This guide follows Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116 (1943) in five parts: Introduzione (sonata form), Giuoco delle coppie, Elegia, Intermezzo interrotto and Finale (sonata form).
I Introduzione · Sonata form · 6 sections
A slow, mysterious is built from of fourths and scale , and later themes grow from it. The fast , the , begins with a leaping first for the violins. The is a folk-like tune of narrow range over drones. The includes a brass , a passage where a enters in . The starts with the , and the first after it.
A snare drum alone opens the . Then, in section A, pairs of instruments play in turn, each pair moving in parallel at a fixed interval: bassoons in sixths, oboes in thirds, clarinets in sevenths, flutes in fifths and muted trumpets in seconds. Around the middle a short brass interrupts, and from A1 onward the pairs with fuller scoring. A short ends the .
The slow centre of the work and a typical example of Bartók's “night music”. Three themes, mostly drawn from the first , are framed by a misty of tiny , and a keening oboe is one of the voices. The order is , then B and A in reverse, which gives the its arch shape. A follows.
An leads to a flowing melody in changing metres (A), then a (B), and A . The interruption starts with C: a crude marching tune widely heard as the of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony, which itself echoes Lehár's operetta The Merry Widow. Bartók mocks it with woodwind trills and brass glissandi (slides). B comes back, and then the begins.
A horn () launches a perpetual-motion first for the strings. After a , the offers a contrast. The is built largely from a series of fugues. The follows, then another , and in the the whole orchestra drives to the . Bartók's 1945 revision lengthened this ending.
Section boundaries in music are not always sharp; a transition may be felt over a pause or a held chord.
BartókString Quartet No. 1, Op. 7BartókAllegro barbaro, Sz. 49BartókSuite, Op. 14, Sz. 62BartókString Quartet No. 2, Op. 17BartókViolin Sonata No. 2, Sz. 76BartókOut of Doors, Sz. 81BartókPiano Concerto No. 1, Sz. 83 / BB 91BartókPiano Sonata, Sz. 80 / BB 88BartókPiano Concerto No. 2, Sz. 95 / BB 101BartókSonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, Sz. 110
BachTrio Sonata No. 1 in E-flat major, BWV 525
HaydnSymphony No. 1 in D major, Hob. I:1HaydnHorn Concerto in D major, Hob. VIId:3HaydnPiano Sonata in A-flat major, Hob. XVI:46HaydnPiano Sonata in C minor, Hob. XVI:20HaydnString Quartet in A major, Op. 20 No. 6HaydnString Quartet in C major, Op. 20 No. 2HaydnString Quartet in D major, Op. 20 No. 4HaydnString Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 20 No. 1HaydnString Quartet in F minor, Op. 20 No. 5Path 27
Twelve directions the century took, from Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht of 1899 to Piazzolla's tango of 1982.
Schoenberg → Ives → Bartók → Holst → Gershwin → Barber → Prokofiev → Copland → Ligeti → Górecki → Piazzolla
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