Music: Bartók, Kodály and "Salome"

Béla Bartók's third movement from his Second Piano Concerto contains a "new theme," which, although a novelty in the piece, is a variation of a type which occurs frequently in his other compositions. Hungarian music authority János Kárpáti emphasizes the "primitive folk roots" of this particular motif, calling attention to the parallel between the theme from the Second Quartet and the "Arab Song" from the Forty-Four Duos for Two Violins. Bartók's contributions to "Twenty Hungarian Folk Songs" are noted, as is the composer's interest in Richard Strauss' opera "Salome." There is little doubt that "Salome" was important in Bartók's understanding of the expressive and emotional possibilities inherent in the recurring use of minor thirds, and it is suggested that it is in the opera that a clue can be found as to the composer's interest in selecting "Ucca, ucca" for "Twenty Hungarian Folk Songs."