Abstract
Abstract In the focus of this paper a survey of the draft score will disclose major corrections of the concept and discuss deleted and rewritten sections in both Sonatas for Violin and Piano no. 1 (1921) and no. 2 (1922). A close study of the unusual-type preliminary sketches of the First Sonata in his so-called Black Pocket-Book (facsimile edition: 1987) already gave insight into Bartók’s atypical composition when he had to work without a piano at hand for shaping and refining a new major work (see Somfai, “‘Written between the Desk and the Piano’: Dating Béla Bartók’s Sketches,” in A Handbook to Twentieth-Century Musical Sketches, ed. by Patricia Hall and Friedemann Sallis, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004). The two draft scores (no. 1 = 34 pages, no. 2 = 21 pages, including discarded and rewritten sections) open new vistas in understanding the concept of the individual compositions. The next stage of manuscripts provides a significant source: the score and violin part used at the first performances, the latter with fingering and bowing contributed by the hand of Jelly Arányi and Imre Waldbauer in the First Sonata, Waldbauer, Ede Zathureczky, Zoltán Székely, and Jelly Arányi in the Second. A study of the revision of metronome numbers will conclude the investigation.
Highlights
In the focus of this paper a survey of the draft score will disclose major corrections of the concept and discuss deleted and rewritten sections in both Sonatas for Violin and Piano no. 1 (1921) and no. 2 (1922)
A close study of the unusual-type preliminary sketches of the First Sonata in his so-called Black Pocket-Book already gave insight into Bartók’s atypical composition when he had to work without a piano at hand for shaping and refining a new major work
The stage of manuscripts provides a significant source: the score and violin part used at the first performances, the latter with fingering and bowing contributed by the hand of Jelly Arányi and Imre Waldbauer in the First Sonata, Waldbauer, Ede Zathureczky, Zoltán Székely, and Jelly Arányi in the Second
Summary
The source material of the two Sonatas for Violin and Piano (BB 84, 85) is almost complete: except the corrected proofs of the Universal Edition (UE) first edition nothing seems to be lost or destroyed. The First Sonata (1921) has a longer chain of sources, because for the Vienna world premiere – played for the initiative by composer-violinist Mary Dickenson-Auner and Eduard Steuermann – an extra score and part were needed, while Bartók had his own set prepared for the England–France–Germany tour. Arányi (vl), Bartók (pf) apparently by Jelly Arányi, markings in blue pencil are by Imre Waldbauer, but further markings appear by a third, unidentified hand. No other manuscript copy of the violin part is known (besides, it is established that Bartók sent the printer’s copy to Universal Edition only in late May 1923), Imre Waldbauer, Ede Zathureczky, Zoltán Székely, and Jelly Arányi had to play from this copy in February–May 1923 at the early concert performances as shown in Bartók himself copied the violin part from the still intermediary version of the draft score. No other manuscript copy of the violin part is known (besides, it is established that Bartók sent the printer’s copy to Universal Edition only in late May 1923), Imre Waldbauer, Ede Zathureczky, Zoltán Székely, and Jelly Arányi had to play from this copy in February–May 1923 at the early concert performances as shown in
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