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Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
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among others, about the origin of his recently published six-volume pedagogical work, the Mikrokosmos:
... Margit Varr6's critical remarks about my former piano method, so much
criticized in its time, were very useful. I had a copy of my piano method at hand,
with Mrs. Varr6's notes: I wrote many pieces of the Mikrokosmos taking these
notes into consideration.I
work, implied by the above statement: the role of Margit Varr6 and the
Bart6k-Reschofsky Piano Method. Looking closely at related documents, I
would like to clarify the significance of Varr6's re-commendations in the
structure of the Mikrokosmos and the way Bart6k utilized the Piano Method
during his work on the Mikrokosmos.
Margit Varr6 was born in 1881, the same year as Bart6k. 2 At the Buda-
2 The following summary of Margit Varr6's career is based on her autobiography, published in Ket
vildgrjsz tanara: Varrd Margit, ed. by Mariann Abraham, Budapest 1991, p. 584.
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One book of mine on piano teaching had already been published and a
second was about to be issued.6 Knowing of my work, Bart6k turned to me
for my views on how a systematic teaching program for the early grades
could best be worked out.
3 Budapest 1921.
4 In English. Published in Hungarian in Zenei irasok, el6adcsok, visszemlikezdsek, ed. Lili Veszpr6mi. Budapest 1980, p. 7. I would like to thank Mariann Abrahim for sending me the facsimile of the original document.
5 See e.g. Ket vilagrdsz tandra, pp. 37, 41, 48, 59, and 69.
6 For the book already published, see note 3 above. The book in press: Der lebendige Klavierunterricht,
seine Methodik undPsychologie, Berlin 1929.
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clarified point by point: the nature of the musical and technical material to be
included; the pedagogic purposes it should serve and the order in which the
chosen material should be presented.
While the typed sheets Varr6 prepared for her meeting with Bart6k have
not surfaced yet among Bart6k's papers, the copy of the Piano Method with
Varr6's annotations Bart6k mentioned in his above-cited interview survived
in the estate of the composer's elder son, Bl1a.8
The commission to write the Piano Method came from the publisher
R6zsav lgyi for Bart6k who, not being experienced in the teaching of begin-
ners, accepted the charge with the condition of Saindor Reschofsky's co-operation. They completed the work in the Spring of 1913 which was published
in the same year.
wrote for the Piano Method. Although the 18 pieces taken from the Piano
Complete Edition of Bart6k compositions9 and they were never analyzed ex7 "Bart6k's Mikrokosmos in Retrospect", in: The Piano Teacher 3 (1961), pp. 2-8. In Hungarian translation: Zenei irdsok, pp. 92-105.
8 Photocopy in the Budapest Bart6k Archives. My thanks to Lszl6 Somfai, Director ofthe Budapest Bart6k
Archives for providing me with documents for this article. I would also like to express my gratitude to Liszl6
Vikirius of the Budapest Bart6k Archives for his generosity in sharing with me all the information he collected
about Margit Varr6.
9 Hungaroton SLPX 11336 (Dezs6 Rinki); Musical Heritage Society MHS 1842 (Sahan Arzruni); Philips
442016-2 (Zoltan Kocsis)
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not keep this agreement. 16 years later, in 1929 he published 18 of the pieces
written for the Piano Method in a separate book called The First Term at the
Piano, without the knowledge and consent of SaIndor Reschofsky, not even
mentioning where these pieces came from. It seems, that in 1929 B&la Bart6k did
not want to identify himself with the other pieces written for the Piano Method.
30 years after B6la Bart6k unilaterally broke the agreement, Sandor Reschofsky
wishes to clarify some rumors about the Piano Method, thinking that he can
confidently bring to light the following: every music note and word of the
Bart6k-Reschofsky Piano Method was conceived by the two authors'joint effort
and after their discussion and mutual control in a way that Sandor Reschofsky
built up the structure of the method and wrote the exercises and B&la Bart6k wrote
the character pieces fashioned after the exercises. More exactly: B&la Bart6k
wrote everything provided with metronome markings, that is with m.m. Due to
a printing error the m. m. marking is missing at no. 92 but this was also written by
Reschofsky, which were also published separately as The First Term at the Piano." (Malcolm Gillies: "The
Teacher", in The Bart6k Companion, ed. Malcolm Gillies, London 1993, p. 84-85.)
