Béla Bartók’s formative years as a composer in Budapest were stimulated by fashionable musical salons hosted by the wealthy Emma Gruber (later Zoltán Kodály’s wife). His landmark Rhapsody, Op.1is dedicated to Gruber, while the earlier Variations are a romantic homage to his talented colleague Felicie Fábián, composer of the theme. The virtuoso Etudes focus on hand flexibility for pianists –the pieces For Children are based on Hungarian and Slovak peasant songs partly collected by Bartók. These revelatory sounds caused Bartók to change his approach to composing. He likened the arranging of a peas-ant melody to ‘the mounting of a jewel’, producing extremely effective miniature masterpieces of graceful perfection.
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