Bela Bartok: biography, videos, interesting facts, work.

Bela Bartok

The musical pride of the Hungarian people is the way Bela Bartok, an outstanding composer, brilliant pianist and innovator, is hailed around the world. The name of this aspiring person, who throughout his life, despite various obstacles and difficult circumstances, went to his goal, is remarkable for not only the history of Hungarian musical culture, but also European music of the 20th century. His classic works cover many genres and have absorbed the author’s deep ideas based on folk song sources, which he has been studying throughout his creative life.

A brief biography of Bela Bartók and many interesting facts about the composer can be found on our page.

Brief biography of Bartok

On March 25, 1881, a boy was born in the small Hungarian settlement of Nagy-Saint-Miklos, near Bela and Paula Bartok, who was given the name Bela Victor Janosh. The father of the family, who held the position of director of the educational institution where the younger generation taught agricultural sciences, and the mother who worked as a teacher at a local school, were very intelligent people.

There was always music in the house, since the boy's mother was very good at playing the piano, and the older Bela Bartok, in his free time, liked to play the piano and the cello. The musical abilities of the baby manifested very early. At the age of three, the boy rhythmically tapped the rhythm played by the mother of the melody on a toy drum, and at the age of four he could play more than thirty small tunes of popular folk songs with one finger. Noticing her son's desire for music, Paula sat him down at five for the piano, and in the process of learning she found out that her boy had perfect pitch. The biography of Bartók says that the prosperous life of the family ended in 1988 after the sudden death of his father, who passed away, barely stepping over a thirty-year milestone. The young mother, along with her two children (Bela had a younger sister, Elsa), had to leave her previous place of residence and, in search of work, move from one city to another.

Initially, the family stopped in the city of Sevlush, and later moved to Nagyvarad, there Bela begins to attend the gymnasium and at the same time study composition and playing the piano with teacher F. Kersh. After a while, the Bartok family again returned to Sevlush, where Bela performed at his first concert with a great success in front of a large audience, performing the first part of the 21st sonata L.V. Beethoven and a small play of his own composition entitled "The flow of the Danube." This performance played an important role in the further fate of the boy, since one of the listeners of the concert was the headmaster of the school where the mother of the prodigy worked. He appreciated the young talent and gave Paula Bartok a one-year vacation for the trip to Pozhon (now Bratislava) so that the boy could continue his education with famous musicians.

Youth

After a year spent in Pozhon, the Bartok family temporarily settled in Bistrita. There, Bela continued to study music intensively and at the age of sixteen he could easily perform the "Spanish Rhapsody" by F. Liszt. In the summer of 1898, the young man went to Vienna, where he stood the entrance exam to the conservatory, but he did not have to study there: he decides to listen to the piano at the Budapest Academy of Music with Professor Istvan Toman, who was once a student of F. List. After the consultation, the delighted teacher recommended that a talented young man be admitted to an educational institution without exams. Bartok at the academy began to study not only the piano class, but also the composition class, although here he was a little unlucky, his teacher in this subject was Janos Kessler, the cousin of the famous organist, composer and conductor Max Reger. On some issues, the views of the student and the teacher were so drastically divergent that Bela sometimes wanted to completely do away with writing. Nevertheless, Bartok-pianist at the Academy had a general recognition: he often performed at concerts, and after graduation he was offered a teaching position at the piano department. The years of Bela's study at the Academy are marked by the fact that here he met and firmly became friends with Zoltan Kodai, who later had a significant influence on the composer's work.

Beginning of creative activity

After completing his education, Bartok successfully combined teaching and concert activities, was actively involved in composing works, the largest of which was the symphonic poem Kossuth, written in 1903. Her premiere performance, which received a wide public response, took place first in Budapest, then in English Manchester. Bartok's active concert activity during this period is connected with such countries as Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal, besides in 1905 in the French capital he takes part in the international competition named after A. Rubinstein as a pianist and composer. In 1906, Bartok, together with Kodai, began collecting and studying folk music. However, the composer attracted not only the folklore of the Hungarian people, having studied five languages, he with ethnographic expeditions subsequently visited Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia, Turkey and some Arab countries. These travels of the composer marked the beginning of his scientific and folklore activities, which continued throughout his life.