12 Mus. Th. 52.
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no. 7, for example, is identical to the first half of no. 2 of the Mikrok
no. 33 is a folk-song imitation; some, as nos. 46, 55, 59, 78, 83 and
closely related to the pieces of For Children and several pieces (as n
29, 57, 73, 82 and 109) seem to serve as preliminary studies to the
kosmos. The more complex character pieces towards the end of th
Method are equally interesting but less "bart6kian". They are stylist
ies in preparation of the easy pieces of Bach and Schumann (nos. 10
105, 114 and 120) and they call to mind two pieces of the Mikrok
"Hommage ' J. S. Bach" and "Hommage a R. Sch." (nos. 79 and 80).
are some pieces which have an exact match in respect of piano tech
the Mikrokosmos: no. 40 is the counterpart ofMikrokosmos no. 40; n
no. 46; no. 46 of no. 55; no. 68 ofno. 68; no. 77 ofno. 72, etc.
the Piano Method and no. 77 of the Mikrokosmos. Both pieces consist o
lines and their first lines are identical, except of the Dorian sixth of th
rokosmos. The second lines are similar so far as they keep the parallel m
of the two hands, but the Mikrokosmos version follows more closely t
tour of the melody of the first line, and carries the piece further with a
third lines of the two pieces: both reach the highest point of the comp
but this is only a seventh away from the tonic in the Piano Method, w
motion of the two hands is abandoned; the right hand's rhythm consis
of sixteenth notes and the new rhythmic motive, the anapaest appears
the fourth line. The later Mikrokosmos version shows more coherence be-
tween the first and second half of the piece: the parallel motion of the two
hands is retained and while Bart6k introduces a new rhythmic motive (ana13 There is another piece without a metronome marking which is more like an easy performing piece than
an exercise: no. 59.
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There are several layers of annotations in the copy of the Piano Method
of the phrases (nos. 22, 36, 46, 117), or connect related smaller units into
larger phrases (nos. 40, 57); they call attention to the accented and unaccented notes, staccatos or portamentos with emphasis on the existing signs
or with additional signs (nos. 25-26, 36, 46); they enforce the original fingering with circles around the numbers or change the original fingering, usu-
ally for a simpler solution (nos. 94, 99, 105, 116). There are about twenty
pieces with markings of this type. They might have originated during the
time when Peter, Bart6k's younger son took piano lessons from his father
around 1934. 15
Another type of annotations by Bart6k's hand, either with lead or green
pencil involves changes in the notes of the pieces themselves. The following
ano without the above changes, or in the case on no. 95, with different
14 I identified Varr6's hand comparing the annotations in the Piano Method with her original letters to
Bart6k now kept in the Budapest Bart6k Archives.
S5 In a personal letter Peter Bartok confirmed that some of the pieces of the Piano Method were also used
during his piano lessons with his father.
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No.73
No.82
a!
a!
8f
No.83
No.95
18-19
7
No. 101
1-2
5-6
f inarcato rarCato
changes, one can assume that they were made later than the appearance of
The First Term at the Piano. There can be only one reason for these changes,
namely, that Bart6k, at least for a while, was considering the republication
of the Piano Method itself, in a revised, corrected form. The rest of his annotations also point in that direction.
In the third group belong all the notes and remarks which refer to the ex-
ercises and the explanatory material of the Piano Method. Again, there are
various types of them. Some are only stylistic corrections to the text or suggestions to transpose one paragraph or section to a different part of the book,
but there are also critical remarks, deletions and notes indicating the need for
further expansion of the material. Most interesting among Bart6k's annotations concerning the exercises are those which later served as a basis for Mik-
rokosmos pieces. At no. 38a, which is a simple exercise for leaping fourths,
Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 39. 1998
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Finally, there are signs for several renumbering efforts in the Piano
Method which, again, can be interpreted as evidence of an intended republi-
the Piano Method. There are 16 pages in the Mikrokosmnos sketches with
various references to the Piano Method.'" Most of them specify where the
suggestions for additional pieces with certain characteristics for the more
gradual introduction of the different techniques of piano playing. In some
cases Varr6 made critical remarks to certain pieces which did not stand the
trial of her teaching experience. The notes are mainly found at the bottom of
the pages of the copy, or occasionally between the staves or next to the pieces
16 All the annotation quoted below are in Hungarian.
17 I am grateful to Peter Bart6k for providing me with photocopies of these important documents, numbered
59 PS 1, in his possession.
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tual remarks, a quote from her above-cited article summarizing her main
ideas about teaching the very beginning of piano technique will be helpful.
I usually divided the elementary study material into four successive steps, each
of them pinpointing one of the difficulties a beginner has to solve if he is to make
The first step presents melodies and exercises within one (but, of course, not
always the same) five-finger position, both hands moving in the same direction
and playing the same note values. The pupil meets different major and minor
keys: 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4 meter; ties, rests, and note values indicating dotted
notes.
The second step introduces brief canons and little pieces with free melodic
imitation, whereby the student learns not only to play different note values
simultaneously in both hands, but also to use mixed parallel and contrary motion
without even noticing it. Musically, this lays a good foundation for early
training in contrapuntal style...
The emphasis, then, in the third step shifts from polyphonic to homophonic
or four octaves with separate hands to prepare for music containing scale
passages, arpeggios, and skips.
Bart6k was not interested. "There are plenty of studies around to fill the bill,"
he said, and so this idea was dropped. Consequently, all the exercises and pieces
in Vols. I and II cover a rather limited space on the keyboard. Only from Vol.
IV on does the playing range expand notably. A beginning is made, however, in
Vol. III with Nos. 77 and 88.
Bart6k. This can be seen by comparing, among others, Nos. 9 and 27 or 13 and
17 in Vol. I; No. 14 in Vol. I with No. 65 in Vol. II; No. 55 in Vol. II with No.
