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Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945)
Concerto for Orchestra

In the fall of 1940, Béla Bartók fled his native Hungary with his family and sailed for the United States. For a couple of years he eked out a precarious living teaching piano and performing with his wife, Ditta, also a pianist. By the end of 1942 when he fell ill with what turned out to be a form of leukemia, his future looked bleak indeed. Early in 1943 he was too weak to deliver an entire series of lectures at Harvard University, the fee for which he had counted on to support him and his wife until the fall. 

Then, in early summer, at the suggestion of violinist Joseph Szigeti and conductor Fritz Reiner – both fellow Hungarians – Bartók received a commission from Serge Koussevitzky, conductor of the Boston Symphony, for a large orchestral work in memory of his late wife, Natalie. The commission so revived Bartók’s spirit, that after spending the next few weeks at Saranac Lake, New York, he returned in October with the completed score of the Concerto for Orchestra. He finalized the orchestration during the winter in Asheville, NC, and Koussevitzky premiered it with the Boston Symphony in December 1944 to resounding acclaim. 

In notes for the premiere, Bartók wrote: “The title of this symphony-like orchestral work is explained by its tendency to treat the single orchestral instruments in a concertant or soloistic manner.” The five-movement work is a showpiece for orchestra players, allowing each of the sections and section soloists a chance to demonstrate their virtuosity. The Concerto is structured like an arch, as are many of Bartók's works, with the central Elegy framed by two outer movements in sonata form and two inner intermezzo-like movements. Biographer Halsey Stevens provided an explanation for the huge appeal of this work, writing that it combines such diverse elements as Bach fugues and Schoenberg atonality, which had influenced Bartók throughout his creative years. All the melodies, harmonies and rhythms are colored by the peasant music that was Bartók’s great love.

The generally thin texture of the orchestration showcases only a few instruments at a time, often in stunning combinations. The Introduzione opens with an eerie Andante for the double basses and cellos, accompanied by tremolos in muted upper strings. Gradually, other instrument groups enter, adding additional color. The violins introduce a vigorously rhythmic main theme for the Allegro. A second theme for solo trombone comes in soon after.

The second movement Giuoco delle coppie (Game of Pairs) opens with a rhythmic ostinato for side drum, which persists throughout the entire movement. Five unrelated (according to Bartók) dance themes are then strung jauntily together, featuring in turn pairs of bassoons, oboes, clarinets, flutes and muted trumpets. A short chorale-like melody follows on five brass instruments, after which the five pairs of wind instruments return in order with more elaborate accompaniment. 

The Elegia is the work’s centerpiece, described by the composer as a “Lugubrious death song…of misty texture and rudimentary motifs.” After a mysterious opening, the whole orchestra suddenly enters fortissimo restating the themes, followed by a reprise of the beginning of the movement.

The Intermezzo interrotto (Interrupted Intermezzo) is just that. Bartók described its structure as “ABA – interruption – BA.” It opens with a lively theme, resembling one of the composer’s many rhythmically asymmetric peasant dances. There follows a cantilena said to be based on a popular Hungarian national melody. Suddenly the movement is interrupted by what, according to the composer’s son Peter, is a parody of the first movement of Shostakovich’s Seventh (“Leningrad”) Symphony, popular at the time because of the war and the devastating siege of the city. Both Shostakovich and, subsequently Bartók, satirize the Germans with a march partly based on the aria “Nun geh’ ich ins Maxim” from Franz Léhar’s The Merry Widow. Peter says that the banality of the march so irritated his father that he parodied Shostakovich’s parody by writing circus music. As the interruption fades away, the cantilena and then the peasant dance return, but in shortened form.

The finale, Pesante, opens with a riotous horn call, followed by a fiery Romanian dance, a perpetuum mobile figure, by the whole orchestra. A second dance is introduced by the high woodwinds, and a third on the horns. The themes are developed in a complicated fugue of brilliant orchestral colors.

Originally, the work ended 22 bars short of the version we hear today. In spite of his frailty and illness, Bartók traveled to Boston to hear the premiere, where he realized that his ending was unsatisfactory. He immediately sat down to write the brilliant 22-measure coda. There is a recording available of the premiere, with the original ending, which, indeed, does not match the quality of the rest of the Concerto.

