Romanian Folk Dances

Romanian Folk Dances (, ), (, ), Sz. 56, BB 68 is a suite of six short piano pieces composed by BÃÂ©la BartÃÂ³k in 1915. He later orchestrated it for small ensemble in 1917 as Sz. 68, BB 76.

It is based on seven Romanian tunes from Transylvania, originally played on fiddle or shepherd's flute. Its title was originally Romanian Folk Dances from Hungary (, ) but was later changed by BartÃÂ³k when Transylvania became part of Romania in 1920. It is nowadays available in the 1971 edition which is written with key signatures although BartÃÂ³k rarely used key signatures.

Structure

This set of dances consists of six movements and, according to the composer, it should take four minutes and three seconds to perform, but most professional pianists take up to five minutes. The list of the movements is as follows (with the original Hungarian title listed first, the most commonly known Romanian title second, and the English translation in parentheses):

Analysis

Arrangements

Aside from the version BartÃÂ³k wrote for a small orchestral ensemble, some of BartÃÂ³k's friends wrote adaptations or transcriptions of this piece for several different ensembles. The following are the best-known:

Arthur Willner's version for string orchestra. It is a mere transcription with no modification of the original music.
ZoltÃÂ¡n SzÃÂ©kely's version for violin and piano. This is not just a transcription, but also an arrangement and adaptation of the piece for these two instruments. Some of the modifications SzÃÂ©kely made included transposing some of the movements (the second movement was transposed from D minor to F minor, the third from B minor to D minor and the fourth from A major to C major), repeating some sections, adding bars, and using several techniques for the violin such as artificial harmonics, double stops, and SautillÃÂ©.

Notable recordings

Notable recordings of this composition include the following:

References

External links