75 in Vol. III. 19
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rical elements, as the dotted note, syncopation, and 3/4 meter. With nos.
11-12 parallel and contrary motion appear: these are the pieces Varr6 explicitly asked for in the above-cited note. When Bart6k sketched these
pieces, he made a note on the margin (on p. 32 of the Mikrokosmos draft):
"after 21", clearly revealing that these pieces were written as a direct response to Varr6's notes. After no. 12 some more unison pieces follow, but
this time with hand-position changes. Nos. 16-17 combine the two pre-
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step in her recommendation for the elementary piano teaching: the introduction to the independence of the two hands through canons and free imitation.
It is interesting to note, that in the Piano Method the unison pieces of 20-21
are followed - after no. 22 which in Varr6's opinion were too difficult at that
point - by two pieces with free imitation, exactly in the spirit of Varr6's
method. She wanted to have more than two examples, however, since she
noted after 25: "After this some more little canons or little pieces with imitation would be desirable."
There are three instances in the first sketches of the Mikrokosmos where
Bart6k explicitly noted an addition "after 26": on p. 33, at no. 22; on p. 50,
at no. 25 and on p. 51, at no. 24. No. 23 was also sketched on p. 51 of the
drafts and originally this was intended to introduce the whole group of imi-
tative pieces, since Bart6k noted on the margin: "after no. 21, immediately
before 22", that is, following the first group of pieces (with the same rhythm
in both hands). But there are many more examples for the imitative pieces in
the series. The rest of book I and the whole second book are entirely devoted
to canons and short pieces with imitations.
Varr6's third remark (at no. 44) asks for more easy pieces for teaching
the third step (melody with accompaniment) of her method:
Before this, some melodies with accompaniment would be needed, namely
a) accompaniment with broken chords
b) accompaniment with figured chords
c) melody alternating between upper and lower part.
fore 44", at nos. 41, 99 and 61. No. 41 features broken chords, no. 61
switches the melody from the right hand to the left halfway through the piece
and the accompaniment consists of figured chords. In the first sketch, no. 99
was quite different from its final appearance, being a much simpler piece:
melody with accompaniment.
The rest ofVarr6's annotations refer to single pieces, and either ask for
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At no. 46: "Every child feels the meter of this piece as 6/8; thus we are
asking for another piece with real triplets!" - On p. 32 of the Mikrokosnmos
sketches Bart6k wrote next to the piece which became no. 55 in the series:
"instead of 46".
At p. 25: "We ask for another piece besides no. 51 which helps the es-
can grasp; we ask for another piece instead." At measures 9-12 again: "chil-
At the end of no. 57: "We would very much like to have another little
piece in which ; and f.: are posed against each other." There are several
pieces in the Mikrokosmos which alternate triplets and doublets, as nos. 75,
85 and 88, although without Bart6k's reference in the sketches to the Piano
Method.
At the bottom of p. 32: "We ask for one or two little pieces before no.
73 (single part in one hand, double in the other (three-part not in the contra-
puntal sense!), one part can possibly be a single note.)" There are three remarks referring to this suggestion, all of them on p. 53 of the sketches where
Bart6k noted at no. 67: "after 67"; atno. 56: "after 71" andat 76: "after 72".
From these three pieces no. 67 and 76 have three-part texture, in a somewhat
similar way Varr6 described. No. 56 has four parts but since two of them are
single notes, it presents a technically easier task than the others. Consequently, Bart6k placed this and other similar four-part pieces (nos. 60, 64)
before three-part pieces with one part placed against double notes (nos. 66,
67, 70).
After no. 78: "It would be very good if we could get a new piece of this
kind. After this, we ask for 2 little four-part (choral-like) pieces in which
both hands play two parts." No. 82 of the Mikrokosmos can be compared in
Studia Musicologica Academiuae Scientiarumrn Hungaricae 39. 1998
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many ways to no. 78 in the Piano Method. The two four-part, cho
pieces are nos. 89 and 93.
At no. 97: "We could keep this with the alteration of the 3rd line, i
At no. 108: "We ask for one or two new pieces which feature scale or
figuration with scales (with thumb crossings)!" If possible, they should be
easier than 114." Two pieces, nos. 98 and 104 fit Varr6's description, both
containing thumb crossings and scale fragments.
At no. 110: "If possible, we would very much like to have a new piece;
children do not take an interest in the theme of this one." There is no indication in the sketches for the replacement of this piece.
At no. 120: "If possible, we ask for a new 'march'-like piece instead of
this. As a matter of fact, we use this piece for an arpeggio exercise. We
would also very much like to have a little 'serenade'-like piece with arpeggios." This latter may be identified with Notturno, no. 97 of the Mikrokosmos but the march movement does not appear until the sixth book (March,
no. 147). The same book also contains a piece with arpeggios (no. 143, DividedArpeggios) but without the serenade-like character.
If one cannot identify Bart6k's every single response to Varr6's criticism and recommendations, it is evident that he seriously considered each of
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