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945)
Concerto for Orchestra

In the fall of 1940, Béla Bartók fled his native Hungary with his family and sailed for the United States. For a couple of years he eked out a precarious living teaching piano and performing with his wife, Ditta, also a pianist. By the end of 1942 when he fell ill with what turned out to be a form of leukemia, his future looked bleak indeed. Early in 1943 he was too weak to deliver an entire series of lectures at Harvard University, the fee for which he had counted on to support him and his wife until the fall. 

Then, in early summer, at the suggestion of violinist Joseph Szigeti and conductor Fritz Reiner – both fellow Hungarians – Bartók received a commission from Serge Koussevitzky, conductor of the Boston Symphony, for a large orchestral work in memory of his late wife, Natalie. The commission so revived Bartók’s spirit, that after spending the next few weeks at Saranac Lake, New York, he returned in October with the completed score of the Concerto for Orchestra. He finalized the orchestration during the winter in Asheville, NC, and Koussevitzky premiered it with the Boston Symphony in December 1944 to resounding acclaim. 

In notes for the premiere, Bartók wrote: “The title of this symphony-like orchestral work is explained by its tendency to treat the single orchestral instruments in a concertant or soloistic manner.” The five-movement work is a showpiece for orchestra players, allowing each of the sections and section soloists a chance to demonstrate their virtuosity. The Concerto is structured like an arch, as are many of Bartók's works, with the central Elegy framed by two outer movements in sonata form and two inner intermezzo-like movements. Biographer Halsey Stevens provided an explanation for the huge appeal of this work, writing that it combines such diverse elements as Bach fugues and Schoenberg atonality, which had influenced Bartók throughout his creative years. All the melodies, harmonies and rhythms are colored by the peasant music that was Bartók’s great love.

The generally thin texture of the orchestration showcases only a few instruments at a time, often in stunning combinations. The Introduzione opens with an eerie Andante for the double basses and cellos, accompanied by tremolos in muted upper strings. Gradually, other instrument groups enter, adding additional color. The violins introduce a vigorously rhythmic main theme for the Allegro. A second theme for solo trombone comes in soon after.

The second movement Giuoco delle coppie (Game of Pairs) opens with a rhythmic ostinato for side drum, which persists throughout the entire movement. Five unrelated (according to Bartók) dance themes are then strung jauntily together, featuring in turn pairs of bassoons, oboes, clarinets, flutes and muted trumpets. A short chorale-like melody follows on five brass instruments, after which the five pairs of wind instruments return in order with more elaborate accompaniment. 

The Elegia is the work’s centerpiece, described by the composer as a “Lugubrious death song…of misty texture and rudimentary motifs.” After a mysterious opening, the whole orchestra suddenly enters fortissimo restating the themes, followed by a reprise of the beginning of the movement.

The Intermezzo interrotto (Interrupted Intermezzo) is just that. Bartók described its structure as “ABA – interruption – BA.” It opens with a lively theme, resembling one of the composer’s many rhythmically asymmetric peasant dances. There follows a cantilena said to be based on a popular Hungarian national melody. Suddenly the movement is interrupted by what, according to the composer’s son Peter, is a parody of the first movement of Shostakovich’s Seventh (“Leningrad”) Symphony, popular at the time because of the war and the devastating siege of the city. Both Shostakovich and, subsequently Bartók, satirize the Germans with a march partly based on the aria “Nun geh’ ich ins Maxim” from Franz Léhar’s The Merry Widow. Peter says that the banality of the march so irritated his father that he parodied Shostakovich’s parody by writing circus music. As the interruption fades away, the cantilena and then the peasant dance return, but in shortened form.

The finale, Pesante, opens with a riotous horn call, followed by a fiery Romanian dance, a perpetuum mobile figure, by the whole orchestra. A second dance is introduced by the high woodwinds, and a third on the horns. The themes are developed in a complicated fugue of brilliant orchestral colors.

Originally, the work ended 22 bars short of the version we hear today. In spite of his frailty and illness, Bartók traveled to Boston to hear the premiere, where he realized that his ending was unsatisfactory. He immediately sat down to write the brilliant 22-measure coda. There is a recording available of the premiere, with the original ending, which, indeed, does not match the quality of the rest of the Concerto.