Béla Bartók

Choral Works

in cooperation with Editio Musica Budapest

This volume contains all of Bartók's works for choir a cappella or with piano accompaniment. The choral scoring ranges from four-part male choir to mixed four- and eight-part settings to 27 two- and three-part movements for women's and children's choir. In many pieces Bartók draws on Romanian, Hungarian or Slovak folk songs, in some he uses only folk texts. Some choruses are additionally accompanied by an English or German vocal text. The text appendix includes literal English translations for all the original texts. An extensive music appendix provides, in addition to the first edition of Zwei rumänischen Volkslieder BB 57 from 1909, other early and foreign language versions of some choral works. Practical individual editions following the complete edition will be published by the cooperation partner Editio Musica Budapest. The volume offers a wealth of additional information: The detailed Introduction describes the genesis of the works, their printing, and reception by the public; the subsequent chapter On Notation and Performance Practice provides important information on tempo, phrasing, and articulation in these works. In the Critical Report, the folk music models and musical sources for the works are described and documented in detail. In addition, the continuous consolidation of the musical text up to the last-hand version is meticulously presented; sketches and early versions are also documented.