Progetto Martha Argerich

italiano

Works

Béla Bartok

Concerto per violino e orchestra No. 1, Sz 36

 

Béla Bartók’s Concerto No. 1 for violin and orchestra was composed between the autumn of 1907 and February 1908, but its first public performance did not take place until May 1958, in Basel. Bartók had written it for the Hungarian violinist Stefi Geyer, with whom he had had a brief, tempestuous relationship. He gave Geyer the autograph score as a gift, but she never wished to perform the work in public; thus it was only after her death that the work could be played before an audience. It consists of only two, contrasting movements. The first, an eminently lyrical Andante sostenuto, begins with a four-note motif that Bartók described as "Stefi’s Leitmotiv"; according to the composer’s own words, this movement was meant to be an idealised, transcendent, intimate portrait of the violinist. On the other hand, the second movement depicts "the real Stefi – gay, spirited and amusing" –.

1. Andante sostenuto
2. Allegro giocoso

Performers

Performance