Section II · Bartók · Sz. 56 · the six dances
The six dances, line by line, with the questions an examiner asks about their scales and endings. Look, answer out loud in English, then check.
Play from this score · big, page by page, for iPadThe notes were typed in from photographs of one edition, and drawn by computer. Every page was transcribed twice, independently (neither reader saw the other's work), every disagreement was settled against the photograph, and the scales and endings below were found by counting the typed notes, not by eye. Not typed in: fingering, pedal marks, and the alternative left-hand staves (ossia) printed under some bars of dance 6. If anything here disagrees with your own score, your score is right.
This edition prints no bar numbers, so each dance is counted from bar 1 here (dance 1 starts with a one-note upbeat, bar 0). Your examiner may count differently: in the exam, point to the music before you say a number.
Press a part to see its bars lit up on the score below.
Each question sits under the line where its bars begin. Answer out loud first, then open the answer.
Dance 1 has no key signature. What scale is the first part in, and what is the tonal centre?
The centre is A (the bass and the melody keep returning to it, and the dance ends on it). In bars 1 to 20 the notes are A B C D E F♯ G: A Dorian, minor with a raised sixth (F♯).
C♯ turns up as a passing note (bars 7, 8, 15 and 16), and F♮ appears only in bars 3 and 11.
From about bar 21 something in the scale changes. What?
F♮ becomes a regular note (bars 21, 22, 25, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41), so the minor sixth of A Aeolian replaces the Dorian F♯. F♯ still comes back in bars 27 to 30, 40, 45 and 46: Bartók moves between the two, which is a way of describing the dance as Dorian turning to Aeolian.
How does Dance 1 end? Is there a tierce de Picardie?
Bar 46 has E–G♯–D in the left hand, a dominant seventh without its fifth. The last bar has a grace note G♯ sliding into A3 in the right hand, and the left hand plays C♯ and E with A1 below: an A major sonority.
Through the dance the third above A was C♮ (C is much more frequent than C♯), so the major third at the end acts like a tierce de Picardie. The course notes also mention a Phrygian cadence: I could not find one in the last bars, so I would not claim it.
Dance 2 also has no key signature. What is its scale?
The centre is D and the notes are D E F G A B C: D Dorian (the B natural is the raised sixth). C♯ and B♭ each appear only a little (about 2%).
The dance is 2/4, Allegro, and is played twice: the repeat sign closes bar 16, with the instruction to slow a little on the second time (bar 15).
What chord ends the dance?
D–F–A in the left hand and D in the right: a D minor chord, with F natural, so no tierce de Picardie.
Look at the first bars of Dance 3. What is the left hand doing, and when does the melody come in?
The right hand rests for the first three bars and the melody comes in at bar 4, very high. The left hand plays the same figure in every bar: a chord of B and F♯ (an open fifth) and then a single B an octave higher, slurred, very quiet (pp).
The left hand is written in the treble clef.
This dance has two sharps and is centred on B. Is it B Aeolian (natural minor)?
No. The notes are B C♯ D E♯ F♯ G (A): there is a raised fourth, E♯ (printed again and again in the melody, bars 4 to 11), and between D and E♯ an augmented second.
That is not natural minor, which is why the course notes say not to call it Aeolian.
How does Dance 3 end?
On B in the bass with F♯ above it (an open fifth, no third), under the melody E♯ D F♯. The last bar, bar 40, is a bar of rest in both hands before the next dance.
Dance 4 is in 3/4 with no key signature. What is its scale?
Centred on A. The notes that matter are A B♭ C♯ D E F G, with C♮, G♯ and F♯ only as passing notes: a Phrygian dominant scale, a minor second above the tonic (B♭) and a major third (C♯).
It is the least regular dance rhythmically, and the left hand starts in the treble clef.
How does Dance 4 end, and is there a hint of it earlier?
The last bar has the left-hand chord A–C♯–E (an A major chord) and a low A2 under a fermata, with A in the right hand.
The same A–C♯–E sonority is prepared in bar 14, where the left hand holds A3 with C♯4 above it.
What is irregular about the metre of Dance 5?
It alternates between 2/4 and 3/4 with no pattern: four bars of 2/4, then 3/4 in bars 5 and 6, 2/4 in bar 7, 3/4 in bars 8 and 9, 2/4 in bar 10, and so on (bar 14 starts a longer run of 3/4). The signature (two sharps) does not change.
The course notes say the alternation comes from the fiddler's tune, and Bartók put “polka” in quotation marks in the title.
Dance 5 ends on a chord. What is it, and where does the music go next?
The last chord is A–E–A–C♯ (the key signature supplies the C♯): an A major chord, the dominant of D. It leads straight into Dance 6 without a break (attacca), and Dance 6 is centred on D.
The scale of the dance is D major with the notes G♮ and G♯ both used (G♯ is the raised fourth of a Lydian colour).
Dance 6 has two tunes. What is the first one in?
Allegro, two sharps, centred on D. The notes are D E F♯ G A B C♯ with a raised fourth G♯ in bars 1 to 4 and 9 to 11 (Lydian colour) and the lowered seventh C♮ in bar 12 (Mixolydian colour).
A double barline closes bar 8 and again bar 16.
At bar 17 something changes. What?
The tempo becomes Più allegro and the key signature changes to one sharp. The new tune sits over a C chord in the bass (C2 and G2, chords of C–E–G), with F♯ in bars 17 to 24 turning to F♮ in bars 25 to 32.
Where is the dance heading in the last half, and how does the suite end?
From bar 33 the bass is on A (A2, A3) with E and G above (A, C, E, G are the most used notes). The suite ends in bar 61 with A and E in the right hand, C♯ in the left hand and A1 under a fermata: an A major sonority, a major third where C♮ was the usual third in this last section.
The words to use are on the Answer Cards (Bartók, Q3). To practise speaking, use the voice examiner and ask for Bartók, question 3.