Slovakian Dance

Slovakian Danceis a piece for solo piano by Hungarian composerBéla Bartók.It was presumably composed in 1923, but it was not published until 1999.

Composition

This scherzo-style composition was meant to be placed between the second and the third movement of Bartók'sDance Suite,but he eventually refused because of hismathematical principles,as placing it in the Suite would ruin the proportion of the whole work. SinceDance Suitewas anorchestral suite,thisSlovakian Danceremained as a sketch, unpublished and unorchestrated, until his son, Peter Bartók, made slight changes for it to be published in 1999 byUniversal Edition.As this is one of the sketches that he dismissed, there is no identification number for this composition, and most catalogues do not include it.

Structure

Slovakian Danceis scored for a solo piano and takes around 2 minutes to perform. It has a total of 92 bars and three different sections.

The first section is theritornellthat was used in movements 1, 2, and 4 of Bartok'sDance Suite,marked Tranquillo in the score. It acts as a short introduction, as well as a placing element within its original piece, as theDancewas meant to be played after aritornello.This section has 17 bars and is separated by adouble bar.The second section, theSlovakian Danceitself, is marked Allegretto in the score and generally gravitates towardsF major,even though the key signature makes no specifications. This lively,²
₄dance, ends in bar 81, when theritornellis reprised for the last few bars, marked Lento in the score.

Notable recordings

Notable recordings of this work include:

Piano Solo	Record Company	Year of Recording	Format
Jenő Jandó	Naxos Records	2005	CD

See also

• Dance Suite (Bartók)