The familiar biographical outlines of Béla Bartók’s American years rarely grant much attention to the Suite for Two Pianos, Op. 4b, which the composer transcribed from the Second Orchestral Suite in the fall of 1941. Bartók and his wife performed the new transcription three times in early 1942. This article examines the source materials for the two-piano Suite, on deposit at the Sacher Foundation in Basel, Switzerland, from the collection of Peter Bartók. Seven illustrations show various stages of the transcription process. Even a brief glance at the source materials shows Bartók actively composing in 1941, a fact which complicates the traditional biographical narrative that he stopped composing for three-and-a-half years from 1939 to the summer of 1943. Although the Suite, Op. 4b, was published only in 1960, and was understandably slow to gain acceptance by later pianists, it no longer remains at the periphery of the repertory. Properly accounting for it in future studies of Bartók’s American years will result in a more accurate representation of his experience.

中文翻译：

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巴托克的两架钢琴组曲的源材料，作品。4b (1941)

贝拉·巴托克 (Béla Bartók) 在美国生活的熟悉的传记大纲很少引起人们对两架钢琴组曲，作品的关注。4b，作曲家在 1941 年秋天从第二管弦组曲中转录。巴托克和他的妻子在 1942 年初进行了三次新的转录。本文检查了双钢琴组曲的源材料，存放在萨赫基金会来自瑞士巴塞尔，来自 Peter Bartók 的收藏。七个插图显示了转录过程的各个阶段。即使是对原始资料的简短一瞥，也可以看出巴托克在 1941 年积极创作，这一事实使传统的传记叙事复杂化，他从 1939 年到 1943 年夏天停止创作三年半。4b，仅在 1960 年发表，可以理解的是，后来的钢琴家接受它的速度很慢，它不再停留在曲目的边缘。在未来对 Bartók 的美国岁月的研究中正确地考虑到这一点，将会更准确地描述他的经历。