Béla Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 3 in E major, Sz. 119, BB 127 is a musical composition for piano and orchestra. The piece was composed in 1945 by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók during the final months of his life. It consists of three movements.
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The Piano Concerto No. 3 was one of the pieces composed by Bartók after departing Hungary after the outbreak of World War II. Bartók's migration from Europe to America preceded that of his music. Lack of local interest, combined with Bartók's extended battle with leukemia and a general sense of discomfort in the American atmosphere prevented Bartók from composing a great deal in his early years in America. Fortunately, the composer was commissioned to create his Concerto for Orchestra which was extremely well received and decreased the composer's financial difficulties.
This, combined with an abatement of his medical condition, allowed for a change in the composer's general disposition. The changes in the composer's emotional and financial state are considered by a few to be the primary causes for the third piano concerto's seemingly light, airy, almost neoclassical tone, especially in comparison to Bartók's earlier works [1][2].
The piece was not composed under commission, unlike much of Bartók's work, but was created as a surprise birthday gift for Bartók's second wife, Ditta Pásztory, who was, like Bartók, a skilled concert pianist. It has been suggested that many of the deviations from Bartók's prior style can be attributed to this. For example, this concerto is less technically challenging than Bartók's two prior piano concertos and it has been suggested that Bartók consciously created a less demanding piece so that his wife, who lacked the significant technical prowess to perform his two earlier concertos, would be able to perform the piece to gain a livelihood after Bartók had succumbed to his terminal illness.
However, while the composition of a piece as a gift as opposed to a commission undoubtedly impacted the composing process, some think it more likely that the piece was instead the culmination of a trend of reduction and simplification which began almost ten years prior, with the Second Violin Concerto, and which concluded Bartók's exploration of tonality and complexity.[3]
Bartók died on September 26, 1945, with the concerto unfinished. The task of completing orchestration of the final 17 measures, drawing from Bartók's notes, was taken on by Tibor Serly, a friend and pupil of Bartók, Eugene Ormandy and a few others.
It premiered in Philadelphia on February 8, 1946 under Hungarian conductor Eugene Ormandy with György Sándor as piano soloist. The piece has since been adapted for two pianos by Mátyás Seiber.
Piano Concerto No. 3 consists of three movements:
which combine for an approximate duration of 23 minutes. The piece was originally scored for 2 flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (2nd doubling cor anglais), 2 clarinets in A and B♭ (2nd doubling bass clarinet), 2 bassoons, 4 horns in F, 2 trumpets in C, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, strings, and piano.
The first movement, based basically in E major, features an original Hungarian "folk theme," similar to nineteenth century Hungarian verbunkos dance, first introduced by soloist piano. The theme is often mirrored and modulated by the orchestra throughout. The melody and piano solo are written with such rhythmic complexity that they seem almost improvisational.
The first chord of the first movement, which holds four pitches, E, F♯, A, and B, implying both E Dorian and E Mixolydian, and is relatively tonal, especially when compared to the first chord of Piano Concerto No. 1. The chord develops further with the addition of C♯ in the second bar, resulting in the pentatonic, which is followed with G♯, leaving a major scale short of D♯. Bartók continues to add D to complete the Mixolydian scale, followed by G natural to suggest the Dorian mode. Finally, in bar six, Bartók displays the Lydian mode through G♯ and A♯. This complex melodic pattern is an example of what Bartók called "polymodal chromaticism," the rapid succession of many modes through chromatic alteration to produce a chromatic texture.[3]
The second movement, based in C major, seems to mirror the style of a Beethoven chorale. The string introduction followed by the chorale on piano may be said to mimic the third movement of Beethoven's String Quartet in A minor.
The second movement is also suspected to be highly autobiographic. At the time of composition, Bartók may have been hopeful for a full recovery and, at the same time, the conflict which forced him out of Europe had come to a close. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to think that this section relates to Bartók's hopes of returning to Hungary. In fact, Bartók includes a harmony related to the Tristan chord, a set of intervals from Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde referred to as the "characteristically sad and yearning harmony of Romanticism."[3] The final resolution of the Tristan chord comes as a C-based pentatonic mode, and as Bartók was known to consider pentatony a chief characteristic of ancient Hungarian folksong, this can be considered a musical symbol of his Hungarian homeland. The middle section is in Bartók's Night music style. It contains imitations of natural sounds of insect and bird calls.
The third and final movement demonstrates a joie de vivre and apparent optimism often found in Bartók's final movements, though with considerably stronger folk inspiration with its apparent Hungarian folk melody and its rondo-like returning theme. It has been said that this movement "captures the infectious ebullient spirit of the folk song."[4] There is also a central fugato section in almost Baroque style. The movement as a whole, while largely energetic and vivid, exhibits biting atonality and rhythmic complexity.
The concerto's deviation from Bartók's compositional norm resulted in an uneasy reception. A few European critics were quick to criticize Bartók for his notable use of tonal themes throughout the piece, fearing he had adapted his composition to suit American taste. The piece was also thought thinner in compositional complexity throughout. There existed, however, another group, who saw the piece as a continuation of Bartók's trend of simplification and condensation, a general return from exploration of tonality and complexity to begin integrating the two into existing, classical compositional structure.