The Silent “Swansong” of Bartók's Voluntary Exile

In a poetic vein, Donald Maurice's “remarkable story” of Béla Bartók's unfinished Viola Concerto rightly calls the work a “swansong.” It was the composer's last work that remained, however, unfortunately “unsung.” The question as to how incomplete the single autograph manuscript of the sketchy compositional draft is, has already received significant attention in the literature, in reconstructions, and in its facsimile edition. From various perspectives, my colleagues from the Budapest Bartók Archives further discussed this question at the Bartók's Viola Concerto Revisited conference, organized by the Budapest Bartók Archives on July 22, 2024, relying on fresh experience with compositional sources, in connection with editorial work on the Béla Bartók Complete Critical Edition series. What I have tried to consider in my paper is why this work remained, as it appears, necessarily fragmentary. In what way were Bartók's final years burdened with personal and professional hardships that, added to his frail and failing health, could not but have exhausted his energies. Although his final years now seem more productive than perhaps he himself would have acknowledged, his last works, unquestionable masterpieces, the Sonata for Solo Violin (1944), the Third Piano Concerto (1945), and the Viola Concerto (1945) were all published unavoidably posthumously with varying degrees of editorial assistance. In comparison, though, the composer left the Viola Concerto behind without its finally worked-out written form, despite its rich (perhaps even complete) collection of necessary material. While revisiting the difficulties of those final years spent in voluntary exile in the United States, I am also trying to consider their meaning and significance more generally.