Bartok's Viola Concerto The Remarkable Story of His Swansong

by Maurice, Donald

• ISBN13: 9780195156904
• ISBN10: 0195156900
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-03-04
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

When Bela Bartók died in September of 1945, he left a partially completed viola concerto commissioned by the virtuoso violist William Primrose. Yet, while no definitive version of the work exists, this concerto has become arguably the most-performed viola concerto in the world. The story of how the concerto came to be, from its commissioning by Primrose to its first performance to the several completions that are performed today is told here in Bartók's Viola Concerto:The Remarkable Story of His Swansong. After Bartók's death, his family asked the composer's friend Tibor Serly to look over the sketches of the concerto and to prepare it for publication. While a draft was ready, it took Serly years to assemble the sketches into a complete piece. In 1949, Primrose finally unveiled it, at a premiere performance with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. For almost half a century, the Serly version enjoyed great popularity among the viola community, even while it faced charges of inauthenticity. In the 1990s, several revisions appeared and, in 1995, the composer's son, Peter Bartók, released a revision, opening the way or an intensified debate on the authenticity of the multiple versions. This debate continues as violists and Bartók scholars seek the definitive version of this final work of Hungary's greatest composer. Bartók's Viola Concerto tells the story of the genesis and completion of Bartók's viola concerto, its reception over the second half of the twentieth century, its revisions, and future possibilities.

Author Biography

Donald Maurice wrote one of the major revisions of the Bartok viola concerto. He is Professor of Music at the New Zealand School of Music, violist with the New Zealand Piano Quartet, and treasurer of the International Viola Society.

Table of Contents

Introduction	3	(4)
Outline of the special problems associated with this work
Chapter One. Genesis	7	(28)
Circumstances, commission, composition, influences, and the manuscript
Chapter Two. The Reconstruction	35	(18)
A critical examination of the work of Tibor Serly
Chapter Three. Premiere and Publication	53	(18)
An account of the events of 1945-49 that led up to the first performance
Chapter Four. Reception	71	(14)
Reaction to the first fifty years of the Bartok/Serly Vola Concerto
Chapter Five. Some Aspects of Structure	85	(14)
Examination of form and possible presence of the Fibonacci series
Chapter Six Revisions	99	(20)
The revisions of Atar Arad, Csaba Erdelyi, Peter Bartok, and Donald Maurice
Chapter Seven. Authenticity	119	(8)
Future attempts to achieve a more authentic Bartok Viola Concerto
Chapter Eight. Compositional Interpretation	127	(14)
Focus on structure, melody, pitch organization, rhythm, and orchestration and texture
Chapter Nine. Performance Interpretation	141	(8)
Focus on tempi, dynamics, phrasing, and articulation in the solo viola part
Chapter Ten. The Future and Legal Issues Bartok's will and estate and matters of copyright	149	(6)
Conclusion	155	(4)
Appendixes
Appendix One. Correspondence from Tibor Serly to Benjamin Suchoff	159	(1)
Appendix Two. Correspondence between Tibor Serly and Victor Bator	160	(3)
Appendix Three. Boosey & Hawkes Correspondence	163	(14)
Appendix Four. Burton Fisch	177	(2)
Appendix Five. Extracts from the Program of the World Premiere	179	(5)
Appendix Six. Reviews of the Early Performances	184	(7)
Appendix Seven. Tibor Serly's Response to Halsey Stevens	191	(7)
Appendix Eight. Recording Review Summary from Strad Magazine	198	(2)
Appendix Nine. "The Thirteen Pages" by Atar Arad	200	(5)
Appendix Ten. Peter Bartok and Nelson Dellamaggiore	205	(2)
Notes	207	(6)
Bibliography	213	(6)
Index	219