Born:
March 25, 1881; Nagyszentmiklós, Kingdom of Hungary (presently Sânnicolau Mare,
Romania)
Died:
September 26, 1945; New York, New York, The United States of America
Nationality:
Hungarian
Occupation:
Composer, Pianist, Ethnomusicologist
Béla Bartók is a Hungarian
composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist, born on March 25, 1881 and died on
September 26, 1945. He is considered one of the most important composers of the
20th century, and he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hungary's greatest
composers. Bartók, who collected folk music and conducted analytical study of
them, was one of the founders of comparative musicology, which later became
ethnomusicology.
Béla Bartók (1927)
Bartók was born in Banat of Nagyszentmiklós in the Kingdom of
Hungary (presently Sânnicolau Mare, Romania). He showed remarkable musical
talent from a very early age, and according to his mother, Bartók was able to
distinguish between different dance rhythms she played on the piano before
learning to speak in complete sentences.
At the age of four, he was able to
play 40 pieces on the piano, and his mother began to teach him the piano
formally the following year. Bartók was well-received for his
first public recital in Nagyszőlős
at the age of 11, and shortly thereafter, László Erkel accepted him as a pupil.
Bartók's signature on high school graduation photograph (9 September 1899)
From 1899 to 1903, Bartók studied
piano under István Thomán, a former student of Franz Liszt, and composition
under János Koessler at the Royal Academy of Music in Budapest. There he met
Zoltán Kodály, who made a strong impression on him and became a lifelong friend
and colleague.
In 1903, Bartók wrote his first major orchestral work,
"Kossuth", a symphonic poem honoring Lajos Kossuth, the hero of the
Hungarian Revolution of 1848. The music of Richard Strauss, which
he heard at the Budapest premiere of "Also sprach Zarathustra" in
1902, had a great influence on his early works.
When visiting a holiday resort
in the summer of 1904, Bartók happened to hear folk songs sung by a young
nanny, Lidi Dósa from Kibéd in Transylvania to the children in her care, and it
sparked his lifelong dedication to folk music. From 1907, Bartók began to be
influenced by the compositions of the French composer Claude Debussy, which
brought by Kodály from Paris.
Béla Bartók using a phonograph to record Slovak folk songs sung by peasants in Zobordarázs
Although his large-scale orchestral works still
adhered to the style of Johannes Brahms and Richard Strauss, he wrote many
small piano pieces which showed his growing interest in folk music. The first
work that clearly demonstrates his new interest is the “String Quartet No. 1 in
A minor (1908)”, containing folk-like elements. In 1908, he and Kodály traveled
the countryside to collect and study old Hungarian folk melodies, and the two
began to incorporate elements of Hungarian folk music into their works.
In 1940, as the political situation
in Europe worsened after the outbreak of World War II, Bartók was increasingly
tempted to flee Hungary, and finally, via a steamer from Lisbon, he arrived in
the United States with his wife on October 29, 1940, and settled in New York
City.
Béla Bartók's portrait on 1,000 Hungarian forint banknote
Although he became an American
citizen in 1945, just before his death, Bartók could not feel at home in the
United States. He was well known in the United States as a pianist,
ethnomusicologist and teacher, but he was not well known as a composer, and
during his final years there was little American interest in his music.
His first sign of health problem
began in the late 1940, when his right shoulder began to show signs of
stiffening, and he was finally diagnosed with leukemia in April 1944.
Though his body slowly failed,
Bartók showed more passion for the creation of compositions than ever before,
and partly with the help of the violinist Joseph Szigeti and the conductor
Fritz Reiner, he composed his final masterpieces.
Béla Bartók memorial plaque, Baja, Hungary
Bartók tried to quit
composing as the "String Quartet No. 6", but for Serge Koussevitzky's
commission, he composed the “Concerto for Orchestra.” The Boston Symphony
Orchestra, conducted by Koussevitzky premiered the work in December 1944 and
received very positive reviews, and the “Concerto for Orchestra” soon became
Bartók's most popular work.
Statue of Bartók, Makó, Hungary
Also in 1944, he composed the
"Sonata for Solo Violin" commissioned by violinist Yehudi Menuhin. In
1945, Bartók composed “Piano Concerto No. 3” as a surprise birthday present for
his wife Ditta's 42nd birthday, but he died a month before her birthday, and
the work remained unfinished.
Bartók died on September 26, 1945
at the age of 64 from complications of leukemia in a hospital in New York City. His body was initially buried in
Ferncliff Cemetery in New York and then moved to Budapest at the request of the
Hungarian government, along with his two sons in the late 1980s.
Thank you.
Walk of Fame, Vienna
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