Béla Bartók's Mikrokosmos is one of the key works of 20th-century piano music. The repertoire comprises educational pieces 'from the very first beginning' as well as concert literature, thus making this work an indispensable companion to piano lessons. The work is now available for the first time as urtext edition in three volumes, with each volume containing two of the six volumes of the original edition. The musical text was critically examined on the basis of the sources and could be corrected in many details. Furthermore, the edition contains some previously unpublished pieces and early versions. Educationally very revealing are the versions of several pieces which Bartók arranged specially for the lessons of his son Peter and which are printed in the appendix of the volumes. The edition is completed by notes on study and interpretation based on the sources and a glossary of unusual expression markings.

Six Unison Melodies - Dotted Notes - Repetition - Syncopation - With Alternate Hands - Parallel Motion - Reflection - Change of Position - Question and Answer - Village song - Parallel Motion and Change of Postion - Contrary Morion - Four Unison Melodies - Imitation and Counterpoint - Imitation and Inversion 1 and 2 - Repetition - Syncoparion - Canon at the Octave - Imitation Reflected - Canon at the Lower Fourth - Little Dance in Canon Form - In Dorian Mode - Slow Dance - In Phrygian Mode - Chorale - Free Danon - Appendix: Exercises - Facsimile - In Lydian Mode - Staccato and Legato 1 and 2 - In Yugoslav Mode - Melody with Accompaniment - Accompaniment in Broken Triads - In Hungarian Style - Contrary Motion - Meditation - Increasing - Big Fair - In Mixolydian Mode - Crescendo-Diminuendo - Menuetto - Waves - Unison Divided - In Transylvanian Style - Chromatic - Triplet in Lydian Mode - Melody in Tenths - Accents - In Oriental Style - Major and Minor - Canon with Sustained Notes - Pentatonic Melody - Minor Sixths in Parallel Motion - Buzzing - Line versus Point - Dialogue - Melody Divided - Appendix: Exercises - Appendix A: Special Versions for Péter Bartók: Waves - In Transylvanin Style - In Oriental Style - Appendix B: Unpublished Pieces from Mikrokosmos - Béla Bartók's Comments - Notes on Study and Interpretation - Glossary - Critical Notes