The op.3 Suite is the last of Bartók’s works composed in the creative élan that followed the success of the Kossuth Symphony. He was approaching the end of a period followed by over 18-24 month of silence – Bartók would not complete an original work again until 1907.

The multifarious influences are clearly tangible in his juvenile works. The Suite is undeniably the work of a young man who has yet to discover his own voice, and employs with captivating naivety everything that has come in his way from the most diverse sources. The work is closest related to the Kossuth Symphony inasmuch as it melds the Magyar style, represented by verbunkos melodies, with the idiom of Wagner and Richard Strauss.

An English music critic Cecil Gray pointed out, that the first movement of Suite No. 1 was reminiscent of the atmosphere of the prelude to the Meistersinger.

According to Bartók’s note, the work was written in Vienna between March and June 1905 and received its world premi?re on 29 November in the same year, with Ferdinand Löwe conducting the Vienna Philharmonic. It was first performed in Hungary on 15 May 1907 at the opening ceremony of the new building of the Music Academy, however, at both premi?re the five – movement work was played with movements omitted. In Vienna it was performed without the second ( Poco adagio) movement, and at the Budapest concert without the third ( Prest) and fourth ( Moderato) . The work was played in full for the first time at the Music Academy in 1909, under the baton of Jenő Hubay. However, even years later Bartók was forced to write letters objecting to performing his Suite in abbreviated form.