In 1907, Bela Bartok was appointed professor at the Royal Academy of Music, now named after F. Liszt. This job forced a young man to settle in Budapest. During this period, which is characterized by the composition of a large number of works, the final formation of the composer’s style, based on the great Bach's polyphony, the symphonism of Beethoven’s genius and Debussy’s harmony, takes place. In 1911, a small piano piece by the composer with the unusual name “Barbarian Allegro” attracted the special interest of the music community. This innovative work caused such a resonance that the author’s name immediately became known. Inspired by the success, Bartok turned his attention to the theater and began to create a one-act opera "The Castle of the Duke Bluebeard", which premiered in 1918 at the National Theater of Budapest. In the same year 1911, Bartok together Kodai founded the new society "Hungarian Music Associations", which, to the great chagrin of the organizers, did not last long because it did not find adequate support.

In 1913, Bela again went on a creative expedition, this time he traveled through the settlements of Algeria, in 1914 he visited Paris, where he negotiated the publication of his research works.

Hard times

Over the world hung the black clouds of the First World War. Despite the fact that Bartok was in anti-war positions in his views, he and Kodai were obliged to serve in the military ministry in the music department of the press department. A small decline began in the composer's work, which ended in 1916, when he began to create the ballet "The Wooden Prince". The premiere of the play, which took place in 1917, was warmly received by the public, and public acclaim came to the author. Since March 21, 1919, after the Soviet Republic was proclaimed in Hungary, Bartok, in his worldview, did not belong to any of the political parties, hoping for the best changes in the country, along with Kodai, joined the Directory (government body of the new government), where cultural issues in Soviet Hungary. At the same time, he creates one of his most significant works: the avant-garde ballet "The Wonderful Mandarin".

In August 1919, the government of the Soviets fell and the fascist dictator M. Horthy seized power in the country. Hard times came for Bela Bartok, as he was subjected to constant repressive attacks not only from the regime's government, but also from the Academy Directorate. The reactionary nationalists harassed the composer in the press so much that he began to think about emigration, however he undertook only a number of lengthy tours in Europe. Bartok gave concerts in France, Germany, Holland, Romania, England, Switzerland, Italy and Denmark, and at the end of the twenties he visited the United States and the Soviet Union, where the performances were held with great success and were given a warm welcome. In the same years, Bartok actively continues to write new works, writes the scientific work "Hungarian Song", which was translated into many languages ​​and soon received worldwide recognition.

In the thirties, dramatic changes took place in the composer’s life. In 1934, he completed his teaching activities at the Academy of Music and began to engage in folk research at the Academy of Sciences. The result of this work was the release of brochures "Hungarian music and music of neighboring nations" (1934), "Why and how to collect folk songs" (1936) and the book "Melodies of Romanian carols" (1935). However, Bartok did not have a quiet life due to the political situation in the country. As an ardent opponent of fascism, he repeatedly criticized the ruling regime, speaking in defense of democracy. Since 1937, Bartok did not allow his works to be broadcast on German and Italian radio, and even broke off all relations with the Austrian publishing house after the Nazis occupied Vienna. The composer's stay in Hungary became unbearable, and he makes the fateful decision to emigrate to the United States.

In a foreign land

In October 1940, after the funeral of his mother, Bartok gives the last concert in Budapest and leaves the country with his family. Having difficulty reaching Portugal, they boarded the ship and were already in New York in early November. America met the composer not very friendly: Bartok was well-known in Europe, and on the other continent his name meant nothing, there were few concerts, and they did not bring much money. The main source of income of the composer was a scientific activity at New York Columbia University, where he was awarded the honorary degree of doctor. However, this work continued only until 1943, since after the termination of the contract, the contract was not further extended. The onset of hard times, lack of money and the ensuing illness broke Bartók. The composer died on September 26, 1945, while his beloved Hungary was liberated from the fascist invaders.

Interesting facts about Bartok

• The composer’s father Bela Bartok Sr. was a great music lover. He enjoyed playing the houses on the piano, played the cello in the local orchestra, composed small pieces, and founded the Society of Musical Art Lovers for the residents of the settlement.
• From the biography of Bartók, we learn that in childhood Bela was a weak and flimsy child, often ill, and up to five suffered from severe eczema. Doctors forbade parents to overload the boy with music lessons, since they believed that playing the piano would exhaust him completely.

