Bartook Concerto For Orchestra Essay

HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Bartok, suffering ill health and almost in poverty, whilst living and working in the USA, receives a commission to write a new work, one which gives him the necessary stimulus & drive to break his six year silence. The year is 19

OVERVIEW
The concerto has several notable aspects, which the composer himself declared. He called it ‘symphony-like’ and indeed it is a genuinely symphonic composition in its large scale and unity. Bartok admits that the use of the title ‘concerto’ for orchestra reflects the virtuosic nature of the orchestral writing in which nearly all of the players become soloists. He also confirms another interesting aspect of the work, its mild sense of ‘programme’.
“The general mood of the work represents,
FORM / STRUCTURE
The overall work is arranged in 5 movements almost in a typical arch-form, which Bartok often favoured.

|Mvt 1 |Mvt 2 |Mvt 3 |Mvt 4 |Mvt 5 |
|Introduzione |Giuoco delle coppie |Elegia |Intermezzo interrotto |Finale |
|Andante non troppo / |Allegro scherzando |Andante non troppo |Allegretto |Pesante – Presto |
|Allegro vivace | | | | |
| |Chain with trio |Chain with prelude & | | |
|Sonata form |abcde T a’b’c’d’e’ |postlude (pABCp) | |Sonata |
| | | |ABA (int) BA |