Bartók, Béla << BAHR tok, BAY luh >> (1881-1945), a Hungarian composer, was one of the most significant composers of the early 1900’s. His compositions reflect his intense interest in folk music of Hungary and other areas of eastern Europe, as well as an interest in the established musical traditions of his time. Bartók’s style emphasizes scales and harmonies of folk music, strongly dissonant harmonies, energetic rhythms, and creative use of both traditional and new forms.
Between 1908 and 1939, Bartók wrote six string quartets that show the full range of his musical style. They rank among the masterpieces of string quartet literature. His Mikrokosmos (1926-1939) is a collection of 153 piano pieces. It begins with simple pieces for beginners and ends with complex pieces suitable for concert performance. Bartók’s other major piano works include Allegro barbaro (1911), a sonata (1926), and Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (1938). In addition, he wrote four concertos for piano and orchestra and several piano works based on folk songs and dances.
Bartók composed an outstanding Violin Concerto (1939) and wrote a collection of violin duets called 44 Duos (1931). Bartók based the duos on folk music and intended them as teaching pieces. His major orchestral compositions include Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta (1936) and his famous Concerto for Orchestra (1944). The concerto gives many instruments in the orchestra an opportunity to play solo passages and features the entire orchestra in a solo role. Bartók also wrote one opera, Duke Bluebeard’s Castle (1918).
Bartók was born on March 25, 1881, in Nagyszentmiklos, Hungary, now part of Romania. He studied piano and composition at the Hungarian Royal Academy of Music in Budapest. Bartók developed into an excellent pianist and made several concert tours starting in 1922. Early in his career, he began to collect and analyze folk music from Romania, Turkey, and Slovakia, and from Arab peoples of North Africa. He wrote several books and articles on folk music. In 1940, he moved to the United States, where he died on Sept. 26, 1945.
