{"id":4755,"date":"2010-06-08T13:17:16","date_gmt":"2010-06-08T20:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=4755"},"modified":"2019-02-22T08:16:30","modified_gmt":"2019-02-22T16:16:30","slug":"bartoks-viola-concerto-a-tale-of-too-many-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/06\/08\/bartoks-viola-concerto-a-tale-of-too-many-options\/","title":{"rendered":"bart\u00f3k’s viola concerto – a tale of too many options"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
B\u00e9la Bart\u00f3k<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bart\u00f3k’s Viola Concerto remained unfinished at the time of his death in New York City in September of 1945, with its dedicatee William Primrose awaiting a call to meet the composer that would never come.\u00a0 The story of the completion of the concerto is well-known, with Bart\u00f3k’s former composition student Tibor Serly hired to undertake what essentially became a reconstruction and re-composition (Serly had also orchestrated the Third Piano Concerto, which was a much more straightforward task).<\/p>\n

The facsimile autograph sketches of the Viola Concerto, totaling about 14 pages, is available from the original publisher, Boosey & Hawkes, and has resulted in a number of editions of the concerto.\u00a0 The first new edition to be published was for Boosey (alongside the still available Serly edition) by the composer’s son, Peter Bart\u00f3k, and the composer\/musicologist Nelson Dellamaggiore, with the viola part edited\/fingered by Paul Neubauer.\u00a0 Around the same time, Hungarian violist Csaba Erd\u00e9lyi produced his own edition, which was published, due to copyright laws, in New Zealand.\u00a0 There are also extant editions by Atar Arad, Donald Maurice, and David Dalton.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, things were a lot easier when I was first studying this concerto!\u00a0 There was only one edition in existence, the Serly, and though most everyone thought that the concerto was lacking due to its state at the time of Bart\u00f3k’s death, it was the only concerto for the instrument by one of the 20th century’s greatest composers, and it would have to do.\u00a0 Indeed, Primrose and Serly were concerned initially that there was just too little material from which to fashion a full work.\u00a0 Now, there are almost too many choices.\u00a0 None of the subsequent editions make huge, wholesale changes in the structure of the concerto, but some, especially the Erd\u00e9lyi edition, do make some changes that make the solo part more idiomatic and pleasing for the player (and by extension, the listener).\u00a0 Still, none of the editions that I’ve seen really do anything with the truncated scherzo section that precedes the third movement, and the first movement really remains the only fully realized movement.<\/p>\n

I’m in the process of preparing the concerto for a performance (with piano) at the 20th Max Aronoff Viola Institute<\/a> in Seattle later this month, and it’s been fascinating to look at the Erd\u00e9lyi edition and take stock of some of the changes that he has made, and to integrate some of them into the Serly edition that I’m using for the performance.\u00a0 As the week goes on I’ll illustrate some of the changes and challenges of the new and old editions.\u00a0 Hopefully it will give some insight into the preparation process that all musicians undergo as they work up a new or familiar piece for performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bart\u00f3k’s Viola Concerto remained unfinished at the time of his death in New York City in September of 1945, with its dedicatee William Primrose awaiting a call to meet the composer that would never come.\u00a0 The story of the completion of the concerto is well-known, with Bart\u00f3k’s former composition student Tibor Serly hired to undertake […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[148,167,135,138,22],"tags":[2307,2310,2312,2311,2308,2309],"class_list":["post-4755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-composition","category-soloists-recitals","category-summer-festivals","category-viola","tag-bartok-viola-concerto","tag-csaba-erdelyi","tag-nelson-dellamaggiore","tag-peter-bartok","tag-tibor-serly","tag-william-primrose"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-1eH","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4768,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/06\/10\/bartok-viola-concerto-a-tale-of-three-editions\/","url_meta":{"origin":4755,"position":0},"title":"bartok viola concerto – a tale of three editions","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been a few days since I first posted on the quandary that violists find themselves in when approaching the various editions of the largely incomplete Bart\u00f3k Viola Concerto.\u00a0 Let's take an example from a passage from the end of the first movement (just before the Ritornello that transitions from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/bartok_ex_manu-399x133.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7400,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/viola-night-at-portland-youth-philharmonic\/","url_meta":{"origin":4755,"position":1},"title":"viola night at portland youth philharmonic","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This past Friday night I went to see the Portland Youth Philharmonic's Winter Concert at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. It was a nice program: varied and interesting. My main interest was in hearing the young violist Lauren Siess, who won the PYP's concerto competition, play the Walton Viola Concerto.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "soloists & recitals"","block_context":{"text":"soloists & recitals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/soloists-recitals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/siessposter.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6048,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/03\/25\/viola-goodies\/","url_meta":{"origin":4755,"position":2},"title":"viola goodies","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 25, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 I've been scouring YouTube for any new (and impressive) viola videos, and there are quite a few that I hadn't seen before. If you are still of the notion that the viola is a second-string (sorry) instrument, then you are sadly misinformed! Enjoy. httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=BFX7Ft1QGg8 Russian viola phenom Maxim Rysanov\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "soloists & recitals"","block_context":{"text":"soloists & recitals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/soloists-recitals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5549,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/11\/09\/new-performances-on-instantencore\/","url_meta":{"origin":4755,"position":3},"title":"new performances on instantencore","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Just a heads up that I've got two new performance recordings up on InstantEncore.com. They're both from this past summer's 2010 Max Aronoff Viola Institute, which I co-founded 20 years ago and have served on the faculty ever since. The works are the Bart\u00f3k Viola Concerto and Daniel Ott's Parting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "soloists & recitals"","block_context":{"text":"soloists & recitals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/soloists-recitals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4906,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/06\/25\/mavi-first-rehearsals\/","url_meta":{"origin":4755,"position":4},"title":"mavi – first rehearsals","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 25, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"MAVI - the shorthand moniker for the Max Aronoff Viola Institute - the string camp that I helped co-found 20 years ago with University of Puget Sound viola professor Joyce Ram\u00e9e - is starting this coming Sunday up at Bastyr University, so it's time for the pre-festival rehearsing to begin\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "soloists & recitals"","block_context":{"text":"soloists & recitals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/soloists-recitals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13228,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2014\/02\/18\/pyp-presents-adventurous-enviable-program-on-saturday\/","url_meta":{"origin":4755,"position":5},"title":"pyp presents adventurous, enviable program on saturday","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Being a member of the Oregon Symphony, while being, essentially, a job, is often a joy as well. I get to play some of the greatest music ever written with my amazing colleagues. We have a wonderfully musical music director, and a hard working staff, without whom we would not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "concert preview"","block_context":{"text":"concert preview","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/concert-preview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_4589","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7322\/12608838184_0249f8aa9b_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7322\/12608838184_0249f8aa9b_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7322\/12608838184_0249f8aa9b_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4755\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}