The library · Teaching books

Bartók: For Children, the Hungarian songs, original edition (1909)

Bartók's settings of Hungarian children's and folk songs for small hands, with no octave stretches, as he first published them in Budapest from 1909: Volume I holds Nos. I–XXI, Volume II Nos. XXII–XLII. The library's pieces are typed from that first edition and keep its numbering. In 1945 Bartók revised the whole set, dropping some pieces and changing notes in others, so his revised Hungarian book has 40 numbers: match a piece by its song as well as its number. The names are the songs' first words, as the edition prints them. No. XII is left out: its right hand goes down to two octaves below middle C, further than Clefsight's checks allow a right-hand part.

The library has 20 of the book's 42 numbers, levels 2 to 5. Not in the library: Nos. 12 and 22–42.

Pieces

20

Levels

2 to 5

Key signatures

none

Length

12 to 73 bars

In the book's order

Each with its number and level, and easier versions made from the score itself, so you can start below a piece's level and work up to it as written.

• For Children No. 1
  no sharps or flats, 2/4, 24 bars
  No. 1 of 42; level 2
• For Children No. 2
  no sharps or flats, 2/4, 29 bars
  No. 2 of 42; level 3
• For Children No. 3
  no sharps or flats, 2/4, 25 bars
  No. 3 of 42; level 3
• For Children No. 4
  no sharps or flats, 2/4, 51 bars
  No. 4 of 42; level 2
• For Children No. 5
  no sharps or flats, 2/4, 58 bars
  No. 5 of 42; level 3
• For Children No. 6
  no sharps or flats, 2/4, 57 bars
  No. 6 of 42; level 3
• For Children No. 7
  no sharps or flats, 2/4, 16 bars
  No. 7 of 42; level 3
• For Children No. 8
  no sharps or flats, 2/4, 73 bars
  No. 8 of 42; level 2
• For Children No. 9
  no sharps or flats, 2/4, 45 bars
  No. 9 of 42; level 4
• For Children No. 10
  no sharps or flats, 2/4, 48 bars
  No. 10 of 42; level 3
• For Children No. 11
  no sharps or flats, 2/4, 30 bars
  No. 11 of 42; level 4
• For Children No. 13
  no sharps or flats, 2/4, 18 bars
  No. 13 of 42; level 3
• For Children No. 14
  no sharps or flats, 2/4, 14 bars
  No. 14 of 42; level 4
• For Children No. 15
  no sharps or flats, 2/4, 24 bars
  No. 15 of 42; level 4
• For Children No. 16
  no sharps or flats, 3/4, 12 bars
  No. 16 of 42; level 4
• For Children No. 17
  no sharps or flats, 2/4, 19 bars
  No. 17 of 42; level 5
• For Children No. 18
  no sharps or flats, 2/4, 26 bars
  No. 18 of 42; level 3
• For Children No. 19
  no sharps or flats, 2/8, 40 bars
  No. 19 of 42; level 4
• For Children No. 20
  no sharps or flats, 2/4, 36 bars
  No. 20 of 42; level 3
• For Children No. 21
  no sharps or flats, 2/4, 48 bars
  No. 21 of 42; level 3

An order to learn them in

The same pieces from the easiest, by the level fitted to each score; within a level, in the book's order. Teachers skip about in these books, and so can you.

1. Level 2 For Children No. 1 · For Children No. 4 · For Children No. 8
2. Level 3 For Children No. 2 · For Children No. 3 · For Children No. 5 · For Children No. 6 · For Children No. 7 · For Children No. 10 · For Children No. 13 · For Children No. 18 · For Children No. 20 · For Children No. 21
3. Level 4 For Children No. 9 · For Children No. 11 · For Children No. 14 · For Children No. 15 · For Children No. 16 · For Children No. 19
4. Level 5 For Children No. 17

Other teaching books

Every book five or more library pieces are from.

• Köhler's Very Easiest Exercise Pieces, Op. 190 24
• Beyer's Vorschule im Klavierspiel, Op. 101 14
• Gurlitt's The First Lessons, Op. 117 34 of 34
• Duvernoy's École primaire, Op. 176 16 of 25
• Mozart's first pieces, K. 1a–1f 6 of 6
• Streabbog's Twelve Melodious Studies, Op. 63 12 of 12
• Le Couppey's L'Alphabet, Op. 17 25 of 25
• Burgmüller's 25 Easy Studies, Op. 100 25 of 25
• Anna Magdalena Bach's Notebook (1725) 20 of 20
• Gretchaninov's Glass Beads, Op. 123 12 of 12
• Bartók's For Children (original edition) 20 of 42
• Gretchaninov's Children's Album, Op. 98 15 of 15
• Tchaikovsky's Album for the Young, Op. 39 24 of 24
• Lemoine's Études enfantines, Op. 37 29 of 50
• Clementi's Six Sonatinas, Op. 36 6 of 6
• Czerny's 160 Eight-Measure Exercises, Op. 821 19 of 160
• Czerny's School of Velocity, Op. 299 6 of 40
• Schumann's Album for the Young, Op. 68 21 of 43
• Schumann's Kinderszenen, Op. 15 7 of 13
• Chopin's 24 Preludes, Op. 28 8 of 24