The role of folk music in Bright Sheng's Tibetan dance and Rezs?? K??kai's four Hungarian dances

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 38-40).Many compositions have been influenced by Asian and eastern European music in the twentieth - and twenty-first centuries; however, many composers thus far - have not been able to convey the essence of Tibetan/Chinese and Hungarian folk music as effectively as Bright Sheng and Rezso Kokai. Sheng spent his teenage years in Tibet while Kokai traveled to villages in Hungary; in these locations, both of them absorbed the local culture and transcribed the music they heard in their homes, during celebrations and rituals, and for entertainment. While some contemporary composers had published music of modem style, they were determined to explore and enhance their own hometown folk music; nevertheless, their music was not properly acknowledged since audiences had a hard time distinguishing between folk and modem music. This thesis will explore the role of traditional Tibetan and Hungarian folk music present in Bright Sheng's Tibetan Dance and Rezso Kokai's Four Hungarian Dances. This thesis will cite examples to demonstrate authentic Tibetan and Hungarian influences and characteristics; in addition it will depict the manner in which the composers adherence to these cultural inspirations