The first volume of the Béla Bartók Complete Critical Edition and volume 4 of the Hungarian complete edition of Bartók’s writings (Bartók Béla írásai) were presented on 11 February 2017 in the Institute for Musicology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Both publications are part of one of the two significant series edited by the staff of the Budapest Bartók Archives.
The piano cycle For Children is the first of the 48 planned volumes of the Béla Bartók Complete Critical Edition to appear, edited by László Vikárius and Vera Lampert. It takes a synoptic form, in which each folksong adaptation appears in two versions on facing pages: that of the first edition of 1909 to 1911, and the revised score of 1943.
Appendix I contains Bartók’s notes to the first edition, stating the place of origin and the text of each song, accompanied by notation of the melody and an English translation of the words. Appendix II adds further variants for some pieces.
The score is accompanied by a detailed study of its genesis and reception in English, Hungarian and German, followed by notes to performers on Bartók’s notation and on performance problems specific to For Children.