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    Béla Bartók - Concerto For Orchestra

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    Karen
    The Concerto for Orchestra by Béla Bartók consists of 5 movements that feature different sections of the orchestra. It was commissioned in 1943 and premiered in 1944. Each movement highlights different moods and instruments, from the solemn introductions of the first movement to the triumphant finale. The work demonstrates Bartók's unique compositional style which incorporated Hungarian folk influences alongside modern techniques.

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    Béla Bartók - Concerto For Orchestra

    Uploaded by

    Karen
    27 views2 pages
    The Concerto for Orchestra by Béla Bartók consists of 5 movements that feature different sections of the orchestra. It was commissioned in 1943 and premiered in 1944. Each movement highlights different moods and instruments, from the solemn introductions of the first movement to the triumphant finale. The work demonstrates Bartók's unique compositional style which incorporated Hungarian folk influences alongside modern techniques.

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    University composition & orchestration analytical listening of Béla Bartók - Concerto for Orchestra

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    Béla Bartók - Concerto for Orchestra

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    The Concerto for Orchestra by Béla Bartók consists of 5 movements that feature different sections of the orchestra. It was commissioned in 1943 and premiered in 1944. Each movement highlights different moods and instruments, from the solemn introductions of the first movement to the triumphant finale. The work demonstrates Bartók's unique compositional style which incorporated Hungarian folk influences alongside modern techniques.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    27 views2 pages

    Béla Bartók - Concerto For Orchestra

    Uploaded by

    Karen
    The Concerto for Orchestra by Béla Bartók consists of 5 movements that feature different sections of the orchestra. It was commissioned in 1943 and premiered in 1944. Each movement highlights different moods and instruments, from the solemn introductions of the first movement to the triumphant finale. The work demonstrates Bartók's unique compositional style which incorporated Hungarian folk influences alongside modern techniques.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Béla Bartók - Concerto for Orchestra

    Background:

    The Concerto for Orchestra, commissioned by the conductor Sergei Koussevitsky, was
    composed by Béla Bartók between August and October 1943. It was first performed in
    December 1944 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

    The Bartók Concerto, deeply romantic, spotlights a different section or sections of the
    orchestra and each features a different mood or character.

    The movements are as follow:

    I - Introduzione. Andante non troppo – Allegro vivace


    II - Presentando le coppie. Allegro scherzando
    III - Elegia. Andante non troppo
    IV - Intermezzo interrotto. Allegretto
    V - Finale. Presto

    Bartók pre-dates the impressionists and his music is often used in movies. His harmonic
    language is functional and chordal with tonal flexibility. He uses instrument doubling and
    colouring, a mirroring technique, overtones, sul ponticello and timbral expansion. He loves
    math and symmetry.

    Movements:

    I. Introduzione. Andante non troppo – Allegro vivace

    In the title, concerto for orchestra, Bartók writes for the orchestra as a solo instrument in
    sonata form. He looks back to the fundamental meaning of a concerto, using old forms,
    sonata-allegro form.

    The introduction is slow, followed by the fast moving Allegro which uses fugal passages. In
    the first bar Bartók uses 4th intervals to create dissonance, c# f# b. In bar 6-10 he uses
    mirroring.
    Bartók, as Hungarian, makes use of folk music. The first oboe plays the second main
    theme of the first movement, resembles a folk melody, with its narrow range and almost
    haphazard rhythm. The drone in the horns and strings also indicates folk influence.

    He wrote this while he was in New York.

    II. Presentando le coppie. Allegro scherzando

    The second movement is called “Game of Pairs.” It is humorous but with a solemn middle
    section. In five sections, each with different themes, a different pair of instruments play
    together in intervals. The bassoons are a minor sixth apart, oboes are in minor thirds,
    clarinets in minor sevenths, flutes in fifths, and muted trumpets in major seconds.

    A side drum that taps out a rhythm at the beginning and end of the movement.

    III. Elegia. Andante non troppo

    The third slow movement is typical of Bartók’s “night music.” It is very dark. The strings
    have more prominence than in the first two movements, ending the third movement with
    flute/glass-like high notes in the piccolo. The movement revolves around three themes
    which derive from the first movement.

    IV. Intermezzo interrotto. Allegretto

    Intermezzo interrotto means interrupted intermezzo, with form structure ABA-interruption-


    AB. It is brief, light intermezzo that also parodies the Shostakovich Seventh. The melodic
    theme has changing time signature, interrupted by glissandi on the trombones and
    woodwinds, and quotes the song “Da geh’ ich zu Maxim” from Franz Lehar’s operette The
    Merry Widow. The timpani part uses 10 different pitches over the course of 20 seconds.

    V. Finale. Presto

    The fast fifth movement’s main theme consist of fugato fireworks and folk melodies
    competing with each other. The structure is in sonata-allegro form. The finale is epic and
    triumphant.

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