CDLVIII. BARTÓK, Béla (1881-1945)
"Béla Bartók, shortly before he died, wrote to William Primrose:
'I am very glad to be able to tell you that your Viola Concerto is ready in draft, so that only the score has to be written, which means a purely mechanical work, so to speak. If nothing happens I can be through in 5 or 6 weeks, that is, I can send you a copy of the orchestral score in the second half of October, and a few weeks afterwards a copy (or if you wish more copies) of the piano score.
Many interesting problems arose in composing this work. The orchestration will be rather transparent, more transparent than in the Violin Concerto. Also the sombre, more masculine character of your instrument executed some influence on the general character of the work. The highest note I use is A, but I exploit rather frequently the lower registers. It is conceived in a rather virtuoso style. Most probably some passages will prove to be uncomfortable or unplayable. These we will discuss later, according to your observations.' (signed) Béla Bartók'
What for Bartók would have been 'a purely mechanical work' involved a lengthy task that required infinite patience and painstaking labor. For the difficulties that had to be overcome were threefold.
First, there was the problem of deciphering the manuscript itself. Bartók wrote his sketches on odd, loose sheets of music paper that happened to be on hand at the moment, some of which had parts of other sketches already on them. Bits of material that came to his mind were jotted down without regard for their sequence. The pages were not numbered nor the separation of movements indicated. The greatest difficulty encountered was deciphering the correction of notes, for Bartók, instead of erasing, grafted his improvements on to the original notes.
The next problem involved the matter of completing harmonies and other adornments which he had reduced to a form of shorthand. For as Bartók observed in his letter: 'most probably some passages will prove uncomfortable or unplayable.'
Finally, except for Bartók's statement that 'the orchestration will be rather transparent,' there were virtually no indications of the instrumentation. Strangely, this part presented the least difficulty, for the leading voices and contrapuntal lines upon which the background is composed were clearly indicated in the manuscript." -- Tibor Serly
**
Thank God for Serly. Whatever his contributions may have been, we have here a fine version of what must be very close to what Bartók had in mind. We'll never know for sure.
and a triumphant conclusion:
'I am very glad to be able to tell you that your Viola Concerto is ready in draft, so that only the score has to be written, which means a purely mechanical work, so to speak. If nothing happens I can be through in 5 or 6 weeks, that is, I can send you a copy of the orchestral score in the second half of October, and a few weeks afterwards a copy (or if you wish more copies) of the piano score.
Many interesting problems arose in composing this work. The orchestration will be rather transparent, more transparent than in the Violin Concerto. Also the sombre, more masculine character of your instrument executed some influence on the general character of the work. The highest note I use is A, but I exploit rather frequently the lower registers. It is conceived in a rather virtuoso style. Most probably some passages will prove to be uncomfortable or unplayable. These we will discuss later, according to your observations.' (signed) Béla Bartók'
What for Bartók would have been 'a purely mechanical work' involved a lengthy task that required infinite patience and painstaking labor. For the difficulties that had to be overcome were threefold.
First, there was the problem of deciphering the manuscript itself. Bartók wrote his sketches on odd, loose sheets of music paper that happened to be on hand at the moment, some of which had parts of other sketches already on them. Bits of material that came to his mind were jotted down without regard for their sequence. The pages were not numbered nor the separation of movements indicated. The greatest difficulty encountered was deciphering the correction of notes, for Bartók, instead of erasing, grafted his improvements on to the original notes.
The next problem involved the matter of completing harmonies and other adornments which he had reduced to a form of shorthand. For as Bartók observed in his letter: 'most probably some passages will prove uncomfortable or unplayable.'
Finally, except for Bartók's statement that 'the orchestration will be rather transparent,' there were virtually no indications of the instrumentation. Strangely, this part presented the least difficulty, for the leading voices and contrapuntal lines upon which the background is composed were clearly indicated in the manuscript." -- Tibor Serly
**
Thank God for Serly. Whatever his contributions may have been, we have here a fine version of what must be very close to what Bartók had in mind. We'll never know for sure.
First movement
A plaintive melody begins in 1/4-notes as the note values get increasingly smaller:
Things pick up with a flurry of 16th-note triplets:
A cadenza-like passage is followed by a return to the main theme:
A cadenza-like passage is followed by a return to the main theme:
Another dance, slower, first in the winds and then picked up by the soloist:
and a triumphant conclusion:
The 16th-note triplet section is repeated, followed by some development of previous thematic material -- and the movement concludes with this calm Lento, a torrent of descending scales from the solo viola, and a lonely bassoon, intoning a variation of the main theme:
Second movement
attacca into Adagio areligioso. This hymn-like section has the soloist accompanied only by long held tones in the winds and strings. It then picks up speed (poco agitato) ... and finally starts a 2/4 Allegretto that hints at what's soon to come ...
Third movement
Ah, a real spirited Hungarian dance:
Ah, a real spirited Hungarian dance:
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