Timetravel with Bartók
This photograph from 1907 shows how Bartók (fourth person from the left) uses a phonograph to record a peasant lady singing, while others from the village, dressed in their best Sunday clothes, inspect the photographer. (Source: Wikipedia)
Let's travel back in time with Bartók to a small village far out in the countryside of rural Hungary or Romania. The central square is festively decorated with flowers and colourful ribbons because a wedding is about to be held!
At the happy occasion, one of the peasants also plays on his bagpipes:
In another village not that far away, other peasants are celebrating New Year. With a certain nostalgic melancholy, they look back at what passed by and pray for a new, hopeful beginning:
And finally, a cheerful Kolomejka!
Many of the pieces I found written for two solo violins are either educational in nature or an experiment. Béla Bartók's wonderful 44 Duos admittedly might fall under both of the above-mentioned categories, but have proven to lack neither beauty nor expressive power.
Nevertheless, it has been my experience so far that some historical context might be helpful to fully understand these pieces.
Béla Bartók (1881-1945) was part of a movement that, throughout the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, sought to collect and document cultural folklore before it got lost in industrialization, urbanisation and general change.
With his friend and colleague Zoltán Kodály, Bartók traveled around the rural countryside in south-eastern Europe and wrote down what he heard.
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Summery, pollen-rich sunshine greetings from your double-up-violinist in Berlin,
Luiza