Response to a Salonstück: The Question of Szymanowski's Influence on Bartók's Sonata for Violin and Piano no. 2

Abstract Almost every analysis written on Bartók's two violin sonatas (BB 84 – 1921, BB 85 – 1922) discusses the question of Szymanowski's possible influence. Although most scholars accept that the music of the violin parts, jointly worked out by Szymanowski and the violinist Paweł Kochański, in the Polish composer's works exerted some influence on Bartók's violin compositions, opinions differ as to how significant this influence was, which components of Bartók's music it may have affected, and how great a share, if any, Jelly d’Arányi may have had in this influence, given that it was with her that Bartók first encountered Szymanowski's Myths, op. 11 (1915) and the Notturno e Tarantella op. 28 (1915), that are most often mentioned in connection with the sonatas. It is usually Bartók's Violin Sonata no. 1 that is examined in this connection, because it is the earlier work that seems to show more obvious traces of Szymanowski's supposed influence. The present study, however, focuses on Violin Sonata no. 2, rarely mentioned in this respect.