Works for solo violin and the Viola Concerto

Abstract

Bartok wrote more solo works for violin than for any other instrument except his own, the piano. In fact, the violin is just about the only instrument besides the piano for which Bartok wrote solo works at all, aside from the cello version of the First Rhapsody (1928), originally for violin, the clarinet part in Contrasts (1938), playing alongside the violin, and the Viola Concerto (1945, incomplete). The piano works, taken as a group, have been the subject of several extensive studies, but the solo violin works have usually been discussed individually or in small groups. As for the Viola Concerto, its incompleteness and the problems surrounding the different performing versions have understandably compelled scholars to focus on the source situation and touch on stylistic issues only tangentially. A noteworthy difference between the respective genres of violin and piano works has to do with form. With the exception of the 44 Duos (1931), the violin works adhere exclusively to the two- or three-movement forms of sonata, concerto or rhapsody, while among the compositions for piano, one notes a large number of short character pieces (bagatelles, burlesques, dirges, sketches, or simply ‘pieces’) alongside works like the Suite or the Sonata. By considering all the solo violin/viola works in one integrated survey, one begins to see a distinct stylistic thread spanning Bartok's entire career, one that cuts across lines of genres and style periods as they are normally perceived.