Piano Music of Béla Bartók, Series II
Second in the Archive Edition incorporating composer’s corrections. 85 short pieces: ‘For Children,’ ‘Two Elegies,’ ‘Two Rumanian Dances,’ etc.
«It is of great importance,» Bartók wrote, «that anyone who is involved with music should be able to obtain [composers’] works in editions which interpret the author’s intentions, not of such kind that may have been arbitrarily modified or forged by some adapter.» Bartók’s wish has finally been realized in his own work. This collection of early piano music is the second volume in the Bartók Archive Edition, the only edition of the great Hungarian composer to be based on corrections from his memorabilia or original editions in the New York Bartók Archive. Comparison has also been made with Hungarian editions published since 1951, which are based on holdings of the Budapest Bartók Archivum.
It is appropriate to continue the Bartók Archive Edition with a second volume of piano music, for, as Grove’s Dictionary notes: «The pianoforte was his most natural medium of expression. It was the pianoforte that made Bartók express his harmonic thought with such directions.» This volume emphasizes Bartók’s lifelong work both with East European folk music, and with music for children and student pianists. The 85 short pieces in For Children (1908/9) offer melodies and lyrics from Hungarian and Slovakian folk songs. The piano pieces in this volume and in Series I offer young or beginning pianists material that is at once instructive and eye-opening to the sounds of modern music.
Benjamin Suchoff, trustee of the Bartók Estate and professor at the Center for Contemporary Arts and Letters of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, edited this Archive Edition and provided the Introduction, translations of the folk-song texts, and musicological scholarship that will ensure definitive status for this edition. Bartók is a keystone composer of the 20th century, especially for the piano; with this edition, music buyers have the composer’s authentic, authoritative last word.
- I. Let’s Bake Something! From Hungarian Melodies
- II. Dawn, O day! From Hungarian Melodies
- III. I lost my young couple From Hungarian Melodies
- IV. I lost my handkerchief From Hungarian Melodies
- V. Kitty, kitty From Hungarian Melodies
- VI. Hey, tulip, tulip From Hungarian Melodies
- VII. Look for the needle From Hungarian Melodies
- VIII. «Turos» (Girls’) Game From Hungarian Melodies
- IX. White lily From Hungarian Melodies
- X. Walachian Game From Hungarian Melodies
- XI. I lost my young couple From Hungarian Melodies
- XII. Chain, chain From Hungarian Melodies
- XIII. A lad was killed From Hungarian Melodies
- XIV. The poor lads of Csanad From Hungarian Melodies
- XV. The street of Istvand From Hungarian Melodies
- XVI. I never stole in my whole life From Hungarian Melodies
- XVII. My little graceful girl From Hungarian Melodies
- XVIII. In the harbor of Nagyvarad From Hungarian Melodies
- XIX. The inn at Doboz From Hungarian Melodies
- XX. Drinking Song From Hungarian Melodies
- XXI. Parsley and celery From Hungarian Melodies
- XXII. Go to Debrecen From Hungarian Melodies
- XXIII. Walk this way, that way From Hungarian Melodies
- XXIV. Water, water, water From Hungarian Melodies
- XXV. Three apples plus a half From Hungarian Melodies
- XXVI. Go round, sweetheart, go round From Hungarian Melodies
- XXVII. My sheep are lost From Hungarian Melodies
- XXVIII. Laszlo Feher stole a horse From Hungarian Melodies
- XXIX. Oh! Hey! What do you say? From Hungarian Melodies
- XXX. They brought up the rooster From Hungarian Melodies
- XXXI. Mother, dear mother From Hungarian Melodies
- XXXII. The sun shines into the church From Hungarian Melodies
- XXXIII. Stars, stars, brightly shine From Hungarian Melodies
- XXXIV. White lady’s eardrop From Hungarian Melodies
- XXXV. I picked flowers in the garden From Hungarian Melodies
- XXXVI. Margitta is not far away From Hungarian Melodies
- XXXVII. When I go up Buda’s big mountain From Hungarian Melodies
