Paul Sacher, a Swiss conductor, patron, impresario, and the founder of the chamber orchestra Basler Kammerorchester, commissioned Bartók to compose the Divertimento, which is now known to be the pair's last collaborative work.
This is reminiscent of the Baroque genre of the Concerto Grosso, where a small group of soloists, the concertino, was contrasted and accompanied by the tutti orchestra, or the ripieno.
[2] Bartók's Divertimento is scored for string orchestra: Violin I, II, Viola, Violoncello, and Double Bass, all of which contain divisi sections.
[3] Typically 8 minutes long, the opening movement is presented as a waltz with specific 'gypsy' influences evident melodically, through the use of various modes and non-traditional scales, and rhythmically, through the use of irregularly placed accents and extended syncopated rhythms.
Metrically, the movement is set in shifting, regular compound meters that at times evoke both a clear or equally murky beat placement.
There is a clear contrast of textures between a small group of soloists and the tutti orchestra, reminiscent of the Baroque concerto grosso.
Harmonically and melodically, it is less traditional and less oriented to the neoclassical style than the previous movement, at times, stretching tonality to the brink of atonality.
[5] The Divertimento for String Orchestra is Bartók's last work composed just before he fled Hungary and emigrated to the United States during the outbreak of World War II.
Paul Sacher is often noted as being somewhat of a pioneer, having conducted and commissioned approximately one hundred works by prominent twentieth-century composers.
In 1936 Sacher commissioned Bartók's celebrated work, Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta, for the tenth anniversary of the Basel Chamber Orchestra.
Bartók's previous commissioned work was found to be extremely challenging and Sacher was now looking for something in the spirit of the eighteenth century, something simpler.
The first 24 measures contain two highly coordinated allargandi, which serve to exaggerate the slightly off-kilter rhythm and sense of melodic propulsion.
Clearly, by drastically reducing both the musical forces and the written dynamic Bartók was striving for some rather extreme shifts of aural mass.