Made (But Not Born) in America
Béla Bartók was another refugee from an Axis nation; his native Hungary had been the first country to join the initial Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan. Bartók arrived in the United States in 1940. Bartók’s friend and countryman, the violinist Joseph Szigeti (1892–1973), persuaded Serge Koussevitzky to commission the piece that would become the Concerto for Orchestra (Listening Example 13). Thanks to this stimulus, the compositional paralysis that had afflicted Bartók since he arrived in the United States was over. When the Boston Symphony Orchestra premiered the Concerto for Orchestra in December 1944, Koussevitzky hailed it as “the best orchestral piece of the last twenty-five years.”
Béla Bartók was another refugee from an Axis nation; his native Hungary had been the first country to join the initial Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan. Bartók arrived in the United States in 1940. Bartók’s friend and countryman, the violinist Joseph Szigeti (1892–1973), persuaded Serge Koussevitzky to commission the piece that would become the Concerto for Orchestra (Listening Example 13). Thanks to this stimulus, the compositional paralysis that had afflicted Bartók since he arrived in the United States was over. When the Boston Symphony Orchestra premiered the Concerto for Orchestra in December 1944, Koussevitzky hailed it as “the best orchestral piece of the last twenty-five years.”
When musicians hear the label “concerto,” they think of a work that features a solo instrument supported by a full orchestra, such as a “piano concerto” or a “violin concerto,” in which a pianist or a violinist has the starring role. What did Bartók mean by labeling this work as a concerto “for orchestra”? Isn’t a piece for an orchestra by itself better labeled as a “symphony”? Bartók himself admitted that the piece was “symphony-like,” but he used the title “concerto” because—in the course of the overall work—virtually every player becomes a soloist. Particularly in the second movement, subtitled “Game of the Pairs,” Bartók shines the spotlight on individual instruments, two at a time. Bartók mixes tradition and modernity in the first movement of the Concerto for Orchestra. He uses a conventional sonata form, with a slow introduction, as his foundation. The overall effect is ever-building tension—perhaps excitement, or maybe dread. Bartók certainly accomplishes what a good first movement should achieve: he leaves us wanting and expecting more. The Concerto for Orchestra launched a Bartók appreciation that has endured to this day.