Bartók's Mikrokosmos: Genesis, Pedagogy, and Style

Now available in paperback! Béla Bartók's Mikrokosmos is a collection of 153 pieces for piano designed by the composer as a series graded according to difficulty. The pieces were written between 1926 and 1939, and have become by far the best-known series of teaching pieces by a major composer in the twentieth century.

This in-depth study investigates Bartók's Mikrokosmos from three main viewpoints: the genesis of the pieces, their pedagogical value, and their stylistic quali…