7 Romanian Folk Dances, BB76

The piece unfolds as seven brief dances played without pause, each with its own character and, in the original, its own village origin in Transylvania.

The set opens with "Jocul cu bâtă" (Stick Dance), a strutting tune with a stamping rhythm, as if introducing the dancers one by one. "Brâul" (Sash Dance) follows, lighter and quicker, built around a repeating turn of phrase. "Pe loc" (In One Spot) is the still center of the set, a slow, almost hypnotic dance built on a single droning note, with an ornamented melody hovering above it.

"Buciumeana" (Dance from Bucsum) brings a gentle, swaying tune, tinged with a bittersweet color. Then the pace quickens: "Poarga românească" (Romanian Polka) is short, playful, and off-kilter, its accents landing in unexpected places. The final two dances, "Mărunțel" (Fast Dance), played as one continuous unit, gather speed and volume, ending the work in a burst of stamping energy, complete with a whooping final flourish.

Listeners can expect a piece built from contrast rather than development, each dance a snapshot rather than a theme to be worked out, so the pleasure lies in the quick changes of mood, tempo, and color from one dance to the next.

Bartók composed this set originally for solo piano in 1915, drawing on melodies he had recorded and notated during his fieldwork collecting folk music in Transylvanian villages, then part of Hungary and now in Romania. He orchestrated the dances for small orchestra in 1917, and the version for orchestra quickly became the more frequently heard one. The piece reflects Bartók's lifelong practice of transcribing peasant melodies from wax cylinder recordings and reworking them into concert works, treating the tunes with respect for their original shape and character rather than smoothing them into a conventional Romantic style. It has remained one of his most widely performed orchestral works, often used as a short opener or encore because of its brevity, its vivid color, and its immediate appeal to audiences unfamiliar with his larger, more demanding scores.