When Béla Bartók began falling ill in early 1943, friends and colleagues came to his rescue by paying for medical examinations to find the cause. As an additional boost for him, a famous conductor commissioned a new work from Bartók that he worked on from August to October of 1943 at a health resort in upstate New York. It was during this time that the medical investigations revealed the diagnosis of leukemia. However, this was NOT revealed to Bartók, who found renewed spirit in his new composition, his “Concerto for Orchestra” (he also composed additional minor works in this reinvigorated period). The Concerto premiered in Boston a year later in December 1944 and was an enormous success. It would also be Bartók’s final major completed orchestral composition. Bartók’s “Concerto for Orchestra” is today’s Midday Masterpiece.