Although Bartók arranged the Forty-Four Duos in order of difficulty, so that students could progress from one to the next with a new challenge, he also maintained a sense for contrast and balance in the set. Thus, we find the grim and gloomy—as well as lengthy—Sorrow, preceded two short humorous pieces—Teasing Song and Limping Dance—and followed by the three, generally upbeat New Year's Greetings 2, 3 & 4. All the duos but two in the set are based on folk tunes, but feature original, though folk-flavored harmonies.

Sorrow, lasting about two-and-a-half minutes—long by the standards of the miniatures in this set—features a slow, gloomy theme that seems to limp along in its grief until a more muscular and animated variant appears about midway through. The mood becomes overwrought here but still cannot transform sufficiently to escape the oppressive gloom. In the latter moments the music returns to the despairing character heard in the opening. The players are challenged here to subtly to blend the main line with the dark harmonies to bring about the critical balance necessary to bring off this profound piece.

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The folk-inspired Forty-Four Duos feature several pieces belonging to a series. For instance, there are four New Year's Greetings, two Hungarian Songs, two Marching Songs, etc. Harvest Song may be regarded as related to Hay-Harvesting Song (No. 12), at least in mood and expressive manner. Despite the rustic, felicitous titles of the two pieces, they both exhibit a depressing character in their music, with not the least hint of sunshine anywhere.

Harvest Song is relatively long, about two minutes—a near-giant among miniatures in the set. It opens with a slow, dark melody of simple structure. An angry, somewhat vigorous second subject is introduced, and yet another idea follows, ethereal and soothing. After the angry music is heard again, the opening theme is reprised and the piece ends, slowly fading away. The harvest of this song was obviously not a bountiful one, but its music has a profound cast and its interpretive challenges are substantial. Bartók designed the Forty-Four Duos to offer increasing technical demands to violin students as they proceed through the set. This one is both challenging to the players and immensely satisfying to the listener.

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Béla Bartók composed his 44 Duos (1931) at the request of Erich Doflein, a German violinist and teacher. In 1930, Doflein had asked Bartók for permission to arrange some of the pieces from the composer's piano collection For Children for violin duo, intending to use them as graded pieces for young violinists. Bartók instead decided to compose some original duos, and during the following year worked in close consultation with Doflein to produce them.

Like many of Bartók's pedagogical works, the Duos' purpose was twofold: first, to provide young musicians with structured technical studies, and second, to introduce young players to folk music. The Duos are comprised entirely of folk-inspired music whose geographical and cultural compass includes Ukraine, Serbia, Hungary, and other Slovak regions, as well as music from the Arabic world.

Though Bartók, like Stravinsky, had such a familiarity with the folk music of his native country that he could create original folk tunes without recourse to "authentic" source materials, the Duos are actually based on pre-existing ethnic melodies. While they share with works like For Children and Ten Easy Pieces a folk music-based pedagogical purpose, they perhaps have more in common with Mikrokosmos (1926-1939) in that above and beyond their practical use, both are possessed of undeniable musical interest and value. Like some of the pieces in Mikrokosmos, the Duos are constructed with considerable harmonic and contrapuntal sophistication, and, despite their use of folk tunes, are written in a distinctly modern idiom. Bartók fragments, develops, and manipulates his chosen folk tunes in the Duos, placing them within the context his own harmonic sense. The result is a collection suitable for young players—the textures are simple, double stops are used only occasionally, and aside from some pizzicato passages, no special bowing or other playing techniques are required. Nonetheless, they are rife with aurally challenging bitonal passages, polyrhythms, and plenty of brash dissonances.

In 1932, Doflein published 32 of the Duos in his first-level book of violin pieces for students. Inspired by his pedagogical collaboration with Doflein, Bartók continued work on his own collection of graded pieces for piano, culminating in his monumental Mikrokosmos.

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Bartók was a lifelong collector and arranger of folk music. Although most of the tunes he adapted for the Forty-Four Duos did not come from his own collection of folk melodies, this one, Arab Song, did. And it is, without doubt, one of the most exotic he ever used in any work. What is remarkable about his treatment of it is the imaginative sonic atmosphere within which it is heard.

Bartók imitates an array of Arab percussion techniques in the piece, over which he fashions the rhythmic, spicy folk tune, the whole calling to mind colorful Middle-Eastern imagery. The lively melody might well be appropriate to accompany the lithe movements of a belly-dancer, despite its slightly sinister character: its limited range and repetitious pattern give it a menacing character, even in the latter part when the theme turns subdued, with gentle pizzicato accompaniment. Because Bartók loaded the latter half of this collection with progressively more difficult pieces (and the first part with easy works), this duo requires not only a formidable technique, but deft interpretive skills. Lasting about a minute and a half, it is certainly one of the more colorful duos in the set.

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All but two of the Forty-Four Duos are based on folk melodies: this one, Bagpipes, and the preceding effort in the series, Ruthenian Kolomejka. Yet, both of these have ties to the folk idiom since Bartók, probably the most dedicated collector of folk tunes among major composers, wrote them in ethnic styles. Bagpipes was fashioned after the so-called Romanian bagpipe song. Bartók placed both of these fairly challenging pieces in the latter part of the collection because he designed the Forty-Four Duos to progress from beginner's material to concert-level pieces.

Bagpipes is full of sonic effects, fast rhythms, bright colors, and seeming cascades of notes flying in all directions. The mood is joyous and festive, featuring a tune that repeats without ever sounding tired, that dances to irregular rhythms while never taking a misstep. In the latter part of the piece, the tempo increases and the music takes on a manic character, racing along in the strings' upper ranges, as if descending on the fastest roller coaster. Lasting nearly two minutes—long by the miniature standards of this collection—this piece will leave the listener both breathless and eminently satisfied.

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Few composers were as devoted to folk music and musical education as Béla Bartók. His set of Forty-Four Duos stands as a prime example of these dual interests: all but two of the pieces are based on folk tunes, and the whole set was designed as a pedagogical tool for violinists, presenting easy pieces at the outset and gradually introducing more difficult ones as the set progresses. But all 44 works were also meant for concert presentation. New Year's Greeting 4, coming about two-thirds the way through the set, offers significant challenges to the performers and much enjoyment to the listener in its delightfully repetitive, folk-flavored theme.

That melody is rhythmic and catchy, occupying the duration of the entire piece, which lasts a mere 45 or 50 seconds. While the theme appears in slightly different guises throughout, it is the rhythmic impulse and deftly imagined accents that give the work special character. When Bartók fashioned sets of these duos for concert presentation, he placed New Year's Greetings 3 & 4 in the fourth group, with the chipper fourth serving as a most appropriate finale.

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Scherzo is the first piece in the fourth and final volume of the Forty-Four Duos. As many may know, the individual pieces, all derived from folk material or from folk styles, grow in difficulty as one proceeds along in the set. This piece, therefore, is among the most difficult. Bartók designed the duos for students, but only the most talented among them will have the technique to perform this or any of the duos in the last volume. Even professional violinists find the last duos a goodly challenge.

That said, Scherzo is a subtle piece whose difficulties are interpretive as well as technical. Rhythms can be tricky, and there must be a mature sense of give-and-take between the players, not least in the area of dynamics, where an improper balance can sabotage the character of the piece. At about three-quarters of a minute into the piece, Scherzo conveys a feeling of urgency, but tempers it with a tart sense of humor. Most listeners will not hear any obvious folk influence here, at least not in the way one notices it in the following work, the exotic Arabian Song.

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