Accessible to pianists at the intermediate and advanced levels, it will appeal to admirers of the great Hungarian composer as well as all lovers of modern music.Unabridged Dover (2001) republication of the composer's original transcription for solo piano of his complete music for Bela Balezs' dance-play in one act.

Composed by Bart6k for Bela Balezs' dance-play in one act, The Wooden Prince was first performed in 1917 at the Budapest opera house as a fully orchestrated stage production consisting of a prelude, seven sections connected by episodic transitions, and a postlude. Widely regarded as Bart6k's first major public success, it established him as an important composer in his own country.The libretto by Balezs--the outstanding Hungarian playwright, poet, and filmmaker--based on his country's folklore, is a mixture of fairy tale and nature mysticism, of morality and symbolism, and calls on its main characters, the prince and princess, to overcome hostile powers inhabiting a forest to reach the object of their desire--each other. Bart6k's richly theatrical score incleudessuch self-contained dance sections as "Dance of the princess in the forest,""Dance of the trees," "Dance of the waves," and "Dance of the princess with thewooden doll."

Neither a suite nor an abridged version, this composition is Bart6k's own excellent piano reduction of his complete original orchestral score. Accessible to pianists at the intermediate and advanced levels, it will appeal to admirers of the great Hungarian composer as well as all lovers of modern music.Unabridged Dover (2001) republication of the composer's original transcription for solo piano of his complete music for Bela Balezs' dance-play in one act, Der holzgeschnitzte Prinz, originally published by Universal-Edition, Vienna-Leipzig,1921.80pp. 9 x 12. Paperbound.

Prelude

I. Dance of the princess in the forest

II. Dance of the trees

III. Dance of the waves__

IV. Dance of the princess with the wooden doll

V. In her endeavor to make him dance,

the princess pulls and pushes the wooden doll about

VI. With her most fascinating smiles, the princess tries to persuade the prince to her side to dance with her

VII. Quite alarmed, the princess hurries forward to him, yet the forest keeps her from him

Postlude