''Rhapsody'', Op. 1, Sz. 26, BB 36, is a composition for piano by Hungarian composer

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...

. It was finished in 1904. A year later, he wrote a version for piano and orchestra. The catalogue number of this composition is Op. 1, Sz. 26. The initial full-length composition for piano eventually received a catalogue number BB 36a, whereas the second version, with piano and orchestra, received a catalogue number BB 36b.

Composition

The ''Rhapsody'' for piano was a very important work, especially for the fact that it was at that time when Bartók decided to begin his third list of

compositions Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature * Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

. In this stage, he decided to embark on a new period in his artistic career where he would mainly explore

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

from

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and

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. This turned out to be the pivotal work from which he developed a new direction for both his compositional style and his preoccupations as an artist. The Rhapsody was completed in late 1904 and was dedicated to Emma Gruber, who later became the wife of Zoltán Kodály. Drafts for the composition are not extant. The virtuoso piano writing of the work's "elaborate textures and sectional contrasts" relates to the model of Franz Liszt. After five revisions and updates, Bartók also released a version for piano and orchestra in 1905 and a version for two pianos. In 1907, Bartók also composed a fourth version of the same piece, which was shortened by almost half of the total length of the composition.

Structure

The composition is in one movement and takes 21 minutes to perform, even though the shortened version takes only half of the total duration. Critics have frequently stated that the loose structure calls for two contrasting sections; however, it is not marked as such in the score. According to some critics, Bartók used a Lisztian style, with very elaborate and vast chords and long and vastly ornamented

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...

and

arpeggio A broken chord is a chord broken into a sequence of notes. A broken chord may repeat some of the notes from the chord and span one or more octaves. An arpeggio () is a type of broken chord, in which the notes that compose a chord are played ...

s. The composition starts with a fourteen-minute Adagio molto, which goes on to a second section, marked Poco allegretto.

Reception

When Bartók decided to submit the composition as an entry in the composers' category of the

Anton Rubinstein Competition The Anton Rubinstein Competition is the name of a music competition that has existed in two incarnations. It was first staged in Russia and Western Europe between 1890 and 1910, and prizes were awarded for piano playing and composition. Since 20 ...

in Paris, 1905, it received no official recognition. Critics have acknowledged that this was a first step for his later compositions. Critics have also praised the Lisztian character of the composition, even though the style that he would later develop is diluted. Reviewer Michael Morrison said: "This Rhapsody must be assessed as a finely crafted but derivative effort, whose length may not be fully justified".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rhapsody, Op. 1 (Bartok) 1904 compositions 1905 compositions Compositions by Béla Bartók Compositions for solo piano Compositions for piano and orchestra Bartok