Bartok, one of the greatest 20th Century Composers

October 19, 2015 Bartok, one of the greatest 20th century composers, died on this day in 1945. The Hungarian composer and pianist was particularly noted for his mastery in writing for an orchestra. He also became famous for his research into Hungarian and Romanian folk music.

Bela Bartok was born March 25, 1881 in Nagyszentmiklos (now Sannicolau Mare), Hungary. His father was a good amateur player of the violin who taught him how to play the instrument as well as how to play the piano. He began composing when he was only nine years old. By the age of 11 he had composed two operas!

In 1895 he entered the Royal Academy of Music in Budapest where he studied piano with Istvan Thoman and composition with Jeno Hubay, both famous Hungarian musicians. He graduated in 1899 and began earning his living by giving recitals, mostly playing his own compositions. In 1904 he went to Vienna where he enrolled at the Academy of Music and started studying orchestration with Robert Fuchs, who had been a student of Brahms. It was at this time that he met Zoltan Kodaly, another Hungarian composer who

Bartok, one of the greatest 20th Century Composers

Bela Bartok is a Hungarian composer and pianist. He was born in 1881 and died in 1945.

He was one of the founders of Ethnomusicology, a study which combines anthropology and musicology to study music from around the world. Using this approach he transcribed and composed using folk themes from his native Hungary and other European countries.

Bartok distrusted all forms of nationalism, especially that of his native Hungary. As an ethnographer, he believed that all national forms of music were equally valid. This conflicted with his study of the Hungarian peasant music, which he realized was an endangered art form. He and Kodaly went on field trips together to record folk songs that were disappearing as Hungary modernized.

Bartok is considered one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music has become popular in recent years. The Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion is frequently performed as is his Concerto for Orchestra.

Bela Bartok is the composer in my choice. He is a 20th century composer and I chose him because I think he has very good music and his music is very interesting to listen.

Bela Bartok was born in 1881 and he died in 1945. He was from Hungary and he composed many musical pieces of work. He composed sonatas, string quartets, and concertos. But the piece which I think is one of his best pieces is the Concerto for Orchestra that he composed in 1943. This piece was written during world war II when German Nazis were occupying Hungary, and it was commissioned by Sergiu Celibidache, who was a young Romanian conductor of Jewish descent who had been hired by the Bucharest Philharmonic to conduct a series of concerts.

The first movement of this piece begins with a dark introduction played by low instruments, then the violins play a slow melody which is followed by an allegro section played by piccolo, flutes and clarinets. The second movement begins with an Adagio played by cellos and basses. Then it has three sections: Allegro vivace with fast tempo, Adagio non troppo with slow tempo, Allegro assai vivace with

Bartok was one of the most important composers of the 20th century. He was not only a composer but a great pianist and a musicologist. He is rightly considered to be one of the founders of ethnomusicology, the study of folk music. His life was full of turmoil and drama, including an unhappy marriage to his first wife, Márta Ziegler (1895-1952).

Bartók was born in Nagyszentmiklós, Transylvania, Austria-Hungary (now Sînnicolau Mare, Romania) on March 25, 1881. His mother died when he was a child and he was raised by his father and grandparents. When he turned 6 years old he began taking piano lessons from his father who was an accomplished pianist.

His parents divorced before Bartok turned 10 years old. The family moved to Pozsony (now Bratislava) where young Bartók completed elementary school and then attended the Royal Academy of Music in Budapest from 1899-1903. There he studied piano under Istvan Thoman and composition under János Koessler and Hans Koessler (no relation). While at the Academy he also

There is no doubt that Bela Bartok was one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. He was very much in the forefront of the modern movement, yet he wrote music that is still very approachable today. The sonic richness and range of his compositions are truly amazing, and I think it is safe to say that his music has influenced many other composers who came after him.

In this post, I will try to give an overview of the life and music of Bartok, but I can not hope to do full justice to his enormous output. There are a lot of great recordings available on iTunes and other sources, but my personal favorite is the Naxos recording of Bartok’s String Quartets (Volumes 1 and 2) performed by the Tokyo String Quartet. These works are perhaps some of his most complex and challenging pieces, yet they are also invigorating and exciting to listen to at the same time. My personal favorite work on these recordings is the Fourth Quartet, which has some of Bartok’s most unusual harmonies along with incredibly difficult string writing. There are also some great recordings out there by other groups, including the Emerson String Quartet, but I think that this recording by the Tokyo String Quartet is my favorite

I recently heard a radio interview with Pierre Boulez, the French composer and conductor. He was asked to name the greatest composers of the 20th century. Without hesitation he replied, “Stravinsky, Bartok, Schoenberg.”

I can only agree. While I’m sure that many great and memorable works were composed in the 20th century by composers not named by Boulez – Copland, Britten, Vaughan Williams, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Messiaen come quickly to mind – I think these three are generally recognized as being among the greatest of all composers. And Bartok seems to me to be the most fascinating of them all.

Why? Well, just listen to his music. It is hard to imagine any other composer who wrote more fascinating and beautiful music than Bartok. Even his early compositions are compelling; but his mature style is surely among the very greatest of all time.

If you have not investigated this fascinating composer’s music, do yourself a favor: go buy a CD or two immediately (or download some mp3 files) and start listening! Perhaps start with his Violin Concerto

Bela Bartok was born in Budapest on March 25, 1881. His father was a violin teacher and gave him his first lessons. At the age of 4 he started playing the piano. He wrote his first compositions at the age of 11 or 12.

His mother died when he was 7, and his father remarried 4 years later. Bartok’s stepmother was a piano teacher who encouraged him in his musical studies.

Bartok studied at the Royal Academy as a piano major in 1899. There he met Zoltan Kodaly, who would become a great friend, and a collaborator on several works.

After graduating, Bartok spent several years touring as a concert pianist, giving performances of his own works and those of other composers. After about 5 years of this he decided to devote himself full-time to composition, but unfortunately it was difficult to make a living at that in Hungary at that time so he had to teach (at the academy) to support himself. In 1907 he married Márta Ziegler and they had 1 son.

In 1927 Bartok began collecting folk music from all over eastern Europe, which became a lifelong passion. During this period he also experimented with microtones and percussive effects