• Once Bela, being still a small child, for the first time heard the orchestra, which performed at a festive feast. The overture to the opera "Semiramid" by the Italian composer J. Rossini was played. The boy was very surprised and indignant: why do adult aunts and uncles eat, but do not listen to such beautiful music.
• The first performance of five-year-old Bela took place a month after he began playing the piano. The boy made a gift to his father for his birthday, playing a small piece of four hands with his mother.
• Bela Bartok always considered his mother Paula the best friend and the composer listened to wise parental instructions always, until her death (Paula Bartok died from life at the end of 1939).
• Bela Bartok, studying at the Academy of Music, has earned a reputation as a virtuoso performer and not only among students. Proof of this can be the fact that the examining commission at the final audition considered it unnecessary to certify it on the exam, but for the appreciation at the request of the teachers Bartok performed the Spanish Rhapsody by F. Liszt.
• Once, academy teachers asked Bela Bartók to play the life of a hero by R. Strauss on an orchestral score on the piano, a few days later he repeated this most complex work at a meeting of teachers, but by heart. This is very impressed listeners.
• In the personal life of Bela Bartok was very temperate. In his youth, he fell in love with violinist Stefie Geyer very much and wrote his first violin concerto for her. However, the girl indifferent to the young composer refused to perform this work, which was then lost and found only after the death of the musician.
• The composer created the family twice: Barttok's first wife was Martha Ziegler, who presented him with a son, who was named Bela III. After 15 years of marriage, they divorced. The composer concluded the second marriage with pianist Dita Pastori, who later gave birth to Bartok's second son, who was given the name Peter.

• Bela Bartok was a very purposeful person. He always set a goal and sought it. Without possessing special abilities in learning foreign languages, the composer learned the Spanish, English, French, Romanian and Slovak languages ​​without any help from translating the collected folklore material.
• Bela defiantly wore national clothes, spoke only in Hungarian and tried not to communicate with people supporting the pro-Austrian regime.
• The idea to engage in the gathering of folklore came to the composer by chance. In 1904, while relaxing at one of the resorts in the east of Transylvania, he heard a young woman singing a lullaby song to her baby, Bartok really liked the tune, then he decided that he would definitely study folk music.
• During the ethnographic expeditions of Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodai, they walked with a phonograph around the Hungarian mountain villages, recording the performers of folk songs on wax rollers. Then they painstakingly engaged in deciphering the collected material, which in one such trip recruited several thousand samples.
• During the First World War, French musicians refused to perform works by Bartok due to the fact that he was a composer and a citizen of the enemy side.
• Bela Bartok was buried in New York, but in the late eighties, his sons Bela III and Peter, with the support of the Hungarian government, turned to the US government for permission to transfer the remains of the composer to their homeland. The ceremonial reburial of Bartók at the Farkasretti cemetery in Budapest took place on July 7, 1988.

• Monuments of Bela Bartok installed in Budapest (Hungary), Brussels (Belgium), London (England), Toronto (Canada), Paris (France).
• The Bartok Museum is located in Budapest, in the house where the composer’s family lived in recent years before emigrating to the United States.

Creativity Bela Bartok

Bela Bartok's creative biography began at a rather early age. As a composer, he began to form under the strict guidance of L. Erkel at the age of eleven, while still a teenager. Already during this period, he wrote quite a few works, including various piano pieces, romances, piano and violin sonatas, a quartet for stringed instruments. However, while studying at the Academy of Music Bartok visited creative depression. Due to disagreements with the teacher, the formation of Bartók as a composer was under threat, he even wanted to completely abandon writing. The symphonic poem “So Spoke to Zarathustra” by R. Strauss, which Bela heard in the performance of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, helped to get out of the crisis. This work, with brilliant orchestration, filled with rhythmic and melodic freedom, but critically met by the listeners, filled Bartók with such enthusiasm that it gave impetus to the resumption of his composing activities.

Kosut

"Kosut" is a ten-part program patriotic symphonic poem, the first major work of the young composer, which he wrote in 1903. Bartok was always filled with patriotic feelings that he brought to his music, so he dedicated this creation to the leader of the national movement, the hero of Hungary, Lajos Kossut. The premiere performance of the poem, intonationally based and orchestrated, was still clearly influenced by the works of R. Strauss and F. Liszt, was a notable event in the musical life of the Hungarian capital. First, it attracted the attention of the cultural community, and secondly, Hungary recognized the new young composer.

