Béla Bartók composed the series of forty-four violin duos in 1931,prompted by the German violin teacher Erich Doflein. With the exception ofnumbers 35 and 36, all the pieces are based on original folk melodies, and themajority were collected by the composer himself during his numerous fieldtrips in the Carpathian Basin. The melody for no. 42 was collected by Bartókin Algeria. Universal Edition (Vienna) published the violin duos in 1933 infour volumes, arranged in order of difficulty.Thepresent transcription faithfully follows the original; fingerings are by theeditor.CONTENTS:Matchmaking song; Maypole Dance; Menuetto; Midsummer Night Song; Slovak Song(1); Hungarian Song (1); Walachian Song; Slovak Song (2); Play Song; RuthenianSong; Cradle Song; Hay-gathering Song; Wedding Song; Pillow Dance; Soldiers’Song; Burlesque; Hungarian March (1); Hungarian March (2); A Fairy Tale;Alternating Song; New Year’s Greeting (1); Mosquito Dance; Farewell to theBride; Jeering Song; Hungarian Song (2); Teasing Song; Limping Dance; Sorrow;New Year’s Greeting (2); New Year’s Greeting (3); New Year’s Greeting (4);Dance from Máramaros; Harvest Song; Enumerating Song; Ruthenian Kolomeika;Bagpipes, Variation of no. 36; Prelude and Canon; Rumanian Whirling Dance(Invartita batranilor); Serbian Dance (Zaplet); Walachian Dance; Scherzo;Arabian Song; Pizzicato; Transylvanian Dance (Ardeleana).
