Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion

E899662

Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion is a groundbreaking 1937 chamber work by Béla Bartók that combines two pianos with an array of percussion instruments to explore bold rhythms, folk-inspired motifs, and innovative sonorities.

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Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf chamber music
musical composition
approximateDuration 27 minutes
catalogNumber BB 115
Sz. 110
coComposer Béla Bartók NERFINISHED
commissionedBy Paul Sacher NERFINISHED
composer Béla Bartók NERFINISHED
decadeComposed 1930s
dedicatedTo Dr. Paul Sacher NERFINISHED
firstPerformanceCountry Switzerland NERFINISHED
firstPerformanceDate 1938-01-16
firstPerformancePlace Basel NERFINISHED
form sonata
genre 20th-century classical music
chamber music
historicalSignificance groundbreaking work for percussion in chamber repertoire
major work of Bartók’s late European period
influenced later 20th-century percussion chamber music
influencedBy Eastern European folk music
Hungarian folk music
key no fixed key (atonal/modal)
languageOfWork none (instrumental)
movement Allegro non troppo
Assai lento – Allegro molto
Lento, ma non troppo
notableFeature equal partnership between pianos and percussion
expanded role of percussion in chamber music
numberOfMovements 3
numberOfPercussionPlayers 2 GENERATED
numberOfPianos 2
placeOfComposition Switzerland NERFINISHED
premierePerformers Béla Bartók NERFINISHED
Ditta Pásztory-Bartók NERFINISHED
Fritz Schiesser NERFINISHED
Philipp Rühlig NERFINISHED
publisher Universal Edition NERFINISHED
scoredFor percussion ensemble
two pianos
styleCharacteristic arch-like formal structures
asymmetrical rhythms
modal and polymodal harmonies
percussive piano writing
uses bold rhythms
folk-inspired motifs
innovative sonorities
yearComposed 1937

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Béla Bartók notableWork Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion