Bartok, B :: 18 Duos for Two Flutes

In 1931 Bartok complied with a request to compose a number of easy violin does. These had been commissioned by the German music pedagogue Erich Doflein, who had managed to enlist the collaboration of several prominent contemporary composers - besides Bartok there were Hindemith, Seiber, and Orff - for his School of Violin Playing.

Bartok, who had always taken a lively interest in the polyphonic techniques of two-part writing, was only too happy to oblige, and he sent one miniature after another for selection. This was the origin of the 44 Duos, whose thematic material derives almost exclusively from Hungarian, Slovakian, Romanian, Ukranian, Serbian, and Arabic folk music.

The present arrangement for two flutes of the following dances in Bartok s numbering: Nos. 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 14, 17, 19, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31, 34, and 39. Thus, this selection follows Bartok s numbered sequence of the pieces by their degree of difficulty.

Contents

• Maypole Dance
• Midsummer Night Song
• Slovakian Song
• Hungarian Song (1)
• Play Song
• Ruthenian Song
• Cradle Song
• Pillow Dance
• Hungarian March (1)
• A Fairy Tale
• Comic Song
• Hungarian Song (2)
• Teasing Song
• Countin Song
• Limping Dance
• New Year's Song (3)
• New Year's Song (4)
• Serbian Dance