Béla BartókOne of the 20th century’s Greatest Composers

Done By: Andrea Chua (1) and Jeanine Goh (13) of 1C1

Information about him• Full name is Bartók Béla Viktor János.• Hungarian composer and pianist.• Born into a musical family.• Best known for his use of Hungarian folk

music to create a distinct individual style.

B.Bartok’s signature

B. Bartok’s portrait on a 1,000 Hungarian banknote

Origin of Béla Bartók• Born in a small Transylvanian town called

Nagyszentmiklos in Hungary (Now in Romania, known as Sînnicolau Mare) on 25 March, 1881.

• Died in New York on September 26, 1945.• His body was only returned to Hungary 42 years later,

by his two sons, Béla and Péter.• He was reburied in Farkasréti Cemetery.

His grave at Farkasréti Cemetery in Buda, Hungary.

His Family• His mother, Paula, was a pianist.• His father, Béla Sr. (who was the director of

an agricultural school) died when he was 7.• He had a younger sister named Erzsebet.

His father, Béla Sr Béla Bartók with his sister, Erzsebet

His childhood• He was diagnosed with smallpox when he was

born till he was 5 years old.• While he was sick during those years, he

listened to his mother playing the piano.• He somehow learned to play the piano when he

listened to his mother.• By the time he was 4, he was able to play 40

pieces of piano music.

Him when he was 5.

His musical life• His mother taught him

to play the piano when he was 6.

• His early work was influenced greatly by Strauss and Liszt.

• His first major work, the symphonic Kossuth (1903), also stands out for its telling of a nationalist story.

Him when he was 15.

A Few of His Musical Pieces

• Divertimento (1939) for string orchestrahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBPaNZSTXkc• Concerto for Orchestra (1943)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd744RSVAb0• Piano Concerto No.3 (1945)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKWZVYnALXo

His love life• In 1907 Bartók brought home a sixteen year old

girl named Márta for a piano lesson.• He married her in 1909 and later divorced her in

1923.• After his divorce, he married Ditta Pásztory,

another piano student.• Each wife gave him one son.

Him with his first wife, Márta

Him with his second wife, Ditta

Him with his first son Béla III

Some other family photos

Him with his sister, Erzsebet, second wife, Ditta and second son, Péter

Him with his second son, Péter

His last years of life

• After the war started he and his family immigrated to the United States.

• He was diagnosed with leukaemia by then.

Béla Bartók memorial plaque in Baja, Hungary

References• http://www.boosey.com• http://www.essentialsofmusic.com• http://library.thinkquest.org• http://www.naxos.com• http://paulhellyer.com• http://1001christianclipart.com

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attention!