Folklore-ethnographic activity of Bartok

Говоря о творчестве Бартока, необходимо особо подчеркнуть его фольклорно-этнографическую деятельность. Композитор уже в ранний период своего творчества, убеждённый в том, что его произведения должны отражать венгерский национальный характер, с особым энтузиазмом при поддержке своего друга и единомышленника Золтана Кодаи приступил к кропотливому изучению народной музыки. As a result of research, the young composer discovered many new things for himself, for example, that in his native folk music the smallest link in the scale is not a semitone, but a third and even a quarter of a tone. As a result of such diligent study of folklore, Bartók begins to form his own characteristic style with original harmony and peculiar rhythm, which clearly begins to manifest itself in his works. The value of the composer's research work, which actually lasted throughout his life, was very great, since Bartok created the newest, most progressive method of studying folk music. The collected materials, which in total comprise more than 30 thousand melodies of different nations, were carefully analyzed and systematized.

Barbarous Allegro

The individual style of Barttok’s composer’s hand is already well heard in string quartet No. 1, Bogatel, Two Portraits, Nenii, Burleskah, in suite for orchestra No. 2, in Hungarian Folk Songs and, undoubtedly, in Barbarian Allegro "- a play that received from the author a very symbolic name. This work of a twenty-year-old composer was quite unusual for the public of that time: it, correctly reflecting its content in the title, its bewildered listeners with its “wild” energy, agitated their minds and caused ambiguous judgments. Rumbling, with a rough pressure, frightening and almost elusive melodic theme, as if everything was swept away on the way, shocked one part of the public, while the other caused a stormy delight.

Opera and ballet creativity Bartok

In addition to instrumental music, the composer in his work paid particular attention to theatrical genres. According to Bartók’s biography, in 1911 he began work on the musical play “The Castle of the Duke Bluebeard” based on the play by the Hungarian playwright Bela Balasch. This work was an important event in the history of the Hungarian opera. In it, the composer peculiarly connected the national traditions of the people with the Wagnerian operatic principles and elements of impressionistic and expressionistic new-fangled musical trends. The whole opera is built on psychologically fine-tuned dialogues of the two main characters, in which a wide palette of human emotions and feelings is revealed through melodic lines based on folk intonations.

After some time, the composer returns to the music associated with the theater, and writes the ballet "The Wooden Prince", which is based on the motives of a folk tale. And two years later, Bartok begins work on his second ballet called "Margarine Wonderful." This experimental work belongs to the most innovative works of the composer. It was shocking to the public because it was based on the intonation system typical of folk music heard by the composer in South-Eastern Europe, and differed significantly from what the European public was used to listening to.

Further composer's career

In the twenties, Bartok continues to write a lot. In the works of the first half of the decade, such as the 2nd and 3rd violin sonatas, the 3rd and 4th string quartets, the author can be traced to acute innovative artistic solutions with constructive complexity, intense musical language and the use of folklore elements. However, since the second half of the decade, there has been an inherent desire for greater simplicity, a clear and concise expression of musical thought, which is clearly manifested in the second piano concerto and in “Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta”. Among the works created by the composer in the 30s, it is necessary to highlight the sonata for percussions and two pianos, “The Secular Cantata”, “Divertimento”, the “From the Past” cantata, the cycle - “Microcosmos”, including 153 piano pieces, 5 and 6th String Quartets, 2nd Concerto for Violin and Orchestra. The next stage of the creative way of Bela Bartók is called American. During this period, he collaborates with such outstanding musicians as I. Menuhin, S. Kusevitsky, B. Goodman, and creates a number of remarkable works, including "Concerto for Orchestra", Piano Concerto No. 3 and Concerto for Viola and Orchestra "(completed T. Shirley).

Bartok's music to the movies

Bela Bartok is a composer who has become a reference point not only for contemporaries, but also for subsequent generations. His whole life and career is an example of courage and nobility. He created many remarkable works in which he reflected his own individual style, which today is considered one of the highest achievements of the musical culture of the 20th century.