Concerto for Orchestra Deux images Op. 10

Abstract

H. Heinsheimer, then director of Booseyand Hawkes, called me up... He told me excitedly that the Concerto was just finished... andthat I should proceed without delay to Bartok's apartment. When I arrived, Bartok, Heinsheimer, and the Concerto were on the scene. It was obvious from the first note of the score that I was looking at an exceptional masterpiece. Heinsheimer said that both he and Bartok were of the opinion that this Concerto was also good ballet music... They assigned me the task of getting oneofthebest ballet companies to buy the performance rights. I realised immediately that this unexpected idea must have been Heinsheimer's and was meant to bring something extra into Bart6k's purse, which he could very much use... I was very lucky: the American Ballet Theatre was pleased to buy the rights... and the royalties were soon triumphantly handed over to the composer. Thus the Concerto was almost turned into a ballet. Perhaps this was the source of a legend that was later born, according to which, before composing his Concerto, Bartok had been planning to write a ballet, or was actually writing one... Anthony Tudor, oneofthebest choreographers at the time, was asked to do the choreography... How or why the plans fell through, I don't know. The decisive success of the Concerto's opening night in December 1944 fin Boston] and the unparalleled reception it consequently had throughout the world has been reported in the annals of musical history... The audience ac-cepted and loved the piece upon first hearing. Koussevitzky [who commissioned the work J was enthralled... A few months after the premiere, Bartok and I sat chatting. Suddenly he asked: "Do you happen to know, Tony, what I parodiedin the fourth movement of the Concerto?" That was the Intermezzo inter-rotto, the interrupted interlude which consists of two interchanging melodies with different rhythms rudely interrupted by vulgar "band music" after which the previous melodies, interchanging, continue and gently finish their course. The brutal, common, obtrusive music is obviously a persiflage, and my friends and I had "guessed" a long time ago what Bartok was parodying. "I know, master. The Merry Widow'." Then came the real surprise. Perplexed, Bart6k asked: "Who's she?" I gave a short explanation of what 1 meant and whistled the beginning of "Heut' geh' ich zu Maxim" for him. Bartok smiled and shook his head. "I see what you mean, but no, that's not what I had in mind." And then he told me that it was Shostakovich whom he had parodied... (Extracts from an article in "Arion" No. 13, 1982, reprinted by kind permission of the author and publisher. All rights reserved.)