ABSTRACT
Béla Bartók’s status as an anti-fascist hero is a myth of our age. Retracing its origins and early developments offers a way of discovering the values that we associate with modernist music and an understanding of the reasons that justify the persistence and resilience of this myth even today. Against this background, the reception of Bartók’s music in Italy represents an excellent case study for addressing these issues. In this chapter, the emergence of the Bartók myth in Italy during the late 1930s and early 1940s is analysed within the framework of fascist ideology and the context of Italian-German relations. Particular attention is paid to the Italian premieres of Bartók’s major stage works: Bluebeard’s Castle at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in May 1938 and The Miraculous Mandarin at La Scala in October 1942.