- XXXVIII. Ten liters are inside me From Hungarian Melodies
- XXXIX. The cricket marries From Hungarian Melodies
- XL. May the Lord give From Hungarian Melodies
- XXXXI. Do you go, darling? From Hungarian Melodies
- XXXXII. Swineherd Dance From Hungarian Melodies
- 1. If there were cherries From Slovak Melodies
- 2. Kite settled on the branch From Slovak Melodies
- 3. Above the tree, under the tree From Slovak Melodies
- 4. Wedding Song (Hey Lado! Lado!) From Slovak Melodies
- 5. The peacock flew From Slovak Melodies
- 6. Rondo (There is an old witch) From Slovak Melodies
- 7. Rogue’s Song (When I came from the war) From Slovak Melodies
- 8. Dance Song (Two pigeons sit on the tower of Presov) From Slovak Melodies
- 9. Children’s Song (Unfold yourself, blossom) From Slovak Melodies
- 10. Mourning Song (In the barracks of Mikulas) From Slovak Melodies
- 11. On the field of Bystrov From Slovak Melodies
- 12. Mother of my lover From Slovak Melodies
- 13. Anicka Mlynarova From Slovak Melodies
- 14. Plowing are six oxen From Slovak Melodies
- 15. Bagpipe Tune (Dance, maiden, dance) From Slovak Melodies
- 16. Lament From Slovak Melodies
- 17. The girl was the priest’s maidservant From Slovak Melodies
- 18. Jeering Song (Once I was your lover) From Slovak Melodies
- 19. Romance (Bird on the branch) From Slovak Melodies
- 20. Frisky (Don’t go at dawn, Hanulienka) From Slovak Melodies
- 21. Funny Story (She flew down and was in tears) From Slovak Melodies
- 22. Revelry (The lads caught a goat) From Slovak Melodies
- 23. I am already an old shepherd From Slovak Melodies
- 24. I passed through the forest From Slovak Melodies
- 25. Bird on the branch From Slovak Melodies
- 26. Scherzando From Slovak Melodies
- 27. Jeering Song From Slovak Melodies
- 28. Shepherd’s Flute From Slovak Melodies
- 29. Another Joke From Slovak Melodies
- 30. Lament (I have wandered a lot) From Slovak Melodies
- 31. Canon From Slovak Melodies
- 32. Bagpipe Tune (Little Garden) From Slovak Melodies
- 33. The Orphan (Hey, forest, green forest) From Slovak Melodies
- 34. Romance (I know a little forest) From Slovak Melodies
- 35. Highwayman’s Tune (Janosik is a big bully) From Slovak Melodies
- 36. If I knew where my darling From Slovak Melodies
- 37. The Danube’s bank is green at Bratislava From Slovak Melodies
- 38. Farewell (I look back upon you once more) From Slovak Melodies
- 39. Ballad (Janko drives out two oxen) From Slovak Melodies
- 40. Rhapsody (Hey, blow, you summer wind) From Slovak Melodies
- 41. Rhapsody (Hey, what a beautiful house) From Slovak Melodies
- 42. Mourning Song From Slovak Melodies
- 43. Funeral Song (There in the deep valley) From Slovak Melodies
- 1. Quarrel From Three Burlesques
- 2. Slightly Tipsy From Three Burlesques
- 3. Capriccioso From Three Burlesques
- 1. Adagio From Four Dirges
- 2. Andante From Four Dirges
- 3. Poco lento From Four Dirges
- 4. Assai andante From Four Dirges
- 1. In Full Flower From Two Pictures
- 2. Village Dance From Two Pictures
- 1. Moderato From The First Term at the Piano
- 2. Moderato From The First Term at the Piano
- 3. Dialogue From The First Term at the Piano
- 4. Dialogue From The First Term at the Piano
- 5. Moderato From The First Term at the Piano
- 6. Moderato From The First Term at the Piano
- 7. Folk Song From The First Term at the Piano
- 8. Andante From The First Term at the Piano
- 9. Andante From The First Term at the Piano
- 10. Hungarian Folk Song (Erzsi Virag made her bed) From The First Term at the Piano
- 11. Minuet From The First Term at the Piano
- 12. Swineherd’s Dance From The First Term at the Piano
- 13. Hungarian Folk Song (Where have you been, my lambkin?) From The First Term at the Piano
- 14. Andante From The First Term at the Piano
- 15. Wedding Song (The cart rattles) From The First Term at the Piano
- 16. Peasant’s Dance From The First Term at the Piano
- 17. Allegro deciso From The First Term at the Piano
- 18. Waltz From The First Term at the Piano
- 1. Bagpipers From Sonatina
- 2. Bear Dance From Sonatina
- 3. Finale From Sonatina