Commissioned by the music publisher Rózsavölgyi & Co., Béla Bartók and Sándor Reschofsky assembled their Piano Method for beginners, which was first published in 1913. Pianist and composer Reschofsky devised the framework and wrote the exercises for Piano Method, while Bartók composed 48 short performance pieces on the basis of the exercises. In a review published in the journal Nyugat (Occident) on 1 November 1913 musicologist Antal Molnár enthusiastically welcomed the pieces by Bartók, which include both folk song arrangements and original compositions prefiguring the style of Mikrokosmos. We can see [here] that a piece for beginners can also be alive and vibrant' declared Molnár. It can stir the soul and move the mind

By its very existence it marks the end of lifeless, mechanical piano literature. Not only can these pieces be played with real devotion, since they are so charming, but they themselves can make you develop. They can teach you refined simplicity and sophisticated naivety, and you can do honor to eternal, genuine musicality in them.' Ever since its appearance, many teachers have made successful use of Piano Method by Reschofsky and Bartók in the early years of instrumental music education. This new edition merges our earlier ones in Hungarian with German, English, and French (Z. 4636, Z. 5220, Z. 6179).

Eszter Mikusi