Mikrokosmos (Bartók)

Béla Bartók's Mikrokosmos Sz. 107, BB 105 consists of 153 progressive piano pieces in six volumes written between 1926 and 1939. The individual pieces progress from very easy and simple beginner études to very difficult advanced technical displays, and are used in modern piano lessons and education. In total, according to Bartók, the piece "appears as a synthesis of all the musical and technical problems which were treated and in some cases only partially solved in the previous piano works." Volumes one and two are dedicated to his son Péter, while volumes five and six are intended as professionally performable concert pieces.^[1] Bartók also indicated that these pieces could also be played on other instruments; Huguette Dreyfus for example has recorded pieces from Books 3 through 6 on the harpsichord.

In 1940, shortly before they emigrated to the United States, he arranged seven of the pieces for two pianos, to provide additional repertoire for himself and his wife Ditta Pásztory-Bartók to play.

Structure

All of the six volumes progress in difficulty, namely:

• Volumes I-II: Pieces 1-36 and 37-66, beginner level
• Volumes III-IV: Pieces 67-96 and 97-121, moderate to advanced level
• Volumes V-VI: 122-139 and 140-153, professional level

The list of pieces is as follows:

The opening (mm. 1-76) of "Boating" (V, 125) is typical of the modernist compositional techniques used in the later volumes, featuring the bimodal use of the pentatonic collection on E♭ in the right hand and either G mixolydian or dorian collections in the left:

Bartók's "Boating" RH and LH pitch collections.^[2]

Volume VI contains the "Six Dances In Bulgarian Rhythm", dedicated to Harriet Cohen. Bulgarian rhythm is one in which the beats in each bar are of unequal length. For example, the first dance (148) is grouped into 4+2+3 quavers in each bar, and the final dance (153) is grouped into 3+3+2 quavers in each bar.

Pianists who have recorded all six volumes include György Sándor, Edith Farnadi, Homero Francesch, Zoltán Kocsis, Dezső Ránki, Jenő Jandó, Claude Helffer, and Georges Solchany.

Diminished Fifth

Bartók opens Diminished Fifth No. 101 Vol. IV with a dark theme that seems to wander about with a sense of longing. Diminished Fifth is in Rondo ABACA form. The A section appears in measures 1 to 11, 20 to 25, and 35 to 44. The B section appears in measures 12 to 19, and the C section appears in measures 26 to 34. Each of the three sections presents one of three octatonic pitch collections, and each is begun with a new dynamic marking louder than the one before. In addition to each section being offset by new pitch collections, Bartók also designates each section by dynamic markings. The A section is always signaled by a piano marking. The B section is mezzo-piano, and the C section is mezzo-forte. The meter is set in 2/4 time. Bartók primarily uses eighth notes, quarter notes, and half notes. He uses slurs and suspensions frequently. There are two voices that work together in an almost imitative way, one having the primary melodic material at any given time before trading it to the other voice. In the beginning of each musical phrase, the left and right hand notes, along with the last chord of the phrase, always land on a diminished fifth. Bartók used three octatonic pitch collections to introduce each section A, B, and C. In mm. 1-4 the notes played by the left and right hands comprise a D-Eb octatonic scale. In mm. 12-18 the left and right hand make up a C-C# octatonic scale. Lastly, in mm. 26-29 the left hand and right hand make up a C#-D octatonic scale.

References

External links

• Mikrokosmos (Bartók): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project