a newly composed brief coda. The original rehearsal numbers are kept.
In 1932, simultaneous with his revisions, Bartók prepared instructions for a new suite, larger than the first, to be extracted from the work. The Große Suite notably reorders material in the final dance, and re-subtitles the sections. It includes the Prelude, Dances 1 and 2 (respectively subtitled The Princess and The Forest), The Prince's Work Song (from Reh.53, in the latter part of the 4th dance), 3 (The Stream), 4 (renamed Dance of the Wooden Prince), and the Postlude. The rehearsal numbers are redone to accommodate the new order.
UE's scores for these suites are extracted from the 1977 edition. They have extensive handwritten emendations and cuts (literally, as bars of music are cut and either covered blank or pasted over). The parts for the Große Suite (UE 11416) are similarly extracted from the ballet parts and modified.
The preface of the 1977 edition notes the two suites "have been carefully revised by Denijs Dille on the bases of MS. sketches by Bartók, and can therefore claim to be completely authentic," but this is a problematic claim.
Peter Bartók and Nelson Dellamaggiore published a revised suite, based on the 2007 ballet score, in 2008. In the preface Peter describes this score as "Bartók's third suite" even though its structure is identical to the Große, or second, Suite. Similar to the ballet score, Peter noted
In the concert suite, minor editorial modifications were necessary in a few places where, upon assembly of the material, it was found that some cuts left insufficient time for instrument changes, such as clarinet to bass clarinet played by the same musician. In one situation a part written for clarinet in E-flat would have had to be played on a clarinet in A, uncomfortably high for that instrument, and through editorial modification it was possible to eliminate this problem.
To be clear, the editorial patching he describes stems from the combination of the cuts, which are applied in this edition but apparently not in the earlier edition of the Große Suite, and the reordering of the sections from the ballet. The extent of modifications therefore exceeds those necessary in the revised ballet score.
Bartók's reasons for the cuts, and their subsequent partial revocation, are not clear, despite his written proclamation that they constitute improvements, especially for stage production. Many of the cuts are brief, only one or two measures, and remove verbatim repeats. Some are much more expansive, removing at least a dozen measures. A subjective ear may find some of these cuts arresting, and the idea that removing the repeated music constitutes improvement has proven particularly questionable.
Peter Bartók's decision to remove the cut music in his editions, although principled, necessarily resulted in additional meddling in the form of his "patching" of the cuts. One must ultimately consider the comparative demerits of performing the ballet with the cuts ignored or performing it with inauthentic modifications.
Conductors have widely chosen the first approach. The majority of 20th- and 21st-century performances and recordings of the ballet, including after the publication of Peter's revised edition, features the cut passages performed, implying probably universal use of the 1977 edition. Recordings by Pierre Boulez (Chicago Symphony Orchestra) and Iván Fischer (Budapest Festival Orchestra) have the cut music present, and a 2013 performance by Alan Gilbert and the Berlin Philharmonic, on their Digital Concert Hall platform, clearly shows the 1977 parts on the musicians' stands; the cut music remains.
I agree with their choice. For the purposes of musicality, logistics, and the greatest combination of authenticity, I opine that The Wooden Prince in concert setting must be performed with the cut music in place, and without Peter's modifications.
Performances of the complete Wooden Prince are rare, and stagings even more so. The suites (any of them) are not heard much more often. How ballet companies negotiate the problem of the cuts remains to be resolved.
(Rehearsal marks are from the 1977 edition)
Prelude
1. Dance of the Princess in the Forest: Reh.11
2. Dance of the Trees: Reh.23
3. Dance of the Waves: 9th bar of Reh.39
4. Dance of the Princess with the Wooden Doll: 5th bar of Reh.88
5. The Princess pulls and tugs at him [the Wooden Prince] and tries to make him dance: Reh.147
6. She tries to attract him [the real Prince] with a seductive dance: Reh.156
7. Frightened, the Princess attempts to hasten to him [the real Prince], but the forest stops her: Reh.167
Postlude: Reh.189
