The 70th anniversary of the death of Béla Bartók was marked in Budapest on Saturday, 26 September with a full day of events at the Institute of Musicology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences. On the occasion, it was announced that the score series Béla Bartók Complete Critical Edition will be published jointly by Editio Musica Budapest and G. Henle Verlag of Munich. A contract of cooperation had been signed the previous day.

After opening words by Pál Richter, director of the Institute of Musicology, addresses were given by László Lovász, president of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and Emília Szedlacsek, head of department of the Ministry of Human Capacities. At the morning session, Gábor Kecskeméti spoke about complete editions of literary works and László Somfai about critical editions of musical works. Following the lectures, László Vikárius, head of the Bartók Archives and editor-in-chief of the complete edition, held a press conference with Malcolm Gillies and Tallián Tibor as members of its editorial board, and Wolf-Dieter Seiffert (G. Henle Verlag)
and Antal Boronkay (Editio Musica Budapest), managing directors of the two publishing companies.

The afternoon began with a festive commemorative during which wreaths were laid on the grave of Béla Bartók. The afternoon session, held in English, featured Richard Taruskin (University of California at Berkeley), who spoke on critical editions of 20th-century composers, Vera Lampert (Brandeis University) on For Children, László Vikárius, who edited For Children, and Klára Móricz (Amherst College) on the editing and history of Concerto for Orchestra. The day’s events concluded with performances of the First Sonata for Violin and Piano, Contrasts, and selections from 44 Duos for Two Violins.

The following morning, young Hungarians and Slovaks played pieces from the For Children cycle at an exceptional concert in the Great Hall of the Liszt Academy of Music. Some of the Hungarian and Slovak folk songs which Bartók had arranged in these piano pieces were sung as well. A children's choir sang three of Bartók's Children's Choruses, and a string orchestra consisting of students from Budapest music schools played Leó Weiner’s transcription of two of the For Children pieces. Finally, the children’s choir and the orchestra performed two of Bartók’s choral works with orchestral accompaniment.

Bartók Complete Edition
Our publishing company is proud that for 65 years it has been looking after and distributing much of Bartók’s work at home and abroad. This is why we are best qualified publishing a complete critical edition, which will include much awaited previously unpublished or unknown versions of pieces. There will also be a text that takes note of all sources and creditable editions, and a historical introduction and with detailed critical commentaries. Preparations for the Bartók Complete Edition, which is expected to consist of 48 volumes, began under László Somfai and are continuing under László Vikárius at the Bartók Archives, which operates as part of the Institute of Musicology.

The Archives – set up in 1961 to safeguard the Bartók legacy in Hungary – form the only specialized collection and research centre devoted exclusively to Bartók’s life and works. Editio Musica Budapest joined with G. Henle Verlag of Munich for this publication, because of its outstanding reputation in the field of critical editions. This partnership provides ideal conditions for ensuring that the Complete Edition is published with the highest standards and distributed internationally. Due to the high production costs and time of scholarly, editorial and engraving expertise required, we expect to produce two volumes a year. Our plans are to publish the early and revised versions of For Children in the spring of 2016 and the Concerto for Orchestra in the autumn.

The Complete Edition, with its scholarly handbook function, will be joined by cheaper so-called Urtext editions in a more easily handled sheet-music form of the works already published in the series. It is our hope that the Bartók Complete Edition will become the preferred publication of the composer’s life’s work all over the world.

The publication of the Bartók Complete Edition and the two days of commemorative events received funding from the National Cultural Fund of Hungary.
(Márton Kerékfy)