This serenade is scored for the unusual combination of two violins and viola. The first movement is marked allegremente and starts out with a dancing feeling. The movement progresses with quite a few changes of tempo and a manner that is hard to predict.

The following Lento, ma non troppo starts with an evocative, crepuscular viola solo over a tremolo in the second violin. The first violin replies with a chirping, bird-like figure. Eventually the first violin takes over the melody line, then dialogues with the viola using the movement's melodic material. Eventually the tremolo lets up and a high-lighing violin cadenza is heard. The tremolo resumes while the violin is still playing its solo, and sustained chords under fragmented melodic phrases bring the movement to a close.

The third movement, Vivo, is a vigorous finale that surges to driving, rustic folk-dance rhythms. As in the first movement there are several tempo contrasts along the way, and there are some recitative-like phrases near the end. The harmonic idiom is basically diatonic, influenced by some of the pitch patterns of Hungarian folk music on which Kodaly had done considerable field research.

© Aaron Rabushka, All Music Guide