For Children (Hungarian: ) is a set of short piano pieces composed by Béla Bartók in 1908 and 1909; 85 pieces were originally issued in four volumes. Each piece is based on a folk tune: Hungarian in the first two volumes (42 pieces), Slovak in the last two (43 pieces). In 1945, Bartók revised the set, removing six pieces that were inaccurately transcribed or had been found not to be original folk tunes, and substantially changing the harmonization of a number of others; the collection, now of 79 pieces, was reissued in two volumes (of 40 and 39 pieces).
The pieces were written for students to play, and progress slightly in difficulty through each half of the collection. In modern times, some concert pianists (notably Zoltán Kocsis) have begun including some of them on their recital programs, citing their musical value even apart from their pedagogical origins.
Contents
The final, revised version of For Children is divided into two volumes:
Volume I
Volume II
See also
Mikrokosmos
An interactive score of Bartók’s For Children no. 25 with Sir András Schiff. An interactive score of Bartók’s For Children no. 31 with Sir András Schiff. An interactive score of Bartók’s For Children no. 35 with Sir András Schiff.